No One Can Stop You

I was very interested in watching Watson on Jeopardy! this week. I was rooting for the humans but am excited about the possibilities for computer interactions in the future. I am not worried about them, I think they will be helpful.

Later, I read Ken Jennings article on Slate. What I remember about the article is how he approached competing with the machine. The machine was cold and calculating, while contestants’ minds might cloud over with thoughts of their competitors. He talked of competing too aggressively the first days and coming out a loser. And then relaxing and competing, not with the machine, but with the other human. You should read his article, it’s very interesting and I’m probably getting parts wrong, but it all comes down to playing mind tricks.

I have a list of life lessons that I keep. One I heard from a bunch of former NBA basketball players. Eerp, I can’t remember all of their names so I won’t say any of them but they are commentators on TNT, two regulars, one a guest. I am a big fan of basketball. Anyway, they were talking about how a certain big-time NBA player admitted that some other players were good at guarding him. The TNT commentators, again all former players, were going on-and-on about how a player should NEVER say or admit something like that, that it is like telling everybody a secret. At most the player should say, “they make me work harder.” And that great players would say, “no one can stop me.” Head games, right? The lesson I took from this was, “no one can stop you!”

What does this have to do with writing? I sometimes find myself second-guessing my writing and often it’s in relation to other writers. I get trapped thinking, “how would they write?” And really it should be just me finding my voice and keeping it, front and center. Mind tricks and head games come in handy at times.

Who is my childhood hero? Jane Goodall

I am a big fan of Twitter, I think I realized I am a bit of an info-junkie. Not sure what to do with it all, but I like it. I am also amazed by who I can follow, just about anybody; including my childhood hero, Jane Goodall. Or at least her institute.

When I was just five or six years-old my parents started getting me the kid’s supplement for the National Geographic magazine. I would read that cover to cover. From that thin magazine I learned about Goodall’s work. If someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would answer, “An ethologist.” And if they asked what that was, I would have said, “Someone who studies animals in the wild.” Beyond that my goals were a little fuzzier: I didn’t want to study primates, but I wanted to study in Africa, maybe study giraffes or zebras. My oldest sister later gave me a book written by Goodall and I devoured it. Her story, life and research amazed me. That’s what I wanted to do, study animals, live in the wild, make a difference for the wildlife. I spent hours daydreaming about living in Africa, scoping out animals from a hillside watching their movements.

Life has its twists and turns. I was a wildlife biologist, but not an ethologist. And that’s okay. I made it to Africa, but not to live. And that’s okay too. My passion for our world and the life on it remains and I try to share that passion through my writing.

And there is Jane Goodall, fighting her good fight and still my role model. @JaneGoodallInst

Whew- Just a dream

Last night I had some very active dreams. The first was about some rabbits being left in a cage. They needed to be rescued… But that has nothing to do with writing.

I have an image of a soft train- the size kids can ride in. Somehow this train is padded, maybe with fabric, maybe with straw. I am not even sure it’s a train- it might just be a bunch of flat, toy wagons tied together. The first one that rolls by is fairly clean and off-white. In my mind, I say that it is a draft. Progressively each section or wagon has more stuff on it and looks a little messier- I keep saying to myself that these are subsequent drafts. But they have straw sticking everywhere, mud and blood, piles of trash… The last wagon is an absolute disaster. To prove it, it has a Red Cross flag sticking out of it. More blood, bones even, trash… I woke up as it was approaching me. What does it mean?

A little anxiety being worked out? Perhaps.

The dream works as a metaphor for the writing process as I try so hard to clean out trash from each draft. But I definitely want to make the train go the other way from disaster to clean. And certainly, often, my first drafts are disasters. Still, a dream is a dream and I don’t want to over think it.

Fortunately, the rabbits were rescued as were the sheep, goats and dogs.

Watson alert

I am a fan of Jeopardy! I am also a fan of words and how they can be fun, have nuance, mean two things at once… So… I am very intrigued about how IBM’s Watson computer will do against human competitors. Watson will compete next week on Jeopardy!

