Welcome to my world and beyond...

A collection of snippets of the books I write and, occasionally, my life and the things that inspire my writing...

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors: June 30, 2013

Welcome, warriors!  And welcome to SnipSuns and anyone else who wanders in. Holy cow--It's almost July! All that's left of June is the whining that it flew by so fast!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog-hop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at Weekend Writing Warriors, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between 12:00 noon Saturday, and 9:00 AM Sunday EST.  Then we visit each other, read, comment, critique, encourage--all those great things that do a solitary writer's heart good.


Set up:  This week is a big change-up. If you participated in SixSunday, you might recall that I posted some journal entries from my MC, who is homeless and delusional. This scene takes place pretty early in the book. Rissa (in her dreams) is actually Marissa in the here and now reality.

She's convinced that her "crazy" dreams are actually memories of two years of her life and of a missing newborn baby.  I know. A lot to take in.  Swordplay, her handsome lover Cuylrh, her friend Jia, troublemaker Dhurstan, and the evil Daekartha all exist in her dreams.

This is part of a journal entry. Izzy is at the desk of the shelter during the night shift. I'll continue it next week. Journal entries are part of reality.

*note   You might encounter creative punctuation :-)

"This morning, I woke up from my dream because Izzy called for me, and that is odd. Not odd that Izzy called me, but that her voice woke me up. I learned during my therapy and treatments  that, generally, dreams are penetrable—that another person can communicate or make suggestions to the dreamer—and that includes waking up the dreamer. But that was just one more thing the doctors discovered about me they had no explanation for. My dreams are impenetrable, as solid as if they were built with rock walls. I’m in my dreams for the duration. They could only guess when I was dreaming from heart rate and p.e.t. scans. But, so typical--their lack of understanding didn't stop them from prescribing pills that made me feel as crazy as they all said I was."

That's it.  What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom.  Thank you so much for visiting!  Sundays are extra busy for me right now, so it might take me several days to return visits, but I will. Have a great week, all!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Cursive writing--Going Like The Dodo?



What does a recently discovered written language of the Picts (an Iron Age society that existed in Scotland from 300 to 843) and modern day cursive have in common?

If those in position of choosing future education standards have their way, both will be extinct.

In an article that caught my eye, a young court witness was asked to read a letter out loud, and her response was, "I don't read cursive."

Two states, as early as 2011, dropped cursive from their curricula in favor of teaching keyboard proficiency.  And from this article Is Cursive Writing Dead?  "Very small proportions of adults use cursive for their day-to-day writing," Polikoff said. "Much of our communication is done on a keyboard, and the rest is done with print."

Seems ducks are lining up in a row to do away with cursive.

I don't know which side of this you are on--whether you feel  it's important to maintain the cursive teaching standard, or if you feel that  it's teaching time that could be better spent.  But the idea of removing cursive from classrooms did bring some thoughts to my mind.

The first thought is our signatures. I like mine. ~smiling~ And I think a signature is a matter of pride and often, a matter of promise, but in all respects, I guess it's not actually a guarantee of identity, huh?  So, for legal documents, deeds, marriage licenses, a driver's license...  Will we thumbprint? Retina scans for everyone?

You know, I have a scifi-ish ms that actually utilizes that.  The future is now.

I like signing birthday cards in cursive. My big, sweeping letter T topped off by a fancy loop, and the way I church up the Y in my last name. I'll miss them...

Will our historical documents become unreadable relics to the masses? The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, for a few examples. And future generations will be relegated to the word of historians and scholars educated in the ancient written language of Cursive.  Hmm... sounds sort of unbelievable.

But, think back to that ancient language of the Picts.  (For article on the recent discovery of it, click HERE)  Someone, a long time ago, could read it and write it.  But for some reason--albeit likely a much different reason than cursive is headed the way of the dodo, it became unused.

What I do find fascinating is that we are experiencing an inevitable part of existence. Language evolves. Spoken and written, it changes over time. What is so different about this bit of evolution (in my lifetime) that makes it so very fascinating is that it's such a dramatic change. It's not being precipitated by a tribe breaking up and drifting in different directions for better hunting grounds, and it's not because an entire culture is being decimated by disease or war.

We are bearing witness to such a staggering change.

And it is staggering. We are on the precipice of a great change that will affect millions. We will create the first generation of people who will NOT understand what it is still mostly a commonplace means of communication, a means of correspondence.  Staggering...

