Jonathan Swift summed up editorial work thus:

“Blot out, correct, insert, refine,

Enlarge, diminish, interline;

Be mindful, when invention fails,

To scratch your head, and bite . . . → Read More: editing – humor]]> July 28, 2010

Jonathan Swift summed up editorial work thus:

“Blot out, correct, insert, refine,

Enlarge, diminish, interline;

Be mindful, when invention fails,

To scratch your head, and bite your nails.”

I read a good post today on basic ways to build and improve your blog.

Kimberley Payne suggests:

1. Focus your blog 2. Decide on frequency 3. Do a variety of posts 4. Publicize your blog 5. There’s lots of advice out . . . → Read More: how to improve your blog]]> Are you a beginning blogger, or just thinking of starting a blog?

I read a good post today on basic ways to build and improve your blog.

Kimberley Payne suggests:

1. Focus your blog
2. Decide on frequency
3. Do a variety of posts
4. Publicize your blog
5. There’s lots of advice out there…

To learn more about each of these, check out Kimberley’s blog now.

And keep tuned…

I’ll be posting a list of my own very soon – right here at Pen and Paper Mama.

Click on the “posts” button at the top right hand corner of the blog, and subscribe so you don’t miss out on what coming up!

You can find pictures, links, and reviews on all ten books at PasteMagazine.com (which, by the way, also has amazing top-10/50/etc . . . → Read More: Top ten books about writing]]> You’ll definitely want to check out this “top ten books about writing” list … I’ve already read a couple of them, and considering how excellent those were, I’m certainly going to check out the others!

You can find pictures, links, and reviews on all ten books at PasteMagazine.com (which, by the way, also has amazing top-10/50/etc lists of all kinds of other things. A site you’ll want to bookmark, for sure!)

The books they list are:
The Artists Way by Julia Cameron
The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
Zen in the Art of Writing by Bill Bradbury
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Tools for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark
On Writing by Stephen King
The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
On Moral Fiction by John Gardner
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on the Writing Life by Anne Lamott

So what are you waiting for? Go to the site and check out the details! You’ll be glad you did!

Do you want to learn more about on-line writing and publishing?

If you do, why not join our community of writers and publishers?

Whether you are brand new to the online writing and publishing world, and have many questions; or you’re a seasoned pro and want to share . . . → Read More: Join our community of writers and publishers]]> Do you feel alone as a writer or publisher?

Do you want to learn more about on-line writing and publishing?

If you do, why not join our community of writers and publishers?

Whether you are brand new to the online writing and publishing world, and have many questions; or you’re a seasoned pro and want to share your knowledge, please join us! Click on the “posts” word in the top right hand corner of this page, and subscribe to receive regular updates from this site – then be sure to comment or ask questions on any of the posts which interest you.

Looking forward to having you become part of our community!

Afraid of on-line writing and publishing?

The other evening I listened to the 2009 Dalton Camp Lecture in Journalism on the CBC Radio program, “Ideas.” The guest lecturer was Sue Gardner, who worked for CBC Radio for a number of years, and is now in leadership at the Wikimedia Foundation (which produces on-line “wiki” . . . → Read More: Calm your fears of on-line writing]]> July 26, 2010

Afraid of on-line writing and publishing?

The other evening I listened to the 2009 Dalton Camp Lecture in Journalism on the CBC Radio program, “Ideas.” The guest lecturer was Sue Gardner, who worked for CBC Radio for a number of years, and is now in leadership at the Wikimedia Foundation (which produces on-line “wiki” sites like Wikipedia).

Here’s help!

If you are hesitant about on-line writing and publishing, I highly recommend that you listen to her presentation. Ms. Gardner knows both worlds well – traditional publishing and the new digital (on-line/ internet) publishing world. In this lecture, she talks about her experiences in both, and helps the listener to really understand the huge changes that are happening in the writing, broadcasting, and publishing worlds.

Listen here:

Listen to her presentation here at the CBC Ideas site.

Questions? Comments?

Be sure to leave your comments and questions at the end of this post. Let’s learn together.

Which of course makes sense, since it’s my “Pen and Paper Mama” site!

I particularly want to encourage folks who enjoy writing, but are . . . → Read More: Writing!!!]]> If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you’ll know already that I’ve been trying to figure out what to focus on. And I’ve decided this will be my WRITING AND PUBLISHING center.

Which of course makes sense, since it’s my “Pen and Paper Mama” site!

I particularly want to encourage folks who enjoy writing, but are perhaps nervous about on-line writing and publishing. It really is the wave of the future – no, actually, on-line writing and publishing is NOW!

I do understand, though, that the internet can be intimidating to a lot of folks, especially those of my own generation, and those who are elders. So I am going to try to explain things in simple terms. I am no expert myself, but have been going through a pretty steep learning curve recently. And I think that perhaps I can help people out by explaining things more simply than many of the learning sites that are available.

So that is my goal for this site. If you have any questions, ask away! I will do my best to answer them, and if I don’t know the answer, I will find out for you – and for me, of course.

