What do people think of your Blog writing style?

As an online educator, one of the most frequent questions I get are how to write a paper in a specific style – usually MLA or APA. Along with that, students frequently ask me why it's important to write differently than we speak. For academic papers, readers expect to "hear" the written voice – the written "accent," really.

While blogging does have more freedom than academic writing, it's not entirely free of reader expectation, either. And if you want to be professional about your blog, there's a few you should know.

If you're like my usual students, you might be wondering why this is important – especially in a blog. It's not like you're getting graded or anything.

Just because you aren't turning this into an authoritarian figure for an arbitrary letter evaluation doesn't mean that you aren't being evaluated by some authority. You are. Your readers are evaluating you with every post and deciding if your blog is one they'll follow regularly.

You want followers, right?

What kind of followers do you want?

Me, I want followers in the writing and education fields. I want followers who may become fans of my writing. I want followers for whom I'm a fan of their writing. I want to build a writing and reading community.

So, my writing better be up to par in their eyes.

That's why I study the blogs I would like to be; the writers who I'd be honored if they followed me as I follow them.

What are these blogs? Besides what you see on my blogroll (if you're on Blogger), I subscribe to Copyblogger (whom I've quoted several times here and elsewhere), Neil Gaiman's journal (Hey, if you don't aim for the best, where are you going to land?), Writer Beware, QueryTracker, Karen Caplan (owner of Frieda's Produce – remember, I'm also a foodie!), Nathan Bransford, and Guide to Literary Agents.

Based on these blogs, here are some style pointers I've adopted.

1. Still cite your sources.

No, it's not APA or MLA, but you hyperlink. It's much easier, actually, and more direct (you go write to the article – or a link to the book on Amazon (or another bookseller). Like in any professional writing, you should always give credit to your sources.

2. Research and Organization

Obviously, if I suggested you should cite your resources, you should have resources. Yes, pick a topic you feel you have some authority on, but how did you obtain that authority? Where did you learn from? No, not all blogs will have outside resources, but if you're tackling a difficult topic – one where there's a lot to learn and especially one where there is a lot of controversy – you should have support from outside your own brain.

3. Redefine "Business Casual"

Just like Fridays at the office (or at least the offices where I've worked), the blog is a balance between professional and comfortable. It's you, but still a little spiffied up. The human personality has many facets, and if you want to be perceived as professional, you should explore yourself and find your own professional facet. It's not disingenuous; it's just another part of you.

4. Discover new Grammar

Believe it or not, people have grammatical expectations for blogs. Sentences and paragraphs are expected to be shorter, making the read quicker. Eschewing excess verbage (per Strunk & White and Twain) is … excessive (as is purposeful redundancy, but I'll get to that later). You may have noticed, particularly with the Facebook and Twitter cultures, that personal pronouns (particularly those that can be easily inferred from verb forms) are almost dropped all together. (Wrote my blog on Friday, waiting for car repairs.) Fragments are also embraced. Especially for emphasis. But a repetition goes a long way if you want to make a point. (Expensive car repairs are… expensive.)

The kind of audience you want to cultivate, however, will affect all of these things. How often will you present a researched blog post? How formal or how casual will you be? Think about the people you want to follow you, and see who they are following. What kind of writing does your preferred audience read?

How do you write?

Madeleine L'Engle: An Amazing Inspiration

Since this is the last Sunday/Monday of March, I would love to share with you the full version of the report I put together for the Broad Universe celebration of speculative fiction's maternal bloodlines.

This report was on Madeline L'Engle, one of the most memorable speculative fiction writers from my childhood. I've read her books more times over than any other book I own - possibly even the Bible, and I was raised Catholic! - and when I started looking for selections to read for this presentation, I ended up reading A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the first book I ready by her, all over again in one sitting.

If you haven't already discovered L'Engle, I hope this gets you to check out her books. If you're already a fan, why not give them all a reread and enjoy her magic all over again.

Madeleine L'Engle Camp, born November 29, 1918, had a mind and soul made for tessering long before she wrote about it in her award-winning books. She was crossing genre boundaries long before the terms slipstream and interstitial fiction entered our vocabulary, going a step further than C.S. Lewis and blending her faith with not only fantasy and myth, but hard scientific theory. She transcended time in her observations about science, culture, and government. What she spoke of and wrote about in the 60s and 70s is just as pertinent today.

