A Touch of Iowa

We went out to an Arena Football Game. The Iowa Barnstormers played the Cleveland Gladiators and lost 56-70. Bummer, since they’d won the previous two games.

It was an interesting first experience. The field is nearly one quarter the size, measuring 50 yards long by 26 yards wide. When the ball bounces off something, it’s still live. It takes a bit to get accustomed to the rule changes from the ‘regular’ football played in high school, college, and the NFL.

The Barnstormers’ dance team, the Storm Chasers, kept enthusiasm high. They managed a uniform change at half time, though I’m not sure why it mattered except they could wear something else.

I couldn’t find coverage about the national anthem, but I swear the singer skipped parts of it. She sang a capella, so the music wouldn’t give other clues. I asked my husband, but he had nothing to say.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

I swear she skipped the blue part. Pretty substantial. It bothered me so much, I tried to sing it in my head, but I couldn’t do more than get to ‘by the dawn’s early light’ so I wrote what she sang in my notebook for later reference.

Which lead to me singing “The Star Spangled Banner” to my daughter this morning when she was fussy. She liked it.

This afternoon my mother and my daughter and I went to the Blank Park Zoo. Movement catches my daughter’s attention more than anything else, so she was amused by the koi who were being fed, the chickens, goats, and llamas in the kiddie area, the penguins, and the pandas.

It’s a lovely weekend and a great Mother’s Day. Must be ready to get back into the swing of things tomorrow. Watch out at Novelspot for a highlighted author (me) over the next 7 days!

Posted on 9 May 2010 by ransomnoble 4

A Good Intention

I had everything out from the critique: the partial manuscript, the comments, and my file for that segment. I even had the notes I made this week close at hand. Still didn’t manage to get it rewritten, or even started.

Time management has been an issue lately. Been focused on other things – though not by choice – and there is never enough time to do everything.

So the house is better, I tutor students, and the writing is slowly slipping. Maybe tonight. Maybe today in the car. Definitely not waiting until I get enough sleep.

The critique’s been brewing in my head for nearly two weeks and it’s helping. On the other hand, I’ve just had a ton of little ideas for this and that crop up.

Focus. I will manage somehow. Any ideas?

Posted on 7 May 2010 by ransomnoble 3

With New Distraction

My husband gave me my mother’s day gift last night: a new pink Sony e-Reader. I didn’t expect pink. He said they were out of silver.

So I spent a good while last night, this morning and again this afternoon looking at books and putting some in there. Some meaning 60 – a few I had on my laptop and the rest downloaded classics.

The pink is growing on me.

Classics might be a broad term. Everything from Wuthering Heights to Frankenstein to Alice in Wonderland to War and Peace to “2 B R 0 2 B” (a short story I’d never heard of by Kurt Vonnegut stuffed in the science fiction section). How’s that for jumping in with both feet?

I think the pink did it to me.

Now that it’s loaded and charged, I’m ready to go. I think I’ll try to read at least one book on there before I peruse more titles. The size and feel is pretty good; all I have to get accustomed to now is the interface. Silly me, yesterday I was changing the time while I was trying to navigate off that. Maybe it’ll teach me to read the directions.

Then again, maybe it won’t. It really isn’t that complicated.

It was probably just the pink messing with my head.

Posted on 6 May 2010 by ransomnoble 2

Growing a Reader From Birth

It was difficult to process the information in this book, simply because there was a lot of it.

Diane McGuiness explains a lot in this book about children 0-5 years and makes her cases with scientific studies. It makes sense that when infants like something, they use their sucking reflex to share that.

Most of the book was dedicated to speaking to babies, what they understand, and how they learn to speak. The author explains each stage and what the parent is likely to see, not just based on age, but also on ability. For example, there’s a language explosion around 18 months, but it is less about the age of the child and more when he hits 50 words in his spoken vocabulary.

Toward the end of the book the Author first mentions the child reading. She asserts children may be distracted by pictures in books and not understand the essence of the story. Also, she talks about the importance of telling stories to the child along with having him tell stories to the parent.

The last chapter dealt with a whole world, whole language and phonics dissertation. I’ve never been a fan of whole world teachings, and she gave concrete reasons why it doesn’t work to learn to read: basically, the mind can only memorize so many words if they are treated as random strings of letters. She used history to show that the languages that have a ‘whole word’ concept maxed out around 2000 words, compared to the approximately 50,000 words needed to carry on an adult conversation.

