What is your path to a completed manuscript? When you sit down to the tyranny of the blank page, with the curls of a question, seeds of a story or the glimmer of an idea, how do you begin? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Or perhaps you are both, like me. I write in circles. I begin with a curl, a seed, or a glimmer. And I write. Something. I let it tumble out onto the page. I end up with some prose, or a blog post, or a short story. I fly by the seat of my pants and see what happens. I save it. Then I pause. I come back to it later and see if anything more may come. Is this short story enough for the beginnings of a novel? Is this prose enough for a book topic or chapter? Is this activity idea the beginnings of a unit plan or a book guide? Sometimes the answer is no. Or not-yet. Or yes, there is something more here. Here is when I begin to plot. I plot and outline until I get stuck. Then I write some more and see where the next idea, the next plot point, the next scene will take me. Then I write myself into a corner, or get lost along the way. Then I return to my outline and my plotting. And so it goes until my first draft is finished. Then I begin my second draft. Only this time my plot is stronger, the process clearer, and the ideas weave together more tightly. It's an interesting process, writing in circles like this. And I've found it mirrors life. I have dreams. I set goals. And I live life. My life never follows my goals or dreams the way I picture in my mind. Plot twists abound and I just need to take the next step on the next day to find out what happens. Then I return to readjust my goals when necessary. I love this quote from Helen Keller: Life is either |
My books orders are beginning to roll in ready for my 2021 reading pile! This year I'll be attempting another reading challenge with The Literary Life podcast community - 19 Books in 2021. I've got 7 books in my pile to start with and I may be peeking into some of them already. It's gonna be a great reading year. |
...a book that is worth reading
contains the best thought of the writer,
and we can only get at his meaning
by serious thinking...
~ Charlotte Mason ~
Writing The Little Red Writing Book by Mark Tredinnick Novel Writing: 16 Steps to Success by Evan Marshall Faith and Theology Before the Bell: Everyday Encouragement for the Teacher Heart by Trish E. Hodgson The One Year Praying Through the Bible for Your Kids by Nancy Guthrie Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation by Richard Bauckham | Teaching Mind to Mind: An Essay Twoards a Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason and Karen Glass A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason Ourselves: Improving Character and Conscience by Charlotte Mason Good & Great Books The Reading Life by C.S. Lewis Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens History The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage |
Starting out is tough. Nerve-racking, confusing, terrifying. Getting started is difficult. Stepping out into something unknown, that is yet an unseen hope, feels almost impossible.
Who am I as a writer?
The truth is that writing is a journey. Writing is a process of thinking and discovery. To send out your first submissions, to create your first blog, to start your first newsletter seems insurmountable. How do you market yourself when you don't know your identity as a writer. How do you introduce yourself as a writer when you have yet to know what your writing voice is? How do you invite your readers to your newsletter when you don't yet know what readers will connect with you?
I like what Mark Twain says, "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one."
Who am I as a writer?
Well, I'm figuring that out.
I write poetry and children's stories. I create education content and courses. I write fiction and non-fiction. I write about my faith journey. I write about nature. I have yet to be published, aside from what I publish on my blog. I have yet to connect with readers, I do not yet know my writing voice.
How to start your writing life?
Well, you create a blog. Or something else, like Instagram or Twitter, as your first platform. Write about what interests you. Write about how you are starting out. Write about your questions and challenges. Write about the books you love to read. One important rule of writing is 'show not tell'. Show you are a writer.
You carve out time to write every week and play with different forms of writing. It's all compost for those story seeds ready to sprout. If you have been keeping life journals and writing journals secretly, then you can explore those for writing ideas - draw out the themes, find clues to your writing voice and explore them deeper. As you slowly develop a catalogue of first drafts, second drafts, outlines and ideas, you will begin to see sprouts emerge and you will begin to know what to spend more time on. You might just find story sprouts worth cultivating into a submissible manuscript.
Write with friends and learn the craft. Take inspiration from some of our modern greats - Tolkien, Lewis and the Inklings. Explore writing networks online and in-person. Connect with other writers. Listen to their struggles. Support their success. Share the journey of discovery together. Take some courses, read some books and share what you are learning.
Live life. Simply living your life keeps your writing grounded and continues to add compost to your writing soil. Live it, fully and mindfully. Think about it. Write about it.
Starting out is tough. It does take courage. It is possible you feel discouraged at times. But do not despise your first, possible faltering, steps or the day of small beginnings.
