Historic Event Writing & Journaling

The personal, deeply emotional recording of the start of a war -- this one the Iraq war -- is far different from any text book writing. Here was mine written Wednesday, March 19th, 2003:

There was the U.S. claim that Iraq was hiding "weapons of mass destruction," and (possibly) Pres. George W. Bush's deep desire to finish the First Gulf War his father, Pres. Geo. H. W Bush had started.

... vs. the fact that if the U.S. did attack, it would be the first time our country would ever have initiated an unprovoked attack on another sovereign country. (maybe the first time any UN country would do that)

Would we or wouldn't we? There had been so many deep, heated discussions among friends, co-workers, family members, and others about what the decision would be.

      Surely we wouldn't.
                                        How could we not?

Then the day came. I sat alone in my living room experiencing and seeing the start of a war, and wrote my reaction to it. Here, from my journal:

The Bombing of Baghdad

Wed., March 19th '03 -- all day watching CNN & MSNBC.
This evening the countdown on the latter. Right now it's
5 minutes and counting. Counting towards what?

Armageddon? I'm starting to cry. This countdown isn't exactly like the New Year's Eve ball. But the reverse timing sounds & looks the same. Even that's obscene. Too much like a happy, hopeful, traditional annual event.

I cry -- from fear. Fear of what exactly? Some of it is fear of war, that huge physical and psychological catastrophe. But I think I'm really more afraid of the massive, all pervasive, painful changes that have already begun in the world -- that will surely intensify finding violent voice, as each of our planes drops murderous bombs on innocent people. It's the awful, shameful backlash of hatred from the rest of our fellow man.

I [a grandmother] feel very young & helpless -- vulnerable in ways that I don't even begin to understand. It's such a common phrase -- fear of the unknown -- it's so overwhelming, such a crushing feeling. The immediate future is suddenly scary, some anchor line has broken.

"Opening stages of the disarmament of Iraq" -- we've now begun bombing Baghdad. How very disingenuous of our media to phrase it like that!!  Early dawn in that capital, I can see an innocent softening of their morning sky on my TV. The bombing began about 1/1/2 hrs. after deadline.

3 carriers involved in first small strike against Baghdad.

Herald to the frenzied buildup. The feverish boil lanced.

"Decapitation attack"-- aimed specifically at Saddam. How hideous.

    "Pax Americana" -- said St. Louis journalist Ray Hartman.

         Peace indeed...

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Naturally, including the emotions of an event -- painful, joyful or otherwise -- is more effective than classroom essay style. *But it's also personally healing for the writer to release those emotions onto the page~

Peace to us all~

Lin

COMMENT ON TODAY'S WORLD EVENTS

Nonfiction writing can be an amazing vehicle for reporting your own observations about today's world news.

Examples from The Many Faces of Journaling, 2nd edition

          August 1990 What a very strange world we've become. Now we have a real live prime-time war. Let's see -- how will the commentary go?
                            Scuds 1 -- Patriots 2 -- Pass the popcorn...
For the very young, this is no more real than a video game. How awful for humanity!

Add a few statistics of the day of the event to give the future reader perspective:

          Jan. 2, 2008 In the world outside my office – the futures price of light sweet crude oil topped the $100 mark for the first time, settling back only a few cents to close at $99.62. The market wasn’t altogether happy about that and the DJA lost 220 points to land just above the 13xxx level. Ah, fun and games ~ 

__________________________________________

TODAY'S WORLD
... is "happening" non-stop every day, seemingly at the speed of light! Even our own United States never seems to run out of excitement, strife, marches and protests, world championships and state fair surprises.

Keep a note pad or journal by your chair and when you see and/or hear news that stirs you emotionally -- excitement, fear, fascination, human events. 

WRITE IT WHILE YOU'RE LIVING IT!
Write your anticipation, opinion, hopes
 and fears. Make it come alive.

Next year or decade, your words will reflect those current events AS THEY AFFECTED REAL PEOPLE AT THE MOMENT THEY HAPPENED!

Why do that?

     1. You're creating your future book based on "a look back in time."

     2. Writing it out, really venting, releases your own momentary stress!

     3. By all means, write an addendum the following day or week -- a short term retrospective.

And since it's your book, you can rant, rave or celebrate all you want~

Happy writing 

WHAT'S YOUR NONFICTION CATEGORY & TOPIC?

