Imagination

By Ruth Wellens

Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary definition of imagination is: “the act or power to form mental images of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality; a creation of the mind.” 

Author Ruth Wellens

Children are encouraged to use their imagination with an empty box or with blocks.  We adults must use more creative means. 

Writing, of course, uses the imagination, but the practice of using our imagination can occur anytime or anywhere.  When I walk on the trail after a rain, sometimes I pretend I am walking some place other than the trail.  The birds are chirping, the sky is a deep blue, and the air is damp – like a rain forest. 

Sometimes when the atmosphere is foggy, I transport myself (via imagination) to London.  Why not?  I can’t see very clearly here in Green Bay the same way people often can’t see very clearly in London, England.  The only difference is that London might be considered more exotic. 

How about the shores of Green Bay or the shores of Door County?  What’s on the other side?  Maybe we think we know because we’ve driven to the other side or have been transported there by boat.  But what if it has changed? What if it’s something else?  We can always imagine.

Have you ever wondered what that waitress is thinking – especially when someone decides to create a complicated order?  Have you ever encountered a stranger and wondered what his or her back story is?  What about family dynamics as observed in a park or at a store?  Is that couple holding hands married? Dating?  Having an affair? 

This is the stuff of writers – wondering, creating, “forming mental images … not present to the senses.”

So now that our imagination is primed is that all we need?  Picture the perfect writing day, with daily chores done and no other commitments. We cozy up to our laptop ready to begin.  Only, well, nothing.  Even the most perfect setting does not guarantee that writing will be produced.  Sometimes even when all the stars are aligned, writing still falls flat. 

What to do?  Use your imagination.    

Writing Tips: Day Two

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day Two – Ideas

Today, I’m going to focus on ideas. One of the most frequently asked questions is how do I get my ideas? I’d like to say I think a long time about what to write. I don’t. Thoughts are always there and spawn ideas I can write about.

You can get ideas from news stories, books, movies or something that happens. The way it happened brings forth a great idea for a book.

Talking to people and something they say, or how it’s said, can be a good plot for a story.

There are so many places you can find stories, they’re endless. Even dreams can evolve into a book. For non-fiction books, there might be something that happened–such as a mystery–that hasn’t been solved or a memoir from your childhood could make a good book. History is full of people who did something other people would want to know about.

Think about every book you’ve ever read. Which was your favorite and why? That book started as an idea in the author’s imagination. They took that idea and made a story from it, and that story became the book you read. It might have been a best-seller and it might not. However, you read it, reviewed it and others have done the same.

Jerry B. Jenkins, author of the Left Behind series was on a plane and had the idea to write about the tribulation from the viewpoint of an airline pilot. The series became a reality, which he co-authored with Tim LaHaye. One book led to twelve and then four prequels.

Don’t discount the ideas you have. They all lead somewhere, whether it’s a blog post or a best-selling novel.

You might wonder how a person can take an idea from a book. I read an article once that said, there are no new stories, and someone will always come along and write the story better than you did. Find a nugget in a book and you have an idea, a seed, and a new story comes forth. What are your ideas? Let them germinate the seed for a story.

It’s time to write.

What I’ve Learned From My Writing

By Ruth Wellens

 What I’ve learned from my writing is that it has taught me some things about myself.  I have found it one of the most pleasing, aggravating, rewarding, and frustrating activities I have ever pursued.  While the act of writing has at times been difficult to live with, I have found I also can’t live without it. 

I have stories going on in my head almost all the time.  My ideas can originate from anywhere – a song on the radio, an overheard conversation, a news article, or a casual encounter with a store clerk or a waitress.  Sometimes when I recall the incidents during my day, my mind goes into “what if” drive – such as “what if” this happened, or “what if” someone reacted this way, or “what if” someone was thinking or feeling this way?  It’s at those times when my imagination will begin to develop a story.   

What happens next?

