Tips and Resources

Grammar Revolution Anyone?

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 2 Comments

I was surprised recently to learn grammar was no longer being taught in our school systems. As writer’s we know the importance of grammar. A great story poorly written will end up on the slush pile, unpublished every time. In 2012,  Progress in International Reading Literacy (PIRLS) released its findings. US students once again lagged behind other countries in reading. Our country spends more on each student than any other country. Yet, for some reason, the basics are not getting through.

I have my own theories as to why our children lag behind in reading, have poor grammar and communication skills; there are many reasons, but I believe one in particular plays a huge role – technology and more specifically texting. As convenient as texting makes our lives, it robs us the chance to genuinely communicate. Acronyms replace words, and 140 characters replace intimate face-to-face conversations. No wonder the next generation is lagging behind, losing the ability to communicate or understand basic language skills. For that, we have done them a disservice.

As a writer and a grand mother having heard the latest dismal education statistics of US students, I thought  I’d pass a great project on to you. It’s the least I can do. We have a responsibility to help re-educate our children and grandchildren. They are the future.  

David & Elizabeth O’Brien of Grammar Revolution are taking the issue head on with their Kickstarter Grammar Revolution Project.

 

 In addition, you may want to check out their website Diagram It, where they offer Puzzlers like the one below.  It’s a great site to share with your children or grandchildren. So drop me a line and tell me. Do you agree with David  & Elizabeth? Do we need Grammar Revolution?

  This is an old slogan for Energizer batteries.

  1. It keeps going and going.
  2. It is a declarative sentence with a transitive active verb.
  3. The direct object is compound, and it is made up of two gerunds.
  4. Gerunds are verbs + -ing acting as nouns.
  5. The skeleton for your diagram looks like this.sentence diagram

Do you know the answer? Can you diagram it? When you’re finished, check your answer here. Do you want to learn more? Learn how to diagram sentences with these exercises.

What Are Your New Year’s Resolutions?

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 1 Comment

English: New Year's Resolutions postcard

Christmas is behind us, my tree is down, and I am beginning to feel a tiny sense of routine returning, but we still have two more day’s before all the New Year‘s festivities are over, so I won’t get my hopes too high. In the meantime, I’ll continue to debate the issue of making New Year’s resolutions for 2013. I didn’t do well with  the ones I made for 2012. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but then, isn’t that the excuse everyone uses.

Looking back over the year, I was surprised to find, in spite of all the disruptions, I’d managed to keep half of the resolutions I made in 2012. Okay, half might be stretching it. Maybe I didn’t keep half, but more than I expected. I started a new blog page, Sheila’s Morning Pages, was elected President of my writer‘s group, and kept at least one of my daily prompts (most days). In addition, one of the short stories I submitted made it to the top 40 as a finalists in the WOW, Women on Writing, Summer 2012 Flash Fiction Contest. So, 2012 wasn’t a complete washout.

Nevertheless, I’d be lying if I didn’t say this past year has been challenging for me, personally. Life definitely got in the way, as it often does. I’m a planner by nature and this year was a frustrating year for me as a writer. If  I learned anything, during this time, it was this: you can’t plan life; you have to go where it takes you.

To quote John Steinbeck, “… the best laid plans… often go awry.”

That’s not to say this diehard planner won’t make a few plans or set a few goals for 2013. But New Year Resolutions…. I don’t know. I think I’ll leave those for the hard-line resolver’s, like you, perhaps, and stick to simpler, short-term goals, more suited to my hectic and unpredictable life.

Like, “Today, I will….”

What about you? What are your New Year Writing Resolutions? Leave a comment, I’d loved to know, and please have a Happy and safe New Year’s.

“Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” John Lennon

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Do Your Writing Goals Meet The Criteria?

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / Leave a comment

While many of you have been navigating the #ds139 "Writer's Block"NaNoWriMo challenge this month, I can’t begin to tell you how many pages I’ve crumpled up while navigating my own challenges, but that’s life.

At any rate, I’ve decided to stop fretting so much and set new goals, only this time make them more sensible, otherwise, I may be the interesting story you read about in tomorrow’s morning newspaper.

In my past life, I was a nurse, and we prepared a plan of care (POC) for every patient, which included stated goals to be achieved before the patient was discharged.

Each goal had to meet the following criteria:

  1. It had to be specific to the patient.
  2. It had to be measurable-“the patient would be able to …. before discharge”.
  3. It had to be achievable – We had to be certain, based on the patient’s condition, the patient could accomplish the goal.
  4. It was a realistic goal- based on the patient’s condition
  5. The goal was attainable – based on the time frame the patient would be in the hospital.

This got me to thinking, why couldn’t I apply the same concept to writing? Life may be throwing a load of crap my way, but I could still set goals for myself based on these same criteria. Once I realized establishing goals was no different from one discipline to another and that I could use something so familiar to me, a load was lifted from my mind. It became easy to apply this to my writing, and I immediately put a POC, of sorts, in place for my writing. You can too.

 Remember:

  1. Goals are not written in stone, they can be renegotiated; don’t panic.
  2. They need to be specific. Make the goal specific to the project.
  3. They should be realistic. Don’t set out to write a novel, when you know you only have time to write a couple of short stories.
  4. Goals must be measurable. Establish a word count per day or a story per month, for example. You must be able to have something to show your goal was completed.
  5. They should be attainable. Set a time frame in which your goal will be completed and stick to it.

Make yourself accountable by writing your goals down. You can list your goals, paste them on a mirror, computer monitor, or make them your computer screen saver, whatever works as a daily reminder. Index cards work well for me.

Goals give you something to work toward becoming your own daily prompt.

Do your goals meet the criteria?  Leave a comment and let me know.

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Setting Effective Writing Goals by Moira Allen

Setting Your Writing Goals by Sharon Hurley Hall

Best Laid Plans

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / Leave a comment

Typical scene at a local emergency room

I had the best plans laid out yesterday morning. I  was up bright and early at my keyboard, ready with an article outlined for Cow Pasture Chronicles, and Morning Pages was brewing in my head. I had pulled my notes and was prepared to start back to work on my novel, mid-morning, when….

Well, stuff happened… Instead of getting any of those things accomplished I ending up spending the next twelve hours in the emergency room with my daughter. It wasn’t as simple as the flu, but she will be fine. It’s going to require more family support, but taking care of family is my top priority, right now. Even, the best laid plans don’t  always work out.

So, what’s the writer supposed to do? Here are a few of my suggestions.

  1. Schedule like hell.
  2.  Make a to-do-list
  3. Use micro moments of time – use travel time to revise, or work on previous pieces.
  4. Have a notebook and pen with you at all times, even at the bedside to jot down ideas, outline notes, etc.
  5. Assign a limited time to social networking each day, otherwise you may find yourself wasting enormous amounts of time.
  6. To save time group tasks together.
  7. Learn to say,”No” to unnecessary drains on your time.
  8. And, keep on writing one word at a time.

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