The Rogue Daffodil

I have a rogue daffodil in my parking lot, in the planter just next to where I park my car every day. Leaves are falling all around and there is nothing but dirt in its planter.  Nothing else has popped up in the middle of autumn, but this little naturalized daffodil apparently doesn't know that it's not supposed to be up yet. We haven't even had the first freeze yet.  What is he, crazy?

I wonder what's going to happen.  The cold freezes of our winter nights may just kill it before it ever gets a chance to bloom. Or maybe, just maybe, it will bloom early in spite of the cold.  It could be one of a kind - the only daffodil in full bloom in December or early January. It could defiantly succeed at being itself in spite of what it is supposed to do.

Have you figured out where I'm going with this?

What is it that you haven't been doing because you believe you can't? Who decided what your limits should be? Usually, we limit ourselves based on what someone told us at some point in our lives - our parents, a teacher, our friends. But sometimes we hold ourselves back just because we have some imagined limitation that is not based on any rational condition.

Consider taking another look at your life and how you're living it.  Is there something you want to do or be? Why not just go for it? Maybe it won't work out.  So what?  What if it does?

Don't worry so much about what is expected of you.  Just bloom!

-------------------------------------------

Read more A Writer's Journey.

Dealing with Rejection

I fell in love - I mean really in love - for the first time when I was in 8th grade.  All my crushes before then were just kid stuff, but Matt was the real thing.  We were "going together" and everyone knew it (even though we never actually went anywhere because neither of us was allowed to date and we were too young to drive).  We shared several precious kisses - at a church-sponsored dance, at an amusement park, and on my front porch. Then one day, at a dance, he danced with Gina .... to our song (Three Times a Lady by the Commodores)...and then he kissed her.  And I couldn't breathe.

I was devastated.  It was a pain so intense that it reverberated across the decades.  When I think about it, I can still feel the ache of that betrayal and rejection.

It wasn't the last time I would experience rejection. Anytime you expose yourself emotionally to others you risk rejection. As a writer, you invest yourself in your work. You are putting your ideas, your skill, and your voice out there for judgement. You are actually putting yourself out there for judgement.

All writers experience rejection at some level at some time - the article or book not accepted for publication, the grant proposal not funded, the blog that can't maintain or grow a reader base.

Rejection hurts.

But you have to walk through it. You have to learn from it, and move on.

Just like the only way to avoid repeating the pain of the rejection of my first love would have been never to love again (an unacceptable option), the only way to avoid the pain of rejection as a writer is not to write again.  If you are the kind of writer that I am, you don't have a choice.  You have to write.

So you move forward, gingerly at first, and then you grow a tough skin, accepting that the sting of rejection is part of the price that you pay to experience the sweetness of success. Eventually, the pain of each rejection is mercifully brief and moving on gets a bit easier. The longer you live and the more you write, the more you develop a sense of perspective, and you know that the sting of rejection is temporary, and the deep satisfaction of success and of expressing yourself is much longer lasting.

That's why perseverance is so important.

P.S. Matt, I am so over you.  I thought you should know.

-----------------------------------------

Read more A Writer's Journey

Related Posts:

Dealing with Change

Grant Writing Success and Failure

For grant writing thoughts, resources, and tips, try The Grant Goddess Speaks.

.

Who's Voice Is That?

One of my staff members wrote an executive summary for a report recently.  It was a well-written piece.  I reviewed it. It had all of its parts.  It was grammatically correct.  In short, it was a good executive summary. When our client read it, though, her first comment was, "Who wrote this?" She admitted there was nothing wrong with the writing, but she just knew it wasn't me. I didn't know if I should be flattered that she knew my writing well enough to recognize my voice (or the lack of it) or if I should be nervous because we were caught with someone else in my organization writing it (although there is nothing wrong with our team writing effort in this situation).

There is no question that my writing has a distinctive voice. The whole concept of voice (which is different than tone) is that it is unique to you. It is the quality of your writing that allows your audience to know that you wrote something. Every piece of good writing has a voice, regardless of whether it is fiction or non-fiction. I have read articles on academic writing that discuss the concept of voice as the difference between just regurgitating the research and other peoples' opinions and the contribution that you make to the intellectual discussion. This made sense to me.

I'm sure you have read a bunch of articles and web pages that just repeat information you can find elsewhere. This is particularly true in this age of massive online content generation.  You can find someone online to write a 500 word article for you for $5 and you can slap your name on it and share it or sell it.  So what? What does that add to the discussion?

I was reading my son's gaming blog recently and I was struck my the fact that he has developed a voice that is uniquely his. It made me smile.  OK, I was a little proud, too. He has something valuable to say, and I am certain that the success of his blog is not about grammar and punctuation (or occasional grammar and punctuation errors) or even about the content.  The success of his blog about what he brings to that content.  It's his voice.

If you are a regular reader of any of our blogs (The Grant Goddess Speaks, A Writer's Journey, Sexy Grant Writers, Veronica Robbins Unleashed, Grant Outline, Grant Beast) you can tell who wrote each post based on the voice. Those of us who contribute, including our guest bloggers, each have something unique to say and a very unique way of saying it.

When advising new writers, I emphasize the importance of developing a voice.  This is not about finding your voice, but developing it as a writer. Your voice isn't hidden.  It's you. Developing it is all about learning to free it, rather than suppress it, in your writing.

---------------------------------------------

Here is some more information about the difference between tone and voice, and how you can develop your own voice in writing.

