Education – Page 3 – Write on the World

Do you use active language in your writing? Do your teachers occasionally tell you that your writing is too passive? Are you confused about what this means? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

One of my students told me last semester that her mom is an English teacher, and that she doesn’t even bother trying to teach the difference between active and passive voice to her students anymore because none of them ever “get it.” What a shame.

I wonder sometimes why passive voice is such an easy trap to fall into. After all, active sentences are typically simpler than passive sentences and require fewer words. Wouldn’t you think the brain would take the path of least resistance and lead the writer to write more active sentences? Apparently not. Continue reading “Active vs. passive voice: Why you should care” →

Education, Parenting

Easy is a bad word

April 12, 2012April 15, 2012 Mandy Webster

My kindergartener told me the other day that the word “easy” is a bad word at his school. I asked him why, and he told me, “Just because something’s easy for you doesn’t mean it’s easy for everyone, and we don’t want to make our friends feel bad.” I guess I can somewhat understand the reasoning, but at the same time, I wonder how this makes the kids feel when they think something is easy and are not allowed to voice their opinion.

There are lots of things that are easy for other people but not for me (math.) I won’t hold it against you if it’s easy for you. I won’t decide I just can’t do it because it’s not easy for me. No, I just accept the fact that I have to work harder than you do on that specific task and take comfort in knowing that there’s probably something else I DO think is easy. And when I do that other task, I’d like to be able to feel proud of myself and say, “Wow, this is easy!” Continue reading “Easy is a bad word” →

AWP, Conventions & Conferences, Education, Writers on Writing, Writing Programs, Written Communication

AWP 2012 | Creative Writing in the Real World

April 2, 2012 Mandy Webster

Is it April already? I meant to write a ton of compelling blog posts about all of the sessions I attended at the March 2012 APW Convention in Chicago, but I didn’t get past describing the first session. Although I’m a bit behind, I think a lot of the lessons I learned at the convention are essential. So today, I’ll take a peek backward and tell you about the second session I attended, titled, “Out There and In Here: Creative Writing in the Real World.”

This session was presented by Abby Bardi, Rick Kemp, Janice Meer, and Adeena Reitberger in the Astoria room of the Hilton Chicago. The AWP’s official description of the session follows: Continue reading “AWP 2012 | Creative Writing in the Real World” →

Education, Flowers, Uncategorized

I can’t seem to get my homework done

March 22, 2012 Mandy Webster

The hyacinths in my garden are calling my name. "Don't stay inside and work," they say. "Come outside and hang with us."

I’ve been working on this week’s homework for two straight days, and I just can’t seem to get it done. I think it’s a combination of the subject matter (Narratology) and the weather. I’m not knocking Narratology, but this may very well be the most painful English course I have ever taken. We are studying Seymour Chatman‘s Story and Discourse, and I swear I have to read each sentence at least 3 times to make any sense of it.

This week, I have to take one of the theories of character Chatman discusses in Story and Discourse and summarize it in layman’s terms. I spent at least 4 hours on this yesterday and so far have only written 4 paragraphs of gibberish that I am quite certain don’t make a bit of sense. Continue reading “I can’t seem to get my homework done” →

Education, Mount Mary College, Sigma Tau Delta, Uncategorized, Writing Programs

2012 Sigma Tau Delta induction

March 20, 2012 Mandy Webster

Yesterday, I officially joined the International English Honor Society at the 2012 Sigma Tau Delta induction ceremony which took place in the beautiful Caroline Hall student lounge at Mount Mary College.

According to the Sigma Tau Delta website, “Candidates for graduate membership must be enrolled in a graduate program in English, or one of its specializations, have completed six semester hours of graduate work or the equivalent, and have a minimum grade point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale.”

I lured my children to the induction ceremony with the promise of food, and they were actually very well behaved throughout the ceremony. Perhaps it was the promise of a slice of the huge cake sitting on a back table that kept them in line. My boyfriend came along as well to keep an eye on the kids and man the video camera (he kept the camera trained on me for pretty much the entire video!) Continue reading “2012 Sigma Tau Delta induction” →

Education, Essays, Written Communication

Time to write another essay

March 18, 2012 Mandy Webster

Wanna write an essay with me? What would you write about? (No, that's not me in the picture!) | Day 34 - Essay and Notes (Photo credit: Auntie P)

My Written Communication students are writing a booklet of essays that they will be turning in at the end of this semester, and I’m planning to write a booklet of my own along with them. This week we learned about the descriptive essay in class, so they must write a descriptive essay by our next meeting. The students have been planning their essays for several weeks, but I’m just now thinking of mine. I can’t decide what to write about. I know, I should have made my outline right along with them.

The final booklet of essays will contain essays using each of the following patterns of development: Continue reading “Time to write another essay” →

AWP, Conventions & Conferences, Education, Novel Writing, Uncategorized, Writers on Writing, Writing Programs

AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 4)

March 15, 2012March 12, 2012 Mandy Webster

Novel & Short Story Writer's Market — Image via Wikipedia

Welcome to Part 4 of my blog series on the 2012 AWP Conference session titled, Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs. I’m assuming you’ve at least read my introductory post, so I’ll just jump right in today and talk about the panelists’ views on query letters and agent-hunting.

First of all, what is a query letter, and why do you need one? Well, these days most publishers do not want to see your entire novel manuscript if they don’t already have a working relationship with you. In most cases, they want nothing more than a query letter, and possibly a short synopsis. The publisher will then use that information to decide if they think it’s worth their time to request a copy of the full manuscript. So, it’s important to write a query letter that really sells your manuscript.

Our session panelists provided the following tips for writing an effective query letter: Continue reading “AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 4)” →

AWP, Education, Short Story, Uncategorized, Writers on Writing

AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 3)

March 14, 2012March 12, 2012 Mandy Webster

Welcome to Part 3 of my blog series on the 2012 AWP Conference session titled, Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs. I’m assuming you’ve at least read my introductory post, so I’ll just jump right in today and talk about the panelists’ views on submitting and submitting and submitting and…

One of the main lessons stressed by all of the presenters on this panel is that you should submit and submit often. One of the presenters says there is no better time to submit your work than today because, “It’s best to begin the process of being rejected” sooner rather later.

Don’t avoid submitting your work because you don’t think it’s good enough to be published yet. Instead, submit everything and accept the fact that you will be rejected. Most of us would rather be rejected by a lover than by a publisher, but we have to remember that rejection is just a part of the writer’s life. Continue reading “AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 3)” →

AWP, Conventions & Conferences, Education, Novel Writing, Writers on Writing, Writing Programs

AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 2)

March 13, 2012March 12, 2012 Mandy Webster

Hilton Chicago (Photo credit: Diorama Sky)

Yesterday, I began my discussion on the 2012 AWP Conference session titled, “Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs.” Today I’d like to share some of the panelists’ advice on approaching the early stages of writing a novel.

Before I start, I should tell you that I arrived at this session late after getting lost trying to find my way to registration upon arriving at the conference. So, I missed out on the introductions and am unable to attribute some of the quotes I wrote down during the session. (Thankfully, I’m no journalist; otherwise I would probably be in big trouble!) I’ll do my best to give credit where credit is due, but if I get something wrong, please tell me so I can fix it.

One of the speakers at this session recommends that you write a synopsis of your novel early in the process to make sure you have a clear picture of what your novel is about. The synopsis will also help you sell your story to potential buyers (agents, editors, publishers, etc.) Remember, they won’t be interested in your novel if you can’t sufficiently tell them what the novel is about. Continue reading “AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 2)” →