Logically, "nonfiction" refers to that which is factual.

The judge wants to hear nonfiction, not fiction from the witness stand.

But generally a writer is referring to the kind of information (topic) and how it will be presented. A book about birdhouses might be image-dense with color photos or an instructional "How To Build a Birdhouse" book.

So just in case you're bouncing around your office with way too many ideas or pawing the ground for anything AT ALL, allow me to suggest...

PRACTICAL STRUCTURE

* How To Build a Birdhouse

* Fermented Vegetable Recipes

* Vegan Nutrition

* Patio Pot Gardening

* What You'll Need to Live on Your Own

* Naming Your Computer Files So You Can Find Them Later!

* Maximizing Profit from Your Own Comb Binding Machine

INFORMATIONAL

Today's Google makes research simple now. Between your own experience and the information from serveral *reliable* websites, your writing can shine with wisdom, practicality and smiles~

* The History of Ferris Wheels

* The Fur Traders on the Mid-Mississippi

* Preparing Your Child for Pre-School

* Make Your Garage Sale SPECIAL!

* Everyday Budget ($$$) Savers

Yes, there's overlap between Practical Structure and Informational. But like everything in this business, it's all in how you present it!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

My book "The Many Faces of Journaling: Topics & Techniques of Personal Journal Writing" is packed with information on how to boost the quality of writing content -- useful for the professional writer as well as the personal journaler!

Happy Writing!

NEXT TIME: Personal Experience Books

PROFESSIONAL WRITING TECHNIQUES

Professional Writing Techniques
Part 3 of 3

And a few last tweaking tips to better please your readers~

8. Include an occasional quotation or statistic. 

    Such additions to your text add variety, wisdom and depth to your words, as well as wisdom from a known authority. State the source of all your statistics.

QUOTATION     "Today, growing your global markets has never been easier. With recent advancements in technology, any small- to medium-sized company can grow its business in international markets." 

from Grow Your Global Markets: A Handbookfor Successful Market Entry

by Raymond A. Hopkins

STATISTIC

     "According to a report released by the Pew Research Center, 68% of Americans are on Facebook."

from How Floor DealersCan Beat the Boxes Online

by Jim Augustus Armstrong

9. Use – but don’t overuse – well-known slang or colloquial expressions.

     In nonfiction as well as fiction, a light scattering of such colorful words will go a long way. Really -- how many time do you think we need to read Y'all, before we get it! Too much sounds trite.

And unless you're writing an "adults only" book, be cautious about sexually suggestive slang or derogatory expressions.

10. Condense, but don’t stretch the content. 

      Judicious condensing (tightening the writing) of a paragraph or sentence can be done in ways that keep the meaning clear and eliminate unnecessary words.

Sometimes we string together a series of descriptive, short phrases that would "read" much better if they were combined using one or two specific words that incorporate the phrase descriptions.

However, stretching your content to fill more space always dilutes the message and looks like lazy writing. Your readers will catch on to “word fill” without any trouble and either be bored or so very annoyed!

11. Always ignore MSWord’s corrections except for spelling — usually.
      So often they are dead wrong! And copying their mistake will NOT exonerate you from using it!

That's all the pro tips for now, friends. But you know, deep down, that I'll soon be back with more~

(Yes, I know... that picture plays with my brain, too!)

Happy writing,

Lin

N/F BOOK CHAPTER ENDINGS

 ~ More Chapter Ending Techniques ~

In addition to the suggestions for chapter conclusions in the last post, here's another that works great!

by Linda C. Senn
Available on Amazon

In the 2nd edition of my book Your Pocket Divorce Guide, I added a "TO DO LIST" at the end of the first four chapters to further help the reader. Basically, the guidance in each of those chapters was condensed into a list, providing a concise action plan.

Happy writing!

Lin

PROFESSIONAL WRITING TECHNIQUES - Part 2

Professional Writing Techniques
Part 2 of 3

And we continue with the not-so-secret fine tuning
that elevates good writing to Professional Writing~

4. VARY YOUR SENTENCE LENGTH.

     Avoid long, complex sentences. When you load a *compound sentence* with several phrases, the reader may have to read those two or three times to figure out which ones goes with what!

Usually, the problem can be solved by tight writing. Simply eliminate unnecessary words and replace a phrase with a single, precise word.