With the idea brimming inside my head, the first draft of writing ensues often without a hitch.  After that, however, comes the difficult task of rewriting.  One of the best steps I can take for rewriting is to set aside my work for a day or two or more and then to go back to it. Rewriting or revision is to see again, and that’s what occurs when the writing is reread after time has passed. Rewriting is writing as clearly and concisely as I can.  It is asking if I have used a certain word or words too often?  It is wondering if this part is needed?  After going over my writing, I go over it again.  Sometimes I just need to stop or I have learned I would never have a finished product.

While I don’t write everyday, I find that if I have a story or idea in my head, I need to get it down on paper.  If I don’t, I’ve learned I get very crabby!

The Trials of Writing in the Summer Time

By Rhonda Strehlow

The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The road is calling. The lounge chair beacons me.

The garden needs hoeing.

The day is so beautiful the sheets should be hung on the clothes line.

Is it time to drive to Door County to pick cherries?

My desk is a mess. There are birthday cards to be sent. The neighbor wants to go on a ten-mile bike ride.

We only have a few real summer days in Wisconsin. I’ll write when it’s raining.

Re-seal the deck. Trim back the trees. And, now the peas should be picked. And shelled. And frozen.

I’ll write when it’s raining.

The dog needs a walk. The cat needs a treat. The bird feeders are empty.

It’s time to weed the flower garden again. Who ordered three yards of mulch?

The fish are biting. The fair is next week.  I need a haircut. And, so does the dog.

So now it’s been raining for three days. No more excuses. I open the laptop with a sigh. I re-read the first three chapters. Not too bad. The characters talk to me. I get lost in the drama of another life, another time.

Ten p.m. and 3,512 words! Where did the time go? I’m just getting started. I’m sure I can get in a few more chapters before midnight. Who needs to sleep?

Travel for Inspiration

By L.E. Aronis

I recently bought a t-shirt that reads “Love Where You Are,” which is completely the opposite of my usual life-view. I’ve lived in Wisconsin all my life, and while there are many things I love about the state, there are increasingly more and more things I’m growing to dislike each year. I love the natural beauty and friendliness of most people, but the long winters have me longing for a more temperate climate.

I have been to several different countries, including Canada, Israel, Ireland, and Great Britain, as well as Puerto Rico, which is an American territory but feels like a different country. I’ve flown on many planes and taken a passenger train between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland. I’ve taken a ferry from Wales to Ireland, spent a whole week exploring the amazing city of Edinburgh by city bus, and my two feet. I’ve spent way too much money to rent a car, driving along the Jurassic Coast of Southern Dorset, England, as well as County Cork, Ireland. I’ve harvested grapes in a vineyard for a winery in Israel and tasted the wine that those before me worked so hard to help produce.

I’ve taken chances and not always been very wise in my decisions when it comes to travel, but it’s all worked out, and I’ve learned quite a lot from it. Those experiences and the places I’ve traveled to have enriched my writing, as well as my life. I can draw on so many amazing things in order to create characters and situations that I’d never have thought of if I’d stayed put in Wisconsin. I’ve written about people living in large manor homes in Edinburgh, Amazing townhomes in London, beach houses near the sea in Dorset, as well as a normal, middle-income home in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Through travel, I’ve become a better writer and I think, a better person who sees things in a different, less narrow way. If you want variety and something different to write about, I’d recommend travel; you never know the things you’ll come up with, having gleaned inspiration through the people you’ll meet and places you’ll see.

Writing for Publication

By Valerie Routhieaux

I’m not a best-selling author, though that is my goal. I’m here to give you pointers on how to write for publication, not blogs. Blogs are a different kind of writing, more relaxed and you can break every rule, and I’m sure I do too.

Day 1

Write. Don’t edit. Don’t worry about your grammar and punctuation.

Write. When you start a new project, the idea is to get the story down. This is your rough draft, and believe me, it’s rough. I guarantee you probably broke every rule of good writing. You’ll have typos and even words that don’t look like typos called homophones. Those are the trickiest typos of all. You’ll also have punctuation and grammatical errors.