I am going to have 55th birthdays from now on! I had an amazing birthday on Saturday – and it even got extended into Sunday by some friends…

I had an all-day drop-in birthday party on Saturday, from 7 am to 7 pm (well, some folks stayed a couple hours later, lol)…

35 friends dropped . . . → Read More: Happy birthday!]]> July 26, 2010

I am going to have 55th birthdays from now on! I had an amazing birthday on Saturday – and it even got extended into Sunday by some friends…

I had an all-day drop-in birthday party on Saturday, from 7 am to 7 pm (well, some folks stayed a couple hours later, lol)…

35 friends dropped by, 70 friends sent greetings on facebook, I got at least a half dozen phone calls, and more greetings by email.

We had blueberry crepes for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and chili for supper, along with various snacks along the way. My wonderful friend Debbie brought a big birthday cake and lots of helium balloons (the first time I’ve had helium balloons for my birthday! I was as excited as a little kid).

I received a dozen birthday cards, 2 beautiful bouquets of flowers, 2 boxes of chocolates, 2 Starbucks cards, a wally-world gift card, and a wonderful assortment of other surprises.

On Sunday morning, I went to street church, and they had another big birthday cake for me. I took along the Saturday leftovers, so I ended up having a two-day birthday party. Awesome!

Many thanks to all my wonderful friends for spoiling me – and to my Father who has given me so many friends and family, because He LOVES me!!! And He loves you, too!

I am amazed and blown away by how simple my life seems to be these days!

And yet I can’t help but also think that not worrying, but instead trusting in You (oh thank You, Lord, for teaching me to trust!) has truly made things so much easier for me.

I just don’t get in a . . . → Read More: my amazing simple life, Father!]]> July 20, 2010

I am amazed and blown away by how simple my life seems to be these days!

And yet I can’t help but also think that not worrying, but instead trusting in You (oh thank You, Lord, for teaching me to trust!) has truly made things so much easier for me.

I just don’t get in a flap or worry about so many things that even a few short years ago would have put me into a major panic, that would have made me feel like my life was complicated and full of problems, that would have had me worrying and feeling sick and complaining.

Thank You, Papa!

(Of course it was the truly hard times, the times when there was nothing I could do to fix things, myself, that You used to turn my eyes from myself and my own “responsibility” to having to trust in You – and discovering that You really are there and really do care and are working all things out for those who love You and are called according to Your purpose! So why would I even want to go back to not trusting? You are amazing, God!)

Wow! Thank You! (and “whew!” lol)

I was writing emails again today – and despite the advice of the world to keep emails short and sweet, so that I can have time to network with more people, I still find myself writing long emails, just like I used to write long snail-mail letters when I was young.

Even though they . . . → Read More: writing long emails – foolish or wise?]]> July 19, 2010

I was writing emails again today – and despite the advice of the world to keep emails short and sweet, so that I can have time to network with more people, I still find myself writing long emails, just like I used to write long snail-mail letters when I was young.

Even though they take a long time, I can’t help thinking that personal relationships are so important. I can’t help thinking that maybe we have more real impact in the long term, if we focus on a limited number of personal relationships, loving, caring, mentoring, sharing – rather than trying to spread out influence thin over a whole bunch of shallow relationships.

The small tribe, village, community where You place us. Rather than the whole celebrity, social marketing, Twitter-depth thing.

You think?

One of the reasons I haven’t been posting much here is that I’ve suddenly gotten much more involved in “growing my blog” over at My Church Journey. I’ve been following a number of other blogs related to the whole topic of changes in the way we . . . → Read More: commenting and commenting-on-comments and posting about comments…. and pondering what to do next with my blogs]]> July 20 (looking back over the past week or so)

One of the reasons I haven’t been posting much here is that I’ve suddenly gotten much more involved in “growing my blog” over at My Church Journey. I’ve been following a number of other blogs related to the whole topic of changes in the way we approach “church” (being the church rather than doing church or going to church, for example). And commenting on other people’s postings. One of the outcomes of commenting, is that my blog link is left at the end of my comments, and other readers follow it to see what I’ve been thinking. Others comment on my comments on other blogs, and then I comment on their comments, and that gets me thinking, so I post about the topic on my own blog, and link back to the original posts on other blogs… and quite suddenly I find myself in the middle of some pretty amazing conversations… and my own blog is getting more hits and comments…

And I suddenly realize that I have 590 posts over there, which cover several years of posting (during which I was mostly just trying to think things through myself, and not very concerned about on-line coversation) … and other than a “search” box, and the title of the blog, “My Church Journey,” and the titles of past half dozen or so posts, there really isn’t any way for folks to explore my explorations. I haven’t even set up pages with specific topics, and there aren’t any “tags” or “categories” like on WordPress blogs. So now I’m really trying to decide what to do. Set up separate pages for different topics within the big topic? Set up separate blogs? Switch from blogger to WordPress? Whatever I do, I need to do it quickly, I’m thinking!