© Amy George, May 2020
Please seek permission to link or reference this post.
Please seek permission to link or reference this post.
Happy moments come in small packages and small places.
An old timber dining table serves as my desk and it sits comfortably under a long window that frames my front garden. Garden is a strong word, as this space is simply a hodge-podge collection of scruffy native shrubs and crunchy unwatered grass looking out upon the road.
Yet this view brings me peace. It stirs up ideas, words, and pictures of places. It stirs up stories somehow.
A large evergreen shrub, stretching tall and wide fills up nearly two-thirds of my window picture. Gnarled, cylindric, broadly spreading branches support the blood-red tassell flowers, the new lemon-green leaves and the old emerald-green spreading leaves.
A merry marketplace, these blood-red powder puff's provide nectar all year round for fruit bats, lorikeets, noisy miners, honeyeaters, bees and moths as chickens and lizards are busy amongst the leaf litter. Whether the birds sit primly on top surveying the garden and calling to their friends, hanging fancy-free upside down to reach the tastiest nectar, or hiding within the rough brown branches, there is space here for all the locals.
Sometimes a noise startles the birds into flight and my eyes are drawn to the road. Here are couples running or walking their dog. An occasional horse rider. Young friends on their bikes or families walking together. The birds resettle as the road reveals nothing to fear.
These are small moments, framed by my window. But moments that prove to be a refreshing gift as I turn back to my work and my writing.
An old timber dining table serves as my desk and it sits comfortably under a long window that frames my front garden. Garden is a strong word, as this space is simply a hodge-podge collection of scruffy native shrubs and crunchy unwatered grass looking out upon the road.
Yet this view brings me peace. It stirs up ideas, words, and pictures of places. It stirs up stories somehow.
A large evergreen shrub, stretching tall and wide fills up nearly two-thirds of my window picture. Gnarled, cylindric, broadly spreading branches support the blood-red tassell flowers, the new lemon-green leaves and the old emerald-green spreading leaves.
A merry marketplace, these blood-red powder puff's provide nectar all year round for fruit bats, lorikeets, noisy miners, honeyeaters, bees and moths as chickens and lizards are busy amongst the leaf litter. Whether the birds sit primly on top surveying the garden and calling to their friends, hanging fancy-free upside down to reach the tastiest nectar, or hiding within the rough brown branches, there is space here for all the locals.
Sometimes a noise startles the birds into flight and my eyes are drawn to the road. Here are couples running or walking their dog. An occasional horse rider. Young friends on their bikes or families walking together. The birds resettle as the road reveals nothing to fear.
These are small moments, framed by my window. But moments that prove to be a refreshing gift as I turn back to my work and my writing.
Here's a peek at my growing stacks on my 2020 Bookshelf. I've made a good start to my literary life for this year with 15 books in various stages of completion and some of those books I'll be slow-reading throughout the year. This year I will also attempt the 20 for 2020 Reading Challenge with The Literary Life podcast community. If you are curious to see what I read in 2019, visit My Bookshelf in 2019. |
...a book that is worth reading
contains the best thought of the writer,
and we can only get at his meaning
by serious thinking...
~ Charlotte Mason ~
contains the best thought of the writer,
and we can only get at his meaning
by serious thinking...
~ Charlotte Mason ~
Writing The Australian Students' Guide to Writing and Grammar by Claire Duffy How to Write What You Want to Say by Patricia Hipwell Writing True Stories: The complete guide to writing autobiography, memoir, personal essay, biography, travel and creative nonfiction by Patti Miller | Teaching Ourselves: Improving Character and Conscience by Charlotte Mason The Secret of Literacy: Making the Implicit Explicit by David Didau Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Beck, McKeown, Kucan Embedded: Formative Assessment 2nd Edition by Dylan Wiliam Fewer Things, Better: The Courage to Focus on What Matters Most by Angela Watson How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig |
Faith and Theology What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey Living with Other Creatures by Richard Bauckham Earth Psalms by Francine Rivers The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott | Good and Great Books The Waste Land, Prufrock and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot The Song of Roland translated by Dorothy L. Sayers The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien Surviving the Angel of Death by Eva Mozes Kor John Donne: Collected Poetry, Penguin Classics The Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg The Pacific: In the Wake of Captain Cooke with Sam Neill by Meaghan Wilson Anastasios |
Nature A Place on Earth: An Anthology of Nature Writing from Australia and North America Edited by Mark Tredinnick The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson | Books About Books A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and A Great War by Joseph Loconte Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature by Gene Edward Veith Jr How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders by Stuart Kells |
And just like that Christmas 2019 is finished. The planning, the preparation, the busyness, the celebration.
