Monthly Archives: August 2013

Writing Exercise

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Writing Exercise

Rory C. Keel

Our Wordsmith Critique group participated in a writing exercise in which we wrote a letter to a student. In the letter we selected a word and wrote about all aspects of that word and our surrounding community.

When you’re stuck in your writing, use this type of exercise to move your writing along.

 

Balloon

1. An airtight bag that rises and floats above the earth when filled with hot air or gas lighter than air, such as hydrogen or helium.

2. A bag of this sort with an attached car or gondola for carrying passengers or instruments.

3. A small rubber bag inflated for use chiefly as a toy or decoration.

4.  The outline enclosing the words or thoughts of a character in a cartoon, as in a comic strip.

WEBSTER’ NEW WORLD COLLEGE DICTIONARY, Fourth Edition, Page 110

Dear Brian,

Balloons are the most amazing things. They are made from many different materials such as nylon and rubber. They can be any color of the rainbow like blue, red, yellow and green. Some balloons are even Silver or Black.

When I watch a balloon rise into the air, it lifts the corners of my mouth creating a smile without even being tied to it.

A balloon can fly like a rocket when you let it go untied, zigzagging around the room before running out of air.  Clowns use them at parties to make balloon animals like a giraffe or a wiener dog.

Have you ever used them to play games with your friends? When I was a child, my brothers and I would play with them like volleyballs, hitting them to each other across the room. We would also see who could pop the most by sitting on them one at a time. At the carnival people throw darts at them winning the prizes that are hidden behind them.

One of my favorite things to do is watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on T.V. and see the giant balloons of Mickey Mouse and some of my other favorite heroes. Wow, It takes a lot of people to hold the ropes so they don’t fly away!

Science also uses balloons. A weather balloon is a balloon that carries an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity. It can obtain wind data by being tracked by radar as it floats along the air stream. These balloons can reach an altitude of 25 miles or more.

Ocean scientists use balloons to lift heavy objects from the ocean floor such as sunken ships. Balloons are attached to the object and inflated with air, which brings it to the surface of the water.

In medical science balloons are used to open arteries to help blood flow easier. An instrument is inserted near a blocked artery and a balloon is inflated, expanding the artery to allow more blood to flow to the heart.

Balloons are sometimes used for transportation. In early years giant balloons that were driven by propellers were called Dirigibles or Zeppelin’s. They carried passengers from place to place. The military used them in early wars to carry equipment and as look out posts. Today we call them blimps, such as the Goodyear blimp we sometimes see at football games.

Hot air balloons are very popular today. A hot air balloon consists of a bag called the envelope that is capable of containing heated air. Suspended beneath is the gondola or wicker basket that carries the passengers and a source of heat, usually an open flame. The heated air inside the envelope makes it float since it has a lower density than the relatively cold air outside the envelope.

Recently, A hot air balloon event was held near my community of Canyon, Texas, in the Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States.

The hot air balloons were filled at the bottom and lifted out of the 800 ft deep chasm and high into the sky.

The rim of the Palo Duro Canyon in located about 12 miles from my community, the city of Canyon, Texas. It has a population of about 13,000 people, and is the county seat of Randall County. It is located south of the city of Amarillo, Texas, in the Texas Panhandle. The city of Canyon has an average of 19 inches of rainfall annually and ranges in temperature from 74 degrees for the high to 44 degrees for an average low, and an average of 9 inches of Snow each year.

With a University like West Texas A&M University, and many things to see and do such as the play TEXAS in the Palo Duro Canyon, Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Panhandle Plains Historical Museum, Canyon Texas is a wonderful community to live in.

roryckeel.com

Cowboy Slang

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Cowboy Slang

By Natalie Bright

Southerners have a way of cutting consonants and lengthening vowels to speak our mind. Some people may assume we’re ignorant. I think we’re entertaining and somewhat lazy. For instance, we’ve shortened you all to y’all. Rather than converse in a lengthy explanation of our intentions and plans, we simply say, I’m fixin’ to. The listener has to guess at the intended task.

Lunch or Dinner; Which Is It?

Common day phrases have been altered too. My husband and I have had many a discussion regarding breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He insists the correct names are breakfast, dinner and supper, just like his grandparents used to call it.

Talking Hoss

Same thing goes for the American cowboy. Raising quality beef steak was a real profession, and continues to be so today. Technology has had some influence on the cattleman and ranching industry, but what remains is a simple way of speaking his mind. There are few story tellers equal to a group of cowboys gathered around talking hoss. These types of conversations are gold to a writers ear.  I heard a cowboy mention that his horse was smoked, which means the horse had already been ridden hard and needed a rest so the cowboy had to quit work for the day. One simple word can say a lot. 

