Category Archives: Writing

A Pinch of Rodeo -Taking Criticism

Posted on by
Reply

A Pinch of Rodeo

By Joe R. Nichols

 

Taking Criticism

In my days of amateur rodeo, I traveled with cowboys that competed in other events besides Saddle Bronc Riding. I went a lot of miles with my best friend from home that roped calves. Doug and I often found ourselves in trouble, but we got ourselves out of most of it.

We pulled for each other, and believed in each other.

Doug and I, and a bull rider, made a run of three rodeos in Nebraska. After one of my rides, Doug told me about something that caught his attention. “It looks to me like you’re leaning forward too much. Just seems like you’d get along better if you leaned back a little.”

Now, I was by no means offended, but my internal thought was, how could a calf roper know anything about riding broncs? I discounted his information, and never really considered it to be valid.

A month or so later, a top bronc rider that I respected, gave me some helpful advice. He said, “You need to try and get your shoulders behind your hips. That will help you get under your rein and make it easier to reach up and set your feet.”

It made perfect sense to me, and I planned to implement this technique right away. Then it came over me, that’s the exact thing that Doug told me a month ago. I was humbled. Doug didn’t know the whys and fors, and he didn’t say it in bronc rider lingo, but he saw it. And he was right.

The lesson? You can get all kinds of bad advice, but sometimes people on the outside looking in, can see more than we want to admit. From then on, I have always carefully considered all criticism, no matter who it came from.

Negative Spaces

Posted on by
2

POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Negative Spaces

By Nandy Ekle

Negative space is a compositional tool used in both two- and three-dimensional work. The simplest way to describe it is as: “space where other things are not present.”

A famous picture that uses negative space effectively is the famous Rubin’s Vase. This is the vase that could also be two faces. The focus of the picture is the vase, but the space around it becomes its own picture.

Writing also has negative spaces. If you write a story about a certain subject, you might actually be writing about several things, simply by the words you don’t use. Suppose I tell you a story about two soldiers in a war who are in the middle of hot combat. On the surface you might see a story of action, courage and stamina. However, what you might not see right away is the story of their families back home, how the man in the red uniform has a wife, three kids, and two parents waiting for him to return.  On the other side of the vase is the other man’s story of an empty car, empty head, empty home.

Read some stories and see if you can find the negative in yours.

PUDDING

Posted on by
Reply

PUDDING

By Sharon Stevens

My husband was preparing supper on the stove. He does it all the time and I, for one, am so very proud that he does. But this is not what my blog is about this week.

I decided that I wanted to have a little sweetness after the meal and found packages of JELLO pudding up in the cabinet. After choosing “cheesecake”, my favorite, and reading the directions I gathered everything together and began to mix. One problem became apparent though. The instructions said to mix for two minutes. Well my husband was at the stove and the timer was on the microwave aboveYou may think this was no big deal. “Tell him to punch in the time” you say. “Yea right”, I say. By the time he turned from the stove to ask how many minutes, and then by the time he turned back around to set the timer, and then by the time he asked me again, “how many minutes?” the whole shebang would be over. I know this from past experience. Of course there is no way you can ever ruin JELLO pudding. They give so much leeway when you purchase the product. The directions are just guidelines not set in stone. The company just wants you to mix until everything is mixed together and a little more.

You see I can’t even bake bread, or a decent cake, or brownies. Just because the recipe says to cook in a 350-degree oven for thirty minutes this doesn’t mean MY oven or MY temperature or even MY minutes. And when they say cook until the surface springs back, or that a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, well then Heaven help us! This just doesn’t apply to me.

So many times we have the same problem in our writing. How can we ever know it is done? We keep mixing and adding until the most basic recipe is lost in translation. Sometimes we step back to let it preheat or to stew just a little bit thinking this will fix it. Oftentimes the results are far worse. If I stirred the pudding mix for 1.35 minutes or 3.24 minutes I really don’t think it will ruin the final dish. What destroys the original is the distress we insert as we go. We may be mad or angry and our spoons become our weapon. We may be happy or sad and the same utensils we laid out in the very beginning become a symbol for our tears of joy or pain. Under mix or over mix, you just never know.

After we ate the “sloppy Joe’s” my husband made for supper, he dished himself up a bowl of desert. I didn’t tell him he was in the way so I couldn’t set the timer. I NEVER want to discourage his time at the stove. I hope when he tasted my contribution that he couldn’t tell that I didn’t mix it for the exact amount of time the instructions on the box called for.

My sweet husband told me he liked it and that’s all that matters.

Must be that the proof was in the pudding.

Should I?

Posted on by
Reply

Outtakes 91

Should I?

