The Writer's Cottage

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By Nancy Byrd Turner
This is the birthday of our land;
May all her days be in God’s hand.

May all her ways between the seas
Be ways of quietness and peace.

May her good flag shine high and bright,
And all the nations trust its light.

For peace and blessing may she stand,
America our Land!

Blessings on this Independence Day of the United States of America!

I’m teaching an ESL writing class this semester at the local community college. ESL stands for English as a Second Language. The students in my writing class are advanced speakers of English as another language besides their native language. They are from South Korea, Egypt, Brazil, Caracas and Romania.

Although they are mostly fluent in speaking English, they need to improve their English writing skills. That’s why they were placed in my class. They have been writing paragraphs all semester, polishing their skills so that they write at least three passing paragraphs. They’ve nearly achieved this goal as a class. At the end of the semester, we are going to enjoy food from everyone’s native culture and discuss tips and tools to help them continue to improve their writing.

That’s the thing about writing — whether in your native language or another language. You must keep writing every day. If you don’t use it, you will definitely lose it.

So how can you incorporate writing in your very busy daily life? Here are some ways I listed to discuss with my students:

• Buy a daily writer’s book, such as The Writer’s Book of Days. These books are great because they give you a writing prompt for every day of the year. Some of the prompts are sentences you are supposed to finish, topics, or questions to answer. You are supposed to write for 15 minutes nonstop. I used to do this daily writing practice every day. I haven’t done so in a while and I can tell in my writing! When I was writing from my book of days every day, my writing on my day job and in my freelance work improved and I sold more pieces! The lesson here is to write every day and these books are great tools to help you do just that.
• Write morning pages before you get out of bed. Julia Cameron talks about these in her bestseller, The Artist’s Way, another excellent book for all writers to read by the way.
• Read one book about writing at least every month (I think it’s best to read two writing books a month, but let’s start with just one). Right now, I’m reading Sol Stein’s How to Grow a Novel.
• Read at least one novel a month for pleasure. And, while you’re enjoying the story, pay attention to how the author writes it. In fact, you could read the novel the first time for pleasure and then go back and re-read the novel to study the author’s technique and the general techniques for fiction writing. I know of one now-famous author who started writing fiction by doing this practice. It helped her see the geneeral format for the genre she was interested in writing. She then went on to write and publish many bestsellers.
• Of  course, we cannot forget about writing in our journal every day. Journal entries are different than morning pages and the book of days writing practice. Journaling is for our eyes only; it is more personal. When we journal, we don’t worry about grammar or style; we just write and write and write. It’s the time we gift our creative muse to just “let it all hang out.” Journaling is very important to honing our writing skills and assuring our creative muse that we will pay attention to her and we are serious about being writers.

That’s all for now. I’ll add more after my students and I have our discussion in a few weeks.

Happy Writing!

Sue

I know my blog is usually about professional writing and learning about language. But tonight, I’m going to digress from my normal “professional” tone.

Tonight my family lost a dear friend, John Hunter. He was a man strong in his convictions, strong in his love for his Lord, strong in his love for his wife Hannah, his family, and his friends. He will be so missed by so many people, including me and my sons.

John was the first adult I met when I came to this new town. He was the first person to recognize my difficult home life at the time. John’s middle son, Ryan, was the first middle-schooler to befriend my oldest son, Jon. John was always there on back-to-school nights when I was afraid to go to my car by myself. He and Hannah were the rocks I leaned on when my son, Jon, was diagnosed with systemic lupus at the age of 14. They didn’t judge me, a divorced mother of two; they just hugged me, listened to me, and prayed for us.

It was John and Hannah who drove down to Dupont Hospital on Thanksgiving Day morning, when my son was finally being released after a three-week stay. They with their sons helped us check Jon out of the hospital and took my sons and me to a Thanksgiving Day dinner at John Harvard Brewhouse in Wilmington, Delaware. They sacrificed their family Thanksgiving to make sure my family had one.

That’s the kind of person I experienced in John — he was always thinking about the other person and how he could help them. He was an excellent role model for my two sons. When my youngest son, Stephen, stayed with John and Hannah and their boys, John made sure Stephen had a strong adult male mentor to look up to, follow, and learn from.

John Hunter helped me to laugh at myself, not take life so seriously. He always had a quip or little tease to throw out at me to lighten my mood. He and Hannah always sat down in their cozy living room to chat with me, sometimes for hours. They opened their home to me and my sons. Our sons are still close friends to this day.

I wanted to visit with John this past week and say “Thank you.” For whatever reasons, that meeting didn’t happen. Now, I can’t say it to John directly. But I can say my “Thank You, John” out here in cyberspace for others to read. Maybe someone reading this had their life touched by John’s caring and charity. I know a lot of people did.

In the midst of all John suffered these past five years, he was a rock for his family and friends. Up until his last week in this world, he was offering insights and lessons for my son, Stephen, when he visited with the Hunters every Monday night.

For the kindness, strength, and laughter John shared with my family and me, I will always be grateful.

God bless you, John.