Related Posts from A Writer's Journey:

What Would You Write If You Weren't Afraid?

So Many Writing Media Choices, But Are We Saying Anything?

When Written Communication Doesn't Communicate

What Men Really Mean

Does Public Education Support or Discourage Young Writers?

Things I Can Do Now That Baseball Season is Over

Yes, baseball season is over, and I'm in that strange and uncomfortable place between elation (Woohoo!!! My Giants won the World Series!) and confusion (what do I do now?). For the past seven months, I've been watching baseball 5-7 times per week. I have driven into San Francisco (1.5 hours each way) more times than I can count during just about every home stand to cheer on the team. I have read baseball blogs and checked box scores and tweeted Giants love just about every day. I have neglected my favorite TV shows and all but eliminated any non-baseball-related social life. Yes, I have friends who live a block away who I haven't seen for seven months.

Now what?

Because I am a left-brained, analytical type, I decided to make a list of some of  the things I can do now that baseball season is over - just to help me get through this transitional period.  Here is my list (not necessarily in order of priority):

1. Prioritize this list.
2. Program the app in my iPhone to count down the days until opening day 2011.
3. Spend more time reading and playing with my six year old.
4. Finish reading Life of Pi. I started reading it after a friend recommended it in June and, well, I never made it beyond chapter 1.
5. Get back to writing in my journal every day.  My daily entries stopped somewhere in May and became infrequent rants about the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
6. Reintroduce myself to my non-baseball friends.
7. Order my World Series Championship gear (caps, shirts, etc.)
8. Put down my deposit for our season tickets for 2011.
9. Write more blog posts.
10. Make a movie with my son and post it online.
11. Learn how to shoot a rifle.
12. Think of a friendly salutation to greet people that doesn't include, "Go Giants!"
13. Clean up and store my Giants purse and other baseball gear for use next season.
14. Make a Christmas list.
15. Send out Christmas cards.
16. Take a walk downtown in the early evening and enjoy the shops.
17. Take my son to the park.
18. Volunteer in my son's classroom.
19. Prune my roses.
20. Teach my son how to edit videos.
21. Make a photo book to send to family for Christmas.
22. Expand my daily meditation time.
23. Call my friends and family more often to tell them I love them.
24. Develop more online courses for Grant Goddess University.
25. Continue my video blog.
26. Write another book.
27. Write more letters.
28. Clean my desk.
29. Wave and smile sweetly to the impolite neighbors across the street (Yes, I'm baaaack!)
30. Get back to Bible study.
31. Go to a movie with my husband.
32. Attend more school board meetings.
33. Bake cookies with my son.
34. Sleep in one day a week.

I think that's a good start for now. Before I know it, it'll be April again and it will be time to follow baseball again.  

Who am I kidding?  Spring training starts in February. That means I have only three months to get to everything on that list.  Suddenly, I'm stressed. I think I'll watch a replay of World Series Game 6 to calm down and relax. 

---------------------------------------

Read more A Writer's Journey.

Take a few minutes to check out The Grant Goddess Speaks, too.

Technology and Young Children

I was in a grant planning meeting yesterday talking with some educators about innovative ideas for teaching math and science to young children (grades pre-– 3). At one point the topic of technology came up, and one of the meeting participants said, "I don't want to do anything with technology. Little children shouldn't be playing with technology. They should be going outside, looking at bugs, experiencing nature, and learning from the real world."

I've heard this perspective before, and I don't disagree that young children should be exposed to the natural world and be as active as possible while they are learning, both physically and mentally. However, when I heard the objection to technology expressed in this way it made me think. Just what is the "real world?" Isn't the "real world" for children today a world of interactive technology? Whoever said that technology and learning in the natural world were mutually exclusive? Can't technology be used as a tool to help young children explore their world?

I don't think anyone would argue that the world is changing faster than most of us adults can keep up, but I don't think that means that we should hold our children back. Introducing technology at a young age does not necessarily mean they will turn into overweight, inactive, uninspired video game playing couch potatoes. It's up to us, as adults, to teach them how to use knowledge properly as well to teach them when technology should not be used. It's important that we don't limit their future because we’re stuck in the past.

My six-year-old son is energetic, active, and inquisitive. He loves learning about the world and he enjoys playing outside. He also knows his way around a computer better than at least half of the teachers I know. Some of the technology tools made for young children (like the Leapster 2 and the new Leapster Explorer) have been very educational for him and fun! We get no less enjoyment out of sharing digital books together (like Disney’s digital books) than we do when sharing hard copy books. At Christmas this year (ssshhhhh!), he’ll be getting his own handheld device (iPod Touch) so he can move around as he plays his games (including a wide variety of learning games) and (now that he's learning to read and write) send and receive his own e-mail. Yes, I will continue to monitor his online activity very closely, but why would I deny him the tools that will give him access to the learning and the business enterprise of his future?

Does it make more sense to wait until students are in middle school or even later to give them access to technology as a tool for learning, when learning the technology will be just as hard as learning algebra, or to let them start to use it to unlock their world as soon as their little fingers can manipulate a mouse?

As a grant writer, my job is to help others put their vision into writing to help them acquire funds to make it a reality.  Sometimes, though, I feel the need to push a little – just a little – to help them expand their vision and look into the future.

I have never understood the logic behind holding children back from learning. They can fly forward with new learning - unless we hold them back. 

----------------------------------

Read more A Writer's Journey.

Take a look at The Grant Goddess Speaks, too.