Author: Abbigail Butz

This class has taught me a lot about writing. I have improved on many aspects of writing. I have learned more about grammar skills and have touched up on some of the concepts that are hard to me, like gerunds, noun clauses, participals, and many more. I also learned how to write a blog post. You always want to have a picture and then break it up into sections. It needs to look clean and organized. I have also learned how to write different styles of papers because we did four different kinds. In the beginning of the year, I barely had a clue what those styles were. I liked doing the blog posts and reviewing grammar because I needed to review grammar skills. I did not dislike anything about the class, it was fun. This class has helped my improve my writing to more advanced college ready writing because I learned I need to show not tell and to show my drive or motive for writing that paper in my story. I also learned to use proper grammar skills and explored different styles of writing that may be needed in college. Overall, this class has taught me a lot about finding my voice and writing in general.

Publication:

The publication process is very stressful. It is a waiting process full of worrying about if they are going to like the story or not. Many people assume that publication is amazing and going to make the writer feel amazing, but it really doesn’t. It is a long process that is not easy. Even on the day that the book is released, everyone thinks it is going to be a huge deal, but it is really not. No one really calls you to praise you or sends you flowers besides your friends. Once your book is published it is very exciting and raises confindence, which soon settles once you have to write another.

The last class:

There are a lot of things that the author wants to tell her students about writing in her last class. Most importantly that writing is about becoming conciuos. Meaning you are writing clearly and from a place you know a lot about. Also that you need to use real emotions in your story. It is more interesting to readers when they can feel the authors emotions. Writing is about expressing your emotions and what your heart feels.

Index Cards:

Index cards are meant to help you remember tasks and ideas. The author always carries them in her back pocket along with her pen, so if she ever sees something worth remembering she can write it down. Like if she hears something that would fit in her story she writes it down. Inspiration can come at random moments, so an index card helps ensure you remember them. Things that make you happy or sad are also things you can write down on your index card. Scenes, characters, plot, and much more are all examples that you can use the index card for.

Calling around:

It helps when you can talk to other people and hear their thoughts and feelings about what you are thinking about writing. Everyone offers different perspectives that you might not have seen. Also they might have more knowledge on a certain topic than you, so it would help to see what they know about it. Picking up the phone can help develop the story. It also helps to get your mind off the story a just talk to someone because writers spend a lot of time alone that some go a little crazy.

Writing groups:

Writing groups help you to get feedback on your story to help improve it. She compares it to going to a camp, where you sit around getting encouraged and feedback on your story. It is a safe place to get honest feedback. It may be harsh at some points, but they are just trying to make you a better writer. Other authors share what works for them and what does not to help you develop strategies. It is beneficial to go to a writing group to improve you and your story.

Someone to read your Drafts:

Many writers do not like having people read their drafts before it is done, but it is beneficial. It helps if you have someone who you trust and feel safe to give you feedback on your story. It catches things that you might not have seen. It lets you see if your story makes sense to others. Getting suggestions only helps you in the end because you might not have saw that point and it may enhance your story.

Letters:

When you get stuck and do not know where to go you should write a letter to someone close to you. Take a piece of paper and write their name at the top and tell them you are telling them a story. Tell them a story about you like your childhood, a favorite memory, or something special to you. These letters can help you remember memories that can be used in your story.

Writers Block:

Writers block happens to everyone. They read what they wrote and it ends up being terrible. It feels like it is the end of the world and that there is nowhere to go. But, a change of mindset can make writers block seem less intense. The author thinks of it as a problem viewed at a wrong angle. In reality it is just that you are empty. So, try to accept that you have hit a roadblock and take a break. She tells her students to write at least three hundred words a day about memories or how much they hate writing just to keep them from losing all touch with writing.

Writing a present:

There are other benefits to writing other then publication. The author has written two books that were presents to loved ones dying. It helped connect her and her father when he was dying by something that can be cherished. Even though a lot of people did not like her story it meant something to her more important. This book could help others going though the same situation.

Finding your voice:

To find your voice you can use other writers style as a example until you find your voice. Finding your voice is important to truly develop you as writer. You must get past feeling like you have to be silenced because you do not. The author suggests to write as if you parents are dead because they are usually the one who tells you what you can say and what you cannot. So, finding your voice is important because it is you and everyone deserves their own voice.

Giving:

Everyday you need to give everything to your writing because more will come for you to give. If you do not constantly give then there is no point in writing. You need to give your story every part of yourself even the hard stuff. It may make you feel like a single parent according to the author. So, writing is all about giving yourself to the story everyday to make it the best you possibly can.