For example, instead of saying “the teenager seemed to be all arms and legs and was rather awkward,” write “the gawky teenager.” Or you can split the sentence into two shorter ones.

A really short 2 or 3 word sentence
adds energy to the whole paragraph!

Example: Your salesman wasn't surprised that the devise
     had crashed so soon. Are you?

5. SHORTEN OVERLY LONG PARAGRAPHS.

     A paragraph that runs on for half a page or more lacks energy and visual variety.
And it’s boring!

Read your page carefully, watching for a shift in topic or tone. In a super long paragraph there will usually be several. Break the long paragraphs into two or three smaller ones, and adjust the wording as needed.

6. START EACH CHAPTER WITH A "HOOK" TO SNAG YOUR READER'S INTEREST.

    Hooks take many forms, but as the word implies, all are designed to pull the reader into the next paragraph.

A question or short, premise statement works well, such as: Where would we be without plastic? or A working outline makes the writing flow more smoothly. 

Or you can lighten the tone with Oh, and did I mention....? to introduce the topic of the new chapter.

You can also use a tie-in to the previous chapter. With that process in mind, we can now proceed with … or Based on what we just learned about (previous chapter’s information)...

 

     7. CLOSE EACH CHAPTER WITH A CONCLUSION OR A LEAD-IN TO THE NEXT CHAPTER. 

     For example, You'll soon discover that's the quickest way to trim an oval widget! or After you’ve chosen a theme for your project, you’ll need to collect the materials.

But beware! Some writers don't actually close the chapter -- they begin to babble on and on after they’ve made their point. When in doubt, read over your closing paragraph and underline the concluding sentence. Chop everything after that!

And leave your readers eager to turn the page to the next chapter!

Happy editing!

_________________________________________

NEXT WEEK: PROFESSIONAL WRITING TECHNIQUES

Part 3 of 3

 Quotations & Statistics

Clang & Colloquial Expressions

Chapter "Hooks"

Condensing Text

Beware! MS Word Correcrtions!!

PROFESSIONAL WRITING TECHNIQUES - Part 1

Professional Writing Techniques
Part 1 of 3

The difference between amateurish and truly professional quality writing hinges on many things -- quality of research, tone, slant and almost infinite variables. In this series, we'll look at a few basics that I teach in my nonfiction workshops.

 

1. Write tight! Don’t ramble.

     Eliminate any phrases or sentences that don’t add to the basic focus of the chapter or section.   The fascinating fact that interrupted the forward momentum of the text can usually go in the   next sentence or in a pull-out text box. Or you can try your hand at writing a brief parenthetical "comment" in the sentence.

2. Avoid overusing the “to be” verbs, i.e. is, was, were, are, am.

     These "to be" verb forms pop into our heads (and onto the keyboard) almost automatically. Comfortable, familiar, universally understood...and BORING!

Go through your manuscript, and circle the “to be” verbs, and replace two-thirds of  them with more specific verbs or verb phrases.

That presents a challenge for even seasoned writers. Many of us find it's wise to simply   go with the writing flow for the first draft, rather than breaking your rhythm with instant editing. 

If that's your preference, keep writing and change them when you do your first edit. Highlight them first, then go back and replace each one, working on a page at a time. Generally, replacing about two-thirds of the "to be" words will be enough. Unless you    go nuts every time you spot one! In that case, correct each one when you see it.

Sometimes simply replacing the is/are words with a precise verb will do the trick. Other times, you'll also rearrange the sentence or even the paragraph. Don't settle for OK. Go for excellent!

  

3. Use specific, descriptive nouns.        

     Instead of book, write paperback, volume, tome, booklet, manual  or publication. One of the keys to keeping the reader’s attention is familiarity.

• ·         Twix® bar elicits a stronger reader response than "candy bar,"
• ·         Altoids® wins out over mints,
• ·         Tide® resonates far more than soap or detergent, and
• ·         Kleenex® or Puffs® draws a more personal connection than tissues.

That also eliminates the use of a fistful of adjectives for each noun. Remember to capitalize brand names, and use the Registered Trademark symbol ® when the brand isn't obvious from the name of the product.

Happy editing!

_________________________________________

NEXT WEEK: PROFESSIONAL WRITING TECHNIQUES

Part 2 of 3

 Sentence and Paragraph Lengths

Satisfying Chapter Conclusions

Chapter "Hooks"