Monthly Archives: August 2011

PROOF

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PROOF

by Sharon Stevens

Several years ago my husband and I attended the stage play “PROOF” at the Branding Iron Theater on the campus of WTAMU. The story revolved around a brilliant mathematician after his death. The plot included his two daughters, a former teachers assistant, and their quest to find meaning in their life. The underlying theme was to find “proof’ in the notes that the father had left behind that he had solved a theorem. And later on when they did find the documentation they discovered it was his daughter who had proved the theory.

I was reminded of this story when I saw Googles doodles of the mathematician Pierre de Fermat celebrating his birthday August 17, 1601. Fermat left behind an unfinished equation known as Fermat’s Marginalia, recorded as such because he wrote a note in the margin of the Greek text of his favorite 3rd century mathematician, Diophantus.

To me it wasn’t so much that he left a note spouting his “aha” moment for mathematicians to contemplate for over four hundred years, but that he actually penciled in his thoughts which centuries later would still be inscribed for the world to see.

It is impossible to separate a cube into two cubes, or a fourth power into two fourth powers, or in general, any power higher than the second, into two like powers. I have discovered a truly marvelous PROOF of this, which this margin is too narrow to contain.

The play “PROOF” is over and done with. While watching the performance I have no clue of numbers or intergers or powers. My mind ached as the actors in the play rattled off computations way outside my math skills. My brain just does not compute such nonsense. I left that part behind me on the theater floor. But somewhere filed away I may again find the program from that night, (hopefully) and read the notes I penciled in the margins, the bites and pieces I remember of the the stage, the lights, the audience, the performance, and the words.

Oh how I loved the words!

Each of us as writers have our own way of keeping track of the endless barrage of words we accumulate. We realize we don’t have to have pristine Post-it notes around to record our inspiration. We can find a scrap of paper in the street just perfect to describe a scene, a smell, a hatred, or even a joy or a celebration.

Give us a pen, a pencil, a marker, or a crayon and we will travel! Nothing can stop us from recording what we feel is relevant to us at that particular time.

Loula Grace Erdman, the first Writer-in-Residence at WTAMU wrote in her book “A Time To Write”…

The mere act of picking up a pencil and pushing it across the page tends to put the dream to rout. But on the other hand, the act of holding the pencil furnishes an excellent compensation.

It sets your mind to work, which is a good way to harness a dream.

It may take us years to come across the story that will fit the words we jotted in a moment of passion. What of it? We know that our hearts can wait until that specific thought comes across our path again and not the other way around. We understand that every word printed means that somewhere in the world someone scribbled a note on a scrap of paper. This method then became a sentence that strengthened a paragraph, leading to a chapter, that evolved into book. And even more than that we realize every highlighted entry marked in a book or any notation in the margins becomes a bookmark passed through generations that at the very least can became a story for a storyteller to share.

Absolute PROOF that a writer existed!

Erdman goes on to write… “I still believe, however it is important to set down a thought when it comes. I have used church programs for this purpose, and backs of envelopes and scraps of paper and even, upon occasion, a paper napkin. In working on this manuscript I have repeatedly come across notes I made while writing previous books. I look at them and wonder why I wrote some of these scrawls that confront me. Where was I? What prompted the thoughts which now seem alien and strange?

It is like encountering a ghost of one’s former self.

Pierre de Fermat left an unfinished equation penciled in the margin of a beloved book. He didn’t date those notes, his thoughts too massive to expound. But even though this was not a completed work, he knew he would be leaving behind certain PROOF he lived.

As writers we need no more proof than that, because someday these notes may harness a dream.

Sharon Stevens

“RACE BRED”

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“RACE BRED”

Rare But Special is a horse you would call, “Race bred.” His sire comes from linage of the great Easy Jet, owned and raised by Oklahoma breeder Walter Merrick. The dam (mother) goes back to another super horse named Dash For Cash. The point being, these are winning racehorses, not only successful on the track themselves, but also at producing winners in their offspring. The same selection process to breed cutting horses, reining, jumping, endurance, whatever equine discipline there is, these horse are specifically bred to be the best at what they do.

