Ben Folds

Earth-Friendly Friday - GREENPEACE

Do you want to go green? What's the best way to do it? How do you do it?

There's probably nothing more green than Greenpeace.

"In 1971, motivated by their vision of a green and peaceful world, a small team of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, in an old fishing boat. These activists, the founders of Greenpeace, believed a few individuals could make a difference."

I love that quote because my favorite show of all time is It's a Wonderful Life, which shows that ONE person can make a huge difference in the world.

Answer to Thought for Thursday

Answer: (This one you should have guessed) Massachusetts and the Boston Cream Donut

(This one was harder)

Louisiana and the Beignet

Did anyone know?... I'm curious, no, really, I'm hungry. Time for a pastry break.

THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY

QUESTION(S): What two states have OFFICIAL donuts?

And, do you know what the donuts are?

(Come on, take a guess. Everyone must like one donut-throw it into the ring.)

Then come back at 3:00 to see, maybe you were right.

ANSWER TO WORD FOR WEDNESDAY

Procrastination: to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.

So, for all us wanna be writer types, procrastination means not sitting down and getting busy typing. We have to set some priorities if we want to meet our goals - whatever those goals might be. So, this is my challenge to you:

1) Set aside some personal time to do the thing you want to do (whether that's writing or not)
2) Then do whatever that thing is. (It's so easy to let time slip by and then it's gone.)
3) Don't set unrealistic goals (but set some goals)

Now, go on, get busy.

Word for Wednesday

WORD: Procrastination.

What does it mean? I'll tell you about it later. ;-)

Come back at 3:00 p.m. to see the true definition.

Sitting Down to Pay Your Bills - What Could Be Worse?

Self-Editing

Writing is easy. The hard part comes with revising.

Writing is like daydreaming . . . on paper. Editing is like sitting down to pay your bills. It’s not fun or easy and a lot of the time we hate doing it.

Editing is like searching for lice in your kids’ hair. You have to use a fine-tooth comb. And be prepared for a little nitty-gritty work, which might seem a little distasteful and could even make you a little queasy. But, if you prepare for your editing session like you would prepare for an important date, you’ll be miles ahead of the game.

And, if you add these tips to your writing toolbox, editing just might be a little easier:

• Critique Partners:

Check over your manuscript—carefully—for typos, extra spaces, and grammatical errors before giving it to your critique partners to read.

If you don’t have critique partners, get them. If you write for the children’s market, your local SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) will help hook you up with other like-minded individuals and get you into a critique group. This is important because it is difficult to find your own errors. You know what you meant to say and you can read the words the way you meant them without ever noticing even the most blatant errors.

• Computer Software:

Your computer is only one tool in your writing toolbox. Common software such as Word, WordPerfect and others will scan your document for typos, extra spaces and grammatical errors for you, but this is only your first line of defense.

After you have scanned your document for the obvious red flags, provided by your software, you need to read over your manuscript very carefully and then hand it over to your critique partner(s) before you even think about sending it out for possible publication. .

• Critical Questions:

Ask yourself a couple of questions, after you have written your manuscript:

1) What is the topic?
2) What conclusion do you want your reader to draw?
3) What questions do you want the reader to think about, or respond to?

These ideas might help make editing a little easier but, if not, sit down and pay your bills. Then go back to editing, it might not seem so distasteful after that.