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Roller Coaster Questions—Small to Large
By Susan Marlene A well-placed question is a powerful thing. It puts motion into our motivation, a rudder that directs our goals—and sweeps our readers into emotional page turning—well past their bed times. Questions add interest, stir creativity, and slip our minds into problem solving thinking sessions. How important have questions been to you during your writing experience? Let’s consider several levels of the writing process, from planning what to write and how one makes their reader’s journey as interesting as possible. No matter the goal—to teach or entertain or a mixture of both, I believe that we will view questions with different lenses from here on in. Let’s be intentional with our questions—let’s go! Questions for planning what to write and where to post or sell them:
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 PENS OF PRAISE
CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP April 20, 2021— Jitsi Meeting Tuesday 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. “Roller Coaster Questions—Small to Large” Susan Marlene will present techniques for using questions while encouraging everyone’s participation. I invite you to sharpen your writing skills along with us by using intentional and loaded questions from the smallest to the most powerful. (For planning and writing your work in progress.) PROMPT: What you hiding there? Write this like a gangster to his victim! Use your personal interests and research skills in this writing offering for a page of poetry, devotion, short story, or magazine article to share at our Pens JITSI MEETING! Jitsi Meeting: I’ll send the link to our Pens of Praise email list. Thank you, Susan Fink, for sharing this alternative to Zoom. All we have to do is click on the link in the Pens of Praise email. You will be asked your name. (I’ll put Susan Marlene for my name request, but you can put your first name. We have two Sues in our group. 😊) For others interested in attending our meeting, please email Susan Marlene at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com a day before the meeting in order to be included in this Jitsi meet. Reader inspired by excellent take-away = return reader! We are a safe place to share, and Pens Meetings are free. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact Becky McLafferty @ rebeccamclafferty@gmail.com or Susan Marlene@ susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com  “Research Genre?”
Susan Marlene co-teaching with Rebecca McLafferty Research reaches into every aspect of our writing projects. Business – Where and when to sell. Connecting with editors, agents, and publishers. How to find and engage your readers. The best methods to do taxes, keep records—all sorts, and list sales and on and on that goes! Novel or nonfiction writing projects (WIP) has me searching for contemporary and historical information. HEARTS FOREVER FAITHFUL series that has required me to study:
 WELCOME TO PENS OF PRAISE CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 JITSI MEET Prayer Introductions for new guests. Devotion--Susan Fink GRAMMAR TIDBIT--Rebecca McLafferty LET THE TEACHING BEGIN “Research Genre?”--our March topic is facilitated by Rebecca McLafferty and Susan Marlene. We will investigate some interesting research techniques—similar to the skill of a detective—to provide accurate and sometimes not well-known points of interest these authors use to spice up their stories. Discussion from those attending is encouraged and invited. I’m sure we will enjoy plenty of laughs as we share our secrets and trigger each other’s imagination for finding information that changes story or nonfiction on the page before your eyes. May we be blessed and a blessing in all our endeavors this year! PROMPT: The First Spring Flower. (Use your personal interests and research skills in writing offering.) We encourage you to write a page of poetry, devotion, short story, or magazine article to share at our Pens JITSI MEETING! Steve Laube & Christian Institute https://stevelaube.com/resources/reference-tools/ shares a lot of excellent and informative website for writers of fiction and nonfiction. ANNOUNCEMENTS: TheFamily.net WEMI FM
Christian Devotions is looking for devotions. This is not a paid site, but one to give to the Lord and share your message with others! www.christiandevotions.us Northwestern Christian Writers Conference, http://www.northwesternchristianwritersconference.com/ July 16 - 17, 2021 www.grammarly.com free download https://www.loc.gov/about/ Library of Congress website https://www.midsouthchristianwriters.com/?fbclid=IwAR3FVKEdFebyjuKcK752ansUgC3PtNlNSrf1tc8N9RwmkOSy-vTkv9IUjgQ The conference is virtual this year so you don’t even have to leave home! It is Saturday, March 20. Registration closes Thursday, March 18 at 9:00 p.m. REMEMBER: Inspired reader from excellent take-away from you writing = return reader! God’s abundant blessings on you as you write for His glory! PENS OF PRAISE CHRISTIAN WRITERS March 16, 2021— Jitsi Meeting Tuesday 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.3/13/2021  “Research Genre?” Rebecca McLafferty and Susan Marlene will present information and also encourage everyone’s participation concerning how they research for their specific genre.
