Five Reasos I Love Numbered or Bulleted Blog Posts

 

1.  Convenience.

It makes skimming for relevant information much more convenient. I mean, who has time to read entire paragraphs for the single point of interest? Not me.

2.  Pretty.

My eyes just prefer the look of things ordered.

3.  Plays to my skills.

I don’t want to totally claim and embrace the fact I lean toward lazy, but bulleted items help me grasp one or two main points that I can put energy toward improving without bogging my brain down in the overwhelming information inside each paragraph. Even this paragraph I’m writing at the very moment is getting a little overwhelming for me.

4.  Time saver.

Along the same lines as convenience. I don’t have time to sift through irreleivant information. My kids are hovering at my side, telling me to look at them (balancing shoes on their ears—it’s a little impressive). My phone is dinging that I have some sort of notification, the school just called that one of my kids has an overdue library book, and I have to fill out claim forms, work forms, and time cards. So, yes I’m ever so grateful for the blogger who takes the time to put their posts into a list that allows me to pick and choose where to spend my time while browsing their ideas and suggestions.

5.  Teaches me organized thinking.

I am not the most organized individual. I have piles of papers in every room of the house. Books I’m referencing stacked on all surfaces, and stuff (I don’t even want to figure out what it is) shoved behind, under, and inside every furniture item. Thank goodness that blog post shows me how a non-cluttered idea should be.

…Now to find a bulleted blog post about de-cluttering my home in five easy steps.

 

The Magic of Relating Experiences

I once read a blog post where a woman described being defecated on by her newborn son in such horrifically fascinating detail that I longed for the opportunity to commiserate her experience with her.
I've since changed my mind on that...

The art of relating an experience is what an author/writer aspires to do.
Doing it well is not only a skill, it's a master-craft.

Did you see Lego Movie?
Masterbuilders? Well there are MasterWriters.
Those are the people that can see the elements of an experience that can be arranged and highlighted in such fashion as to render the listener/reader incapable of turning away or closing the book.

Taking things from one mono-angle and elevating the perspective to widen your ability to appreciate the horror of butt-splosion from an unhappy infant.

We've all read the Facebook posts that say nothing more than *Boo, or some other derivation of bland complaint. Did you fall into the trap of following-up for more detail?
Did you get any more detail?
Often those who lack the vision to expound on their experiences from the start can't satisfy your curiosity (at least that's what I've decided to tell myself after totally falling for this kind of post and being left in the lurch).

How much more satisfying is being transported into a friends experience--getting a glimpse into their ability to manipulate an event based on their reinterpretation for entertainment sake? (I'm not talking exaggeration or falsification--far better. The ability to relate an event and make it so personal you know what someone is talking about even if it's never happened to you).
Last winter I was driving a particularly treacherous canyon road in the middle of a whiteout snowstorm. I was terrified. Literally scared out of my mind.
Guess what? That's not interesting.
And it didn't help me handle the situation with any additional skill or grace.

Drawing upon some story relator masters I had been devoting hours of spare time listening to/reading. I decided to *retell* myself the experience I was having.
Winter Olympics were happening during that time. It gave me a perfect opportunity to reshape the event.
NOTE: I'm still learning this craft of story relating--you will see the flaws, but this is a blog about the bumps in trying to bring myself up to the level of those I'm inspired by. Enjoy my amateurish awareness into new ways of thinking, speaking, sharing... :D

*I just won the gold medal in multi-ton vehicle canyon Luge! It was a white knuckle blind turn race with 27 competitors backed up behind me- poised to take the lead. No one could see worth crap. Making turns as we had all memorized them in the months of practice runs down and up the canyon. Practice paid off! We're alive! But, I got the gold- so HA!*

I failed to bring the reader into the moment the snowsheet cleared to reveal I was in the oncoming lane with a massive semi-truck yards way and closing. The only thing that saved me was the mind-numbingly slow speeds required under that kind of snow-terror-driving.