By Cait Collins

 

I have learned there are some things a woman my age should not do. Like buy a pair of 4-inch heels. I’ve worn high heels since I was in high school, but they were two, maybe two-and-a-half inches. Maybe heels do make your legs look sexier and add inches of height to those of us who are vertically challenged, but they also mess with your balance, put stress on your back, and kill your feet. Sorry, but there’s only so much I will do in the name of beauty. However, I have new respect for the ladies that can pull it off.

By the same token, there are some things a writer should seriously consider before taking the plunge. Recent events, politics, religion, and social changes have spawned massive email and social media campaigns that are offensive and degrading. I believe in freedom of speech, but should I risk my professional image as a writer by posting negative comments about political parties, religions, or special interest groups? I don’t think so.

Have you listened to an actor, sports figure, or an author accuse a group or individual of being racist, behind the times, or people haters. Has your faith or your choice to take no stance on religion been disparaged? How have you responded? Have their words so enraged you that you refused to buy tickets to the person’s movies or sporting events? Have you quit buying books by certain authors? I know I have made those choices. I’ve blocked Facebook posts and emails because I was hurt and disappointed by careless comments from someone I had admired and respected.

We all have strong opinions and positions on various subjects. That’s right and good. The error comes in airing those views in such a way that we offend others. It is unprofessional to use our author pages and websites for such negative postings. Professional sites should be used to promote our work, not alienate the audience.

Find a Penny

Posted on by
Reply

Find a Penny

By Rory C. Keel

Last week, in the parking lot of a local grocery store, I stood at my car door and looked down at the pavement. I noticed a tarnished penny and Abraham Lincoln staring at me. At that moment I had a decision to make, do I stoop over and pick it up?

What’s a Penny Worth?

There’s a lot of people that feel one red cent is not worth a plug nickel, and it must be true, I seem to find more pennies everyday.

I remember a time when gum-ball machines were a penny; today the cheapest gum machine is a quarter.

In the sixties I saved every cent. I didn’t think twice about picking one up then. I dug them out of the cracks in the sidewalk, street gutters and even work for what seemed like hours to get one out of the asphalt of a parking lot. After a thorough cleaning, I counted ten pennies and grouped them into ten stacks to make one dollar. I did this until I had accumulated three dollars, enough to purchase a new Banana seat for my bicycle.

I don’t know what the manager of the Wacker’s five and dime store thought about me that day, but he grinned and acted as if he appreciated that I came to his store when I poured all three hundred pennies onto the counter.

Pick It Up!

As I slid the key into my car door, I bent over and picked the penny up.

Now those in-the-know say that the exertion one expends to pick up a penny verses the return in earnings makes the effort futile. Basically, it’s not worth the time to pick up the coin. This thought ran through my mind until I remembered how much people pay to go to the gym and sit at a machine in order to exert energy and bend over. I got paid to exercise.

As is my habit, I looked at the date on this coin; it had the year 1977 inscribed to the right of Honest Abe. I dropped the copper into my pocket and my mind raced back to my Grandmother who died that year, high school, my brown 1973 Chevy Vega and my Oh-So-Hot girlfriend.

Picking up that tarnished penny dated 1977 was worth every CENT!

So where do YOU get stories?

Find a penny and pick it up…!

Motivation #4

Posted on by
Reply

Motivation #4

By N. Bright

Story Beginnings

Glorious words and unique descriptions inspire me to work harder on my own stories. Next time you’re out enjoying a latte, wander into your favorite section of the bookstore and read the first two paragraphs only of randomly selected novels. Great story beginnings can be very inspirational. If you come across a few that blow you away, jot one or two first sentences down in your idea notebook (You do have pen and paper in your pocket or purse, right? I use the notepad on my iPhone a lot too.)

Finding Inspiration in Beginnings

Since I write for children, here are a few of my favorite beginnings in books for kids.

humor (+ element of sound effects)

“On the morning of the best day of her life, Maud Flynn was locked in the outhouse, singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

interesting fact

“The road that led to Treegap had been trod out long before by a herd of cows who were, to say the least, relaxed. It wandered along in curves and easy angles, swayed off and up in a pleasant tangent to the top of a small hill, ambled down again, between fringes of bee-hung clover, and then cut sidewise across a meadow.”

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

surprise

“Princess Quinn of the underground Kingdom of Mandria steadied herself as she balanced upon a footstool in the circle of light directly below the wishing pool.”

Princess Nevermore by Dian Curtis Regan

“Phut Phat knew, at an early age, that humans were an inferior breed. They were unable to see in the dark. They ate and drank unthinkable concoctions.”