Freelance Writing Multitasking

At a writing conference a few years back, I attended a session for starting and maintaining a freelance writing business. One of the freelancers on the panel said that when she was first starting out she had to learn that she couldn’t just stop at the one assignment. Meaning she couldn’t get an assignment and put all of her energies into that one assignment and forget all of the other duties of a freelancer (unless that assignment was huge). I get that, but I need to work on it.

Here is how it typically works for me- get an assignment big (not huge) or small and focus entirely on that project. Research, review, outline and write that one project. Work on other, non-writing tasks, but all of my writing is focused on this one project. For a writing career, this means failure.

I had read a tweet or a blurb somewhere of a successful writer who wrote, around 9 a.m.: “If I haven’t had a rejection yet today, then I am not doing my job.” Okay, then. All of the gears need to be clicking: finishing the articles, looking to the next market, researching the markets, writing the queries, reading the headlines, completing paperwork, getting my name out there. I am sure I left a bunch off, I am just learning. I know two things that will get me through this: 1. I enjoy what I do and 2. I don’t give up easily.

Goal #1- Get out!

I feel fortunate to live where I do while I pursue a career in science/ environmental writing. Flagstaff, Arizona is filled with organizations/ institutions doing science. A small list:

U.S. Naval Observatory
Lowell Observatory
U.S.G.S. Southwest Biological Science Center
NASA/USGS Planetary Geologic Mapping Program
Northern Arizona University

Rotunda at historic section of Lowell Obs.

This list is partial and only includes Flagstaff. Part of my job is to get out there to find out what is happening. Right? I find it very easy to sit here at the computer looking at words. So my goal:
Visit a “science center” or attend a lecture, at least once per week.

I will keep you updated via twitter.

They are tricky, tricky, tricky - words

“The word ‘comprise’ was used incorrectly in your article,” said one of two men standing before me.
“What? How?” I was embarrassed and confused. I had written a brief article for the church newsletter, probably about some social action group, the sentence probably read something like, “The group was comprised of people of all ages and from all walks of life.” And I was probably kind of proud of my short, informational article. Now I was crushed. These two men were figurative giants in my life- both were scientists, highly regarded in their fields and highly respected by me. And now they were discussing an error in my writing.
“It’s a common mistake,” they may have said (it’s been a long time). I know one of them said, “Use ‘comprise’ as you would use the word ‘embrace.’” Otherwise use “compose.”

I have not forgotten that lesson, my embarrassment ensured that (or is it “insured”?). I pride myself in the correct use of words, but I think that was just the starting point for me realizing that I had a lot more to learn.

Many years later I was editing that newsletter when a writer used the word “remunerate.”
“That’s not a word!” I thought to myself. Fortunately, I looked it up and found it:
Remunerate: Make payment to
So just because it is hard for me to say, doesn’t mean it isn’t a real word.
Of course, then there is the word I knew, and I thought it meant “make payment to” but it didn’t:
Renumerate: means on some web sites "to recount" but I can't find it in either of my hard dictionaries, so, is this an accepted word?

Sigh.

Fortunately, many words are misused frequently and so there are lists to help us out. These are some I found:

Grammar Slammer Windows,Common Mistakes and Tricky Choices

Writer's Style Guide: Tricky Words

The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words

Wind- you will not succeed

January

Again I reply to the triple winds
running chromatic fifths of derision
outside my window:
                Play louder.
You will not succeed. I am
bound more to my sentences
the more you batter at me
to follow you.
                     And the wind,
as before, fingers perfectly
its derisive music.

William Carlos Williams
American (1883-1963)

Solar Sailing

NASA’s NanoSail-D has its sails fully deployed and is now in orbit around the Earth. Amateur astronomers have been challenged by NASA and SpaceWeather.com to capture the best photo of NanoSail-D.
I am certain at some point I will try to run outside and catch a glimpse of the bright point of light as it whisks across the sky. But mostly I am amazed at the technology. The APOD discussion for today reminded me that Kepler first speculated on using the solar wind. Since that time science fiction has been populated with marvelous sailed spacecraft. And here we are, a successful test, small but successful showing that sails can be deployed and can gather photons to power the spacecraft. The online information I read from NASA said that they think that solar sailing is the “only reasonable way to make interstellar travel a reality.” My mind is full of questions, but for now I will simply allow myself to be amazed.


