Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July! Once a year, preferably today, I wish all Americans would re-read the Declaration of Independence. Here are four reasons why:

1.) It offers a mission statement that inspires and is free of self-congratulation: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." I don't know about you, but today, I'm going to worry less about cole slaw and potato salad recipes and more about voting rights.

2.) Thomas Jefferson (the Declaration's chief writer) spells out the reasons that compelled the colonists to break with Great Britain. Today, I resolve not to shoot off my mouth without explaining how I formed my opinions. Oh, and I'll listen to what others have to say.

3.) The signers of the Declaration didn't act rashly. They tried to work from within, but their attempts to petition for redress, warn, remind, and appeal failed. Today, if conversation at the picnic table turns to politics and an argument erupts, I'll offer to mediate. 

4. ) The men who signed the Declaration risked retaliation, yet, to support the Declaration, they pledged to each other their "Lives, Fortunes and …sacred Honor." They had skin in the game. Today, I'm going to write to my congressman about something I feel strongly about. I will not change his mind, but I'll change my attitude from helpless looker-on to someone who acts on her beliefs, albeit in a small way.

When people talk politics at your house, do you raise your voice, raise your hand, take cover in another room, or put on your running shoes and prepare for a long evening? 

Happy Independence Day!

Prompted to Write

Links for Writers

Every middle- and high-school English teacher knows a good writing prompt spurs fluency on the page. Even students who claim they hate to write will produce three paragraphs if the prompt is interesting/inspiring enough. The challenge, of course, is to devise an assignment that makes students reach for their pens or pencils.

Recently, Cheryl Strayed, who wrote the  memoir WILD: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, gave a group of writers some of her favorite prompts. Make no mistake; writers need good prompts as much as the eleven-year-old who insists he hates school and anything that's not skateboarding. Ever spend half the precious hour you scheduled for writing locked in resistance? (Don't wanna write. Can't. Have nothing to say. Who cares what I think?)

Here are a few of Strayed's prompts:

Write about all the secrets that have been kept from you.

Write about a gift that was not well received.

Write about a time when you’d dressed inappropriately for the occasion.

Write about a question you wished you’d asked.

Write about when you knew something was over (or had begun).

Strayed told the writers she met with to respond in their own voice or that of a character. I don't know about you, but I see character turning points in her prompts.

Find more from Strayed in this blog post from Albert Flynn DeSilver:  Albert Flynn DeSilver » Great Writing Prompts. Thank you Cheryl Strayed! Meanwhile, keep the prompts handy for your don't wanna/can't moments

Writer and editor William Zinsser, author of ON WRITING WELL, is losing is vision to glaucoma, but his editing skills remain sharp, so he listens while students read their drafts to him. “People read with their ears, whether they know it or not,” Mr. Zinsser says. I dare you to say don't wanna/can't after you read about Zinsser. (Anna DeStefano pointed me to the article. Thanks!)

The next two links come from a post I did this past Sunday for the Women's Fiction Writers Association. I repeat them here because they deserve attention.

Want to be a better critique partner and focus on big-picture problems rather than grammar? Becca Puglisi shares the questions she uses as a checklist when reading her critique partners' work. (I found this one via Gene Lempp's Writing Resources blog post) 

Writer Elle Cosimano didn't coin the expression "high stakes plotting," but she explains how to do it. 

Your turn: How do you break through don't wanna/can't moments? 

Lemonade and License Plates

Houston enjoyed a long, delicious spring, but the heat of summer has descended, and the kids on my street have set up a slip-and-slide and are busy fashioning a lemonade stand from appliance boxes. The stand will open for business at an upcoming garage sale. I know this because I bounded over to the pint-sized entrepreneurs as soon as I figured out what they were doing. Alas, I noticed a slight standoffishness on their part. Did they think I'd criticize their construction methods? Give them a hard time about blocking my view of a neighbor's bouganvillia? Never! I'd hurried over to advise them to use concentrate instead of the powdered stuff. 

Shoot. I'm that interfering adult. 

***

Ever have a string of days when you could do or say nothing right? My streak started last Friday and lasted through Tuesday, and, boy, was it a doozy. It started with day job matters and went on to encompass every part of my life. For example, the Daughters came over on Father's Day, and one of them spied my new license plates. (They'd come in the mail and were sitting atop a chest of drawers in the family room. I should have tidied them out of sight but had a streak going, remember?) Older Daughter approved of the new plates, but I disagreed. 

"I like the current plates with the cowboy, the oil rigs, the space shuttle, and the starry sky."

Older Daughter's lip curled. "Those are cliches."

"All states have cliches on their plates. Georgia has a peach, Oklahoma has the Native American headdress."

Older Daughter is pleased I've proved her point. "Exactly."

When comes to license plates, I like cliches. Meanwhile, I regret ever encouraging OD and her sister to "collect" sightings of out-of-state tags while on road trips. I should have made them stick with "I Spy" and "Slug-a-Bug."

***  

It's been almost five years since Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, and some of us (okay, me) in the Houston area have lost our preparedness edge. While we ached for victims of Hurricane Sandy, that storm didn't send water sloshing into our houses and thus didn't prod us into topping up our stash of batteries and canned goods.

After Ike, Older Daughter's house and neighborhood was without power for 17 days. The experience turned her into a survivalist, but even she's grown a bit complacent. 

Show hurricane season some r-e-s-p-e-c-t and check out writer/publisher and former Green Beret Bob Mayer's posts on preparedness. Here's the first: The Green Beret Survival Guide: Ref Tornadoes and Hurricanes | Write on the River And here's the second: The Grab and Go Bag: An Essential Survival Thing You Must Have | Write on the River

If there was a lesson in my can-do-nothing-right streak, I missed it, so I can't say I made lemonade from lemons. I did make lemonade, though. From concentrate. 

What's your view on license-plates? Do you like them plain? Illustrated? Do you have a favorite state plate? 

If you live near the coast, are you ready for hurricane season?