Do you use an e-reader?

I’ll have to say, I was reluctant about joining the e-reader stampede.  There’s nothing like the feel of a book in your hand, is there?  And how can you trade it or loan it to a friend?  And what about the thrill of buying a great used book for pennies on the dollar?

But last May, I took the plunge and bought a Kindle. My first purchase?  “This Time Together” by Carol Burnett.  Since then, I’ve added over thirty other books, magazine subscriptions and a game (Monopoly!).

Kindle did not remove print books from my life (ask my husband).  I still buy, borrow, trade and collect as many print books as before.  But taking a Kindle along on a trip is amazing!  Books and the latest Reader’s Digest are at my fingertips.  I play long games of Monopoly while I wait for my husband to get out of work.  Co-workers want to know what I have and do I like it?

Yes, I was converted.

I never knew how much I depended on it until last Friday (reader alert – traumatic details ahead).  I carry my Kindle in a cloth carrier, hand woven by nice ladies in Guatemala.  It has a velcro fastening and a long cord for its handle.  99.5% of the time, the cord is tangled around my purse handle.  They’re inseparable.   Except Friday.  Except for that terrible .5% and that black night of loss.

Let’s put it this way – Kindles do not make good doorstops.

There was a sickening crunch sound and the screen went dead.  DOA.  Kaput!  No more.  <sniff>

The warranty only applies if you don’t mash it between the car door and seat.

What did I do?  Well, this is a family oriented blog, so I’ll spare you the details, except there was some grovelling involved.  A new order was made (we’ll worry about payments later) and -

TA! DA!

Meet Sampson, my new Kindle.  Fitter, trimmer, easier to use.  Bullet proof (claims of unusual ballistics ability are disavowed by Amazon).  The best part of the bittersweet tale?  Amazon archives my purchases.  All I had to do was connect to the internet and SHAZAM! my books were back, including the one I’d been reading at the time of the tragedy – “The Girl Who Played With Fire.”

Thank you, Amazon.  You’re scary, but you’re good.

Do you have an e-reader tale?  Have you taken the plunge yet?  If so, why not?

I teach a small group of ninth graders.  The school would say that I teach English, but all of my students are fluent in the language, so I don’t like calling it that.  I like to say I teach writing, but some days I wonder if I’m doing that either.  You see, some of my students have the whole comma thing down; their syntax is great; and they are pretty practiced at introductions and conclusions.  And yet, I worry that I will never get them to write a decent essay.

The problem is content.  Despite all their lovely adjectives and adverbs and their growing vocabularies, they don’t seem to understand that it’s as boring as plain oatmeal to read book reports disguised as essays and groundless opinions unsupported by facts and research.

So here, in no particular order, are some rules and ideas for essays and papers that won’t bore your reader to the brink of insanity:

• Tell me why it matters.
• Give me something I don’t already know.
• Draw a line to something interesting and seemingly unrelated and make it work.
• Facts.  Give a lot of them and show (in a very brief amount of space) why they are relevant.
• Have a sense of humor.  If you can point out the ironies in a situation, do it.
• Don’t ever say, “I don’t really know…”  If you don’t, then why are you writing about it?  Why didn’t you research it better?  Why don’t you turn off your Poptropic computer game and think for yourself?
• Try to think of an angle your fellow students haven’t thought about.  It’s refreshing.

There you have it.  Seven hints for better essays.  But remember – Content Is King – and you can’t fake it.

Have a great weekend,

Mary

I know the distractions of everyday life.  Probably not as much as a few years ago, when I had two children at home, but I sympathize with writing mothers who never have enough hours in the day.  To find a few minutes to write is next to impossible.  Therefore, my hat goes off to the women of my writing group, Grand Rapids Region Writers Group (http://bit.ly/GRRWG).    Most of them have children at home.  Some of them work full-time.  All of them are short of time.  But they continue to write.  And critique, finish manuscripts, submit said manuscripts, and sell.  I don’t know the percentage of published writers in our group, but I’m willing to bet it’s over fifty, if not closer to seventy-five.  I’ll have to run a poll.

They’re a very dedicated group.  While everyone doesn’t make it to every meeting (the second Saturday of the month at 11:30) they come often enough that I’m worried we’ll soon outgrow our meeting space (Grandvilla Restaurant, 3594 Chicago Dr, Grandville, MI 49418 (616-538-1360).  I read once that the average turnover rate for volunteer organizations is 40% per year.  We laugh at that figure.  Our membership is slightly over last year’s and we continue to host guests each month.

We hold ourselves to high standards.  Along with setting monthly goals, we’ve split into several critique groups who meet outside of the group.  The synergy is awesome.

But that’s not enough.  This group, who continues to write and sell, wants to take our mission a step further.  Come October, we’ll host the “I Always Wanted to Write A Book” conference.  A major keynote speaker will be announced soon (shh! I can’t tell) as well as the other speakers and schedule.

I’ll leave that to later.  The point I want to make is that the typical excuses don’t apply to these women, and they shouldn’t apply to you.  If you have a story you want to write, why aren’t you?  If you need support, look around.  And if you have nothing to do this Saturday, join us at the Grand Villa Restaurant, 3594 Chicago Dr, Grandville, MI 49418
(616-538-1360) from 11:30-2:30.  We’ll be happy to help.

And we’ll be writing.

Cheryl