Monthly Archives: June 2008

Jun 27 2008

Writing Restaurant Reviews

Naan from Wikipedia

Last Friday we went out to dinner at a wonderful new Punjabi Dhaba. In my tiny town the international cuisine ranges from pizza, to Chinese food, to Mexican. Having a Punjabi Indian restaurant open here is marvelous. We had such a good time and the food was so enjoyable, that I wrote a restaurant review.

Tandoori Chicken from WikipediaThe owner happily let me interview him, went over his menu with me, and told me about the specialties he wants to share with the community.

Our local paper doesn’t have a restaurant review column, so I sent it to the main editor. She told me she would put it in the Letters to the Editor.

The next day, I received a phone call from the owner of the paper. She liked my writing so well, she asked me if I’d like to write a restaurant review column. Of course I said, “Yes.” Free meals, meet interesting people, write a few words; where could I go wrong?

Other than my gaining a few pounds, it should be a dandy gig.

Jun 26 2008

Update on WordHustler Writing Submission

The day of my first post about WordHustler, I uploaded one short story, located a market for my writing, and submitted it. They offer a free submission the first time you use their service, so it didn’t cost me a penny. I added the Virtual Office service and a Reply Card option.

The Reply Card option sends a postcard for notification of when the submission is received by the publisher. The Virtual Office is a tracking service, that automatically logs in submission results to my account at WordHustler.

Those WordHustler folks are on top of things. One week has passed, and they are already following up on my submission. They didn’t receive the reply card back, so they contacted the publisher. They will be my nagging voice, so I don’t have to track down editors with follow-up queries.

Nice.

I’ll keep you posted on more new developments as they happen.

Jun 25 2008

Three Things Every Great Writer Does

 1. Writes regularly.

Let’s face it. If you want to be a writer, you must sit down and write. For some writers, this means sitting down every day for several hours. For writers who have another job to put food on the table, it may mean writing every day for 15 minutes or one hour. To be an excellent writer takes practice. So write. Every day.

2. Reads voraciously.

Writers love the written word, so reading is up there on the top of their lists. However, we don’t read the same way other people read. We tear the words apart, we look for the structure, for how all the parts are strung together, for the techniques the writer used for effect. So read. But read like a writer.

3. Talks to other writers.

Other writers can be the most valuable asset in your writing arsenal. If you are in a supportive critique group, it can help you become better, faster. If you’re not in a critique group, you can find them online through many writers’ websites. Talking about how things are done, tossing ideas to each other, praising when things go well, and supporting when things don’t go well, is what a good critique group provides, in addition to reading each other’s work. So find other writers and talk.

 

Jun 24 2008

Three Things Every Great Teacher Does

1. Build relationships.

This sounds so simple, doesn’t it? However, many teachers forget that people, whether they be children or adults, learn best from someone with whom they have a relationship. The first teacher I had  in my credentialing program pounded it into our heads that relationships are the foundation of learning. He lived what he taught, getting to know each one of us, and having the class over to his home for a get together.

How many of us have had teachers that didn’t care about us or ever take a personal interest in us? Now think back and try to remember anything you learned from that teacher. It’s hard, isn’t it? Now think back to your favorite teacher. Is it someone you had a good relationship with?

When we teach, we become purveyors of knowledge. We come knocking on students’ mental doors, offering them whatever learning we have to offer. Just as you wouldn’t open up to a stranger, they won’t open up to our learning if we don’t build that relationship first. Once we know and trust someone, we are more open to whatever is being offered. Great teachers know that relationships come first.

2. Make difficult concepts seem easy.

Have you heard of instructors that say they never give As? They think their course is so hard that they never meet students who can master the content. What’s actually happening is the teacher doesn’t know how to teach. Even the most difficult of concepts can be broken down to basic chunks that students can master a little bit at a time. Great teachers remember to take baby steps with their students.

3. Make your students feel like geniuses.

If a teacher is doing numbers 1 and 2, then their students will already feel successful. That’s what number 3 is all about. Make them feel like they’re doing a great job. Give feedback in a positive way. Meet them at their level, and help them move up a notch. Your students will thrive. Great teachers know how to make their students feel smart.

Jun 18 2008

Tales Out of School: Flying Port-a-Potties

Picture from Arwoodwaste.com

Now is the time of year when most teachers are out of school and on summer break. This gives us time to recharge and review the previous academic year. Thinking back on the most memorable moments of this school year, one clearly stands out for me. It’s the day of the flying port-a-potties.

