Copasetic Flow

I’ve been re-reading The Organized Writer by Antony Johnston over the last few months. I love the book and the system it describes for focusing on writing by organizing away all non-writing (and writing for that matter) concerns. Of particular interset to me is the concept of never losing an idea. The author advocates for carrying a small notebook (or a phone or PDA) to jot down ideas as the arise, then reviewing those ideas later in the day. To me, this is genius!  There was a problem, however. Try as I might, I’ve been unable to stick to the rigor required to write down all my ideas as they occur to me. I’ll decide I’ll remember it later, (I won’t); I’ll decide to try extra-hard to review my notes at the end of the day, (I didn’t); and so on. The author of the book says that the reader should use whatever tool for writing and reviewing notes that they find to be the most useful. I loved the idea. I just couldn’t find the tool for me. Then, I saw this presentation that I’ve wr...

 I got a reminder from Debra Eckerling via twitter about how much fun it is to correspond via mail and what a valuable way it is to network: Here’s your #Networking #GoaloftheDay #Write a #letter . On paper. With pen. And mail it! #goalchat @MangoPublishing pic.twitter.com/2GV2CTn0Ga — Debra Eckerling ⭐ Event Outcome Optimization (@TheDEBMethod) June 10, 2022 Think back to the last time you checked your mail. There were probably a few fliers from a chain grocery store, an inocuous white evenelope labeled 'Important!' offering you a new car warranty, and maybe a bill from the place you forgot to switch over to e-billing. Right?  If you're like me, that's what your mail has been like for the last 30 days or so in a row. Now, imagine you look at your stack of mail, and your handwritten name pops out at you from the front of an envelope. You check the postmark, (more on that below), and it's from a place you've never been, or maybe it's from in town, both e...

 Fronted adverbials have been a thing this week. A thing I didn’t even know existed until I saw  Anyone struggling with homeschooling should know that, despite having a PhD in Literature and having published 12 books, I only learned what a fronted adverbial was when my 8 year old's teacher said he doesn't use enough of them in his written work. — Dr. Carolyn Jess-Cooke/C.J. Cooke (@CJessCooke) January 13, 2021 The tweet caused a great deal of churn in the self-led, traditional education, and parenting spaces. Much of it deserved, and yet… It’s also a really good way to illustrate that unschooling allows space for everyone. I hadn’t heard of fronted adverbials before, but as someone who writes—I’ve had one book published, not dozens, but still—and someone who enjoys plunking around with learning languages, I was secretly jazzed about the whole thing. Fifteen years ago, I found it was easier for me to learn languages if I knew what the different parts of English’s grammar w...

The eight year old kid—No. One—leaned in,  “I think Mary has a really good idea about character charts.  I’ve got two books going, and I’m stuck on both of them, and I think that would really help.”  I quietly shushed her because Mary was still presenting her thoughts on outlining novels to the room of assembled writers at one of our favorite libraries, but my mind was reeling.  So many things had just happened! First , I didn’t know One was working on two books.  I knew she was working on one book, but not two.  The kid had started a second book, and I didn’t even know.  Cool! Second , she was paying complete, and rapt attention to the presentation.  I ususally get some kind of indication from the gang they heard what was being said when they attend talks with me, but that indication usually comes days or week later out of the blue.  Not today.  Today, the kid was clearly latching onto every word.  We’ve attended writing lu...

“What do you think our writing group should look like?” I asked 8 y.o. No. Two as we headed into town on BART.  I’d heard, every unschooling parent has heard, that things will work best when the kids are put in charge of their own learning.  I knew Two wanted a writing group.  That’s why we were headed into the library presentation on writing groups, but I’d never though to ask her what she wanted in a writing group.  Not until now. “I’d like us to meet outside.” This should have come as no surprise to me.  The kid loves being outdoors.  She loves nature.  Her favorite superhero is Poison Ivy. “Cool, what if we met at different playgrounds or other places around town, what if we moved the meeting around?  That way members that live in different neighborhoods can attend meetings when they swing nearby.” “Sounds good.  We could have it at libraries too!”  She chimed in. “All right.” “When we have it at libraries, we could w...

As No. 1, our five year old, and I headed into town for a writing class yesterday, I presented her with her textbook for the class: Teacherless Writing by Peter Elbow.  She grinned from ear to ear, “I learned to write without a teacher!”  No. 1 recently found out that she’s ‘unschooled’. She continued to check out her new book, as we lurched along the BART line into town.  I thought she was just excited to receive a new book, she soon let me in on the real cause of her thrill though. “So, there’s a book I read called Calvin and Hobbes” “I know that book.” I said. “Right, well in the book, there’s a boy named Calvin, and he goes to school.  When he does, he usually has a piece of paper.  I have one of those.  He also has a pencil.  I have one of those.  He also sometimes has a book.  And now , I have a book!  And I'm going to a class!  I'm just like Calvin!!!” To No. 1, Calvin & Hobbes is a ringing endorsement of cl...

As No. 1 and I were walking down the sidewalk, I said, "So, if a noun is a thing, and a verb is a word about doing something, then what kind of word is run?" "A verb!" "OK, what kind of a word is boot?" "A noun!  It's a thing." "Cool, so what kind of a word is shoe?" I asked. "A verb!" "Really?" "Yes!" I thought perhaps No. 1 was confusing an action with the thing she did it with, so I asked, "Verbs are actions right, so how do you figure?" To which No 1 responded with a furrowed brow, in all seriousness, "Well, like when you want us to leave a room, you say, "Shoo!" and we leave.  So, shooing is doing something."

I'm playing around with tracking metrics on my writing activities today.  Clearly I need to enhance my charting presentation skills, but the information here is kind of interesting to me.  It's about me, so of course it is, but it's interesting to think about in terms of why a writing log is useful as well.  Here's what I learned  As the semester has ramped up, I've been doing more writing on EM homework and less on EM notes in preparation for class.  That's not a sustainable model.  Work on the hray presentation an proposal has been ramping up nicely.  I need more detail on what aspects of each project I'm working on and more tracking towards defined goals.