I use cursive everyday. I do considerable writing at work, but admit that it's mostly in the form of notes in my lab notebook. Reports generated by that lab notebook data invariably take the form of a Word doc, or an Excel form. But, maybe me and my longhand kindred spirits are a bit like dinosaurs. Yet, I do like much of modern technology.

In summary, nostalgia aside, that leaves me sitting on the fence. My jury is still deliberating this one.

Where are you on this? Do you use cursive? Is it obsolete? Continue teaching it, or stop? 

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors: June 23rd, 2013



Happy Summer!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog-hop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at Weekend Writing Warriors, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between 12:00 noon Saturday, and 9:00 AM Sunday EST.  Then we visit each other, read, comment, critique, encourage--all those great things that do a solitary writer's heart good.


Set up:  This scene takes place in the  first one third of the book and continues immediately after last week's post. Rissa and her Rialtan protector Jia, are on a world called Amun populated by an all female colony led by a woman named Shaynda. They've been given refuge here from Daekartha.  The residents are considered outlaws in the Rialtan Empire.  This is Rissa's earliest exposure on how to use a sword, and she's not taking it seriously at all. A master swordstress (yeah, I know--I'm making up words ) has just begun to school her.

I'll pull from this for several weeks, continuous. *note   Creative punctuation ahead :-)

Rissa could handle Shaynda's impersonal, detached way of teaching, but her tutor's heavy hand  had her completely rattled--the way the powerful woman jerked her shoulders back or slapped her stomach while ordering her to breathe. A focused kick to the inside of Rissa's foot while Shaynda instructed her on proper stance sent her stumbling to the sand. Beneath her, the gritty, little grains burned as they clung to her damp skin.

Rissa squinted until a shadow came between her and the glaring sunlight. A groan escaped her lips as she clasped the hand extended toward her. Shaynda pulled her back to standing, then swiped back dark, sweaty locks of hair, fully  revealing gold eyes, the intensity of which was unnerving. 

Shaynda's voice finally betrayed emotion--scolding emotion, "I don’t think you understand the seriousness of your jeopardy, Rissa. You stand to gain much, but there are those who would just as soon see you lose it all, thus, defense will be part of your life whether  you like it or not, whether it bores you or not, whether a guard stands at your side, or not. Do you understand?” 

That's it.  What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom.  Thank you so much for visiting!  Sundays are extra busy for me right now, so it might take me several days to return visits, but I will. Have a great week, all!



Monday, June 17, 2013

Wordless Wednesday

No words required... except I feel compelled to say that this is not a painting. It is a photograph that by most measures is a failure and would have been deleted. But I saw something in it. A dream-scape quality.

A road, headlights shining on it, a tree ahead on a 90 degree bend, and a sunrise.
To visit other Wordless Wednesday participants, click HERE

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Wordless Wednesday June 12, 2013

Shhhhh, let's get wordless:

Okay, just a few words.  If you'd like to check out pics from other Wordless Wednesday participants, then click HERE
Photo: Copyright 2013  by Teresa K Cypher

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors June 2, 2013


Week 18: "Why a Sword?" continued



Happy June!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog-hop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at Weekend Writing Warriors, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between 12:00 noon Saturday, and 9:00 AM Sunday EST.  Then we visit each other, read, comment, critique, encourage--all those great things that do a solitary writer's heart good.


Set up  This scene takes place in the  first one third of the book and continues immediately after last week's post. Rissa and her Rialtan protector Jia, are on a world called Amun populated by an all female colony led by a woman named Shaynda. They've been given refuge here from Daekartha.  The residents are considered outlaws in the Rialtan Empire.  This is Rissa's earliest exposure on how to use a sword, and she's not taking it seriously at all. A mster swordstress (yeah, I know--I'm making up words ) has just begun to school her.

I'll pull from this for several weeks, continuous.

"Rissa was dumbstruck. If her expression conveyed any questions, it didn't matter, because Shaynda was done answering them. 

Stepping around her, the swordstress grabbed her from behind, her hard muscles pressed snug against Rissa's back.  Powerful hands slid from Rissa's narrow shoulders down her sweaty arms to her wrists, then over her hands, forming them into a  two-handed hold around the sword's pommel. "Keep your grip fluid, not too tight, not too loose, just like that. Good." Over and over, Shaynda guided her through correct motions of combat moves. There was no mercy, no let up."

I'll continue in this scene, next week. :-) 

That's it.  What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom.  Thank you so much for visiting!