Each Christmas is different. Some years the season is littered with sickness, loneliness, or grief. Some years the season holds peace and joy in life and I have discovered that no matter what the season holds for me, hope is woven through whether I hang onto it like a lifeline or whether I hold that hope lightly in delight. And for that I can celebrate the truth of love and light that Christmas heralds.
Each Christmas is different. Some years the season is littered with sickness, loneliness, or grief. Some years the season holds peace and joy in life and I have discovered that no matter what the season holds for me, hope is woven through whether I hang onto it like a lifeline or whether I hold that hope lightly in delight. And for that I can celebrate the truth of love and light that Christmas heralds.
Boxing Day means many things to many people. To me it is a day of reflection. A time to finish tidying the last of the celebration mess and a time to sit quietly and allow the memories to nestle in. Whether I am in a season of pain or a season of joy.
Boxing Day also heralds the last week of the year and I consider the year that was and begin contemplating the year ahead. Our Christmas tree and decorations stay up in our home until the first of January. This is a tradition I accidentally fell into but this practice has become a small yearly reminder to me to allow the message of Christmas - hope, joy, peace, love - to be carried into the new year and embodied all year round. These truths are not meant to be only unwrapped each Christmas season.
Boxing Day also heralds the last week of the year and I consider the year that was and begin contemplating the year ahead. Our Christmas tree and decorations stay up in our home until the first of January. This is a tradition I accidentally fell into but this practice has become a small yearly reminder to me to allow the message of Christmas - hope, joy, peace, love - to be carried into the new year and embodied all year round. These truths are not meant to be only unwrapped each Christmas season.
2019 has been a difficult year for many across Australia. We are a land of droughts and flooding rains. A land of extremes. 2019 has been a dry and thirsty year. This Christmas our area drank in life giving rain. The kind that falls softly and gently soaks into the thirsty earth. This rain, our Wet Christmas, is our version of a White Christmas. |
This week in-between Christmas and New Year, the present between past and future, is my time for rest, for cleaning, for reading and writing, and for cricket.
Some accidental traditions are just the best!
After a week of ice-tipped wind reaching to touch the sub-tropics with the edges of winter the air now holds a hint of August spring and this blue-sky Sunday morning promises serenity.
Caught between over-full working weeks, Sundays are special. A moment for coffee in the sun. A moment to read for fun. A moment of quiet reflection and a moment to recentre. This Sunday holds a slow start and a soft, unfolding flow. It gifts time to wander in my own backyard and reconnect with the natural world alive on my doorstep and I am delighted to find my first rose from my birthday rose bush, the aromatic Jasmine flowers in bloom, and both native bees and European bees busy at work while I rest.
A moment to just be in this little patch of earth that is my home. It has been suggested that God creates each flower, again and again, because He loves each individual one and the wonder it holds. Like a child He says, 'Do it again!'. And in this moment I connect to this child-like wonder. It does not grow old.
In this moment I write. In this moment I take time to add some notes of observation and colour in my nature journal that holds this poetic knowledge for days when the frazzle draws on this remembered peace and joy.
Caught between over-full working weeks, Sundays are special. A moment for coffee in the sun. A moment to read for fun. A moment of quiet reflection and a moment to recentre. This Sunday holds a slow start and a soft, unfolding flow. It gifts time to wander in my own backyard and reconnect with the natural world alive on my doorstep and I am delighted to find my first rose from my birthday rose bush, the aromatic Jasmine flowers in bloom, and both native bees and European bees busy at work while I rest.
A moment to just be in this little patch of earth that is my home. It has been suggested that God creates each flower, again and again, because He loves each individual one and the wonder it holds. Like a child He says, 'Do it again!'. And in this moment I connect to this child-like wonder. It does not grow old.
In this moment I write. In this moment I take time to add some notes of observation and colour in my nature journal that holds this poetic knowledge for days when the frazzle draws on this remembered peace and joy.
A Sunday such as this fittingly ends with a time of fellowship and worship with my friends and family. To end this day in moments of remembered grace, truths to anchor my heart, and encouragement to face the new week with purpose and praise provides a spiritual nourishment that breathes life to my heart, mind and soul.
Now I am ready for a new week.