Practicing to re-frame my experiences, so that even I would want to have them, has a bonus effect.
My life is way more awesome than it used to be.
Almost every mundane event and experience can benefit from a change of angle. I have found I'm much more content day to day.
*If you see me staring insanely at nothing I'm being awesome. Ask me about it in ten minutes and I can relate to you how awesome the moment was.

If you want to experience True MasterWriters I'll direct you to:
Dan Carlin (this man is the best I've ever heard. Even if you have no interest in history, listening to his podcasts will heighten your expectations for retelling of events) Hardcore History
http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive
And anything written by Sara Baxter www.sarajbaxter.com. 
http://hahasforhoohas.com/stories/kindergarten-wisdom


There is magic in all things--If you know how to tell(show if you're writing, of course) it right.

Back to School Back to Blog

First Three Pages?

Are you kidding me?

I have to be interesting within the first three pages?
Wait, you said paragraphs...
That's not better.

I have a tendency to ramble into something good. I often fail at landing there directly.
When authoring a book there is a challenge--be interesting fast.

If you're reading this with the hope of my secret trick to overcome this obstacle you're in luck!

My Solution:
Write whatever comes out; Edit until you're left with something interesting.

Where does that leave me now?
Revising/Editing.

Finding a Medium

Medium has nothing to do with balance.
Good, that's out of the way.

I have been trying to illustrate some images and sketches for a couple of my writing projects.  I'm not the world's worst at pencil drawing, but I am inconsistent.
Terrible inconsistent.
If I get an image I like, I have NO WAY of duplicating it in any other pose or setting- it's just one single picture in one single pose that can only be used one single way. 
So not very useful if I need more than one illustration for a story.

I have been beating myself over the head trying to force a skill I haven't spent time to develop or improve on.  It's ne of my favorite past times (pretend like a skill is going to magically grow inside my head without study or practice- I blame The Matrix and Kung Fu for my ignorance).

I managed one sketch I approve of for one story aid.  Yeah!  So proud of me!!!

Even better I stopped trying to dream an undeveloped skill into my finger tips and decided to get back to my old standby- Glue Gun!
Yes, it's a form of being pro-gun.  I'm all for defending my rights!

I pulled out that finger blister contraption and got to work. 
My true medium is globs of glue the temperature of lava and otherwise useless scraps of fabric, ribbons, and buttons. 

I'm not sure if there is a class on improving your glue gun/scrap cutting skills, but if there is I'm sure I'd be a natural and ACE it! 
I can wield the otherwise-discard-able scraps into fabulous miniature dresses and runway worthy frocks (two dimensional versions of course).

You would think all my problems would be solved- but making little bitty flat outfits s really only helpful for illustrating one type of book.  Luckily I have a story line I've been working on in need of that exact illustration.  The rest of my writing efforts are still being battered with osmosis.  I've read basketball players can benefit from practicing in their sleep- If I keep dreaming that I'm an infallible illustrator it's bound to come true "I know art" will be uttered by me some day! (credit Keanu).

For now, I have realized my true medium is in hell-glue.  Or is it glue-hell?

I have been distracted by EVERYTHING!

I'm pretty sure I suffer undiagnosed adult ADD.
I have no idea how I got through grad school with this condition.  There were a lot of late night crunch time procrastination induced B level papers...  But, thanks to having stacks of research pre-done but unorganized, I was able to eek the basest of A grades.

I have reached a point where my ideas and my efforts just won't align- thus distraction city!

It doesn't help that social media caters to those of us with ADD.  New tweets rolling in every nano-second allow me to let my brain skip beats to multiple notions at once. 

Maybe if I only followed one or two people right?  I've thought of that. 
Problem: You get tweet posts from about ten gazillion people you aren't even following because annoying companies keep promoting stuff I have no interest in! 
I'm going to start the trend to boycott all promoted items/companies. 

But, I can't blame the media.  It wouldn't exist if people looking for the distraction from our mental battle didn't exist.  I am basically feeding my demons! 

Airplane Mode!  Yes, I use it to force myself to be productive.  How often?  Not enough.  I reset to mandatory airplane mode at least once a week for two hours.  If I wanted to get more done I would be disconnected from the internet everyday- for a set amount of time: not just once or twice a week!