Leave your editing for the finished project.

When the story is finished, it’s time to start polishing it. Everyone writes differently. Some people use index cards and map out their book from beginning to end. Some use a storyboard. Some outline. And some just write.

There are two kinds of writers. Plotters and Pantsers. The plotters are the ones who use the index cards, storyboard, and outline. Pantsers are those who plant themselves in the chair and write.

I’m a pantser. I don’t know what my characters are going to do until I put fingers to keyboard.

If this is day one for you, decide what kind of writer you are and get started. The book won’t write itself, though some days you will feel like it is, especially if you’re a pantser, like me.

What kind of writing do you do? If you’re an author, what genre do you write in? If you haven’t published yet, what are your interests when you sit down to write? If you’re thinking about writing, what genre interests you? Is it fiction or non-fiction?

Write!

Why Writing Groups

By Ruth Wellens

            Writing groups are much like family. Some groups are larger than others, but each person in the group will have a definite personality that will come through and need to be interacted with. Then there is the unique writing each author in the group possesses.  Once again, some writing you will have more in common with than others depending on genre, subject matter, audience and simply style.  Don’t we find more in common with certain siblings or cousins than others?  It is human nature and the nature of a family. 

            What is the glue that binds us together?  Families have history; writing groups have language. The language of writing and the writing process is unique to English teachers and authors. Who really considers point of view? How many people do you discuss verb tense with besides your writing group? Who responds about whether a group of words contain a definite subject? Who cares (or even understands) if there is a clear antecedent for the pronoun that is written?  Exactly what I mean. 

            Besides the technical side of writing, who else can really understand having all the stars aligned, a whole day ahead of you reserved just for writing, and sitting down to the computer only to have no ideas come to you to write about.   Who else knows what it’s like to feel the euphoria of being accepted by a publisher and then the depression because of the pressure of an editing deadline?  Writing is a solitary endeavor, no doubt, so it is very special, and some would say necessary, to have a group-like family to meet with on a regular basis – to have a writing group.      

Infusing Personality Into Your Characters

By Terry C. Misfeldt

Your characters should be described with more personality than what clothes they wear or what they look like. Infusing personality into your characters requires an understanding of the four basic types of people.

For this we’ll share a marketing-oriented version of the four personalities that we’ve found makes it easy to understand people quickly. It facilitates communication without having to change who you are, so it’s a natural method for describing your characters.

The four types are Control (some people refer to them as Type A), Perfect, Fun, and Peace.

Allow a brief interpretation of each, starting with Control. Most business owners (lumping here) are Control freaks (using the term loosely) because their mantra is “Get it Done!” A few of the traits that describe them and which can be used to infuse personality into your characters: Bold, self-sufficient, independent, and strong-willed.

Switching to Perfect people brings accountants to mind; people who are detail oriented and precise. These are characters who are thoughtful, sensitive, and idealistic, such as creative people with musical or artistic talent. They have to get things right.

Control and Perfect people are more task-oriented than people-oriented.

The more people-oriented personalities are the Fun and Peace types. Fun people–like the song lyrics–just want to have fun. You can tell they’re smiling when you talk to them on the phone. They’re generally the life of the party, enthusiastic, cheerful, and good on stage. They’ll have no qualms about singing at a karaoke bar. They’re warm and thrive on encouragement.

Peace people just want to get along, do their work, go home and be left alone because they like the easy way of doing things. They’re calm, patient, consistent and extremely competent. You could set your clock on their routine, especially if their second nature is Perfect.

Sound like any of your characters?

If You Had 168 Football Fields

By Dorothy Seehausen

After a long, snowy Wisconsin winter, it was time to take up my daughter’s invitation to visit my granddaughter, the anthropology major, at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was her 20th birthday and they promised me an hour on my own to do research. Her dorm is within walking distance of the Krause Research Library at the Center for Western Studies (CWS), so while they took a stroll around the campus enjoying the warmish spring-like weather I headed over to the CWS for a frolic of my own – piecing together the awesome story of our pioneer ancestors.