Down in the Skillet

In the olden days, the Texas Panhandle was down in the skillet. On the cattle drive, the chuck wagon cook, or dough-wrangler, might whip up a batch of sour-doughs with sop (biscuits and gravy), along with a boggy top for dessert (a pie with only a bottom crust).

After work, the ranch hand would dig around in his war-bag for a clean shirt, which is a carry-all for his personal possessions. I’ve heard the term still used today. A war bag is similar to a sports bag with a cowboy’s rodeo gear for riding broncs or bulls.  Back to the olden days, if he could find clean duds, he’d slick-up for the shin-dig at a neighboring ranch where they’d shake a good hoof until day break.

Cowboy Slang Reference

These witty and colorful catch phrases are interesting to me and I love sprinkling a few throughout my stories. I’ve discovered several helpful reference books, in case you’d like to learn more about the lingo of the great American west. These are a few of my favorites:

COWBOY LINGO by Ramon F. Adams, is a collection of slack-jaw words and whangdoodle ways (Houghton Mifflin Company).

WESTERN WORDS, also by Adams, A dictionary of the Old West (Hippocrene Books, New York).

COWBOY SLANG by Edgar R. Frosty Potter

Happy trails and keep writing! 

www.nataliebright.com

 

Learning How to Lose – Part Two

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A Pinch of Rodeo

By Joe R. Nichols

 

Learning How to Lose – Part Two

The manner in which a loss comes to you, can make a huge difference in your mental health for the next twenty-four hours while dealing with the let down. As discussed in part one, when you perform at your best and take advantage of your opportunities, you have to be satisfied no matter the results. But, when the reason for failure is totally your fault, it’s much harder to accept.

Another example from the United States Team Roping Finals in OKC a few years later. My partner and I were seventh high call back. Less than one second separated the top six, and the number one team only had 1.3 seconds advantage over us. When it was our turn to rope, we had to be a 7.2 to take the lead. A respectable time, but very doable.

My mistake was made by concentrating on the 7.2 time, instead of making the run as fast as the steer we had drawn would allow. If we were nine seconds plus, we would have won a lot of money. If I would have focused on the fundamentals, instead of a specific time, we had a steer that we could have easily roped in under seven seconds.

I skipped a very basic step. The steer veered left slightly, and I let my horse run in straight behind him. I should never have let this happen in the first place, but once I recognized I was out of position, I thought I could pull off the shot anyway. After all, we had to be 7.2, I didn’t want to take the time to move my horse over and correct my position.

I missed. I split the horns with my loop, and it flipped off empty. First place paid $69,000, and we had a legitimate opportunity to sack it up. I mentally blew it. Nobody’s fault but mine. No excuses, nothing to do with luck or circumstance, just my bone headed, blanked out lack of focus. Not only did I let myself down, but there’s your partner to consider too. Also your friends and family that have all gathered to watch you and want to see you succeed. It feels like you disappointed the whole world.

This took me years to recover from, if I have ever yet to completely. Before this incident, I was always so confident in the short go rounds. Roping well enough to qualify for the finals, gave me an aggressive, positive attitude, and I always roped my best when the money was up. Fighting off doubt and the fear of failure, became a new process for me. It took a long time to overcome the hesitation and learn to be proactive again.

Do we all let our past mistakes and misjudgments effect our future performance? Yes, we do. It’s just human nature. The secret that everybody knows, therefore it is really no secret, is to not dwell on the past, and to learn from our mistakes. We have to keep competing and repeating the process until we succeed. That’s the hard part, but it’s also no secret.

The Diamond Mine

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

The Diamond Mine

By Nandy Ekle

I looked at the dark cave and started picking my way through. The walls were covered with black rocks, but I knew I would be happy by the time I dug through it all. The black dust swirled around all over me as I raised my tool and began digging.

I broke chunks of black rock off the wall and watched them fall to the ground. More black dust flew around the cave and I coughed. It was painful but I finally found a nice sized rock. I brushed all the dust off, then put it in my pocket and headed back to the light.

When I got to my room I rinsed it and put it on my desk. I took out my finer tools and went to work. I looked at the cracks and chips and found the right spot to tap. It didn’t take long, and pretty soon I could see the faint outline of a work of art.