PROMPT: The First Spring Flower. (Use your personal interests and research skills in writing offering.) We encourage you to write a page of poetry, devotion, short story, or magazine article to share at our Pens JITSI MEETING! Jitsi Meeting: I’ll send the link to our Pens of Praise email list. Thank you, Susan Fink, for sharing this alternative to Zoom. All we have to do is click on the link in the Pens of Praise email. You will be asked your name. (I’ll put Susan Marlene for my name request, but you can put your first name. We have two Sues in our group. 😊) For others interested in attending our meeting, please email Susan Marlene at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com a day before the meeting in order to be included in this Jitsi meet. Inspired readers given excellent take-away = return readers! We are a safe place to share and Pens Meetings are free. As always, if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact Becky McLafferty @ rebeccamclafferty@gmail.com or Susan Marlene@ susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com Prayer
Introductions for new guests. Devotion-- Rebecca McLafferty GRAMMAR TIDBIT--Rebecca McLafferty Okay, I’m nibbling a Hershey’s Heath Bit while sipping steaming coffee. Nutritious? No. But the combination is perfect for this frigid February day. How does that sound? (Not the candy, the grammar!!) Hershey’s is a company. It is not a he, she, or they. Hershey’s is an it. To increase its product line, Hershey’s added Hershey’s Kisses milk chocolate Meltaway Roses, a milk chocolate Bear, Hugs & Kisses Heart Box, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Rose and Reese’s Big Box O’ Love. (See source below.)
The word ‘myself’ directs the action of the verb. (purchased for myself). Myself is never used as a subject pronoun. I shared the chocolate between him and me. Use me, us, you, him, her, it, or them when the pronoun is the DIRECT OR INDIRECT OBJECT OF A VERB.
This Reese’s Pieces candy belongs to me! These Reese’s Pieces candies belong to me! These Reese’s Pieces belong to me! 4.It’s my chocolate Valentine heart. (it is) My Valentine heart lost it’s foil. (incorrect – no possessive apostrophe in its) I can’t believe its gone. (incorrect – it is gone – it’s) I can’t believe it’s gone. Correct! (it is gone) https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/food/story/hersheys-unveils-2021-seasonal-sweets-including-marshmallow-reeses-74988826 LET THE TEACHING BEGIN “Sentences Are the Thing--our February topic is facilitated by Susan Marlene. We will investigate some interesting sentence structure from 25 Great Sentences And How They Got That Way by Geraldine Woods. Plenty of discussion and I’m sure laughs as we practice and explore sentence structures we may never have fathomed before! May we be blessed and a blessing in all our endeavors this year! PROMPT: Write a favorite sentence that you found in fiction, non-fiction, history or dare to quote a family member! Tell us why this treasure of an idea captured your attention! Steve Laube & Christian Institute https://stevelaube.com/resources/reference-tools/ shares a lot of excellent and informative website for writers of fiction and nonfiction. ANNOUNCEMENTS: TheFamily.net WEMI FM
Christian Devotions is looking for devotions. This is not a paid site, but one to give to the Lord and share your message with others! www.christiandevotions.us Northwestern Christian Writers Conference, http://www.northwesternchristianwritersconference.com/ July 16 - 17, 2021 www.grammarly.com free download https://www.loc.gov/about/ Library of Congress website REMEMBER: Inspired reader from excellent take-away from you writing = return reader! God’s abundant blessings on you as you write for His glory! Sentences Are the Thing by Susan Marlene February 23, 2021
Great quotes, memorable lines, intriguing dialogue—those are the stuff that influential and entertaining books and movies etc. are made from. How to create some of your own lines that will—sail tall ships or drive negativity away or accentuate beauty in a world that seeks out ugly—is alluring. Maybe necessary, if you want to write for a career. We are going to briefly peruse the book 25 Great Sentences And How They Got That Way by Geraldine Woods. Here is a quote from the author from page XIV “My standards for judging a sentence start with this foundation: a good sentence communicates clearly and fulfills the author’s purpose, whatever that might be. The sentence should flow naturally and rest on a sturdy structure.” A meagre glimpse at Part I (This book is packed with excellent examples and info! You will be wise to purchase your own copy, in my opinion!) Pocket sentence Crossed sentence Pocket Sentence This is a sentence structure that may drive those with modern style (shorter sentences) a bit crazy—but there is hope. Let’s see what I mean…
leaves the reader wondering is it really over????