In Chapter two of my novel TRAILS END, Donnie Williams learns of his new boss’s attempt to breed the perfect cow horse. Robert Jarrett uses a method that involves mating animals that are already related to each other. If it works, it’s referred to as line breeding. If it fails, people call it inbreeding. The result of this project is the ranch horse named Trails End.

Rare But Special came in fourth in his last race. Not too bad, but he has to win first to continue his race career. He has one more chance on August 28. I hope you’ll be rooting for him, he’s a kind sweet horse that didn’t have much of a chance early in life. A lot like my character Donnie Williams.

Joe Nichols

Active Writing cultivates new Material.

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Reasons to Write

Why do I write? Is it because throngs of fans demand it, anticipating every word of my next masterpiece? Is it because I honestly expect to make millions of dollars on a bestseller, or desire to be famous? No.

This week I will share with you reason number 2 of why I write.

Reason #2 – Active Writing cultivates new Material.

 

As a writer do you struggle to find new material to write?

For me, ideas often come to mind when I am actively writing, as if one idea sprouts from another. As my story moves along, writing one sentence after the next, a scene will unfold unlocking a previous thought. Occasionally a secret door in that scene will open showing me an object or a thought that feels out of place and doesn’t fit. These are what I call my story seeds, seeds for another project.

 Story Seeds                                                           

Story seeds are small bits of information that emerge in your thoughts. They can be simple objects like a single red sock hung on a clothesline: why is it blowing in the wind as if forgotten, or was it intentional and a signal for someone? Maybe an animal such as a small brown dog runs through your thoughts while you write. Why is he alone? Does he have a master? These story seeds may be a specific place you’ve never been before or a mysterious person that suddenly emerges in your mind and then vanishes. When these items appear, I quickly record them to use in a future piece.

 Make a List

Make a list in a small pocket notebook or journal of story seeds when they happen. When you struggle to find something to write, use the list to spark a story. Ask when, where, who, what and how about each item on the list to generate the next story.

Make your list!

Rory C. Keel

Reason #3 Next Tuesday

 

WIP? Do Tell!

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WIP? Do Tell!

By Natalie Bright

Do you talk about your WIP (work in progress)?

Some writers feel it takes away the momentum of their story. They don’t breathe a word about the characters and scenes mulling around in their head.  Ask me about my stories, and I’ll talk your ear off.

The first niggling of an idea works itself out in my brain, and as I ponder the possibilities a character, a place and usually their problems begin to evolve. Once I have the ending in my head, I like to verbalize the story idea. When I talk about my characters, it makes them even more real to me. Their personalities and quirks come to life. The whys and reasons and obstacles begin to make sense. And thank goodness, I have a critique group that listens.

Our meetings usually run long. We delve into much more than commas and sentence structure.  Since we’ve been meeting together for several years, we are familiar with each others projects. We dig deep and talk character motivation and plot structure, and it’s wonderful.

What about you; do you spill about your WIP?

Natalie Bright

I Prayed for Rain, But…

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I Prayed for Rain, But…

I hate moving, but I finally got around to looking for a new apartment and changing my address.  The apartment’s great.  It has everything one could want:  good square footage, tons of storage, private patio, fireplace, laundry room, covered parking, two pools, and a workout room. I hired the fire department’s moving service to load and transport my belongings and proceeded to set up my new home. Unfortunately, my upstairs neighbor’s washing machine malfunctioned and my apartment flooded. So here I sit, watching the ceiling over my breakfast bar buckle and sag while I make bets with myself on how long it will take for the sheet rock to fall to the floor. (I’ve settled on 10 AM Tuesday morning.)

No, this is not a joke. Less than one week in my new place and I feel like the movers just unloaded everything. Unexpected, yes, but then again, that’s life. As we are well aware, stuff happens. Wise ones prepare for it and use it to their advantage. As writers, we must view the unplanned as a tool to make our work stronger and more real.

Let’s address the practical first. Back-up your work. My office was in the path of the flood. The complex’s maintenance team handed my computers to my sister and me. I was nearly in tears as we dried them off and checked them out. You see, three hundred pages of my four hundred page novel were on one of the units. “Did you back this up?”  Of course I had backed it up, but my external hard drive was in the office and I didn’t know how much of the room was under water.  My new plan is back everything up on the external hard drive and on a disk or flash drive.