Now I am ready for a new week.
In all things of nature
there is something
of the marvelous.
~Aristotle~
"The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
Marcel Proust
Here is a fun introductory writing unit for teens exploring the non- fiction, informative, genre of travel writing. This unit may take between 2-4 weeks to complete depending upon how much lesson time you have available each week for this unit and how deeply your teen would like to explore travel writing.
Unit Outline
1) Opening Discussion: Consider the following questions - What do you know about travel writing? What do you expect to find in travel writing? Add thoughts into notebook or whiteboard to review and compare later.
2) Sources: Choose between 1-4 travel articles to read and narrate. Some good sources include The Lonely Planet, National Geographic and traveller.com.au.
3) Read one article and discuss. Consider these questions - How does the author catch the reader's attention? Do you think it was effective?; What kind of background information does the author give - is it necessary/do you think anything was left out?; How does the author describe the setting?; How does the author describe people? Compare with the author's description of the location; Does the author use dialogue, does it add to the story?; What is the main event in the article?; Are images or photos included - do they add to the story experience?
4) Read Chapter 13, Writing About Places: The Travel Article in On Writing Well by William Zinsser. Discuss the chapter as you read or have the student write notes or narrations. Read some more travel articles if the students are interested and time allows.
5) Brainstorm a list of events and personal experiences that might make a fun piece of travel writing. Select one topic from the list to write about then write all the names, places, descriptions, notes and phrases that relate. Compare your notes to your original analysis questions and identify the elements that you have included and elements you may need to add.
6) Write your first draft. Edit for spelling, vivid vocabulary, article structure and sentence flow.
7) Complete your final copy with a title. Format and publish like an article and/or share it with classmates in a presentation or collaborative peer review format.
8) Repeat this process if your students would like to write more or integrate this unit with geography, history, or literature where a travel article would connect well with various subject topics.
If you would like a complimentary copy of this unit plan, complete with task sheet and marking criteria, as a pdf please contact me to request the Travel Writing Unit.
Unit Outline
1) Opening Discussion: Consider the following questions - What do you know about travel writing? What do you expect to find in travel writing? Add thoughts into notebook or whiteboard to review and compare later.
2) Sources: Choose between 1-4 travel articles to read and narrate. Some good sources include The Lonely Planet, National Geographic and traveller.com.au.
3) Read one article and discuss. Consider these questions - How does the author catch the reader's attention? Do you think it was effective?; What kind of background information does the author give - is it necessary/do you think anything was left out?; How does the author describe the setting?; How does the author describe people? Compare with the author's description of the location; Does the author use dialogue, does it add to the story?; What is the main event in the article?; Are images or photos included - do they add to the story experience?
4) Read Chapter 13, Writing About Places: The Travel Article in On Writing Well by William Zinsser. Discuss the chapter as you read or have the student write notes or narrations. Read some more travel articles if the students are interested and time allows.
5) Brainstorm a list of events and personal experiences that might make a fun piece of travel writing. Select one topic from the list to write about then write all the names, places, descriptions, notes and phrases that relate. Compare your notes to your original analysis questions and identify the elements that you have included and elements you may need to add.
6) Write your first draft. Edit for spelling, vivid vocabulary, article structure and sentence flow.
7) Complete your final copy with a title. Format and publish like an article and/or share it with classmates in a presentation or collaborative peer review format.
8) Repeat this process if your students would like to write more or integrate this unit with geography, history, or literature where a travel article would connect well with various subject topics.
If you would like a complimentary copy of this unit plan, complete with task sheet and marking criteria, as a pdf please contact me to request the Travel Writing Unit.
Aligned with Australian Curriculum Year 7 English
- Literacy Key Content Descriptors
ACELY1721 - Analyse and explain the ways text structures and language features shape meaning and vary according to audience and purpose.
ACELT1619 - Identify and explore ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters represented in texts from different historical, social and cultural contexts.
- Achievement Standards
Understanding how the choice of language features, images and vocabulary affects meaning.
Use of personal knowledge, textual analysis and other sources to express a point of view.
- Literacy Key Content Descriptors
ACELY1721 - Analyse and explain the ways text structures and language features shape meaning and vary according to audience and purpose.
ACELT1619 - Identify and explore ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters represented in texts from different historical, social and cultural contexts.
- Achievement Standards
Understanding how the choice of language features, images and vocabulary affects meaning.
Use of personal knowledge, textual analysis and other sources to express a point of view.