11.12.08
I want a Digital Voice Recorder!
My new favorite thing is something that I don’t actually have yet.
I would like to get a digital voice recorder with a USB connection so that I can connect it to my computer (which I backup daily now, thank you) and transfer what I record to an audio file. How great would that be? I have been doing a little research (well, I talked to people at work about it and Google searched it for about 4 minutes this morning) and I think that it is definitely at the top of my Christmas wish list this year!
I use my little notebooks all the time to jot down notes, but I think it would be so much more efficient (and probably a lot safer) to use the digital voice recorder when I am driving, or even out walking. Then, I can play back the recording and type on the computer when I have time.
If anyone uses one already on or can suggest a brand or a model, please let me know!
~Melissa 
09.06.08
“Feeling gratitude…”
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
– William Arthur Ward
Being grateful for what is good about our lives is an important thing we can each do for ourselves. It helps makes anything that is not-so-good-at-the-moment easier to deal with, and keeps us in a proper perspective so we can focus on all of the things that are amazing-at-the-moment!
I think it was Oprah Winfrey, a few years ago, that advocated a “gratitude journal” because she believed that expressing our appreciation adds to and intensifies the appreciation and gratefulness for all of the little things in our lives that we might otherwise overlook. I (of course!) also advocate keeping a journal or notebook and using it, in part, for this reason. It is a great place to jot down notes to yourself about the wonderful things in your life, including things that people have done for or said to you, and just list all that you have to appreciate about your life. (Hopefully this takes you a while to do…)
Now, while I do believe that journals are a fabulous place for these thoughts of gratitude, expressing the actual gratitude to the people who have done or said something nice to you or have in some way given you something to be grateful for is much more important.
So, take a moment and reflect on the things that you have to be grateful for and wrote about in your journal. Then, look at those things and if there is a person responsible for even one of them, take a moment to write a note of “thanks”, send a small gift or some flowers, or pick up the phone and thank them for it personally. They may not realize that what they said or did had the impact on you that it has. Share the gratitude.
This will be our (not so) Random Act of Kindness and Gratitude #3.
Thank you for reading!
~Melissa
PS…I came across this blog today and thought I would share it with all of you: http://gratitudecollections.blogspot.com/.
08.08.08
There is no such thing as writer’s block!
My students hear me say all the time that, “There is no such thing as writer’s block!” There is no excuse for not having something written after a period of freewriting or when a writing assignment is due. It may not be your best work, you may not want to share it, you may not love it or even like it at all, but if you let yourself freeze when you try to write, then you let yourself become an old car that no one drives anymore, or an athlete that forgets to stretch before a big game. The best way to get good at something is to practice and keep yourself in shape, and writing is no exception. If you don’t get into the habit of writing something down, you won’t give yourself the chance to revise it into a brilliant piece later on.
This post was originally posted on the blog I started last year to use with my students, www.missmorrisblog.wordpress.com. The link to the blog is in my blogroll on this page now too. If you are interested, please feel free to visit that blog and see the original post as well as some of their comments. I posted this advice, and as a homework assignment, and my students’ job was to respond with a way that they get around “writer’s block” both as a reminder that they already have at least one good trick of their own, and as a way to share strategies with each other. I have actually incorporated some of their ideas into this post.
Tips that will help you get “unstuck” when writing:
Be organic!
- Your best writing is what comes most naturally to you…if you are stuck for a topic or don’t like what you are writing…change it. You may come back to your original idea anyway.
- If you don’t know what to write at all…then write that! It is okay to get started with a list, or other brainstorming activities. Sometimes those things turn in to the best pieces.
- Draw or doodle for a few minutes – you can always write about your drawing if you still can’t think of anything else.
Use your resources:
- “Interview” friends and family about your topic – react in your writing to what they said or run with the new ideas and see where they take you.
- Search your subject, genre, or idea online – see what others have already written about it.
- Look up words you have already written in the dictionary and discuss their meanings.
- Pick up the novel you are currently reading, listen your iPod, and if you positively, absolutely think that you must, turn on the TV for inspiration (just don’t watch for too long).
Go back to previous writing-
-Use your seed entries in your writer’s notebook or other pieces that you wrote, finished or not.
-Re-examine lists and topics that you have worked on before and see if they inspire new ideas.
-Revise something – you may change it so radically that it becomes an entirely new piece.
-Change your angle – write about a subject you have written on before and look at it a different way.
- Lift a line from what you just wrote and make it the first line on a new page and see where it takes you!
- Don’t get rid of anything. If you don’t like something you have written, just put a line through it and move on. You may change your mind later and find it useful.
Change your state or your scenery.
-Been sitting a while? Stand up!
-Inside all day? Go out for a walk!
-In front of a blank computer screen? Pick up your pencil and notebook…
-Tired? Take a nap.
Any other ideas? Please share a comment! ~Melissa
08.03.08
New Category – “Words”
There are some words that as we read them, or hear them in conversation, they stand out brightly among all of the others. It could be for any number of reasons including the way the actual letters form the word, how it sounds when it is spoken, its meaning, its origin, or its obscurity.
I have many favorite words and come across new favorites constantly. I typically carry a notebook with me at all times to record my own thoughts as well as any other ideas that I find interesting during the day and I keep word lists in the back of these notebooks. It is the best place for the words because when I am sitting down to write and am stuck for a place to start or need inspiration to find the perfect word, it is easy to flip to the back section of a notebook and find a custom made, meaningful list of great words.
I am going to start a new category of posts here on the blog where each post is dedicated to an individual word. I hope that if a word strikes you, that you will submit a comment. Please also feel free to email me with any words that you particularly like. ~ Melissa melissa.morris11@gmail.com
