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Have we discussed A Writing Maiden before?


dairyfreelife

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November is bad for real life distractions. And by mid-November, I'm already seriously looking at Yuletide and clearing the decks for holiday writing.

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I wondered about November too. Thanksgiving, holiday shopping, hunting season all compete with writing time. I would think Feb or March would be better months. I'm going to try it this year and since the quality doesn't matter it will just be for the challenge. I read it has to be a novel, I have an idea for a story about the time period in which my great grandparents lived. I've also thought about my paternal grandmother's experience of losing several children to diseases that today are preventable. Either novel would have to be fictitious since all I have are names with dobs and dods.

I thought NaNoWriMo would be fun, but I don't have the time. November is in the throws of college and finals are at the start of December so there's too many projects and papers due then and Thanksgiving and...if it was July instead...I might do it.

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To "win" NaNoWriMo, you only need to write 50,000 words. Any 50,000 words. I could write "I hate everyone around me" 10,000 times and win.

Not true, as per the NaNo "rules":

The rules state that, to be an official NaNoWriMo winner, you must…

•Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.

•Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people’s works).

•Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you’re writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!

•Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.

•Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.

•Upload your novel for word-count validation to our site between November 25 and November 30.

http://nanowrimo.org/en/about/hownanoworks

Granted, as someone stated above, it's more about getting people writing, so there are plenty of ways around the official rules (NaNo Rebels, for instance), but I think it's fairly clear that writing a word or a sentence over and over to get to the requisite word count isn't going to cut it.

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Yeah, I know there are official rules, but fundies love to stick their fingers in their ears, go la-la-la, and avoid certain rules that the rest of society conforms to. Who are they going to show the completed work to? Everyone in their tiny little circles is worn out from daily activities to read and comprehend the work, so the fundie gets a pat on the head and some Christian-y words of encouragement. Thus the cycle of bad fundie fiction begins....

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I almost didn't click on this thread because I thought I already read the thread called "have we discussed this blogger before?" but instead I had read one named "have we talked about this blogger before?" and the other one called "have we discussed this blog before?". It's so hard to keep things straight when all the names are vague. :naughty:

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I almost didn't click on this thread because I thought I already read the thread called "have we discussed this blogger before?" but instead I had read one named "have we talked about this blogger before?" and the other one called "have we discussed this blog before?". It's so hard to keep things straight when all the names are vague. :naughty:

This, and:

I went to read her popular post bashing public schooling. Now, mind you, I wasted the first 8-10 years of my oldest child's school years worried that I was selling their souls to the devil because my husband wouldn't let me home school. But as I read this entry I couldn't help thinking about the kids I know who WERE home schooled all the way through. I know a lot of them, because that was the circle I hung out in, even though I was (as a PSer) unworthy :roll: . Of those kids, a great percentage have left religion completely. Of the PSers, I don't personally know any who have, and I know many who have come to religion of their own accord. Hmm, like the parents of these sheltered kids did... :o

I know it's not hard evidence, but still.

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Spending part of my Saturday digging a little deeper in the blog before I start tackling all those pesky chores that I must perform because I am an evil working single mother whose headship is covered in fur (although he does demand that I take care of his every need), and... the entertainment factor is pretty good.

http://awritingmaiden.blogspot.com/2011 ... -2011.html - Aside from misspelling the holiday, it's not so much as a post as it is a share of one of the "young people are all whiny and self-centered today". I know plenty of 20 year-old people who are giving their all.

http://awritingmaiden.blogspot.com/2010 ... -over.html - Apparently there is an "ism" that involves using the damn spell check. Great advert for homeschooling there! Requisite mention of Communism threatening Christianity. Feminism is, surprisingly, not mentioned.

http://awritingmaiden.blogspot.com/2009 ... story.html - Allow me to quote her own words:

Have you ever done research on random people or events in history? Well, if you have, you may have discovered that there are a lot of things that happened in the past. There are small, and possibly even seemingly unimportant facts tucked away in history, and there are famous, important facts as well. Did you know: early Saxon poets, who wandered around, were called scops (pronounced shäps)? That's not a very famous fact, but, who knows, maybe these people were important to the culture of their day. Nowadays, does it make any difference to us?