L'Engle began writing stories and poetry at five years old and immediately became lost in those worlds - much to the aggravation of most of her teachers. She found school boring, but was always learning. Her teachers accused her of being lazy, a troublemaker, and even for plagiarizing because her writing level was far to high for a child her age. Fortunately, L'Engle's parents supported their daughter, to the extent Madeleine's mother took reams of the girl's written work to fight and win against the accusation of plagiarism.

Throughout her life, however, L'Engle rejected conformity. She had problems with schools that stripped students of individuality and referred to them with numbers, for example. She was highly intelligent and not afraid to stand up for herself. In her 1998 acceptance speech upon receiving the Margaret Edwards American Library Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing in the Field of Young Adult Literature, she says:

"So WRINKLE, when it was finally published in 1962, after two years of rejections, broke several current taboos. The protagonist was female, and one of the unwritten rules of science fiction was that the protagonist should be male. I'm a female. Why would I give all the best ideas to a male?

Another assumption was that science and fantasy don't mix. Why not? We live in a fantastic universe, and subatomic particles and quantum mechanics are even more fantastic than the macrocosm. Often the only way to look clearly at this extraordinary universe is through fantasy, fairy tale, myth."

To match her unconventional personality, L'Engle had a deep love of both science and language - and she saw no problem accepting the paradox of science and faith. Despite a lot of the Christian research and faith that comes through in her writing, her books - especially Newbery Award Winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels - are some of the most banned books in American history.

She wasn't especially surprised at that; it was parents and authoritarian figures who did the banning, and she didn't trust them much anyway. These people didn't understand and were unable to comprehend the complexity of paradox and transcending boundaries - but children were. In fact, she is frequently quoted in her observation, "You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."

While L'Engle, herself, adored science and trusted children to follow the story - even through quantum physics, language was her first love. Language and the story. She says, in her acceptance speech for A Wrinkle in Time's Newbery Award in 1963, " What a child doesn’t realize until he is grown is that in responding to fantasy, fairy tale, and myth he is responding to what Erich Fromm calls the one universal language, the one and only language in the world that cuts across all barriers of time, place, race, and culture. Many Newbery books are from this realm, beginning with Dr. Dolittle; books on Hindu myth, Chinese folklore, the life of Buddha, tales of American Indians, books that lead our children beyond all boundaries and into the one language of all mankind." She echoes this again in '98 for her Margaret Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech, "During the fifties Erich Fromm published a book called THE FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE, in which he said that the only universal language which breaks across barriers of race, culture, time, is the language of fairy tale, fantasy, myth, parable, and that is why the same stories have been around in one form or another for hundreds of years."

L'Engle added dimension to these myths, and called attention to the fact they are myths and repeat themselves. She brought in science and tied it, inexorably, to the power of story, to an overall Unity of faith - Truth with a capital T.

"Truth transcends facts," L'Engle stated in an 1991 interview for Frugalfun.com. "If I don't believe it, it isn't true. I'm going to stay on the side of truth no matter how much it hurts. Facts end; stories are infinite. Stories have a richness that goes way beyond fact. My writing knows more than I know. What a writer must do is listen to her book. It might take you where you don't expect to go. That's what happens when you write stories. You listen and you say 'a ha,' and you write it down. A lot of it is not planned, not conscious; it happens while you're doing it. You know more about it after you're done."

L'Engle died only recently in 2007, and in her lifetime she published over 60 books, won over 50 awards and honors, including several honorary Doctor of Letters, Humane Letters, and Literature from prestigious colleges across the US, the Newbery Medal, several Newbery Honor awards, the American Book award, the Margaret A. Edwards lifetime achievement award, and the World Fantasy lifetime achievement awards. Her magic, faith, and logic continue to transcend time and space as her books are still re-released and in constant circulation.

x

Before I started this project with Broad Universe, I only knew Ms. L'Engle through her words - and through the fact that just in the spring before she died, a friend of mine wrote her a letter asking for some words of advice for her daughter who was turning 14. Ms. L'Engle responded with a four page letter of inspiration for the 14-year-old.