As soon as I identified the shape, I placed the rock in a kiln with high pressurized heat. After a few days I took it out and went back to work. It had changed from a black rock to a harder rock. I sanded and washed and tapped, then started again. All the while I kept thinking about the sculptor who said, “I find the shape in the medium and just knock off the parts that don’t belong.

When I finish the destruction of my lump of coal, I have a beautiful sparkling diamond.

Every story starts out as a lump coal begging to be turned to a valuable diamond. It takes a lot of digging and a lot of shining, but it’s worth every inch of it.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

“TEXAS”

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“TEXAS”

“Some people find themselves closer to God in church,

but some people find themselves closer to God telling stories,

and I’m one of these people.”

Julian Arrendondo IV

Amarillo Magazine April 2012

photo

PATCHWORK

by Sharon Stevens

So many years ago when I was a little girl my parents bought us a set of “The Children’s Hour” books. I loved to read and pored over these time after time. One of the most treasured was “Favorite Fairy Tales” and one of the stories within was “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde.

Sunday evening I remembered this story but wasn’t sure which book it was in. I googled the one phrase that came to mind which had to do with plucking out the jewel in the statue’s eye and sharing it with another who was poor. It didn’t take me long to locate the book and then to find the pages and then to read the words out loud that Wilde had written so very long ago. I wept with the beauty and the memory as my heart was so full.

On Monday morning I was looking through some old magazines and came across the Amarillo Magazine with the cover story of the Lone Star Ballet titled, “FULL CIRCLE” and I wept with joy of all these kids. How was I to know?

I wept again when I heard of the tragedy of the loss and destruction of the wonderful kids of the “TEXAS” cast and crew! I had just attended “TEXAS ORIGINALS” and saw these kids perform. In fact I congratulated Eric Harrison as he made his way up the aisle after receiving his scholarship that night. And to think that I witnessed these kids who choreographed and performed with Tim Johnson, Clint Diaz, Amanda Starz, Andrew Duncan, Julian Arrendondo IV. I also can’t tell you the number of performances I witnessed at the Branding Iron Theater under the direction of Royal R.Brantley and Stephen Crandall. “Anatomy of Grey” will always be one of my favorites.

For those of you who have read my Wordsmith six blog over the past year know that I hold a precious place in my heart for memories of “TEXAS”. There are so many wonderful people to numerous to name, but my thoughts and prayers are with all of you not only in the cast and crew this year, but since the beginning of time that this dream began. The Dowlen’s, Gene Murray, Lois Hull, HR and Thelma Fulton, Claudia and Mike Wilson, the entire Brantley, Raillard, Moore, family..the list goes on and on and I remember each and every one.

And the canyons themselves. I hear the echos, and see the flashes, celebrating the music that resounds against the walls and through our hearts. I marvel each time I go to see a performance at the names engraved in stone in the front wall of the Phebe Warner’s and those on the back wall of all those who gave their time and their very soul to this endeavor.

And Jerry Williams. Kris Miller does an awesome job, always, but I still miss Jerry and always will.

Jerry and Ruth Holladay performed together as “Patchwork” storytellers. Jerry wore a silk patchwork top hat and Ruth wore a patchwork vest with pockets. In fact the last time I saw Jerry was at “TEXAS” when he would walk up and down the line of visitors waiting to buy tickets and visit and share stories. You could always see his colorful top hat as he moved from one guest to the next. Ruth never knew what story she would tell until she got on stage. She would put her hand in her pocket and pull out an item and what ever she held in her hand would be the story she would share.

There are no words for the grief we all share together! How can the Kunherts and the Hernandez and the Bertrands families bear it? And Christie Spring, how many lives have touched hers as these kids came through. I know Vickie McLean has an ache deep in her heart. And David Yirak, what a tremendous man to feel such loss!

I know Timothy Johnson will carry the pain forever, but I wish for him such peace. And Theron McSay…I pray has comfort for him and his family and friends as he heals from his injuries.

After the death of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana I wrote a letter to the editor of the Canyon News that there were so many wonderful people among us that didn’t make great speeches or hold office but they touched our lives just the same. I wrote of David Schutte who rode the Canyon rim night after night with the Texas flag unfurled. I will always miss David.

Our thoughts and prayers also go out to Harry Haines and their family as they mourn the loss of wife Shirley. She will be missed as well. Shirley was the one who invited me to join the Friends of the Fine Arts Club as she knew I so loved the fine arts. She was very precious to me. So much loss for our community.

The final words of “The Happy Prince” are so simple, but so touching and I hope that sharing these will bring a tinge of comfort to anyone who reads them.

“What a strange thing!” said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. “This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away.” So they threw it on a dustheap where the dead Swallow was also lying.