Every language that survived has used a method of breaking down the words into a “Basic Code” to decipher written material. English has 40 sounds, and only 26 letters – which she says could have been used more effectively. I don’t know anyone who could argue that.

I think the most out-there argument was at the very end, talking about how dyslexia is not a real disability. The author stated her reasons for believing this, but I do not know enough about dyslexia to know.

Don’t jump all over me – but here is her argument:
She states dyslexia does not exist except in English-speaking countries who have used whole word or whole language strategies to teach reading. It must not be a brain disability if it doesn’t exist in nearly the same percentages around the world. Therefore, dyslexia is a created problem that can be fixed, in her argument, with phonics.

It definitely gives something to think about. My one-year-old makes me understand her, and I know she gets more of what I say than she can say back to me. How much? That is always the question.

Posted on 5 May 20105 May 2010 by ransomnoble 0

Math Doesn’t Suck

You might remember Danica McKellar better for her role on The Wonder Years as Winnie Cooper, or The West Wing as Elsie Snuffin. I didn’t know until I read her book that she’s also an internationally known mathematician.

Her first book is Math Doesn’t Suck and her second is Kiss My Math. Both of these approach the subject with examples, clear writing, and fun stuff to keep the teen/tween girl entertained.

I’m sure everyone’s wondering why I’m reading them. Well, sometimes it’s good to have a different take on it when you want to explain it to someone else, which is what I’ve been doing lately.

I am not fond of our society’s math-phobia, and I hope these books work toward helping young girls (because they’re definitely geared to girls) not be afraid of math.

The book has more than just math problems – it also has fun quizzes and questions and real-life examples of women who did well in math even if they didn’t start out understanding it well. Recommend them to the pre-teen in your life. I definitely will.

Posted on 3 May 2010 by ransomnoble 0

Looking Forward

The way to progress is to keep looking forward. Yes, you can go over the things you missed, the stuff you’d change, but the most important part is to is to keep going.

So, I want to post about books I’m reading here in May. I have posted books in here before, especially ones that have been helpful writing-wise, but – I want to bring some of my focus back to reading.

One of my purposes is to give myself time to figure out all the revisions that my latest novel needs, and another is to just do something I really love. Don’t be surprised to find some picture books in here, since I’ve been checking out a ton of these to read to my daughter.

Posted on 30 April 2010 by ransomnoble 1

If you write it, who will read it?

At the most basic level, this question is directed to the writer. Who are you going to share your work with? I’m guessing you’re going to share it with the people you know. This probably includes your friends and family, as well as a critique group and online reviewers if you belong to those communities. Some writers don’t.

Others aim for larger audiences. I hesitate to say higher, because if you’re happy with your audience you shouldn’t worry about it. It’s not a higher goal if you’re not attempting to do something bigger.

These larger audiences are often reached through publication. There are several options, including traditional publication, POD, self-publication, and others. What do I mean by others? Blogging is a form of published work. I’d say the blog itself is self-published, but I have an audience. [If you’d like to disagree with that statement, please leave a comment below.]

When you’re reaching for that larger audience, marketing and promotion are required. Word of mouth with friends and family will only get you so far. Social networking might go farther, but you’ll have to be careful not to get sucked into the time wasting activities also associated with them. Repeat: I will not play Facebook games!

One of the hardest parts about writing for young adults is I know so few of them. How are we supposed to spread by word of mouth without knowing our audience? Well, I do know people who know my targets. I have friends with kids the right age. It’s just going to be a constant struggle to stay in the age as I get older. And yes, I have come to terms with the fact that I will continue getting older.

One of the most fun parts about writing for young adults is that the stories are so amazing to tell. I know, that’s just my opinion – but why else would you be here if not to read that? Thanks for being part of my audience.

Posted on 27 April 2010 by ransomnoble 7

Workshops

What are you looking for in a writer’s workshop?

I see these advertised online and off, and I wonder what it means to everyone out there. I should also mention I teach a class about speculative fiction writing, but it’s not online – or it isn’t yet.

Partly what I like about teaching is the discussion aspect, but I can’t speak for my students. I like to touch on basic things like plot, character, and point of view, as well as more genre-specific things like background and world-building.

Each time I teach the class (I’m almost done with the third section) it changes. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, it just is part of the evolutionary process.

I just hope I teach them something. And that they continue to write.

My copyeditor friend Sarah Holroyd is starting up her own. We will definitely have to keep an eye on her! You may want to keep an eye on me, too…

Posted on 26 April 2010 by ransomnoble 5

Ransom Noble

Science Fiction Writer