The books resonate with every molecule of my being every time I reread them, and simply in picking the passage I'm about to read, I ended up rereading A Swiftly Tilting Planet, my first introduction to L'Engle, in its entirety once more - learning even more lessons 20 years after I purchased it for a quarter or fifty cents at a yard sale.

Even as an adult, I didn't realize all the reasons why this book - and all of her books that I read - meant so much to me. I knew a good part of it was how she could balance real Faith, Magic, and Science and make it WORK. Believably. Everything was true, even amidst apparent contradiction and paradox. It still was Truth with a capital T.

But some of her quotes I found did a good job of spelling out to my "grown-up" mind the things my inner child just KNEW and was okay with knowing.

Taken from About.com under women's history and Madeleine L'Engle quotes:

"The world of science lives fairly comfortably with paradox. We know that light is a wave, and also that light is a particle. The discoveries made in the infinitely small world of particle physics indicate randomness and chance, and I do not find it any more difficult to live with the paradox of a universe of randomness and chance and a universe of pattern and purpose than I do with light as a wave and light as a particle. Living with contradiction is nothing new to the human being."

Along with:
I do not think that I will ever reach a stage when I will say, "This is what I believe. Finished." What I believe is alive ... and open to growth.

And:

Those who believe they believe in God but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.

In addition to About.com, most of my resources came from www.madeleinelengle.com - with other sources from the links page there.

Comfort Food

I have a friend who's currently going through a lot of things right now, so I took Wednesday off (one of the benefits of the work I do is a wonderfully flexible schedule), and spent the day with her. Food, of course, was part of my plan from the get-go.

There's something wonderful about giving and receiving food. When my dad passed away, I was deeply appreciative of everything everyone sent, but two things were the most helpful. My brother's best friend's family made a lasagna that lasted for two days; no one had to cook. And another very good work friend of mine sent a fruit basket, which also fed us for days. When you're grieving - or even going through major life changes - receiving food is a very tangible show of love. Even if you love to cook, it's effort… and sometimes you only have enough energy to make it through the day. You can cook later, when you need to be busy and you need that kind of personal therapy.

But in the moment of difficulty, someone providing for one of the most basic needs of the human condition - nourishment - means an awful lot.

Lasagna is my mother's favorite food of all time, and both my brother and I do try to eat healthy - so the choices also make a difference.

For my friend, I know she likes more unusual foods - and spicy foods. I had an idea of Mexican Lasagna in my head, and when I asked her about it, she sounded very excited, so I knew I was on the right track. I really didn't know what I was going to do until I got to the night before and hadn't a chance to do much shopping… but didn't want to do a lot of cooking at her house. So, I did one of those kitchen inventories, found I had chicken in the freezer, a can of chipotles, beans, and salsa - so that became my plan for the meat filling. The rest… I kinda figured out as I went along. The result, no leftovers to bring home to the Husband-of-Awesome, and requests for the recipe.

So, here goes:

Meat filling

1 lb chicken tenders or breast meat roughly chopped
1 4 - 6 oz can of chipotles (confession, I wasn't paying attention, but the can most stores sell them in).
approx 6 oz medium heat salsa (I used up what was a little under half of a 16 oz jar in the fridge… one 8-oz jar probably would be fine)
1 14 oz can of black beans
1-2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
1-2 tbsp dark chili powder
1-2 tbsps cumin
1 heaping tbsps of minced garlic
1-2 tbsps garlic powder

(Potential additions: You can probably make this vegan by doing all beans and adding some corn and canned chiles)

Throw all that in the crock pot overnight on low. Use the chipotle can and the salsa jar to add any extra liquid (and utilize all the yumminess while cleaning them to be recycled). Liquid should cover just above the chicken.

In the morning, tear apart any leftover large chunks of chicken. Let cool and put aside for when you're going to use it.


Cheesy-Avocado Filling:

4 oz goat cheese
1 small pkg of mild spreadable cheese with chipotle or Mexican flavoring (I used Rondole)

(My original intent was to use a soft Mexican farmer's cheese called Campesino, but I couldn't find it anywhere)

2 really ripe avocadoes

Smoosh all these ingredients together in one beautiful mess. Do this just before you make the lasagna. If you want to do it ahead of time, add the juice of one lime to keep the avocado from turning.