I feel a new goal coming on.

Also, I need to organize my frustrated mind.  Just turning off the internet connection isn't enough for one as distractible as me.  There is Sudoku and Bonus Words to fill the void- and those aren't dependent on the internet.

So, how do I force myself to organize a naturally and perpetually disorganized brain complicated by a sticking point in my progress? 
I'm going to have to revert to Blue's Clues.
It might be because my 2 year old has that show running 24/7 right now (the Steve version- I will not acknowledge the purple shirt dude as a legitimate Blue-man).

But, there are key repetitive aspects of Blue that can help me in my distractions. 
First- take things in small and simple steps.
Deal with no more than three things at a time.
Write down the three issues to be tackled in one sitting- and LITERALLY SIT DOWN TO DEAL WITH IT!!!

That's right, no eating over the sink or pacing the hallway- I have to sit down and DEAL- organize.

!). Airplane Mode Goal- has to be upped to every day. *Grunt

2). Three step tackle- (I literally had to stop myself from skipping to football after writing that- I may be worse than I thought on the distractible dilemma).
Sit and work on three points relating to one thing at once- not three separate projects, but organize one thing into three manageable steps or points. 

This is going to be challenging- yay, I like a challenge!

Love to write, Write to love!

The More you Give the More you Get!


But, if you don't do your part and write in the first place you will probably be out Intec cold wondering where all the love is...

I'll tell you, it's at WANATribe, MyWANA, and WANACon.

Connect to other writers, bloggers, and tweeters of writing and blogging. 
I am still learning, but the resources and connections are uplifting and encouraging, not to mention educational.

I still have no idea how to make blogging more useful for myself- hence the weeks of absence from the effort.  But I have found editing, revising, scene description, character development, plot arch and other writing skills to be improved.

Connections have also brought better insight into when, where, and how to go about query, submission, self publication and the absolute NEED to have a professional editor phase before you approach any of these coveted steps in your writing process. 
I'm still searching the best editor/revision fit for me- just like finding the right doctor or shrink for you on a professional and personal level.  There is a right fit for you on a genre, professional, and personal level- you better find one! (speaking more to myself than anyone else).

My favorite part about finding online writing connections? 
It just feels good to let someone know they're doing well and you appreciate their example in writing. 
Try it.
Trust me.
It's worth your time to let someone know you appreciate their efforts. 


Write to love; Love to write!

Make it BETTER!

You know when you create something you can clearly see where it needs improvement?
Anyone suffer the grand delusion that your creation doesn't need improvement- ever?

I recently discovered that I am not deluded nor do I have clarity.
I'm confident on some areas to improve upon, but have no vision as to how to accomplish that.

I do have a great idea how to make Pinterest better.  Not that it will help me, unless having a pin of an illustration on your wall for an extended period of time gives you publishing rights.  Don't worry, I'm not holding out for that.
I do think the pinning site should adopt more of an 'allRecipe' style.

Most of the items I post are crafty, DIY, baking, or 'I wish my house looked like this' kind of pins.  Wouldn't it be handy to search by supply list instead of some word jumble in a search bar?
I envision one of those pages where you can click on the supplies you have on hand and need to use up. 'paint' 'yarn' 'staples', etc
Click on the supplies and the site would filter to any project or post listing those as materials used- FANTASTIC!  Then I would know right off the bat if it was realistic for me to pin the thing in "I'm really going to do this" board or my "just trying to look cool" board.

Simplified idea for my needs and wants.  However, my writing is more difficult for me to pinpoint- or just freaking pin!  Where is the Pinterest board for my writing projects?  I need to just highlight and pin sections under 'needs setting detail' board, 'add character information/emotion' board, 'lacks conflict' board, etc. 

That way if I were feeling 'conflict' I could just go to my 'needs conflict' board and start filling in the gaps on that part of a story project.
Emotional day?  Just click on my 'add emotion' board and  engage in some writing therapy while developing more complex and repayable characters.
Olfactory senses firing on all cylinders?  Pull up the 'setting detail' board and stink up my story.

Definitely a good plan for making it better.