More examples and types of pockets are mentioned. Here I a fun activity at the end of the chapter. Here are some sentences and I dare you to use the notes above to fill in the blanks. 😊
Crossed Sentence When using the same words but switching the order to include opposing ideas, one creates a crossed sentence. These sentences add spice and glitter to your writing. Use them for your most important point that you wish to drive home. To strengthen the main idea. Kennedy’s speech is filled with paired and opposing ideas which repeat and strengthen the listener/reader with vital choices. Read the examples on page 19 -20 Discussion Order for your words matters to the meaning—be careful! Pg 21 Crossed sentences define and compare with opposing ideas and playfulness with words. Ex. Pg. 23 Ex. On pg. 27 Here is an activity for you to play with! I will read some word groups and you write a crossed sentence with one of them. Activity on pg. 27 And make your template. Movie Divergent -- It all works, everyone knows where they belong, except for me. -- The future belongs to those who know where they belong. An Avenger movie -- Time for me to be who I am, not who I’m supposed to be.  PENS OF PRAISE CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP Tuesday, February 16, 2021 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Zoom Conference I will send the ZOOM log in information in our normal Pens Announcement for anyone wishing to attend. Any writer who has not attended Pens prior to this—please contact me at susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com at least a day before the meeting. I will send you the information needed to join the meeting. Attend from… Your home. Your choice of refreshments from your fridge--still no running to Kathy’s house for treats! 😊 How I long for a good in-person meet and greet Pens gathering with you all. Sentences Are the Thing by Susan Marlene Are you ready to look at sentences differently than you ever did before? How would you describe the photo above in a unique way? Susan will bring us through some very entertaining sentence structures that we can play with and be inspired by! Susan invites you to offer some of your own sentence collections so that we can talk about how to apply specific techniques to our fiction and non-fiction works-in-progress. Be ready to learn some great info and to have a lot of fun! PROMPT: Write a favorite sentence that you found in fiction, non-fiction, history or dare to quote a family member! Tell us why this treasure of an idea captured your attention! Inspired readers given excellent take-away = return readers! We are a safe place to share, and Pens Meetings are free. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact Becky McLafferty @ rebeccamclafferty@gmail.com or Susan Marlene@ susanmarlenewrites@gmail.com TODAY’S CHRISTIAN LIVING has generously sent sample magazines to our writers! Several of the November copies are distributed to Pen’s writers already, yet, I have more to deliver. I believe that the 2020 Writing Contest Winners articles will be of particular interest to our group.
