One Word Creates Focus
For the past ten years, when the calendar turns to December, I choose my new Word of the Year. One word on which to focus my attention to attract that attribute or blessing into my life during the coming year.
“Celebrate” was my goal that first year. After my mother’s death, I lost the ability to stop working and just have fun. I can’t remember how much celebrating I actually did. But I do remember that I began paying attention to moments worth my excitement. Moments in which to build memories. To call friends and say, “The sun is shining. Let’s have some fun and celebrate its light.”
Another year I chose “Prosperity.” Not because I wanted to become a millionaire and fly around the globe on business every month. But to remind me of all the ways it was possible to prosper. Some of the places in my life where I recognized that prosperity at the end of that year included: friends, knowledge, business progress, and joy.
The year I spent with “Gratitude” opened more doors for me than I could have imagined. It ended with me published as a co-author for the first in a series of books on gratitude.
Each year has been a growing experience. While I choose my Word of the Year with great hope that it will help me manifest something I need, or think I need in my life, some years become lessons in how not to attract what I don’t desire. It takes attention and patience to remember that thinking “I don’t want to end the year without finishing this novel” is not the same as “I write with ease and joy, easily reaching my goals.” Sometimes it takes a LOT of attention and patience.
Some years I learned more about what I didn’t want as I followed where my Word led me. Others revealed that I needed to carry my Word forward, watching it unfold into a second year. But each year brought new possibilities into my life.
Now it’s time to reflect on the coming year. Where do I want to focus my efforts? Which lessons does the Universe have in store for me? What opportunities will my new Word bring?
I don’t yet know. I feel my soul percolating with purpose, sorting words, holding them to the Light and polishing them until they gleam. Any minute now my inspiration for 2016 will reveal its shining self. Until then, there are several more days in which I will practice “Create.”
What will be your Word of 2016?
Can’t Beat These Christmas Gifts for Writers—But You Can Win Them
Each year at this time I either share some ideas about gifts for the writer in your life or a story tied to the season. I’m swamped with projects, so even though there’s a Christmas Elf story running around in my head, there’s been no time to get it on the page. Yet.
Instead of the story, I decided to select three or four inspiring gift ideas. But then I received Derek Murphy’s email about his Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaways. What can I say? Derek’s list is much more fun than the one I had started. And then there’s the bonus—you can win one of these gifts. (Yes, you. There’s no law that says you can’t buy or win a Christmas gift for yourself. No, really. I checked.)
So hop on over to Derek’s page if you want your chance to open a big box on Christmas morning and pull out
… a Glowing Book Lamp – too cool for school, man
. . . Edgar Allan Poe Lunchbox – with your preference of cookies. You can’t go wrong with any gift that comes with a snack unless you prefer
. . . to affront your friends with literate jabs gleaned from the Shakespearean Insults Book, with a bonus gift of Derek’s Little Book of Intimidations and Ultimatums.
Maybe you could use some Awesome Book-Pillows for those late reading night face plants.
I’m leaning toward the Zombie Guide to English Grammar. While you’re making your entry for this item, you’re invited to contribute to Derek’s zombie grammar rules.
There are at least three of you out there just dying to win the Inflatable Wizard Hat for Cats and Harry Potter Plushies Collection. You know who you are. I saw your pets dressed for Halloween.
And oh, please Santa, bring me a pair of those Heated Gloves that plug into your USB. My typing speed doubles when the blood reaches my fingertips. Oh yeah!
I didn’t even know there was a whiskey blend named Writer’s Tears. Now that I do, I feel a burning need to have a bottle sitting on my sideboard. Hemingway may drop by for a drink later. Thankfully, ghosts never drink too much.
If you’re not into the hard stuff, you can take a chance on the Cast Iron Tea Pot Set and Tea. On special occasions, such as a book sale, you might want to add a sip of Writer’s Tears to that pale brew.
Derek’s all about educating writers, so he’s offering you a chance to win a $150 Voucher at Creative Live. The winner chooses an online course for creative individuals.
Did you ever want to write like Jack Kerouac, pecking out each letter on an antique typewriter? Derek has one available. Get your travel writer hat on and take this baby on the road.