Footnote: My amazement should have started in June, when the Japanese solar sail spacecraft Ikaros successfully deployed its sails. That spacecraft is headed around the sun. I am surprised to hear that NASA, as well as a British team, is looking into deploying solar sail spacecraft in order to help remove (deorbit) old satellites. Hmmm, there goes the romance.

NASA's Day of Remembrance

Today is NASA’s 2011 Day of Remembrance. On January 27, 1967 Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee died onboard Apollo 1 as they went through prelaunch tests. On January 28, 1986 the Shuttle Challenger broke apart just after launch, taking the lives of Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe. On February 1, 2003, while preparing to land, the Shuttle Columbia broke apart taking the lives of Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Salton Clark. You can read more about their missions and their stories here at NASA.
I wanted to pay my own small homage to NASA and its astronauts. What does this have to do with writing? Space exploration, astronomy, curiosity of what is out there are some of my passions. There is something special about being part of that generation that watched televisions in sunlit classrooms or dark basements as grainy images of men hopping across the moon came across the airwaves. NASA allowed me to dream of someday exploring space. My best friend in high school was going to be the captain and I was going to be the exobiologist.

So thank you, astronauts, for your explorations.

Definitely not ambivalent about the result.

“You seem to be ambivalent,” the kind doctor told me.
He was the third, fourth?, doctor I had visited to see if it would be okay to for me to get pregnant. I had had my first grand mal seizure probably six months before this doctor visit and was now on strong anti-epileptic medicine (Dilantin). I was looking for a doctor to tell me “Yes, it’s safe.” or “No, it is not safe.” Instead I had doctors recommending other doctors and finally this doctor. All of the doctors actually told me the same thing, there are risks but many women have had healthy babies.
You seem to be ambivalent… Hmmm. That word had a fuzzy meaning in my head, but I went home and looked it up: ambivalent: adj. exhibiting ambivalence. Ambivalence: n. 1. the existence of mutually conflicting feelings or thoughts, such as love and hate, about some person, object or idea. 2. uncertainty or indecisiveness as to what course to follow.

Well, yeah! But, that statement stopped the doctor train. I had done my research, I had asked the right questions, I felt the risks were low; the result, a successful pregnancy and now 13 plus years later a teenage boy.

Fun word places:
Online Etymology Dictionary
ambivalence: from Latin ambi- "both" (see ambi-) + valentia "strength,"

PrefixSuffix.com English Language Roots Reference

MyEtymology.com

Focus, please, let's just focus.

My son's eye, he was playing with the camera- very focused.

I am trying something new this year, lots of new things actually, but I will just share one for now: I am adopting a word for the year. This is a popular pastime, apparently, but I heard about it from The Happiness Project blog. For this project you “adopt” a word for the year that helps you meet new expectations or goals. You might, for instance, choose the word “lighten” if you wanted to declutter your house and/or distress, etc. Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, goes into greater detail on her blog if you are interested in doing this.

I actually chose two words, one is for my personal life and will remain private, the other is for my writing life. That word is “focus.” I have found this word already to be very helpful. In the past I have been distracted by:
- applying for work that I wasn’t qualified for.
- getting writing work that took up way too much of my time and paid less than pennies.
- my busy, busy mind.
- what others think, are doing, are producing (this is really just a subset of “my busy, busy mind).
- should haves, could be, might have been (again a subset).
- work around the house.

My busy, busy mind is really the main culprit. I typically start with a hearty helping of super writer: "You will be published easily!" And that is quickly followed by a swift kick-in-the-pants of: “Who are you,  calling yourself a writer?” Sheesh, it's exhausting.

Now I have a weapon. I breathe in deeply, repeat my word, “focus” and start in on my list of tasks (that can be a topic for another day). That’s all I have to do. Focus on the tasks and get them done. Easy? No. But I know what I need to do.