The rest:

1 pkg of 8 burrito size tortillas
1 pkg shredded "Mexican Blend" or "Taco Blend" cheese
1-2 green peppers, sliced
1 small bottle of either recaito or smooth green taco/enchilada sauce

Shake/spoon 2-3 large tbsps of the green sauce on the bottom of a lasagna pan.
Layer three tortillas across the bottom.
Spoon on your pre-cooked chicken mixture.
Give a fine sprinkle of the shredded cheeses
Layer three more tortillas across
Layer the slices of green pepper
Smooth the cheese across the top of the peppers
Layer on the last 2 tortillas
Spread another 3 or more tbsps of the green sauce
Spread more of the shredded cheese to your preference over the top.
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until nice, warm and bubbly.

Enjoy!

It's Never JUST Semantics

Have you ever found yourself in an argument and had someone say, "Now, we're just arguing semantics!" It always sounds so dismissive, like semantics shouldn't matter.

Right, and that's why this white girl won't use the "n" word on her blog.

It's just the semantics.

Yes, there is a strong argument that we, as society, assign meanings to strings of letters called "words" in an arbitrary manner.

That doesn’t mean that those "arbitrary" meanings don't matter.

Semantics is the study of meanings as they are addressed to words. There's a reason we've assigned different meanings to different strings of letters; those meanings – well, they mean something. If there wasn't a difference in significance, we wouldn't have chosen, in our respective cultures, to create different symbols for those different definitions.

I got into an argument with a friend about semantics yesterday (yesterday in respect to when I wrote this blog, but I know I'll still be smoldering about it when I publish this) (Edit to add: Ok, not smoldering, but still bothered). I won't go into details, but this friend didn't understand why I was getting upset about a point he was making. In retrospect, we probably agreed on the same point, but his word choice conveyed an entirely different meaning for me – a meaning specific to the social, political, and cultural language of the conversation. It was one of those ridiculously stupid arguments, but it was the topic of cultural history and accuracy, which is something I get passionate about.

Why are semantics so important to me? And why shouldn't they be dismissed in an argument?

Another topic that will get me into a passionate frenzy is this one: Two people of the same sex are in love, have chosen to be devoted to each other for their entire lives and exchanged vows of this dedication; if their governing state does not recognize this union and affix the "correct" term to this relationship, it is devastating. One of those partners or spouses may not receive necessary medical care, the other may not even be able to be present if their beloved is dying.

Marriage, civil union, illegal. Different words applied to the same situation. Different meanings. Just semantics, right?

It's absolutely semantics. And it matters.

Semantics can deny a group of people their culture, their history, their reality, their rights – their very lives!

Words are a powerful weapon, and as Uncle Ben told Peter Parker, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Use your words responsibly, and respect the damage you can do with them.

For you friendly stalkers out there...

For those of you going to Conbust this coming weekend, please feel free to be friendly stalkers!

Friday, sharply at 6PM, I'll be talking faeries with Jane Yolen and Sharyn November.

You'll probably catch me after that hanging out with Genetic Imperfection as they talk about Shadow Casting (particularly for Repo! The Genetic Opera, but I'm sure some Rocky Horror Picture Show might come up.) Of course, that depends on my Mom, too… as she might be coming. In that case - I'm not sure.

On Saturday, we've got a Rapid Fire Reading (labeled as a Round Robin Reading) with members of Broad Universe. Come listen for a tidbit of the NEW Bad-Ass Faeries short story!

After the Rapid Fire Reading, I'll be doing my Writing and Tarot workshop... which doesn't have a description listed. This workshop will get your creative juices flowing with Tarot Cards. Be prepared to write!

Sunday, I'm back to Central MA so that I can make it to the Bay State Equine Rescue Wine, Beer, and Liquor Tasting!

I look forward to seeing some of you this weekend!

Passover in Tokyo

(Aimee & husband, Marc, posing beautifully at an equally lovely Seder setting.)