If you want a chance at one of Derek’s courses, enter to win his Book Marketing Course, a $197 value. You can use your savings to buy more tea–or whiskey.
Maybe your book is ready to be Formatted, but you’re not about to dive into that process on your own. Win a chance to have it done for you and save your $349 for more whiskey or tea.
Derek’s put a free E-book Cover Design package up for grabs. Sit back and let a professional create an award-winning design. Use the $649 you saved to buy a new chair for your office.
If you’re publishing a print version, I know you’ll want to win the Free Full-print Book Cover Design. That $829 will pay a month’s mortgage in a lot of places.
Are you wondering if you’re ready to publish? Win Derek’s Author Platform Review and Marketing Plan ($2500) and find out.
This item is going to cause a rush for Derek’s website. Hold onto your hat and get your entry in for The 2016 Nanowrimo Castle stay ($5000). Win this chance to hang with Derek during a one month stay in a castle and I’ll be available to carry your bags.
Well, why are you waiting? Hurry up and enter at CreativIndie. (While you’re there, you can’t lose if you sign up to receive his blog posts each week.) With at least five ways to enter for each item, someone’s going to be very happy Christmas morning.
Giving Thanks for Writers
Sadly, no one sent names of combat correspondents they wished to honor. But we know they are out there. Those men and women who serve their country while recording the nature of war for posterity.
I’m thankful for all writers. For those who write only for themselves, to free their pain or express their joy. I’m thankful for those who write one book for twenty years, and for those who shower their readers with multiple books each year. I’m thankful for the writer who needs more encouragement, and the one who is confident. For those who write before work, after work, or on the way to work. I’m thankful for every person who loves words and employs them to entertain and educate the readers of the world.
Happy Thanksgiving, here in the United States. And happy writing to everyone else.
Third Wednesday: Embezzled vs. Emblazoned
Our example sentence is one from a long list sent to me by a reader. Sadly, over a dozen examples of misused words came from one book she was reading. So let’s take a look at the first word from that list.
“Each piece of crystal on the long table was embezzled with the royal crest.”
Embezzled – stole money entrusted to one’s care, or took money by fraud for one’s personal use.
How many big shots from Wall Street have embezzled money in the past ten years, and how many have been arrested and sentenced?
When Darrell didn’t get the promotion he felt he deserved, he embezzled the exact amount needed to purchase a private island near Bali.
Emblazoned – decorated or adorned with a coat of arms.
Pope Urban II ordered that each Knight Templar’s sword and tunic be emblazoned with their famous cross pattee.
Royal tailors emblazoned every stitch of Henry the Eighth’s clothing with his personal coat of arms in threads of gold.
Here’s another look at Embezzled and Emblazoned.
Wrong:
Dolores could not envision making her wedding toast in any goblet not embezzled with Marcus’s and her initials.
Only after Hobart failed to show up for the fourth day running did management discover he had emblazoned over thirty million dollars in the six months he’d worked there.
Right:
It may have seemed an easy solution to his problems, but once Hobart fled with his embezzled fortune, he discovered there was no place he could safely spend it.
Tiring of Dolores’ complaints, Marcus took it upon himself to order champagne glasses emblazoned with his family’s motto—“Get an iron-clad prenup or stay home.”
Marcus and Dolores were unaware that Hobart intended to launder his embezzled money through the auspices of a crystal company specializing in emblazoned wedding favors.
Need a memory trick to distinguish these words? If it’s got a double “z,” it’s always about the money. One “z” is about pride.
Through the Eyes of Combat Correspondents
History’s most famous war correspondent, Ernie Pyle was not an enlisted man, instead reporting for Scripps-Howard newspaper chain. He wrote not from the perspective of generals and leaders of nations, but from that of the private and sergeant on the frontlines of Sicily, Italy, France, and North Africa. His words mirrored what resided in the hearts of young men whose first experiences away from their homes were the horrors of battle.
And though women did not serve in combat, Marguerite Higgins was the first female combat correspondent, reporting on the Korean War and winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1951 for international reporting. Later, she reported from Vietnam. After her death in 1966 she was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in recognition of her war reporting.