Phut Phat Concentrates by Lilian Jackson Braun

unusual idea

“In the city of Ember, the sky was always dark. The only light came from great flood lamps mounted on the buildings and at the tops of poles in the middle of the square.”

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

personal vignette

“Gramps says that I am a country girl at heart, and that is true.”

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

in the middle of things

“Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.” (+ element of dialogue)

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

What motives you to keep writing and submitting, despite the rejection and bad reviews? We’d love to hear from you, too.

Thanks for joining us at WordsmithSix!

www.nataliebright.com

A Pinch of Rodeo – Las Vegas Moment

Posted on by
Reply

A Pinch of Rodeo

By Joe R. Nichols

 

Las Vegas Moment 

It was Sunday before the last performance of the National Finals Rodeo. I won’t pretend to remember what year. I have a terrible memory.

We were there early and it was a nice warm day. Sunshine, music, and friends, kept us outside the Thomas and Mack until performance time. I happened to start up a conversation with a fellow from Los Angeles. I think he was about my age, and I believe he was a dentist. He showed me an autographed picture of Billy Etbauer. It was a great shot of Billy from the previous NFR on a paint horse called Rio Bravo, which set the arena record score. He held that picture like it was an ancient heirloom worth millions of dollars.

The story he told about getting it autographed is worth repeating. Billy and a few other cowboys were at the autograph table in the trade show. This man stood in line for 45 minutes, but ran out of time because of previous plans for dinner with friends. He was so disappointed. This was a planned goal of his before he left home, not something he decided to do after he got there.

He knew that sometimes the cowboys would come up to a certain section of the corridor after their event. He brought the picture with him to the rodeo. Sure enough, there was Billy, but there were friends all around him and he looked to be busy visiting. Not wanting to impose or interrupt, the dentist stood back, and held the picture up facing Billy. It took a while, but Billy happened to see the picture and recognized it. He immediately walked over to him. “Would you like me to sign that?” he asked.

I can’t tell you how much that meant to this guy. He was so impressed that Billy would leave his friends to sign a picture for a complete stranger, and take time to visit with him.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised, I just wish I could remember to tell Billy this story.

Let’s Talk

Posted on by
Reply

POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Let’s Talk

By Nandy Ekle

“Hi. My name is Main Character.” He raised his hand in a wave.

“Hi, Main Character. My name is Nemesis.” He nodded toward Main Character.

Main Character smiled. “It’s good to meet you.”

“Thank you. It’s good to meet you too.”

Main Character looked past Nemesis’ shoulder and Nemesis looked down at the floor. The clock ticked an awkward moment.

Main Character jerked his face back to Nemesis’ face as a flash of thought passed through his mind. “We’re supposed to inspire writers to write a believable dialogue.”

A light snapped on in Nemesis’ eyes. “Oh. Do you mean, like, actually sounding like two people having a conversation instead of sounding like two sides of the same person?”

“Yes. That’s right.” Main Character smiled while his head moved up and down.

“I see.  How do you think a good writer does that?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Main Character said, “Well, I think they have to just almost actually hear two different people speaking and write what they say exactly the way it’s said.”

Nemesis’ eyes darken slightly. “Ya’ know, Mainy, I do b’lieve you jes’ hit da nail rat own its big ol’ head.”

“Yes. And that means the writer needs to know his characters very well.” He took a coupe of steps backward.

“Yore galdern rat ‘bout dat dar rule.” Nemesis took a couple of steps forward toward Main Character.

Main Character turned his head and looked over his shoulder for the door behind him, then he looked back at Nemesis. His brow was lined with worry. “So, do you have any advice to add to that?”

Nemesis stopped moving and lookd up into space as if an idea would appear like a light bulb. “Well . . . yeah. They prolly need to make shore dem readers know who’s tawkin’ when. ‘Cause, like us? We ain’t just standing still flappin’ our gums. We’re acchully doing’ sumpin’”

“That’s right,” Main Character said.

Nemesis grinned a dark toothy grin. Yeah.” He turned to look at the person reading their dialogue. “Got that, reader? Now.” He paused and leaned forward until his nose nearly touched the reader’s nose. The dark light came back to his eyes. “Go do it!”

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

BOSTON

Posted on by
1

BOSTON

“Every step tells a story”

 Freedom Trail

By Sharon Stevens

 

So many years ago I took a creative writing class at Amarillo College from Jodi Thomas and DeWanna Pace.  In the first class Jodi asked us to write a story about finding a shoe. The friend that had encouraged me to take the class had told me about this so I was prepared…somewhat.  I debated and contemplated day after day about what I would write. The whole six weeks of class I worried about my shoe. I have taken three creative writing classes since that time, as well as also attended writing conferences, and joined the Panhandle Professional Writers, one of the oldest continuous writing groups in the country. And I still hadn’t prepared my thoughts on shoes.