Located at 2001 S. Summit Avenue in Sioux Falls, the CWS houses a welcome center, gift shop, museum, and library. Most of its many offerings are free, and include the new permanent museum exhibits Voices of the Northern Plains, as well as the Krause Research Library which houses 40,000 volumes on the Great Plains/American West. Partnerships with the South Dakota State Historical Society, the South Dakota Archaeological Society and the University of Nebraska’s Center for Great Plains Studies aid the CWS in their goal to stimulate interest in the heritage of South Dakota. There is also online access to thousands of photos and documents in the library’s database Northern Plains Peoples & Places.

The Krause Research Library is upstairs, its walls appropriately decorated with long rows of books I wished I had time to get lost in. Off to the left at the top of the stairs an ample staff room awaits with staff to assist the researcher’s every whim. Open to the public, family historians either can browse the shelves themselves or hire a researcher to work with. Since my time and funds were limited, I decided to sit at the computer looking for books, articles, magazines – anything that contained the history of homesteading in South Dakota, my latest family history project.

My interest in South Dakota started when I married in 1961. My husband’s grandparents (my granddaughter’s great-greats), Thomas and Ida Mae Shanahan purchased 160 acres of homestead land for a filing fee of $18 in Lyman County, South Dakota in 1908. Their story is a microcosm of the lives of thousands of homesteaders who poured into Dakota Territory from 1860 to 1920, thanks to the homestead act of 1862.

Using “homesteading” and “South Dakota” as my search terms, a few minutes later I discovered “Drawn to the Land: Homesteading Dakota.” This guide is a 20-page booklet, digitized and available online, describing the South Dakota State Historical Society’s traveling exhibit to celebrate the state’s 125th anniversary. It includes an overview of the homesteading experience from the first purchase of 160 acres of land to proving it up and all the hardships, pitfalls and successes in between, including pictures of the one room sod huts many families had to live in.

I downloaded the guide on my flash drive, happy as great-great grandpa Shanahan must have been as he stood on his land for the first time, a land patent in his pocket and a dream in his heart.

So how big actually is 160 acres? The Mall of America is about 96 acres; Vatican City is about 110; Ellis Island is 27.40 acres; Buckingham Palace itself has 19 acres of floor space. Fort Knox is 109,054 acres.  And if you had 168 football fields? They would fit on your 160 acres of land.

Life in Wisconsin

Having lived in the Badger state most of my life, I have come to love Wisconsin. Life in Wisconsin can be harsh when inches, or feet, of snow fall and remain on the ground for months…or when wind chill factors drop into the 25 below category or colder. Life in Wisconsin can also be beautiful when spring blossoms and trillium spout up in the forests or in the fall when leaves turn gorgeous in colors of orange, red, and yellow.

Sure, Wisconsin has its tourist destinations such as Door County, Wisconsin Dells, and other attractions but it is her small farming communities, thousands of acres of forests, and clean running water which are most enticing. When I have the luxury of spending time in the woods or by a lake and marvel at the beauty of nature, I think this is what more people need to experience. Maybe our state should advertise these simple pleasures more.

It is then I realize the serenity, peace and quiet I am able to experience could be ruined, disturbed, and less enjoyable if it were inundated by hordes of visitors. Being selfish, I’d rather keep them to myself, family, and close friends.

If, however, we do encounter visitors from another planet, we must do our best to educate them about taking care of what they are able to enjoy. That means leaving wherever you are looking better and cleaner than you found it. Respect the rules and obey the laws. Treat the people who own the property–even if it’s the state or federal government–with respect. Ask permission before stepping onto what might be private property. Be courteous and you will be treated the same.

A good rule of thumb is to ask first. If you’re getting together for a picnic, ask the host what you can bring. And ask if you can bring someone else along instead of showing up with 10 other people and then wonder why there’s not enough food.