If you have written a memoir or a family history, no matter how big or small, here’s a chance for some free publicity for your book. I’d like to interview you about your experience in writing, and share your answers as a post on this blog.
If you are interested, please contact me at info@primary-sources.com.
Here’s my haiku for today, on the topic of Blessing:
May Spirit pet you
May Her warm breath surround you
May your fur lie flat
It’s Haiku Friday again. For the past twenty years or so, it has been my practice to write one haiku every day. Every Friday I share a haiku here, about whatever topic I happen to choose. I invite you to write a haiku on this topic too, and share it with me and the readers of this blog. Just write it in the Comments below. The only rules are: 1) your haiku must be about the named topic; 2) you must follow the 5-7-5 syllable format; 3) no obscenities or hate (I will delete those). That’s it.
Genealogists and historians look backward at the past. What they hope to find are people who did the opposite and looked forward to the future.
In 200 years or so, one of your descendants could come looking for you. What do you want them to find? Just your name and the dates you were born and died? Aren’t you about more than that?
Think forward about your descendants. Remember that your life too, is part of the historical record. Preserve your stories – in your own words. Write those stories down!
You don’t have to tell it all — the lessons from thirty, fifty, eighty years of living can seem a daunting prospect to write, or even remember. To convey a sense of who you are or what is important to you, write about significant motivators in your life — what your passions are, what lessons you have learned, or who you have loved.
If your goal is to leave a legacy to your descendants or future historians, your writings may become a primary source – a historical term that means you were present at a particular event or during a specific time. For instance, if your great-great-great-grandfather voted against Lincoln in the presidential election of 1860, or fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, or helped runaway slaves escape on the Underground Railway, or was a friend of Jefferson Davis – wouldn’t you like to read his own words on the subject? Well, who might be reading your words in 200 years?
We make wills to ensure our possessions are passed on to those who cherish them or can use them. But possessions are just things. Stories are alive. One of the greatest gifts you can give your descendants is the story of who you are. What were your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your griefs? What did you learn? What did you teach? Who did you love?
Goody Beagle here. My human buys Alex and me treats. She buys Vita Bone dog biscuits, Milkbone dog biscuits, Beggin Strips that taste and smell like bacon, and some kind of anti-gas tablets for Alex. (He has stinkiness, as I have written about before.)
I like all of the above, even the anti-gas tablets. The only time I get to eat the anti-gas tablets is when Alex spits his out. He doesn’t like them, because Alex is picky. Our human sometimes sticks the anti-gas in canned dogfood, because he does like that and he eats the anti-gas before he knows it. I don’t think this is fair, because I don’t get the extra canned dogfood, and the only reason is because I don’t suffer from stinkiness. Why am I being punished for a good thing? I am a poor deprived beagle.
Alex doesn’t like the Milkbones either, although he is neutral about the Vita Bones – sometimes he’ll eat them, sometimes he’ll let me eat his. (This does not make up for the extra canned dogfood, however.) But Alex is a big fan of the Beggin Strips, and he would try to steal mine if I wasn’t so quick at gulping it down.
I don’t see the point of being picky. The only thing I don’t like is olives. Luckily there don’t seem to be any olive-flavored dog treats.
Here’s my haiku for today, on the topic of Broody:
brooding is hard work
quick gossip over the worms
then back to sitting
It’s Haiku Friday again. For the past twenty years or so, it has been my practice to write one haiku every day. Every Friday I share a haiku here, about whatever topic I happen to choose. I invite you to write a haiku on this topic too, and share it with me and the readers of this blog. Just write it in the Comments below. The only rules are: 1) your haiku must be about the named topic; 2) you must follow the 5-7-5 syllable format; 3) no obscenities or hate (I will delete those). That’s it.
Recently I had a client tell me she was “offended” because I made the remark that as her ghostwriter, I was “writing for the reader.” She thought I should have said I was writing for her, not the reader.
She was wrong. I was not writing “for” her – I was writing “as” her. That’s what a ghostwriter does. The author – and therefore the ghostwriter – should always be writing “for” the reader.
This may seem really basic, but I am always amazed at how many writers forget about the reader, and only write “for themselves.” “I write for myself,” they state, as if they are proud of it, as if this means they are a “real” writer, in touch with their muse.
