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???? TEFF HAS Twelve years on WDC! FORUM keeps ADC records. |
Copy/ record FEB 2012 NL WRITE TO PERSUADE by ANN PATTERSON When does an essay become an editorial opinion piece? I don’t know. Does anyone? Ten years ago I decided to come out as lesbian in a geographical area known statewide as strongly conservative with a daily newspaper that had espoused social conservatism for decades but was gradually moving toward acceptance of what had for years been considered as liberal views. I worked in Canyon County, Idaho early in the 1970’s as Director of Volunteer Services for the Idaho State School and Hospital, the residence of 700 mentally handicapped individuals from the age of six months to age seventy. That role required me to speak to organizations, social clubs, schools, Chamber of Commerce and churches throughout the regional area. I was active in my church and that role was often public. Thankfully, the people of that area responded to my call for their help in making lives better for the residents at ISSH. In 1999 I was working in the same regional area as Community Resource Specialist for establishing the new “Welfare to Work” programs in a viable way within the State of Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. For years my articles along with interviews of me had appeared in the daily newspaper along with reports of conservatism against gays, Uncle Toms Cabin and other library books, and other strong conservative articles. I wrote what I thought was a “Letter to the Editor” in 2000 in which I announced “I Am A Lesbian” to the world within Canyon County. In that “Letter” which I emailed to the editor, I indicated that I was ‘coming out’ in 2000 as a grandmother of seven, as a Christian who believed that homosexuals were accepted by God, as a professional who was known throughout the county and all of Idaho, and I asked for readers to recognize the right for gay men and lesbian to live freely and with all of the same rights as all other citizens. I thought it was a good essay. But the Editor thought differently. She called me and said, “Ann, I’m going to run your letter as an OP-ED piece on the editorial page. It appeared in a 3 column format, eleven inches deep, in the center of the Editorial Page of the News Tribune. I encourage you. Write your opinions. Write essays that persuade. Write to make life better in your community for all citizens. Write with good information, even statistics. You can persuade people to take a second look at an issue. Write because you are a writer and you can help to make your community, your country, our world a better place for everyone. ADDITIONAL NL TOPIC ... From ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy   FEEL THE EMOTIONS, SEE, HEAR WHAT YOU’RE WRITING IN THE BEGINNING… When I first began writing, I had to stop and think, think and slowly write one paragraph at a time trying hard to tell the story that I had outlined. I had to stop and think, think, think and think some more before writing the next paragraph. It was just plain hard work to write the story. To describe a character and follow through with the character’s actions, I had to think hard and long to get a picture in my mind and grasp deep inside to find a few words that described my character. My first character in my first story was an alcoholic; and, though my father and many people whom I knew were alcoholics; nevertheless, finding the words to describe my character were difficult to come by. Eventually, I remembered a particular alcoholic whom I had seen and I tried to describe him. It was just plain hard work finding the words to describe the character. Learning how to show true flowing conversation was equally difficult. The quotations and introductory sentence or phrase to a quotation was seriously difficult. I studied books and stories to try to understand what and how to write conversations. It wasn’t until a WDC reviewer gave me a suggestion that I finally understood and could write a reasonable conversation with accurate quotation marks, commas; and, most of all, to never use phrasing like “and Martha said,” or “smiling, Martha told John…” It was just plain hard work and took lots of experience to write conversations. Learning how to describe and show actions was terribly difficult. My first story showed limited actions and I had to do a lot of thinking to find the better words and appropriate actions for the story. But I practiced, and practiced and practiced some more. I kept trying to write actions in a descriptive way day after day. Eventually, I reached the moment that writing actions came easier and easier. I learned to see, to visualize, to involve myself in the writing until the words for actions flowed more freely than ever before. It really was hard work until I could SEE the actions and FEEL the way the action might feel. Then, I could write flowingly the actions in the story. After five and a half years of writing stories, I have learned to let the story and the characters become real within my mind and emotions. It is amazing what it FEELS like when the topic or action or character is so real that the words just appear on the page almost as if I had not even thought the words. IT IS MAGICAL! Yes, when you keep practicing, keep writing, get the words on paper for a long enough time that you begin to FEEL the emotion, FEEL the action and reaction. Keep writing until you FEEL that you are doing the action, FEEL the bumps and bruises and the touch that your characters FEEL. When that magic comes naturally to your own emotions and body, then your mind will put the words on paper right in front of you. Then you will FEEL the writer’s joy. I WISH FOR YOU THAT WONDERFUL MAGIC. Ann Patterson best4writing, Author From: April Sunday AND ... as often happens when one reaches a spot where the subject of writing produces more finished products, Ms Patterson has created this item. Yes, 'tis fun to have a collection. Thanks Ann, GOOD SHOW!
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