Jodi explained that the best advice she ever received was, “Put feet to your dreams.”

And I couldn’t quit worrying about my shoe.

Some time ago I watched a Native American storyteller, Eldrina Douma, share a story at the Branding Iron Theatre at WTAMU about finding a moccasin, and that this was the spirit of her grandfather reminding her of home. After her performance I asked her what gave her the insight to share such a story and she said she had taken Jodi’s class and this was what she had written about the shoe.

A few weeks ago I was watching a news program about Boston and across the screen I glimpsed one of the road signs for their Freedom Trail exclaim, “Every step tells a story.” I was so moved by this simple statement I wrote this down and referred to it over and over and over again, never knowing what an impact these five words would hold for me. And I could NEVER fathom that they would connect to a tragedy in this dedicated and patriotic city.

There are no words to explain or describe a story such as this. You can write every thought using all phrases and dictionary definitions and still you can’t come up with anything close to the memories the whole world will suffer from now on.

At the bookstore we had a family attending New Student Orientation at WTAMU and the mom asked about crime in our community and whether it was safe. You could see as the weight lifted off their shoulders as I explained how closely our campus police, sheriff and police department work together. The dad explained that they lived close to Virginia Tech and they didn’t want to ask, but since we shared about our community so freely they were greatly relieved. Another visitor came into our store and when I asked her where she was from she was very evasive. She said they were from Colorado and after much prodding she explained she was from Aurora Colorado. She just didn’t want to say as whenever she shared she got funny looks and had to tell everyone what she knew.

Someday a family connected to each of these tragedies may step into our community looking for a safe place to rest. As all those who witnessed the Boston bombing and the kids grow, and leave their homes, we may be the ones they turn to as they journey through life. They may come to the musical drama TEXAS or our Panhandle Plains Historical Museum or any of our countless museum or attractions. With the new marketing campaign of “Make Memories in Canyon” they may travel to our area to find a sense of fun or a moment of peace. Who knows?

The Freedom Trail will forever be marred with the blood of those killed and injured. And of course the trail itself is a reminder of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War. And even though the trail may be miles away from the actual bombing, as far as our hearts are concerned the whole city will be connected with pain and ugliness.

I just hope and pray that families will once again walk in the trail of freedom, but that no one ever again has to write a story such as this, and that NO ONE has to follow in the footsteps of the bomber, or the victims, or their families.

I just don’t think I could walk a mile in their shoes.

From the Freedom Trail website…. Though the Hub was filled with marvelously well-preserved historic sites — ranging from Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church to the Old State House and the Old South Meetinghouse — there was no organized route linking these gems together. So in March 1951, Bill Schofield, columnist and editor for the Herald Traveler, wrote to suggest that citizens get together to create the link that would tie the story of the American Revolution together making it easy and enjoyable for residents and visitors. Businessmen and women, elected officials, and non-profits worked together to designate a walking trail on Boston’s sidewalks in front of 16 historically significant buildings and locations. What to call the new path? Rejecting Puritan Path, Liberty Loop, and Freedom’s Way the group settled on the Freedom Trail. Now a national brand, trademarked by the Freedom Trail Foundation, it sets the standard for historic trails.

Pushing Deadlines

Posted on by
Reply

Outtakes 90

 

Pushing Deadlines

By Cait Collins

I have no problem making appointments on time. Usually I’m a few minutes early. I try to apply the practice to my writing career. While I’ve done some of my best writing in a crunch, I do not recommend the practice. Pushing the envelope or missing the deadline could have serious consequences. Lose the idea a deadline is a guideline. Signing a contract is a commitment to provide the project by the specified date.

Begin working on the project immediately. If the research is complete, writing or editing can be set aside temporarily so that another project can be started or completed. Never wait until the last minute to start an assignment. Catch up is easier than a last minute start.

Planning and prioritizing are required to meet those multiple commitments. I use a white dray erase board and a planner to keep me on track. Every assignment is noted in my planner by date received and the due date. The white board tracks the progress of my projects. I do not use different planners and white boards for my career and my personal commitments. Dual tracking opens the door to double booking or missed appointments.

Each writer must develop his own method for tracking contracts, research, submissions, and personal commitments. It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation. Whatever works, make every effort to get the project in on time. Life happens. None of us are immune to illness or the unexpected computer crashing. When life intervenes, contact the agent or editor immediately and explain why you may not be able to meet the contracted date. If given an extension, finish the work and submit it before the expected date. A one-time delay might be overlooked, but repeat offenses could damage a career beyond repair. When the decision comes down to two equally talented writers, the nod will most often go to the author with the best record for dependability.