It may seem that it does not, but this interesting tidbit is just one of the many facts from the past, some of which are important.

The part of me that is a history major and future history teacher (hopefully) just died a little.

http://awritingmaiden.blogspot.com/2012 ... -home.html - This one makes me put her in the category of SAHDs who are scared to do anything else. It actually sounds like she has the deal Lina wanted (except no fake Jewish themes). It also includes requisite lament for the fate of the family :

It makes sense why people say that family is the foundation of the country. It makes sense why the family is so under attack by Satan.

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This, and:

I went to read her popular post bashing public schooling. Now, mind you, I wasted the first 8-10 years of my oldest child's school years worried that I was selling their souls to the devil because my husband wouldn't let me home school. But as I read this entry I couldn't help thinking about the kids I know who WERE home schooled all the way through. I know a lot of them, because that was the circle I hung out in, even though I was (as a PSer) unworthy :roll: . Of those kids, a great percentage have left religion completely. Of the PSers, I don't personally know any who have, and I know many who have come to religion of their own accord. Hmm, like the parents of these sheltered kids did... :o

I know it's not hard evidence, but still.

My three youngest children are an atheist, a deist and an "I don't really care about god." They were homeschooled during my fundamentalist phase and came away strongly distrusting religion. Most of the textbooks tried too hard to make a connection between the subject matter and faith. My kids felt suffocated by religion and were vocal about hating those textbooks. So I can believe that religious homeschooling can create nonreligious kids

In some fundamentalist eyes the fact that my eldest son goes to a Episcopalian church would make him as good as an atheist. LOL

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When Jesus was born, most of the known world was under Roman rule. Travel was easy because of good roads and Roman fleets who kept pirates out of the Mediterranean Sea, and people didn't have to be concerned about traveling through any enemy nations. The gospel message could be spread quickly because of common languages throughout the empire: Greek as a second language, and Latin, which was also becoming a common language. (Can you imagine the whole world nowadays speaking one common language?) There are additional facts concerning this, but aren't these facts alone amazing? God certainly knew what He was doing when He sent Jesus down at the particular time in history that He did.

~Carrie

1. One common language through most of the world? :o You mean, like how the internet is mostly English? And probably half the planet speaks Spanish?

2. She spelled her name wrong, or else forgot how she now spells her pen name.

Also:

Have you ever studied the early church? Well, back then, enemies recognized and noticed Christians for their different character - the Christians stood out from the rest of the world. Nowadays, enemies sometimes even claim to be Christians. That is quite a difference isn't it?
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I think I have pubic hairs older than she is.

These two sentences are more entertaining than anything than the writing maiden has ever written at her blog. (And I'm totally stealing them!)

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To me it seems like she has some problem with grammar:

I want to read the letter as soon as I can, and I love to read what they wrote.
Imperfect vs. perfect, right? I would choose "written" in this sentence. "I love to read what they have written." You usually use imperfect when you mean a specific time, like yesterday. "I love to read what they wrote at pancake's day."
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In some fundamentalist eyes the fact that my eldest son goes to a Episcopalian church would make him as good as an atheist. LOL

It absolutely would! We were going to the Episcopal church at the time. I was raised in that church, but we left because it was "too liberal". Now I would love to go back, but we also love the nice liberal church we're in now.

My fundie friends prayed furiously for my very soul while I was there. To them it is not Christian at all.

We left Episcopal for a little Bible church that ended up being the worst bunch of mean, judgmental hypocrites I have ever seen. I was even still a fundie-wannabe back then and I knew it was bad! :shock:

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Have you ever done research on random people or events in history? Well, if you have, you may have discovered that there are a lot of things that happened in the past. There are small, and possibly even seemingly unimportant facts tucked away in history, and there are famous, important facts as well. Did you know: early Saxon poets, who wandered around, were called scops (pronounced shäps)? That's not a very famous fact, but, who knows, maybe these people were important to the culture of their day. Nowadays, does it make any difference to us?