I'm happy to share this Foodie Friday with my good friend and colleague, Dr. Aimee Weinstein. Aimee is a writer and recently was contracted to do a non-fiction book about English translation on signs in Tokyo. She also has one completed novel going through a final round of edits before she embarks on a query adventure with it, and a second novel that she's finished in draft form. Aimee writes for several magazines and ezines on travel, food, and Jewish life. Today, she's talking about her adventures following Jewish food traditions for Passover while in Tokyo. For more of Aimee's work, you can visit her at tokyowriter.wordpress.com

Thank you, Aimee!!

xx

It is that time of year again, and I alternately love it and dread it. It’s time for the Jewish holiday of Passover, which by standards is, along with Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah in the fall, if not the superbowl of holidays, then at least at playoff level. By way of explanation, the holiday is based on the story of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The story goes that after the ten plagues, the Pharaoh released the Jews to leave the country and the Jews wanted to get out of there quickly, before he changed his mind so they left Egypt in a great hurry. Because of their haste, they did not have time to wait for their bread to rise to take with them on the journey. In commemoration of the leave-taking, Jews are commanded to eat matzah – unleavened bread – for eight days every year. Jews eat matzah to the exclusion of other types of grains. No corn, wheat, rye, barley, rice or anything. Eight days. It’s a full week of meat, potatoes and veggies.

Since I live in Tokyo, Japan, Passover has always presented a particular challenge. First of all, none of the traditional foods are readily available. I’m very lucky that the Jewish Community Center (www.jccjapan.or.jp) imports all of the really important foodstuffs directly from Israel. The biggies include boxes of matzah; matzah meal, which is crushed up matzah used for frying; and jars of gefilte fish, which is a conglomeration of fish that’s gelled together into balls – hey, it’s ethnic food – don’t ask! They also import and sell Kosher-for-Passover wine, macaroons, and even ketchup. Food for this all-important week has to be labeled not just Kosher, but Kosher-for-Passover, meaning free from all grain except matzah meal – the ground-up matzah.

In the U.S. there are often aisles of the grocery store devoted to Passover items. I remember growing up that it was the one time of year my mom would buy candy. Remember, it had to be labeled Kosher-for-Passover, and that means no corn syrup, so it was special candy. She made us eggs for breakfast every morning because cereal and toast were against the rules. Sometimes we’d have a board of matzah with sauce and cheese on it for lunch – matzah pizza. There was meat and potatoes every night for dinner.

When I had my own home in Virginia, I went even further with the traditions of the holiday. I changed over my dishes so that I had special pots, pans, plates and silverware for the holiday – things that had never touched anything leavened. It was the one week a year that my husband and I kept completely and strictly Kosher. My family thought I was crazy at the time, but it was not so hard for us to obtain the items we needed and make the extra effort to use different kitchen items.

But in Tokyo everything is different. The entire diet of the country is rice-based. Noodles are omnipresent in day-to-day life. I don’t have the storage in my little house to keep the extra dishes so I gave them away. We go out to eat a heck of a lot more often here than we ever did in the U.S. because we live in the middle of a city with one of the biggest concentration of accessible restaurants in the world. We are nowhere near family with whom to celebrate and have the traditional seder meal on the first two days of the holiday. All of this leads to huge issues with keeping Passover properly.

And so we adapt. There are two types of Jews in the world: Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Ashkenazi Jews are from Eastern Europe originally and Sephardic Jews are from Western Europe – Spain, mostly. Sephardic Jews eat rice on Passover. Most of the Jews I know in Tokyo magically become Sephardic on Passover no matter their ancestry. The Jewish Community Center holds two big seders that are well-attended. Many people host their own seders at home for their “family of friends” – everyone is in the same boat, so we form our own families. We splurge on the very expensive meat here to make up for the lack of carbs. I make my own candy – chocolate matzah to be exact. It’s messy and annoying, but the kids love it and it brings back good childhood memories for me to have candy in the house when I normally don’t.

So much of life overseas is about adaptation. I miss my family at this time of year and know that they are getting together without me. I miss my favorite holiday foods (carrot soufflé, brisket, matzah-stuffing…) which never taste quite right with Japanese ingredients even if I make them from scratch. But as I make my own seder for sixteen people this year, I know that my kids will have their own childhood memories of these times. The sixteen people who will be at my house next Tuesday night are special, wonderful humans with whom I am grateful to share my life – Jewish or other parts.