As for the creative side, use an unexpected turn in your work as an opportunity to explore subplots in your storyline. You may first think “Where did that come from?” but do not delete it. You may not have planned the romance or the death, but what if the event is the catalyst that moves your story to a higher level? Why not explore the possibilities? Should you decide not to use the event in the current work, save it in your “unplanned and unexplainable file” for a future project. Never, never, never toss out your outtakes. They could be a goldmine later.

Cait Collins

Postcards From the Muse

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Postcards From the Muse

 

The old house sits on its own little acre of land.  It’s beautiful in its dilapidation, sunburned gray siding, broken windows, roof falling in.  You can’t stop looking at it and wondering about its story.

How many old buildings have you seen as you drive down the road, ancient places full of history and drama?  Do you notice shapes moving around inside?  Do you think that if you listen closely you will hear whispering?  Eerie music?  Phantom laughter?

Congratulations.  You have received a postcard from your muse.

Nandy Ekle

HAMILTONIAN

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HAMILTONIAN

by Sharon Stevens

Author Jennifer Archer encouraged us to celebrate National Book Week by choosing a book close at hand, turning to page 56, reading the fifth sentence, then posting it without listing the title of the book or author.

In an old used paperback I had culled from the shelves, next to my writing space (Natalie Bright, August 8, 2011) I found, “They ain’t nothing but animals, they really ain’t.” (1)

What fun! Intrigued I then took it one step further. My husband and I were stocking college textbooks on the shelves of our Buffalo Bookstore getting ready for the fall semester at WTAMU and I came across the words “In addition, some youngsters got involved painting artistic travel posters to decorate the area.”(2)

In another book I found “As if they were spiritual consumers, young adults are shopping around among a wide range of religious traditions, in the process they are finding new ways to incorporate religion into their daily lives:”(3) Last but not least I read in still another book, “Explain why the tour ABCFECDBA is not a Hamiltonian circuit for the graph below.”(4)

A journalist remarked that of all the generations this was the best time to be a reader, that with libraries, Kindles, Nooks, bookstores as well as Google and Bing you can read any time and any place. Since we own a bookstore filled with used paperbacks, local authors and college textbooks, and with being a living American and breathing free, I wholeheartedly agree! I can go anywhere and pick up whatever suits my fancy at any moment to coincide with my mood at the time. I am then free to put it back down if it doesn’t suit my fancy, (as in studying about the Hamiltonian Circuit) and pursue my passion somewhere else.

Each book to me is a treasure shared from the author directly to my heart. I celebrate each letter, sentence and chapter. Being involved in a writers critique group and a member of Panhandle Professional Writers I know what it takes to put words down on paper and pursue ideas to publication.

I found a chapter on literacy for children, “Many people seem to think that reading is pronouncing the sounds of letters and that writing is about copying print or putting sounds together. These people have forgotten that the purpose of reading is to make meaning.”

And I guess this is what I treasure the most in reading is to “make meaning”. Everything I read connects to some part of my life, my heart, and my soul. I read for pleasure, I read to learn, I read to relish, but I also read to share. What else is a good book for but to pass on to others. On that note, it is amazing how one of my favorite authors always seems to put words together meant just for me, “The silence seemed to stretch miles between them.”(5)

I have a Webster’s Dictionary from 1890, and the fifth sentence down on page 56 is written, “ANTIQUITIES-The remains of ancient times. In this sense it is usually plural.”

The next sentence goes on to relate that “Antiquities comprehend all the remains of ancient times; all the monuments, coins, inscriptions, edifices, history, and fragments of literature, offices, habiliments, weapons, manners, ceremonies; in short whatever respects any of the ancient nations of the earth.”

Thanks Jennifer Archer, as an author, for reminding me to celebrate everything I hold most dear. I couldn’t have written it better myself.