Broccoli:

Having broccoli means listening to the voice in our heads to tell us what to do. So when we do not know what to do when writing just stop and listen. Many people have pushed their intuition away because they feel that it is wrong. You need broccoli when writing because you need both your rational mind and your broccoli. Broccoli helps keep you going throughout the day even on a bad day.

Radio Station KFKD

This is an obstacle to be able to listen to your broccoli. The station keeps playing all the time until you notice you need to turn it off. Once you notice it you have to try to push it away, a quick prayer or a smell, can all help clear your mind. Trying to focus on your breathing is a good distraction to turn the radio station away.

Jealousy

One voice that you may hear on the radio station KFKD is jealousy. As a writer you need to be able to push through having jealousy because it does not help with the confidence you built. Some terrible writers may produce something amazing because they got lucky, but that does not mean you have to be jealous of them.

Plot:

The plot is the main part of your story. You need to focus on your characters and rely on who they are to build your plot. Like the author says you cannot let the characters just not fit with the plot. When people believe in your characters and feel that they are real it develops a better plot. You cannot force a plot to happen with certain characters, it should develop based on them. It helps to picture what your characters would do certain situations. The plot will fall into place with the characters.

Dialogue:

Dialogue is huge in a story. Bad dialogue can ruin it while good dialogue will engage the readers more. To help ensure your writing good dialogue the author suggests saying the words aloud to see how it sounds. Seeing, how you can change the dialogue to improve it each time you read it. Another thing for good dialogue is that each character posses a different voice. When you read a your dialogue you should be able to tell which character said that. They cannot all sound the same because they are not the same person. Third way to have good dialogue is to have them talk to people that they hate or that they are completely different from. It makes things interesting. The better you know your characters and their voice, the more real your dialogue will sound.

Set Design:

When you are writing about a setting, it helps to imagine the setting as if it was a movie and you were watching what was happening and what it looked like. You also need to have the setting fit the character. How would they keep their room is a good question to ask yourself because the setting helps develop the character. Just like all our rooms represent a part of us.

False Starts:

When writing about characters you need to spend a lot of time with them. You may think that you know them and when you begin to write you realize that there is a lot you do not know about them. You may know what is on the surface but what is underneath. You need to figure what is underneath and what drives them. When writing you cannot just try to make someone do something or be in a situation that does not seem to fit them. Knowing them beyond whats on the surface helps fully develop them and the plot.

Plot Treatment:

Writers seem to have everything in their stories planned out, but in reality they do not. No one knows where their plot will take them perfectly. They may think they do but along the process of writing they realize information that they did not have before. Something along the way to where your going might change your plot completely and you end up somewhere you did not expect. You have to be willing to make changes to the plot and adjust it where it is needed. It takes a lot of hard work and editing to get a perfect plot.

How do you know when your done?

No one really has an answer to know when your done you just do. You just realize that you have taken the suggestions, read over your story, fixed what needed to be and just be done with it. You cannot strive over every detail to be perfect because the book will never be perfect. If you put everything you have into it then there is nothing more to do.

Looking around:

The job of a writer is to tell the story as you see it. You are an observer looking in on a story and taking notes about it. Writing down everything you see with detail to help the reader see it better. Learning more about yourself helps to present what is happening in a better, clearer way. You have to be open to everything and try to get your reader to see things in a new way.

The moral point of view

When writing you need to write about something you truly care about and want to convey to your readers. It gives you passion and a will to keep writing. It has to be something you believe with all your heart. Something that is not able to describe within one sentence. Your whole story has to be able to convey that one point that you believe.

Part one

Perfectionism

Trying to be perfect when you are writing is something you want to stay away from. Nothing is ever going to be perfect so do not waste your time obsessing over things that no one will notice. Perfectionism prevents you from writing a shitty first draft which you end up losing a helpful base for your paper. A helpful way to stop perfectionism is to rely on God. Everything happens for a reason and God will never put you through something you cannot handle. If you do not believe in God, you need to learn how to encourage yourself and to not beat yourself up. Do not get stuck trying to be perfect when writing. Just let the words flow out of you and take it from there.

School Lunches

School lunches produce the same feelings as when you write. The worrying, anxiety and stressfulness are all apart of writing just like lunches. When someone is stuck during the writing process, she would have them write about something they know such as school lunches. She found it would get kids distracted and happier. She would tell them to write everything down just like the use of shitty drafts and choose what they want to keep and what they want to change. It is effective because it lets you focus on just getting ideas down and to keep writing because you can always make it better later.