Perfection

"Perfection is the enemy of done."

I would like to tell you where I first heard this, but I can't remember. I have since read this quote in numerous forms and on numerous outlets. I tried to google it so I could give credit where credit is due and numerous hits came up. I guess Voltaire said, "Perfection is the enemy of the good." But for me and writing I try to keep in mind, "perfection is the enemy of done."

I have heard that artists often sneak a flaw- a misplaced bead, an upside down piece of glass- into their work so they don't have to worry about creating something "perfect." I guess it frees them to be creative. I don't try to place flaws into my writing, plenty are there, but I try not to aim for perfection. Again, it's practice that helps and being comfortable with my own, flawed voice. But having flaws, means having character- right?

As I have been writing this, I think I remember first reading those words on Flylady.net- a very helpful site in organizing the house.

What is ScienceOnline?

Maybe, someday...

ScienceOnline

Check out the link for what happens at this conference.
I am still figuring that out myself. Do I jump on this train, or watch it zoom on by? I think it is an important train.

How I try to improve my grammar/ language usage...

Grammar/language expert, I am not (please hold your red pens). I try though and, as is typical, I always learn something new. I have a friend who has a Ph.D. in linguistics. I often have her read my writing and she is quick with her corrections. My main problem is keeping the tense the same, and overusing commas, and …
I miss my Dad, who passed away in 2001. He was an English instructor at a community college. I looked to him for language wisdom.
“Dad, ‘ain’t’ isn’t a word is it?” I asked, sometime back in elementary school.
“Of course it’s a word, you said it, didn’t you?” he answered.
I faithfully added “ain’t” to my school dictionary.

Places I go for grammar and language use help:
PainintheEnglish.com

www.DrGrammar.com

Strunk and White online

GrammarGirl.com

Also I just ask a question on Google.

Where I learn words

Last night my son was playing a game with a group of boys, ages ten through fourteen would be my guess. This game had all of them- again, a guess, about twelve boys- holding each others wrists enclosing an area in the center of which stood a plastic trash can. Once the game started, the boys started running, holding on to the other boys’ wrists with all of their might, veering towards and then away from the trash can. The result was an amoeba gone wild, gyrating loudly and crazily around the can until grasps came apart or until a boy crashed into the can.
After seeing this, quite loud, crazy spectacle, I asked my son on the way home, “So, is that whipsaw game what you did all night?”
“Whipsaw? Where did you get that?” he asked. He has just become a teenager.
“Well, that is what it looked like. A whipsaw,” I answered. I didn’t know what a “whipsaw” was but I knew that described what I saw- boys whipping around the room, fast as a saw.
“It’s not called that,” he said. “The game is called ‘Poison.’”
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
“If you touch the barrel, you are poisoned,” he answered.

whipsaw (transitive verb)
1
: to saw with a whipsaw
2
: to beset or victimize in two opposite ways at once, by a two-phase operation, or by the collusive action of two opponents (wage earners were whipsawed by inflation and high taxes)

poison (transitive verb)
1
a : to injure or kill with poison b : to treat, taint, or impregnate with or as if with poison
2
: to exert a baneful influence on : corrupt (poisoned their minds)
3
: to inhibit the activity, course, or occurrence of (on the night when he poisoned my rest — Charles Dickens)

definitions from Merriam-Webster online dictionary

How I find my writing voice...

Write about a favorite meeting place.

Several years ago I was visiting with a writing professor. I had just finished taking a class from him. I asked him what I needed to do to get a writing career going. He made several suggestions but his main statement was, “Practice writing everyday. Some days it will be worthless, some days it will be worth keeping. But write every day.” I nodded, intently, as if I understood.

Most writing books and blogs make the same point. Write every day. My busy, busy mind started to work this over. Write about what? My day? My family? The sky? Should I write practice queries? That would be helpful. Should I write short practice articles? Maybe I could sell some of those sometime. What could I write about then? What would sell? Unfortunately my mind warped this simple suggestion “write every day” into, “write every day and make sure it counts.” I was stuck. Oh, I would write every now and then. But I never felt it counted and I didn’t do it regularly.

