A Sneak Peek

Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. It’s the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors.
Rhys Alexander
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We’re heading into another lesson and if anyone from f2k reads my blog, they might get a heads up on what the next lesson consist of. But since no one there reads my blog except maybe June and Ana, I’m ready to release.

This is yet another monster in my closet. Thanks June for that! lol I’ve been cleaning out the monsters all night and all day yesterday trying to figure out what is what. But she, June, put the fire under my butt, and now I’m burning, ready to move forward.

As in all writing, we use our senses to show a tale. We don’t tell a story, we show and without the use of the senses, our story will just be a tale of tell not show. In this lesson we’re going to learn how to write with our senses, all except sight! Can you write a piece under 500 words without using sight as a guiding sense? (that’s a bonus exercise)

Well now, use all eight! Did I say eight? Yes siree, I most certainly did. Sight,sound smell, touch and taste. Then we move to the unknown, space, and time. With these eight elements, one paragraph will take on new meaning in your writing. No longer will it be choppy. No longer will you look at the paragraph and wonder what is missing. It might take two paragraphs but still, these elements are going to last your entire writing career.

You will be a better writer and I’m betting my money that this will guide you for many years to come in growing and knowing a craft that everyone yearns for at least once in their lifetime. Sure there is so much more to learn in this art, but I know that this lesson here changed my life years ago when I first took f2k and my poetry even benefited from the use of the imagery I got from the senses lesson. My imagery took on a whole new shape as my poems were now crafted with senses and not just words with a rhythm.

Try it as you write not just a sentence but a paragraph and allow the paragraphs to form a story. Notice the SHOW and not TELL.

There the monster has been unleashed and now I’m off to do some writing. That’s using my senses, eh? ;-) *wink*

Talk-o Tuesday

Luke 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

Learn Out Loud...

Audiobooks are not just for the blind and visually impaired folks of society. Audiobooks are the new workout groove. People walk the treadmill, all the while delving deep into a book on tape and they get so lost in the book that they’ve forgotten that they have trudged a mile on the darned thing.Long hours in the doctors office are not so long with an audiobook. Or how about plane rides? Whew this little gadget will take the angst out of the flight for sure.

What I didn’t know about audiobooks and have learned since my beau went blind, (read his story on The Drums in the Deep) is that there is a difference in narrators. He tends to like the professionals in the business. Did you know there were professional narrators? Well you do now.

The free books that he gets from the Nebraska Commission for Blind are narrated by unprofessional’s and he notices the difference. Sometimes a pro narrator really makes a story come alive where a non-pro gives a bland telling of a story. I’m sure they do their best and hey, they are volunteers so we can’t knock their storytelling skills. Read reviews of some audiobooks on Reviews in the Deep, another of my beau’s blogs. What can I say, he’s a busy blind man.

There are also different venues to listening to the stories. MP3 players, podcasts, and you can even listen to them on your computer! Technology is relentless isn’t it? I’m not a fan of audiobooks but I imagine when the love of visually reading words is taken away from you, you’re happy that there is a venue that allows you to still hear the written word.

I’ve found some really cool sites that offer free audiobooks for download so if you’re interested in running a mile with a Stephen King novel blasting in your ear, or the classics of Robert Frost and his friends, click a few links, maybe you’ll find something. *Note- audiobooks are not just for the blind. I don’t know if these pages are blind friendly, so surf at your own risk. Screenreaders, get back to me and let me know if they are easy to access/follow.



learn out loud

open culture

audiobooksforfree

freeclassic audiobooks - Fair warning here, these are digitally narrated.

audiobookscorner