Polaroids

The author compares writing a story to taking a picture on a Polaroid camera. Because when you take a picture you have to wait for it to develop. You never know how the picture is going to turn out. Just like when you write, you never really know how the story is going to end up. You just need to get a main idea and make the story clearer as it develops.

Character

You need to develop strong characteristics in your characters. They all have some emotional trauma or burden that they carry them. It is what drives them to be who they are. You need to know each character in your story to truly be in their shoes. Knowing small details like how they stand or the facial expressions they make in certain situations to write stuff from their point of view.

Part one

Getting Started

Writing is all about telling the truth and being you. It can be hard at times to figure out where to start. That is where brainstorming comes in. You just need to write down things that you can remember and organize it later. Writing as much detail as you can to just get the ideas down. Another helpful tip is to write at about the same time to train yourself to be creative at that time. Getting started can be hard, but you need to push through it because something will come out of it.

Short Assignments

If you break down what you are writing into short assignments it can help you tackle writing a paper. You take it one step at a time. When you write you do not need to know where you are going just what you are doing right now. It can help calm you down and just truly focus on one part at a time.

Shitty First Drafts

Everyone uses shitty first drafts to develop their end product. Even the best writers use this and keep adding to their stories to make it perfect. No one can write a good story with one try. The right words and sentences take time to develop. A shitty first draft is like clay that you are going to mold to perfection. You just put all the words and ideas onto the page.

Introduction

In the introduction to Bird by Bird it goes through a description of her life. She talks about stories in her life and how it connects to writing. Her father used writing to write down her thoughts and helped introduce her to writing. She used writing to find her voice and express her feelings or thoughts. Reading and poems inspired her to become a writer when she grows up. She was friends with the popular kids, but never really felt like she belonged or fit in with the rest of them. Writing was her escape from reality. There were many times that she struggled with her writing and felt discouraged, but never gave up. The book will be talking about her writing journey and the lessons she learned along the way.

One of the biggest challenges that all writers face is finding their voice. It is something that writers need to develop to enhance their story and make connections with their readers. Your voice is something that you develop over a period of time. The way you speak should be completely different from the way you write because we usually do not speak in complete sentences. There are four effective ways to help you find your voice, these are, being concise, appeal to your readers, paint clear pictures, and adding rhythm to your writing.

1.Be Concise

When trying to develop your voice you need to be direct and clear. Only write what you need to write down.

2.Appeal to your reader

Write in a way that your reader will understand. It is supposed to be more of conversation between you and the reader, then you just explaining something to them.

3.Paint Clear pictures

You need to add emotional words to give your reader a clear image. They need to image what is happening .

4.Add Rhythm to your voice

Add some excitement to your voice to make it sound more interesting. Mixing long sentences and short sentences helps to add rhythm to the story.

There are five basic brush strokes that are used to create an image in the reader’s mind. These five that the Painting with Five Basic Brush Strokes describes. These are participle, absolute, appositives, adjectives, and action verbs. Today we will be talking about how to paint a picture in the minds of readers using these basic five brush strokes.

1.) Participle Brush Stroke

Participles are ing verbs and ed verbs that are at the beginning of the sentence or the end. These verbs They add action and create a better picture in the reader’s mind. You can add one phrase or stack phrases to add more details to the sentence.

Example:

The glass snake, having no legs, is really a kid lizard.

2.) Absolute Brush Strokes

The absolute brush strokes are nouns with ing participle. It focuses on one idea and adding more detail to create a specific picture in the reader’s mind. They are almost complete sentences, but not quite. It makes student writing stand out compared to others.

Example:

The boy watched, his eyes bulging in the dark. – Edmund Ware

3.) Appositives brush strokes

Appositive brush strokes are used to explain images. It is described as a noun that adds a second image. It gives the reader more information about a noun and help describe something’s personality.

Example:

An amazing baker, Abby Larson thinks about her baking competition.

4.)Adjective Brush Strokes

Adjective brush strokes are used effectively when they are placed out of order. They add more detail to the sentence creating images. It focuses on one specific thing while calling attention to it. It also brings your writing to the next level.

Example:

The girl, loving and caring, laughed at the girl falling down in the hall.

5.) Action Verb Brush Strokes

Action verbs can help bring life to a writing. It creates action making the image in the readers mind come to life. Passive verbs make the image still while action verbs do the opposite. It stays away from was and were verbs that are passive verbs.

Example:

Her face frowned at the site of her enemy.