“Bring me the two most precious things in the city,” said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird. “You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing forevermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince will praise me.”

I have no doubt in my mind that these kids are singing and dancing forevermore on the streets of the city of gold, and they will always have the best seats in the house. Break a leg to all! The performances you will all have to give in the coming years on the world stage will be the hardest to bear.

Time Management

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Outtakes 107

Time Management

By Cait Collins

 Time is precious and we never seem to have enough of it. We fill our lives with work, social commitments, kids’ events and projects, and so on. In the process of stretching ourselves paper-thin, we forget we have a job. We are writers. We should be scheduling time to actually commit words to paper.

I admire my fellow writers who have full or part-time jobs and still commit to spending a specified time each day to their publishing careers. I’ve tried to come home from work, sit down at the computer, and open my current project. Unfortunately my brain doesn’t shift gears that quickly. I’ve found my most productive hours are between 8 and 11 in the evening, three nights each week. That provides time to catch up on my email, do research, and work on synopsis and submissions. It’s not a perfect plan, but it works for me.

One person’s schedule may be a disaster for another. If five to seven in the morning is your best time, great. Put those hours on the schedule and stick to the plan. Do not allow others to make you feel guilty for pursuing your writing career. Your novel, tech manual, memoir, or travel articles are as important as your nine to five job. Your family, friends, and fans will be thrilled when your work is published.

We all know life interferes with the best plans. People get sick, unexpected company drops by; the kids have a last minute project and need your help. When things happen, take a deep breath, add thirty minutes to your schedule for the next four days and catch up. Just remember you are a writer. This is your job. And one day, you will reap the rewards of patience, persistence, and perseverance.

Please STOP IT!

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Please STOP IT!

by Rory C. Keel

 Sentences

To end sentences use a full stop to end affirmative sentence.

Example: I go to work every day.

Orders

Use a full stop to end orders.

Example: Stop pestering the dog.

After Abbreviations

The full stop after abbreviations is optional in American English, but not usually used in British English.

Acronyms

Don’t use a full stop after acronyms.

Example: VA, USO 

The Magic of John Wayne

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The Magic of John Wayne

By Natalie bright

 

While driving a carload of boys, I listened with interest to my 15yo son and his friends chat about movies. I was shocked to hear one of them say that their favorite movie star was John Wayne. What followed was a surprisingly in-depth discussion of his movies, and if the remake with Jeff Bridges lived up to the original version (they all agreed that both actors owned the part). 

I’d like to say thank you cable television. I guess those John Wayne marathons and boring summer days have a way of coming together in every young man’s life. Did you ever imagine that kids of the 21st century would still be watching John Wayne?

Satellite Dish Enchantment

I realized that the youth of today are exposed to so much more than we were. I really didn’t have control of the television channels until I moved out on my own. My children have a television, iPad, and gaming system, all affording exposure to a wide variety of material. My two boys like westerns and 007 and transformer movies, those ridiculous videos on YouTube, and the history channel. Plus we have horses and cattle and lots of chores. It’s a busy and varied life. 

Books for every Taste

And the same goes with books. I read across all genres, and I’ve come to realize that kids are like most adults.  When I speak at schools, I open discussion to talk about their favorite books. I’m always surprised at the variety of answers, and my kids read a mix of genres too, except it’s not the stories I would have chosen for them.  I’m clueless as to why my youngest refuses to read about Harry Potter and prefers zombies instead. And my oldest went from the Jack and Annie series straight into nonfiction about World War I. 

Editors and agents work hard to produce amazing stories, and thanks to social media and eBooks there’s so many ways for readers to discover them. Opportunities abound for writers too.

Rock Songs of the 70’s

As we drove along, we programmed my sons iPhone to the car so he could play his music. The teenagers sang along with today’s country, but the rock songs were from the 70’s and 80’s; Boston, Journey, Eagles. The same rock songs I used to sing to and the same songs that drove my parents crazy. This younger generation thinks they’re the first ones that came up with everything relating to hip. Does that ring familiar?

More Than a Feeling

As More Than a Feeling blasted through the car, my son asked, “How do you know the words to that song?” 

I smiled. Thanks to me, my children are watching excellent movie stars, expanding their interests, considering all the possibilities and realizing that they can be anything they want to be while being exposed to the technology of a new century.

