Vocabulary of Ideas

A vocabulary of WORDS is increased by reading carefully and looking up words that aren’t understood, and then remembering and using those words. Vocabulary is thus increased one word at a time, and over time the effort pays off. A vocabulary of IDEAS is increased by reading, learning, and interacting with intelligent, articulate people, which leads to more reading, learning, and interaction, increasingly opening access to a universe of ideas. Whether the desire is to increase word vocabulary or idea vocabulary, each is achieved one word at a time, one concept at a time, one moment at at time. Continued, focused effort is rewarded with a bounty of concepts that the individual “owns” in the experience of a lifetime. All that is required is an open mind. Honest evaluation weeds out the good from the bad. http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

Following The Herd

So many people follow the trend of fashion, commercial advertisement, whatever is cool and trendy for the moment, or whatever the crowd is doing. Many people are afraid to express their uniqueness and to stand out from the crowd and so everyone looks alike, walks and talks alike. How boring! Go to any shopping mall or any school and you will see crowds of people all looking and acting like clones, afraid to be themselves. It takes a special and strong person to dare to me his or her own unique self, and to say I AM WHO I AM. Courage is a scarce species.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

Character

How an individual treats other people says a lot about that person’s character. What other people think about that person and tell others says something about their character, as well as the person being talked about. The defining moment of character celebration or character assassination (as the case may be) is how people think about the person after he or she has died. All of these judgements of character come in to play in real life, as well as in writing fiction. Character drives story.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

Point Of View

How you see things can be affected by how you view life and by your moods. When your point of view changes, how you see things, and how you view life in general, changes for better or for worse. Shakespeare and other writers had great fun with point of view. Characters were humorous, happy or sad, tragic, or villanous based on their misperceptions of reality, and their actions and reactions to other characters. Point of view can alter reality to unreal misconceptions that can alter mood.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

Choose Happiness

You manifest whatever you work at, whether it is discontent or happiness. When you are unhappy, ask yourself, “Why?” When you have discovered the reason(s) for unhappiness, search for ways to solve that problem, and then ask yourself, “What can I do to make myself happy?” Make the positive choices that will make you happy. You feed your moods with every thought, action and choice. Work at and feed happiness, and you will be happy.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

Darkness Before The Light

Writing is like life. Often there is a struggle with important issues before a breakthrough is achieved and the answers become clear.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

Book to Movie Translations

I had a conversation with a friend about film adaptations of books. We agreed that more often than not the novel is better than the movie. When you read a good novel and a movie is produced from that novel, you want to go and see it. It’s a disappointment when the movie doesn’t meet our expectations. Thankfully, there are many movies that hit the mark, that are a joy to see again and again. Film adaptations begin with the writing of the novel, and really great film adaptations continue with great scriptwriting. When people talk about a great film, they usually talk about the acting, costuming, sets, scenery, production, directing, and cinematography, but they rarely say, “I saw a great film. The scriptwriting was great.” It all begins with the writing. Without the writing, you wouldn’t have the story, the novel, the script, or the movie. I teach writing.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

Wordsmithing

Adults and children have so much fear when it comes to writing that they become petrified with inaction before the first word, or any words, can be written. The focus is on fear, and much attention is given to writer’s block. As a writer and a writing teacher, I think this is a shame because there is so much joy in writing. When I teach writing, my focus is on how to begin to write and then how to keep the flow. Writers must be generous and compassionate with themselves and support the writing; I teach this too. Next week I will be publishing information about my writing workshops on my web site. All workshops will be held in the Greater Hartford area in Connecticut.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

Value

Whatever you want in life should be given to others. So, if you want acknowledgement, love, appreciation, or to be valued, give those things to others. The person who does not value other’s talents, skills, and efforts, hasn’t noticed that value is a two-way street.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com

What do you read?

The quality of literature that a person chooses to read is reflective of who that person is. If you want to write, read voraciously in that genre. People who say they want to write a book but don’t read will never write that book. Reading not only feeds the writing muse, it exercises the mind and studies have shown that reading throughout life helps maintain the mental faculties, even into old age. Watching television never improves anyone’s ability to think.
http://www.writersmusespeaks.com