And so while Passover presents its challenges and problems, especially in Tokyo, it’s still an important time of year to be a Jew no matter where we are in the world. It’s comforting to know that all Jews across the globe are celebrating the same idea in their own way. And eating the traditional foods in the best way they know how.

Last Word on Copyright & Plagiarism: Yours!

Last night I went to bed with the decision that I was going to take a break from this copyright/plagiarism topic and do "something else" today. (Something else = long list of topics that kept changing).

Yeah, notsomuch.

I do have a great list of links about the topic that people have been sending me in email and Twitter, but More Importantly, I got this information in my inbox today (courtesy of the fine discussion list for Broad Universe!) (And especially Brenna Lyons and Elaine Isaak):

Dear Copyright Advocates,The Obama Administration is asking to hear from YOU, the creative backbone of our country, about how intellectual property infringement affects YOUR livelihood. The Administration is also seeking advice on what the government could be doing to better protect the rights of artists and creators in our country. HERE'S A CHANCE FOR YOU TO BE HEARD!
BACKGROUND:Last year President Obama appointed and the U.S. Senate confirmed Victoria Espinel to be the first U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. Her job is "to help protect the creativity of the American public" by coordinating with all the federal agencies that fight the infringement of intellectual property, which includes creating and selling counterfeit goods; pirating video games, music, and books; and infringing upon the many other creative works that are produced by artists in this country.As you know, the unauthorized copying, sale, and distribution of artists' intellectual property directly impact the ability of artists and creators to control the use of their own creativity, not to mention their ability to receive income they have earned from their labor. This impacts U.S. employment and the economy, and our ability to globally compete.As required by an Act of Congress (The PRO-IP Act of 2008), Ms. Espinel and her White House team are preparing a Joint Strategic Plan that will include YOUR FEEDBACK on the costs and risks that intellectual property infringement has on the American public.Here's how to make yourself heard!
1. Send an email to Ms. Espinel and the Obama Administration:intellectualproperty@omb.eop.gov and copy the Copyright Alliance on youremail: info@copyrightalliance.org
2. Begin your letter with "The Copyright Alliance has informed me of this welcome invitation from the Obama Administration to share my thoughts on my rights as a creator."
3. Include in your email: your story, why intellectual property rights are important to you, how piracy and infringement affect you, and what the U.S. government can do to better protect the rights of creative Americans.
4. Also include in your email: your name, city, state, and what type of artist you are.
5. DO NOT include any personal or private information as all comments will be posted publically on the White House website.
All comments must be submitted by Wednesday, March 24 by 5:00 p.m. EST. To read the entire call for comments, click here.
Don't be shy! Take two minutes today to make your voice heard, and don't forget to spread the word to everyone you know. Forward this notice using this short URL - http://bit.ly/cjDZJt - by email, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and more!Best,
Lucinda Dugger
P.S. If you received this email from a friend, and you are interested in receiving more information about how you can speak up for your rights, sign up for our network of Copyright Advocates.

Now, I've had a few posts on copyright/plagiarism regarding a number of art forms starting about a month ago. My simplified stance on the topic is a more middle ground than most of what I've seen. More specifically, my stance is as an educator and suggests that people make their own decision based on research.

Regarding the abovementioned Espinel, I found this article at Wired.com.

And more here on Compliance Matters.

One of my favorite writerly resources, Writer Beware!, had this post on recent copyright activities.

Another photography friend sent me this post on plagiarism and art from another photographer blogger. (It also has some gorgeous pictures!)

From Twitter came "What every writer ought to know about fair use and copyright" from www.thebookdesigner.com and how publishers are being urged to change their focus regarding copyright.

And lastly, from my educational colleague, Julie, came this article about plagiarism in higher ed and even job interviews, which made me very sad.

Do you have any articles on plagiarism and copyright that you would like to share? There's an AWFUL LOT out there and it's important for anyone creating and writing to know the story.

And now to be a part of the decisions made regarding copyright, per the letter above.

Go forth and change the world!