Now if a cable channel would run a Clint Eastwood marathon and if some teenager would take out the trash, my modern world would be complete.

www.nataliebright.com

Learning how to lose – Part 1

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A Pinch of Rodeo
                                             By Joe R. Nichols
Learning how to lose – Part 1
It’s been said, “To learn how to win, you first have to learn how to lose.”
Wise words, but very hard to live by. We all want to succeed, and any set backs are easily perceived as failures. In sports, most chances for success are foiled by a lack of focus, yielding to a distraction, or simply not trusting yourself at the key moment. I plan to discuss all of these scenarios, but this particular story is one where the negative outcome was not influenced by performance. The execution was flawless, it was simply bad luck statistically.
I grew up competing in all rodeo events, but when I quit riding bucking horses, I devoted my efforts to team roping. It’s probably the most humbling event. When you consider you have the minds and personalities of two cowboys, two horses, and a steer whose purpose is to be uncooperative, it’s difficult to have a positive result. It’s also why it is so rewarding when it does come together in a fast clean run.
One of my best long time partners was Wayne Roberts from Elkhart, Kansas. Wayne wanted to win, and knew how to win. We won our share for several years, and we always enjoyed the competition regardless of the outcome. One year in Oklahoma City at the USTRC Finals, we had the opportunity to compete for a first place pay-off of $98000.00.
There were over 700 teams in the preliminary, and we made the top 30 cut to advanced to the finals. All teams in the finals began the four head competition equal. After three go-rounds, we came back to the final and fourth round in 17th position. The big money was paid out to the top twelve placing’s.
Our first three steers were tricky and hard running cattle. We made good runs on every one of them, and felt fortunate to be coming back in a fairly high call back. In the fourth go, we drew a small black steer that had wide flat horns, and also held his head low. Each of these characteristics increased the difficulty for me to catch him, much less catch quick.
It seemed as though we could do no wrong. We went after him aggressively, and had the fastest time of the round. When we rode out of the arena, we were sitting in the number one position. We retrieved our ropes from the stripping chute, and hurried up to the arena fence to watch the rest of the competition. Wayne reached to shake my hand and put his other hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know how this is going to turn out,” he said, “But right now, you and me are winning 98,000 dollars.” We both threw our heads back and laughed, living in the moment.
Now, we had no misconceptions about actually winning first and the top money, but there was a lot of money to be won. We were assured of a large pay-off. The next two teams missed, so with fourteen teams to go, and twelve monies paid, we sat back to see how rich we would become.
The historic statistics of an event of this skill level almost always resulted in fifty percent of the teams being disqualified with no-times. Also in our favor, we had posted a fast time. Even the teams that qualified would have to make a fast run to beat us.
I’ve never seen this happen before or since, but the next fourteen teams in a row all caught, penalty free, and all in fast enough times to beat our total time on four head. We didn’t win a dime. I still can’t believe it. You don’t wish bad luck on anybody, you don’t root for them to screw up or miss, you just know what the odds are and how these deals end up. When you roped to the best of your ability, overcame some bad draws, then put the pressure on your competition with a good run, and still wind up with nothing, it’s a shock.
We did win $2500 each for the fast time in the short-round, and normally that would be considered a great win, but we still felt a let down at the time.
Looking back, it is one of my fondest memories. I can still hear my dear old friend say, “We’re winning $98,000!”

Heart

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Heart

By Nandy Ekle

The heart, the center, the core, the theme, the main idea. This is a very important part of your story. The heart is what the story is about.

Look at anatomy. On the outside we see skin, hair, fingernails. But we don’t see what’s under the skin. We don’t see the bones, the muscles, or the blood in its vessels. But we can look at the skin and see the evidence of those deeper body parts. Our skin has a firm shape because of the bones under it and it’s warm and has a rosy color because of the blood being pumped by the heart through the blood vessels.

Our stories are the same. We talk about story layers all the time, and that’s another good analogy—the onion theory. On the topmost layer of the story you have what’s happening at the moment. The next layer might be what’s going on inside the characters’ heads, and there might be a layer of tension between the characters because of the relationship between them. You could even have a layer of discovery and healing when the relationships change. But the very center of the story, the heart, is what the whole thing is really all about.

The other definition of “heart” I want to talk about sort of fits parallel with this one. Heart equals feelings. One of the best ways to connect with your reader is with emotions. You have a main character that wants something so much they are willing to risk everything to get it. You want your reader to feel this yearning and hunger as much as the character. You want your reader to feel every struggle, every disappointment, every victory with your character. When that happens, the center layer of your story goes right into the reader’s heart and they learn the same lesson the character learns.

In my blog next week, we will look at ways to burrow down into a reader’s heart and make your story become their story.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.