I saw this professor again, just a few months ago. This time I asked, “What are you suppose to write about?”
“Anything,” he said. “Sometimes I work on projects. Sometimes I just write what’s in my head. I can’t always use what I write, but it helps me find my voice.”

Finally, the thunderbolt hit me. This professor and all of the books and blogs were saying the same thing- in writing you find your voice and it doesn’t matter if you are writing about spitting in a drainpipe. And in finding my voice, I can find my confidence in writing.

I now try to write whenever I think about it. I don’t edit and I don’t think about selling it. I usually never reread it. Sometimes I just crumple it up and throw it in the recycling bin. But I know it has helped with my confidence and that’s what counts.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

Friday "wow"- Belt of Venus

On Fridays I have decided to share with you information, observations, etc. from around the world or just my daily life, that make me go “wow.”

Now for me sunsets never fail to amaze. Wait, wait. Don’t roll your eyes and go, “Really! Sunsets! Wow! Amazing. And in the morning… the sun, it comes UP!”

Sunsets are beautiful, but if I have a clear vista to the east I turn in THAT direction. In the east you see the Belt of Venus. Most people have seen it, but many people don’t know what they are seeing.

The Belt of Venus is the pinkish glow above a darker band next to the horizon. You can actually see it in the morning too, only you need to look to the west, opposite of the rising sun.

While I find the pinkish glow to be quite pretty, it’s the dark band below the pink that makes me go “wow.” That dark band is the Earth’s shadow beginning- or ending- the night.

Okay, now you can roll your eyes-or- check out the photos at Weatherscapes.com.

What is this blog about?

What will this blog be about? Well me, my writing and my passions. That means I will sometimes post my goals and accomplishments, my attempts and failures and my distractions and motivations. I also want to write about why writing is important to me. I will occasionally write about my passions. That is why I have subtitled this blog the six Ws and the H. I have kept it broad. And I have included "wow" because that's a big reason why I want to write. This sounds sappy but I think that this world is so incredible, I hope to share that with my words.

So I have an adventure ahead of me and I am excited. Here we go...

Why now?

Why this blog? Why now?
I am a freelance writer and have long known that in order to make it in this crazy writing world, I need to let people know that I am here. That is what this blog is all about.
I have been half-attempting this freelance writing thing for about ten years now. And frankly have been about a quarter successful. You see I loved my previous career. I was in wildlife biology and the course my career was taking me was more and more into public outreach- teaching the public about the importance of wildlife and their habitats. Life intervened, my husband received a job transfer, situations changed and I found myself struggling with the question, "what do I want to do with my life?" And I struggled with it mightily- it took me awhile to let go of my past career.
And yet the signs have all been pointing me to writing.
1. I have always loved words, ever since I was little girl. The dictionary was one of my favorite books, seriously. I was amazed that some of our words came from other languages.
2. I received my high school's language arts award- my name might still be on a dusty plaque somewhere in the halls (or in storage). I loved reading, learning about new cultures and our English teacher had weekly writing boot camps.
3. I loved all of science and had a hard time settling on any one science in particular. When I went to college, I was debating between majoring in astronomy or zoology. I chose zoology because of my deep love of animals. And yet, when I went into wildlife biology I was never a strong research scientist, my strength was in teaching about science.
4. I enjoy each part of writing: the research, the struggle to find the right words (kind of enjoy) and then the fun editing part where bad writing (hopefully)turns into something of which I can be proud.
5. I am constantly amazed by life- around every corner is something fascinating to learn about.
Marketing is where I struggle, and is why it has taken me so long, really, to fully grasp this form of work. It took a health problem (you can read my personal blog to get more on that)to kick me in the pants to see that freelance writing is really how I want to expend my energy. I feel so thankful that I have the ability to concentrate on the work that I truly love.
I have lemons on my wallpaper partly because I love lemons- they brighten a room, they smell so fresh- and partly because I need to embrace the adage, "when you are given lemons, make lemonade." I love lemonade, too.