The Marines appear to be the only branch of the service with a specific organization for current and retired correspondents, the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association. That might be because according to Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri’s article (see links at the bottom of the post), the Marines created the Combat Correspondent program during World War II.
I was searching for articles and books by enlisted combat correspondents from the Vietnam era through the current action in Afghanistan and Iran. There were few that I found by name and service. Most I discovered in obituaries.
It’s easier to find combat photojournalists than combat correspondents. Today’s world trends toward photos more than words. An evening newscast can showcase four or five photos from the frontlines in less than a minute.
The correspondent selects each word with precision to build a picture of that same scene in the reader’s mind. But he has the advantage of instilling emotion and backstory. He draws the reader into the lives of the soldiers performing their daily duties, sharing what they talk about, what they miss from home, whispering their fears and hopes.
When he writes about the gritty sand that filters into every crevice and rubs skin raw, that’s something one photo can’t reveal. A photo can’t describe the feel of sweat running into a soldier’s boots, or how hunger gnaws at his backbone even when he’s pinned down by enemy fire. It can’t make the reader smell the stench of open sewers under the desert sun. Describing the shockwave of an explosion, how it slams into a body, how it disorients every sense—a photo can only offer a hint of that impact.
A shot of the velvet darkness of a desert sky just as it’s lit with the paths of tracer bullets can’t make the viewer know how those sudden bursts of light burn the retina of the eyes hidden behind night-vision goggles.
It’s the words of combat correspondents that give life to the action photojournalists capture through their lens. Yes, each provides an evocative look at soldiers and war. Both correspondents and photographers capture glimpses of the desolation and the humanity involved in every conflict. And I honor the efforts of both.
But I’m a writer, and today I especially want to remember the men and women whose words make war real to those who wait at home. Who detail the lives of those who live, remind us of those who are injured, and often write the final words about those who leave this life on some foreign soil. They remind us, should we ever forget, that those who enlist and serve are people, just as we are. That those soldiers, sailors, and airmen laugh and cry, they feel fear and determination. That they spend their lives defending us against those who wish to harm our nation or nations needing our help.
I invite you to send the names of current or retired combat correspondents you know and love to me at Suzanne @ TransformationalEditor.com. I’ll collect those names, plus links to articles or books they’ve written, photos if they wish to share, or links to their websites. On November 25th, I’ll publish the names I receive and we’ll honor those soldiers, seamen, and airmen. We can add their names to our prayers of Thanksgiving.
In the meantime, check out these links:
Marine Corps Combat Correspondent Alejandro Bedoya describes his life in service.
A retired Marine Combat Correspondent wears his MCCCA t-shirt.
A Marine Combat Correspondent defines the difference between a combat correspondent and a combat photographer.
One Air Force correspondent’s journey.
To every veteran, every active duty soldier,
in every branch of the service and MOS
Thank you.
Speaking With Young Writers
This morning I had the honor and pleasure of talking with a group from Mrs. Wendy McClure’s fifth-grade writing class at Meadow Lands Elementary School.
Each month she selects not the students who write the best, but those who made the most effort. Their reward is a special lunch with their teachers and the teaching assistants, Principal Kevin Lowe, and a guest speaker. Mrs. McClure serves pizza and cupcakes in a room where she’s decorated tables with colorful cloths, seasonal plates and napkins, and hand-scribed name tags at each place.
It was thrilling to watch the thirteen lucky students eagerly rush to their special event. Holding it in a glass-walled room on the corridor where every child passes on the way to the cafeteria adds to the honor. Mrs. McClure’s students delighted in waving to their friends who ogled the room and its decorations as they proceeded to their lunchroom.
As soon as everyone selected their pizza slices and began to eat, we started talking about writing.
I allowed them to ask questions about my bio, which their teacher shared with them before I arrived. They were keen to know if it was true that I read approximately 400-500 books each year. (That’s a yes.) And in which branch of the service I served. I had to laugh when they reacted to the news of how long ago that had been.