We work in a 60 year-old school. It’s not quite crumbling, but the infrastructure is less able to withstand extremes of weather. Winter is a rainy season here in Northern California, and this year was rainier than normal. After several days of heavy downpours, our sewer system decided to go on holiday.

At first, we took our classes on field trips over the bridge to the bathrooms at the middle school. It’s much newer and still had a working sewer system. By the second day, it was apparent our sewer lines weren’t going to be fixed anytime soon, so the principal had an emergency bank of port-a-potties delivered. They were deposited on the blacktop portion of the playground. Spring break, still a month away, was decided upon as the best time to repair the overwrought sewer system.

The girls, predictably, were not eager to use the outdoor toilets. They tried their best to “hold it” until after school. The boys, not so predictably, seemed excited about the new facilities. Whenever we had an outdoor recess, the port-a-potties became their new playground.

What teacher ever thinks, when deciding to go into this profession, that they will be saying, “Quit playing tag in the port-a-potties!” or “Port-a-potties are not for playing hide and seek!” Those words earned me the label of party pooper.

The port-a-potties remained an outdoor fixture on our blacktop through the rest of the rainy season. March, the windy season began, and some days it blew so hard you couldn’t even stand upright. It was on one of those days we heard this announcement over the loudspeakers in our classrooms.

“Please do not allow any students to use the port-a-potties. They are not anchored down, and the wind is blowing them across the blacktop. We don’t want anyone hurt by a flying port-a-pottie!”

The next afternoon, our sewer system was repaired to full working order, and we had the luxury of indoor toilets again.

Do you have any tales out of school you’d like to share?

Jun 16 2008

Get Out There and Hustle Those Words

I just found out about a new site called WordHustler. When I surfed over to check it out, my first thought was “Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?” The website is a bit breezy and cheesy, but the service looks like something that can be a great timesaver.

WordHustler takes the hassle out of the submissions process by letting you upload your files and cover letters in PDF format. You can format your documents to PDF with the free service PDFonline. You store your documents in your very own HustleFolio. Cute, no? Next, choose a market from their extensive database, click, and they print and send the submission for you. Yes, they do all the footwork. There’s no monthly fee; it’s based on a usage fee. The fees are set up so that it will be very cost-effective for novellas and longer works.

I tend to send my short pieces to markets that accept online or e-mail submissions first, simply because it’s so costly and time consuming to print and mail them. The wear and tear on my printer alone is enough to make me balk at hard copy submissions. WordHustler doesn’t make it any less expensive to submit short stories and articles, but it will certainly make it more convenient, so I might give more thought to those vanguards of the old ways that only accept paper submissions. Literary magazines are notorious for that.

It also keeps track of your submissions and the responses as well. So if you travel a great deal, you’ll have a one-stop place to check up on how your submissions are progressing. With WordHustler, it should be simple to keep your work circulating with no down time.

I went ahead and uploaded a short story that’s looking for a home. I’ll give this new service a try with it, and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, if you’ve tried it or had some experiences with it, leave a comment so we can all read about it. Good or bad, we all want to know.

Jun 12 2008

Got Writer’s Block? Enter a Contest!

How many times have you sat down at your computer and stared at the blank, white screen, with the annoying flashing cursor blinking at you? How long did it last? Before you hit the screen with your fist, I mean.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t have time to waste on writer’s block. What do you do to combat this debilitating condition? One thing I do is look through a book of writing prompts. That may or may not help, depending on how good the prompts are. You can browse contests online, which can waste a good deal of time. See my post on procrastination if you need ideas about wasting time.

How about this? I’ll do the contest browsing for you, and all you need to do is check my list of contests, and pick one. Write an entry, and voila! Your writer’s block is cured.

Writing Hand

I find contests to be an invigorating way to boost creativity and productivity. Even if I don’t end up entering the contest, I’ve usually written a piece that can be sold elsewhere.

I currently write a short column of contest listings for the Long Ridge Writer’s Group E-News. There isn’t enough room in that column for all of the contests that I hear about, so I’ll be posting others here.

A few words of advice:

1) Always do a background check on the publication before you write the entry. If you win, you want it to become a credible reference.

2) An entry fee doesn’t always mean a contest is a scam. In fact, the opposite may be true. If a contest requires a modest entry fee, they can use that to pay a reputable judge or judges, as well as provide the prizes.

3) Start writing way ahead of the deadline. Give yourself plenty of time to do your best work.

4) Put any contest honorable mentions or wins in your clip file.

As every writer knows, the more you write, the better you become. Contests are a terrific way to get that writing practice. They also get you used to deadlines so you can learn how to plan your schedule to complete projects on time, which can be a useful skill for a writer.

Click on over to my contest page to see some of the current ones.