It may seem that it does not, but this interesting tidbit is just one of the many facts from the past, some of which are important.

This would be a wonderful little piece of writing... from a fourth grader. From an ostensible adult it's just, well... special. Very, very special.

To me it seems like she has some problem with grammar:

Imperfect vs. perfect, right? I would choose "written" in this sentence. "I love to read what they have written." You usually use imperfect when you mean a specific time, like yesterday. "I love to read what they wrote at pancake's day."

She's not the only one who has trouble. Imperfect means it's not completed. "Were writing" is the past imperfect. "Wrote" is the simple past. "Have written" is the present perfect.

My native speaker's ear says that both are fine in this case, although I too would generally use the present perfect.

Of course, properly speaking, English only has two tenses, the present and the past. Everything else is a matter of aspect or mood. But your second grade teacher didn't know that, and I know, I know, it's useless to contradict her.

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This would be a wonderful little piece of writing... from a fourth grader. From an ostensible adult it's just, well... special. Very, very special.

She's not the only one who has trouble. Imperfect means it's not completed. "Were writing" is the past imperfect. "Wrote" is the simple past. "Have written" is the present perfect.

My native speaker's ear says that both are fine in this case, although I too would generally use the present perfect.

Of course, properly speaking, English only has two tenses, the present and the past. Everything else is a matter of aspect or mood. But your second grade teacher didn't know that, and I know, I know, it's useless to contradict her.

I tend to write as imperfectly as I speak when I am blogging or talking on the interwebz. Hopefully Carrie at least knows how to parse a sentence correctly if necessary. Considering her blog name, though, I suspect she thinks this is good writing.

That paragraph totally sounded like it was written by a fourth grader. I have one! If she wrote that for a school assignment, I might consider it a first draft and help her clean it up a bit before turning it in.

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I wondered about November too. Thanksgiving, holiday shopping, hunting season all compete with writing time. I would think Feb or March would be better months. I'm going to try it this year and since the quality doesn't matter it will just be for the challenge. I read it has to be a novel, I have an idea for a story about the time period in which my great grandparents lived. I've also thought about my paternal grandmother's experience of losing several children to diseases that today are preventable. Either novel would have to be fictitious since all I have are names with dobs and dods.

A lot of college students do NaNoWriMo too, and that's the end of the semester for everyone. I attempt it and then get caught up in other stuff and never get any writing done that month.

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This, and:

I went to read her popular post bashing public schooling. Now, mind you, I wasted the first 8-10 years of my oldest child's school years worried that I was selling their souls to the devil because my husband wouldn't let me home school. But as I read this entry I couldn't help thinking about the kids I know who WERE home schooled all the way through. I know a lot of them, because that was the circle I hung out in, even though I was (as a PSer) unworthy :roll: . Of those kids, a great percentage have left religion completely. Of the PSers, I don't personally know any who have, and I know many who have come to religion of their own accord. Hmm, like the parents of these sheltered kids did... :o

I know it's not hard evidence, but still.

there have been some surveys or studies done that would back you up on this. I can't quote them or link them because it is stuff I have read here and there.

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Have you ever done research on random people or events in history? Well, if you have, you may have discovered that there are a lot of things that happened in the past.

No shit, Sherlock.

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The second part was better than the first, but I only saw her say Dr. Nautica twice in a paragraph at most and most of those weren't necessary and should have been replaced with the pronoun he. Once upon a time and then a biography. That's not necessary. What's important about Dr. Nautica and his current life. His parents and birthdate are unimportant unless they truly matter to the story. I wonder how many books she's read. For some reason, I really doubt she's read well read and that likely contributes to her awkward writing style.

Now that I look at it, you're right. She does only say "Dr. Nautica" twice in a paragraph . . . it's when you look at a few in a row that your eyes start to cross.