But books, blogs, and articles are all about communication. All effective communication is 2-way. The written word is no exception.
You have to know what is important to your reader. Otherwise, he or she will not read your writing. People have a choice to read your article/book/blog, or not to read it. It’s as simple as that.
Not only your topic must interest them, but how you present your topic must be done in a way that they will understand or be entertained by. Some people think that “slanting” your writing to what your reader cares about is selling out/ betraying the “muse,” or pandering and manipulation.
Wrong. Slanting your writing so that your reader can “hear” you is simply good communication. It shows respect for your reader. You are paying attention to who they are, and what they care about.
Tailoring your writing to your reader’s “care abouts” allows you to elicit emotional responses from them. Emotional responses are what leads to action or change, and that’s ultimately what you’re trying to get from your reader – you want them to do something, or learn something.
Remember that a writer is just the vehicle or conduit for ideas or art. For your ideas or art to fulfill their function, they must be heard, seen, felt, and understood by others. Your writing is not for you – it’s for them.
Recently my 6-year-old granddaughter Ellie sent me an example of her schoolwork. It was a “fill in the blanks” form that went like this:
I have a dream. My dream is:
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
I can help my dream come true by:
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Ellie filled it out thus:
I have a dream. My dream is:
Nobutieliders.____________________________________
_______________________________________________
I can help my dream come true by:
Picking up trash___________________________________
When I see It._____________________________________
It took me some time to figure out what her first line – “Nobutieliders” meant. When I did I was so proud – of her dream, although I’m not too sure about her spelling. What about you? Can you decipher what Ellie meant?
Here’s my haiku for today, on the topic of Can’t:
if they say you can’t –
I have a glass pig with wings
she’s flying today
It’s Haiku Friday again. For the past twenty years or so, it has been my practice to write one haiku every day. Every Friday I share a haiku here, about whatever topic I happen to choose. I invite you to write a haiku on this topic too, and share it with me and the readers of this blog. Just write it in the Comments below. The only rules are: 1) your haiku must be about the named topic; 2) you must follow the 5-7-5 syllable format; 3) no obscenities or hate (I will delete those). That’s it.
I’m working on a new updated edition of Making History: How to remember, record, interpret and share the events of your life, which was first published in 2005, then released as a second edition in 2008. These editions covered the years between 1930 and 1989. The new edition will include the 1990s (and drop the 1930s) and will be issued as three ebooks – 1940s and 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and 1980s and 1990s. The 80s and 90s ebook will include new stories, new and extensive timelines, and new questions to spark your memories about the 1990s – it was an interesting decade, to use an understatement.
What do you remember of life between 1990 and 1999? For instance:
Did you try Tofurkey? This vegetarian tofu-based product was introduced in 1995. Did you wear grunge style flannel shirts, or wear a baseball cap backwards? Did you like the curtained hair look for men? Were you intrigued or offended when you heard about Dolly the Sheep? When did you get your first cell phone? How big a cell phone was it? Bet it couldn’t fit in your pocket. When did you first use the Internet, and how did you use it? Can you remember the first thing you searched for? What did you think about the biggest scandal of the decade, featuring Monica Lewinsky? Did the scandal affect how you voted? Did the Rodney King episode affect your opinion of the police? Did the Oklahoma City bombing affect your sense of safety from terrorism? On a lighter note, were you one of the few (very few) people who tried the McLean Deluxe from McDonalds?
The 90s was a busy decade. If you remember any of the above, I’d love to read your stories – please share. Maybe they’ll show up in my book! (I’ll credit you, of course.)
Goody Beagle here. Yesterday was something humans call “April Fool’s Day” which means they act the same as usual. I think Alex Terrgi should have been born on this day because he is a fool too. You should see him at the dog park trying to run with the greyhounds and ignoring the pugs who are more his size. Or watch him put his paw into the water dish for the twenty-seventh time, and then look surprised when his paw gets wet. Or pooping on the porch, thinking our human won’t know it’s him.
At first I thought he would learn, but he’s been around for a while, so now I just think he’s terminally foolish. Our human loves him anyway, so I guess I have to love him too.
