At BlogTalkers:
If you had to spend one year living alone in a remote cabin, what would you spend your time doing?
(And let's assume there is no access to Internet)
Question submitted by: Write From Karen
I would do crafts like sewing, crochet and embroidery and I would read. I'd teach myself some programming and more web design. I wouldn't need the Internet for that, just a computer to test things on.
Thirteen Things about Laura
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Writing has rules, we know about grammar, spelling and punctuation. There are also genres of writing and each has it's own rules of style, theme and plot. Romance is always about a relationship, the words in between make up the story but the genre insists on a successful relationship between two people. Mysteries, have their rules about dastardly deeds and criminals caught in the end. Horror has bad creatures/ people who end up being slain by the hero. You get the idea.
If you write in one genre for awhile you can line up the basic plots alphabetically and just fill in the individual details like names and dates. It can become routine and you begin to wonder if a million monkeys typing at millions of computer keyboards could not, after all, come up with a best selling novel.
So, to get out of feeling like your own cliche, read other genres. Read fiction and non-fiction. Read news stories. Read recipes! Go to the library and pick a book at random. Read things that have nothing to do with your usual writing, other than the use of words and language. In reading other genres you can find ways to break out of your own cliched plot. Small things, as the basic elements are ingrained and expected. Still, if you can get around feeling like a robot writer, that's a good thing.
When was the last time you wrote a letter? A real letter to a friend or family with news and other idle chatter? Letter writing is a skill. These days it's becoming quaint, old-fashioned as email and typed notes take over.
There is a little formality to letter writing. You start with the date and then add a greeting. It's easy to forget the date and it may not seem important when it's a casual, personal letter. But, the date gives it relevance for when they read it later. Even now, it shows when you wrote the letter and how long it took to get through the mail.
The greeting is also known as the salutation. It's a fancier word for hello. Standard salutations for letters start with Dear. But, that's quite old now. I think even Emily Post would be ok with an update there. You could write Hello, just the person's name or something else which would mean the same to the person you are writing to. After all, this isn't a formal business letter, it's allowed be personal, friendly and intimate.
The body of the letter is freewriting. Write news, updates about past news, how your day is going, what you're thinking about, the town you live in, what you did on vacation, whatever comes to mind. Keep it in paragraph format. That just makes it easier to read. Everyone likes a break in reading now and then. Add a double space between paragraphs. Not everyone does this and it's only become the standard since letters started being typed. But, I think it's a very practical practice. The clever use of white space can only add to the presentation whether it's a magazine layout, a website or a family newsletter.
At the end you sign off. This is a time to be really creative. You can wind down your letter with comments about hope you write back soon, hope you are well, how was your vacation, etc. Or this could all be included in the body. But, there should be some sort of wind down to the closing. Still, every letter ends with some version of good bye: "Take care, Laura" That is my standard close to a letter or an email. It's polite, slightly formal and works for just about anyone I'm writing to. But, I don't have to stick with that and either do you. Be informal, be memorable or just be personable, it's up to you. Don't forget to sign your name though. I once had a letter from a pen pal who didn't sign their name, didn't mention who they were in the letter and didn't add a return address to the outside of the envelope. I guessed who they were; the postage was a help since I was writing to people all over the world at that time.
So we come to the last part of writing a letter, the envelope. If you have used fancy stationary you may need to choose the best spot to write the addresses and stick the stamps. Some stationary doesn't leave space in the right places. The post office likes everything done just the same for their machines to read the letters. This also gives your letter an edge in delivery time. If the machines can handle it all the way it goes through the system faster. If humans have to take over it will be delayed. Anyway, the standard is to put the stamps in the upper right corner, which I'm sure you know well by now. But, did you know they actually like the address and postal code on the low side? I'd usually write them in the middle of the envelope so that the whole address was centered. But, I found that the postal machines are set up to read lower on the envelope, they pick out the postal code and sort it that way. (At least that's what I was told when I asked here, if someone works for the post office let me know if I'm mislead about this). Don't forget a return address. You can write it across from the stamp on the front of your letter, the upper left corner. Or you can write it on the back of your letter where there is more space. However, if there is a chance your letter won't reach your intended destination write the return address on the front. This makes it easier for the letter to be returned to you.
I feel like I've just written the Martha Stewart guide to writing a letter. Though this is simple stuff to most people I expect there are some people who have never written a personal letter. You're missing out on something. Letter writing is a great way of keeping in touch with people and with yourself. When you write about yourself, your life and your feelings you let go of some things and hang onto others that are good. At times it's like getting to know yourself. It's therapeutic and it's almost free.
Also, as writers, we can always use more writing to practice our skills with grammar, punctuation and spelling. More than that, we practice our skills with communicating in words. Letter writing gives you feedback in a way you miss out with writing articles, stories and such. People will reply to letters but you will seldom get feedback from any other writing you do. Another plus, letter writing feedback is tempered with good attitude and their comments about your grammar goofs will be meant well and given from a friend rather than a human dictionary who seems to just live to correct others. Don't you hate people like that? (Not that I mind learning from my mistakes but spare me the attitude).
One other excellent thing I found about writing pen pal letters was how much I learned about the world and the people in it. Other cultures, lifestyles and values are at your pen tip. I always think it's a shame that some people cut themselves off from the world and live in a very small space inside their own head. There is so much out there in the world around us. Even if you never travel you can be an armchair traveler through your letters. Ask about things, find new ways of thinking, seeing and doing things. Make your life an expedition into the world, even if it's only through the paper of your letters.
Originally written for WordCraft, at BackWash.
In the columnist message boards at BackWash, someone said "Don't you just love the media." They meant it sarcastically in reference to how an interview was handled. But, what they didn't consider is that WE ARE the media.
I think a lot of writers take shots at 'the media' and forget to count themselves among them. Do you? Have you thought of yourself as a writer or publisher or member of the media in general today?
Well you are. Each time you put something out there for the masses to read you become the media. We may not all carry cards saying we are writers or publishers or editors, etc. But, that doesn't mean we aren't just one more member of the media.
Anyway, the discussion in the boards was about how someone was credited in an article. That is something to consider as you write an article using sources for information such as quotes or statistics. Always make sure you know how your contact sources want to be credited and then do your best to see that it comes out that way in print.
On the other hand, when you are the contact, make sure you tell the writer how you want to be credited. Make sure they have your URL along with your other information. Make sure they know it's important for your website to be included as part of identifying you as a source of information for the article.
If it comes out in print you can't do much to change it. You can get them to add it to a future issue but that's not very useful without the rest of the content of the article. However, if it's on the web you can get them to update the HTML or text quite easily, it just takes a moment of their time. So there is one more benefit to writing for online publications.
Well, members of the media, that's it for this week.