A cutting sheet of wind slammed against Dr. Nautica's face as he deftly climbed out of the hatch, closing it quickly behind him and double-checking the patch of lawn which disguised it. The pitch-black night was broken only by the headlights of an occasional car out at the road a few hundred yards away, and a few pin-points of light in the sky. About a dozen trees dotted the space between the hatch and the road, and it was to these that Dr. Nautica rushed to.

When he had first come out of the hatch, the first thing that had caught Dr. Nautica's eye was the huge, unshapely lump near the road. As soon as he reached one of the trees, he squinted at the lump and saw that it was a huge black car. The windshield appeared to be broken, or at least cracked, and the front of the car was battered. Directly in front of the car, was Dr. Nautica's steel mailbox, bent in half and looking as though a giant had chewed it and spit it out.

Dr. Nautica waited a full half-hour before making any move. A sudden flash to his right drew his attention, and Robo bounded into sight. Dr. Nautica quickly drew open his rain coat, reached into his pocket and felt for a small remote. When his fingers felt it, he gave a quick push on one of the numerous buttons, signaling to Robo - wirelessly - to not make a sound, and to come quickly. Robo went silently out of sight as he ran behind a tree near where the Veronica was buried, and down a dog-hatch into the sub.

As soon as Dr. Nautica was sure that Robo was safe inside,

Now what was the hero's name again? Arghhhh . . . pronouns can be your friend!

Oh, and btw, I won nano twice . . . but I also had a couple of times that it just wasn't happening as well. I may try it again this year.

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I've never done NaNoWriMo because, yeah, November is a horrible month for anyone in academia, and I'm usually knee-deep in essay grading and teaching. But then, I've blitzed 50,000 words in a month before - just not in THAT month. I appreciate it can be fun doing it with everyone else on the entire interwebs, but in my book (ha!) you still get to win if you churn out a novel draft starting on July 5 and maybe spending 6 weeks to do so.

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Now that I look at it, you're right. She does only say "Dr. Nautica" twice in a paragraph . . . it's when you look at a few in a row that your eyes start to cross.

A cutting sheet of wind slammed against Dr. Nautica's face as he deftly climbed out of the hatch, closing it quickly behind him and double-checking the patch of lawn which disguised it. The pitch-black night was broken only by the headlights of an occasional car out at the road a few hundred yards away, and a few pin-points of light in the sky. About a dozen trees dotted the space between the hatch and the road, and it was to these that Dr. Nautica rushed to.

When he had first come out of the hatch, the first thing that had caught Dr. Nautica's eye was the huge, unshapely lump near the road. As soon as he reached one of the trees, he squinted at the lump and saw that it was a huge black car. The windshield appeared to be broken, or at least cracked, and the front of the car was battered. Directly in front of the car, was Dr. Nautica's steel mailbox, bent in half and looking as though a giant had chewed it and spit it out.

Dr. Nautica waited a full half-hour before making any move. A sudden flash to his right drew his attention, and Robo bounded into sight. Dr. Nautica quickly drew open his rain coat, reached into his pocket and felt for a small remote. When his fingers felt it, he gave a quick push on one of the numerous buttons, signaling to Robo - wirelessly - to not make a sound, and to come quickly. Robo went silently out of sight as he ran behind a tree near where the Veronica was buried, and down a dog-hatch into the sub.

As soon as Dr. Nautica was sure that Robo was safe inside,

Now what was the hero's name again? Arghhhh . . . pronouns can be your friend!

Oh, and btw, I won nano twice . . . but I also had a couple of times that it just wasn't happening as well. I may try it again this year.

I've never done nano. November is a horrible month for me. I would never have the time...I barely have time to keep my place not looking like a tornado has come through it and keeping up with work and projects and papers since break is coming and the semester is ending during that month (can't say the same about my table though...you can't eat off of it during the semester). It doesn't seem that hard to win and it doesn't sound like you have to be amazing to win, just be able to finish a 50,000 word novel in the month. i've heard of lots of people winning that contest. How many winners do they have each year?

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Dear Mommy? How old is this chick?

Seriously, this and some other things just on the first page seemed super immature to me.

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