Sharon Stevens

1. Royal Stud, by Stuart Jason

2. Let’s Begin Reading Right,by Marjorie Fields, Lois A. Groth, Katherine L. Spangler

3. Sociology The New Millennium, by Jenifer Kunz & Claudia Stuart professors at WTAMU

4. For All Practical Purposes, Mathematical Literacy in Today’s World by Comap

5. Texas Blue by Jodi Thomas

Reasons to Write

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Reasons to Write

Why do I write? Is it because throngs of fans demand it anticipating every word of my next masterpiece? Is it because I honestly expect to make millions of dollars on a bestseller, or desire to be famous? No.

Over the next few weeks I will share with you a few of the reasons I write.

Reason #1

 

I write to tell a story. Everyone loves a good story. Children drift off to sleep with their heads cradled gently in downy pillows, and their minds full of colorful images from fairytales. Young adults turn the pages of books filled with adventure, loyalty, and sometimes tragedy. They experience a spectrum of emotions as they learn the meaning of dedication, true love, and even loss. Adults feel alive with the thrill of a great suspense novel. As we grow older, we can gain a sense of who we are, and where we came from by reading of our youthful yesterdays.

For a few brief moments in time, a story affords the reader the opportunity to escape reality. Traveling through time into other dimensions, we can explore the far reaches of the future, or a place in history. A story allows the reader to become someone else, able to triumph over evil, or transform into the bad guy. The words of a story can inspire us to overcome the odds stacked against us, and we can experience the exhilaration of victory.

Everyone has a story–write yours.

Rory C. Keel

Reason # 2 next Tuesday!            

“I AM,” I SAID

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“I am,” I said 

I often find myself wondering who am I, or what am I? With the stress of the daily grind, I lose sight of my identity and my purpose. As I begin this new adventure in writing a blog, I’ve decided it’s time to set the record straight. I am Barbara Propst aka Cait Collins. I am a widow, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and a friend. Above all, I am a writer.

Why do I write? I ask myself this question quite a bit; especially when my characters take me in a direction I did not intend for the story. The truth is I write because I must. If I do not write something every day, all those crazy characters invading my mind will zip in and demand to know what my problem is. Have I forgotten I left them clinging to a ledge facing starvation?  Where’s the white knight? So you don’t know how I get out of this mess!  Oh, yeah, these fictous monsters drive me crazy and keep me up at night.

While this scenario might be a bit of a stretch, there is a grain of truth in it. I write because I have stories tell. I write because I believe I have something to say. I write because it’s cheaper than a therapist.

Yes, writing is good therapy. Think how many of your enemies you can kill off in a story. You get out the bad stuff and remain free from a prison term.

Seriously, I invite you to explore creative adventures with me. I don’t have great pearls of wisdom, just simple thoughts on a craft I love. There’s no theme to my Outtakes. I’ll write whatever I take out of my mind.

– Cait Collins

Click on the author page above to connect with Cait.

WELCOME

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Welcome –  Nandy Ekle

Homer, in Book I of The Odyssey:

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns

driven time and again off course, once he had plundered

the hallowed heights of Troy.” (Robert Fagles translation, 1996)

Ideas

As a writer one question I hear all the time is, “Where do you get your ideas?” The theme of my part in this blog is to find all the writing ideas hiding in plain sight all around us. Think of those old hidden picture puzzles and all the objects hiding in the tree bark and grass blades, a face hiding in the wrinkles of a tablecloth, and the shadows which hide the most interesting pictures of all.  Finding ideas to write about is like that. You just have to sharpen your eyes and think outside of the norm.

Traveling Muse

Some of my writer friends and I have often complained and mourned during the dry times when our muses seem to leave us in the middle of a project without so much as a so-long, see you later. Ignoring the irony of the situation, we have actually written some very poetic and profound articles about life during a muse’s vacation. During these times, I occasionally receive extremely coded messages from my muse, but must wait for her reappearance to know what to do with it. This idea of a traveling muse brought the title for my part in this blog, and I am making the pact to stick with the theme.

Who am I?

My name is Nandy Ekle and I love to write horror, suspense, paranormal and humor, but I have also been known to dabble in a little fantasy and memoir.

Join Me

So join me in searching the postcards sent from the muse to find the cleverly hidden objects in her words.

Click on the author page above to connect with Nandy.