This is an author-friendly magazine that is also beneficial and entertaining to the everyday reader. I will place my order for a year’s subscription shortly, and I hope you will too! The articles are varied and informative, and if you give TODAY’S CHRISTIAN LIVING a try, I’m sure that you will have your own recommendations for this clean and inspiring magazine. I want to give TODAY’S CHRISTIAN LIVING a huge thank you from our writers. Your giving extends beyond the shared copies to our Pens of Praise Christian Writers Group. The articles you choose to publish encourage Christians to live more significant lives filled with courage and love. You are my favorite magazine! You may find the free download for TODAY'S CHRISTIAN LIVING on their website next to Magazine Issue: https://todayschristianliving.org/todays-christian-living/  Greetings All, We have decided to not hold a November meeting. Because of and unforeseen happening I'm not available to sponsor an online meeting this month. But I wanted to share a couple of things. I just heard about Parler which is a new social media outlet. Here is what they say about Parler. I wish to sign up later--maybe tonight. Parler (Social media like Twitter) Speak freely and express yourself openly, without fear of being “deplatformed” for your views. Engage with real people, not bots. Parler is people and privacy-focused, and gives you the tools you need to curate your Parler experience. Now a special treat from Word & Pens writer, Jim Dickson. Thank you for giving me permission Jim! Well then, for a writing prompt, tell some way you conquered a pandemic limitation and how it turned out, and how you feel about all that. October was Covid month for Peggy and me. We both came down with the virus, both had extreme fatigue, but neither had any major complications such as fever and chest congestion that involve pain and potential serious complications. We were both very very tired. Peggy basically slept 18-20 a day for two weeks but with no problems sleeping at night. I took her to the emergency room after the first week when she was especially dormant. In an hour the diagnosis was "Covid-19: and we will keep her here." 24 hours later the doctor called and said, there is nothing "medically" she needs and she can get rest at home as well as we can give her here. That was fine with us. I explained to the doctor my Covid symptoms and asked if I should be tested. He said no, you have Covid. I was never down and out like Peggy but I just wanted to rest. I read several books. From the start we had a sense that God was in this. We always had great peace and contentment. A son came live with us and help for two weeks. Here is why I am sharing this. Having Covid acted as a spiritual purifying agent for us. As our lives returned to normal we realized that the extended time-out for several weeks revealed to us that there were many activities and situations in our lives that were not what God wanted. We both saw the need for extensive "clean up and throw out" in house, garden, garage, and shed and we started a process of simplifying our lives. At the same time we had a renewed sense of the need to love God and neighbors. Peggy now has a passion for writing emails, letters, and making phone calls to keep in touch with friends and relatives. More importantly, we realized we had drifted into acceptance of not only things in our home and lives that were not what God wanted but also acceptance of things in the world that were abhorrent to him. TV ads for example, a majority of which glamorize extremes of pleasure, power and prosperity replacing God's values of purity, humility, and service to others. There is more, but in summary Covid was an epiphany for us. We realized that we had let the world lull us into acceptance of its values and that we were being silent as the world substituted its garbage for God's glory. Our challenge now--How do we live out the vision God has given us for our lives? How to share this with family and friends? An old hymn, Take Time to be Holy, came to me. It says it well: Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word. Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak, Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek. The hymn goes on for three more stanzas: Spend time with Jesus, let him be thy guide; trust in his word; be calm in thy soul; Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love, Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above. I now sing that hymn daily. Jim (Dickson) Since we are not meeting online for Pens how about we write something for the Lord about our appreciation for something he has done for us! Be blessed and full of His joy and ideas! Susan Marlene |
Words are not just words. They are thoughts and inspiration that have been behind every relationship and every deed--good or bad throughout time. If you have that burning desire to communicate and explore, come peruse my pages, teachings, and short stories. Allow inspiration to anchor your dreams on the written pages of memoirs, devotions, poems, or stories, both short or long! Luxuriate in the creativity you were born to share! Sarah Grosskopf is a beta reader, writer, and copywriter extraordinaire! I highly recommend Sarah and have known her for years. She has taught and encouraged Pens of Praise members with her humor, instinct, and highly praised skill sets. So you may consider this an invitation to discover details about Sarah Grosskopf. Here is a link to her website!
https://sarahgrosskopf.com/ Archives
April 2021
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