Since the young people had a limited time for lunch and learning what writers do and how they do it, I asked for questions to open the flow. They were well-behaved and asked good questions. Since they were a bit shy, I turned the tables and asked them specific questions about how they get ideas for stories, how they would go about planning a story about a walk through the woods, and how they would create a plot for the type of story they would write. We also made a list of different ways writers can make a living with words.
Their lunch break went by quickly. We posed for a couple of photos, and I cherish the hugs and thank-you’s I received.
I had a wonderful time talking with this group of young writers. They were serious about improving their writing skills and interested in what I shared. I’m inspired by what they are doing in school and hope to see some of the stories they write this year.
It’s heartening to meet teachers enthused about supporting and encouraging students to surpass what they believe is their best effort. I saw that in action today with the half-dozen teachers and the principal who honored these children for their hard work. The children’s faces revealed their delight in being selected to experience something beyond their normal learning experience.
It’s good to know there are always new writers coming into the world. I’m quite sure that one day I’ll be standing in a line at the bookstore, waiting to have my book autographed by one of those young people. I only hope that new author will remember talking craft with me when he or she was young.
A big shout-out and Thank You!
to Mrs. McClure and her students.
4 Ways to Scare the Socks Off Your Readers
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A monster walks into a bar. . .
One patron is terrified because the monster looks like nature’s worst nightmare.
Another patron shakes with fright because he can’t see the monster, but he knows there’s something after him.
The third patron’s fear arises from recognizing the monster and knowing how it can hurt him.
The bartender isn’t scared until it’s too late to save himself because he doesn’t see the monster for what it is.
1) Monsters too big, too creepy, or too ferocious for the mind to comprehend terrify us.
The Jabberwocky of Lewis Carrol’s Through the Looking Glass
The Wendigo of Algonquian legend
Werewolves, anywhere
The Creature from the Black Lagoon
2) The invisible monster creates knee-knocking fright because we can’t fight what we can’t see.
Ghosts in the closet
Goblins under the bed
Demons behind the door
3) We flee in fear from the monster we recognize, understanding all too clearly how it can rend our limbs from our torso.
Baba Yaga, from Slavic fairy tales
The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow
4) We lose our wits when the monster hides in the familiar.
Chucky, the diabolic doll in a series of movies in the 90s
Pennywise the Clown, from Stephen King’s It
Cujo, when man’s best friend turns on him
Christine, when saying you’ve got a bad car means more than it’s a lemon
What’s the last book you read that made you keep the lights on all night? What scares the socks off you?
Third Wednesday: Neigh vs. Nigh
This week let’s talk about another look-alike pair of words, even though these two don’t sound alike. This is the way our first word was used in a book.
“‘The end of your tyranny is neigh,’ cackled the wizard as he raised his staff.”
Neigh – loud, characteristic cry of a horse; to make a horse-like sound.
Pronounced like “nay.”
Raymond heard the horse neigh before he saw it racing across the meadow.
Alice’s laugh attracts attention because it sounds exactly like a horse’s neigh.
Nigh – near in time, place, or relationship. Slightly short of, or not quite accomplished. Being on the left side.
Pronounced – ni (with a long “i”)
Hermoine’s grave lies nigh to Elbert Minchion’s final resting place.
Grandma complained that Miz Galligan could talk nigh onto an hour about nothing in particular.
Here’s another look at Neigh and Nigh.
Wrong:
The only way to steal the blueprints was to get neigh to the plant owner’s daughter by any means necessary.
Wolves circled the corral, and Victoria’s horse began to nigh with fear.
Right:
There’s nothing quite like hearing the neigh of happy horses drift across the field in the early morning.
When you are nigh unto nature, it is possible to forget you had to circle the parking lot nigh onto fifteen minutes before stepping foot into the national park.
Just as the bank robbers drew nigh to Sheriff Bart’s hiding place, his horse neighed a greeting to theirs.
Need a memory trick to distinguish these words? Kids make that “eeehhhhh” sound while riding stick horses. So if there’s an “e” in the word, it rhymes with hay, which is what horses eat. Otherwise, it’s all about where something is in relation to time or place.
You Are the Voice for Those Who Can't Speak
