I’m a couple of days behind for iPadWriMo, so this will be the first of three posts today. Below are several articles and blog posts that have come my way that I want to share, and they are a good example of why I find it a challenge to find and present the single blogging voice that Kristen Lamb writes about in the first link. As much as I try to narrow my interests (focus, Lisa, focus), they continue to be diverse and usually unrelated.
To use the phrase of Barbara Sher, I’m a Scanner:
“Scanners love to read and write, to fix and invent things, to design projects and businesses, to cook and sing, and to create the perfect dinner party. (You’ll notice I didn’t use the word “or,” because Scanners don’t love to do one thing or the other; they love them all.)” ~ Refuse to Choose, by Barbara Sher
Well, maybe not the dinner party part.
Do you think you might be a Scanner, too? Read this excerpt to learn more.
Now, on to the links!
From the latest issue of the SENGVine newsletter, an essay by Angela Arenivar (a Scripps National Spelling Bee finalist featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound), titled “Under the Spell of Words”:
“While my parents were not capable of helping me with my homework when I was growing up, they always supported me in my endeavors and encouraged me to succeed. In spite of their third grade education, they educated me in ways no textbook ever could. Even though my parents could not fathom why I chose to spend so many hours studying words, they supported me.” Read More
From The New York Times, a story about Ann Patchett’s opening her own book store:
“I have no interest in retail; I have no interest in opening a bookstore,” Ms. Patchett said, serenely sipping tea during a recent interview at her spacious pink brick house here. “But I also have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore.” Read More
Also from the New York Times, “Would-Be Engineers Hit Books the Hardest, a Study Finds”:
“The survey shows that many students fail to use study techniques that have been proved effective. The great majority of students take notes in class, but fewer than two-thirds review them later, and even fewer take notes while reading. Only about half of the students surveyed make outlines of course material, or talk with other students or teachers about study strategies. And about 30 percent do not ask for help when they do not understand the course material.
‘There’s a growing movement in the last 10 years or so of colleges explicitly teaching students how to be good students,’ Mr. McCormick said. ‘But too many of our institutions still just assume that students show up knowing it already, or that they’ll figure it out, and too many of them never do.'” Read More
From Kristen Lamb, on platforms (all writers need to subscribe to her blog):
“Our platform definition is basically our image, and affects the way we will approach others. Think of it like how we dress. Do we approach people as the three-piece suit Power Point guy? All business and professional? Are we the D&D T-shirt video game guy, and we quote Blazing Saddles far more than is socially acceptable? Are we the seductive yet snarky diva who teaches about bringing out the inner muse? Defining platform goes a lot to adding to voice.” Read More
From a link that Kristen Lamb provides in the above post – “What NOT to Blog About,” by literary agent Rachel Gardner:
“In this age of social media, it can be easy to fall into a “letting it all hang out” mindset. But if you’re engaging in social networking as a way to help your writing career, you can’t afford major missteps in your online persona. The trick is to be a real person without over-sharing. As an author, there are specific things you should avoid in your blogging, Tweeting or Facebooking.” Read More
On anti-bullying in The Roeper School:
“‘It’s about educating ourselves and parents to understand someone else’s experience, privilege or struggle. It’s about how we view ourselves when dealing with various issues of diversity that we face like race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or class, and how that message is passed on to the children.'” Read More