A couple of years ago, Steve and I went to a homeschool conference
and came home with the same thought: we can't forget the new crew.
We
were so careful of how we brought up the top half of the family: no
T.V., little sugar, lots of Bible, lots of reading aloud, family time
and all the other things that you know are important and make such an
issue of when you have your first children. Unfortunately, the busyness
of the older kids and their involvement in the world, simply because
they are older, means that the younger ones are both exposed to things
at a younger age that the older ones weren't, and that we don't have as
much time to make sure we do the important things with our younger
ones.
Part of that is just choosing your battles. The
older kids are always saying, "We never got to do that when we were
their age!" And that's true. The older the kids got, the more there
were of them than us and the bigger they were. The worst thing that
happened to our family was The Lord of the Rings and that is one of my
favorite books and movies of all time. The problem is, it opened the
door for PG13 movies that has never closed. Coincidentally, we moved in
with my mother and she brought cable TV into the house, which we got
used to. Now, the New Crew, as we call them, has decided that if a show
is not animated, it's a grown-ups movie, as opposed to the Old Crew,
who watched John Wayne and Gary Cooper movies. Partly, it was just
easier not to fight, and partly, we decided some things were not worth
fighting over.
But, at the same time, there are things
we need to review. I recently realized that the New Crew don't know the
New Testament! They are pretty good on the Old Testament, but we need a
refresher on the New Testament. Right now we are reading through
Matthew. We need to have another go around on the Little House on the
Prairie Books. We need to throw a baseball around for recess. We need to
take the dog for a walk. I need to make sure they practice their
instruments, since we aren't going to the public school for band
anymore. We need to make beds! I must be the one to get them to bed so
that we pray together, instead of relying on an older sibling to do it.
Steve
has observed that if the older kids turn out well, life is easier on
the younger kids. If the older kids don't turn out well, parents are
tougher on the younger ones. That seems to have held true for our
family, since the older kids are godly dears. Since we are moving next
month, we get a chance to start fresh in so many ways, like cut down to
one T.V., cancel the cable, take walks with the dog, get going on a
chore chart and pray diligently with my children when they go to bed.
And onward with Little House and the book of Matthew!
Friday, November 25, 2016
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Introducing the Badger Family
Well,
where are we? My name is Shannon and my husband, Steve, and I have
been married for 21 years. I was brought up in apartments in Chicago
and he was brought up under the runways at O'Hare Airport. We met at a
large singles Bible Study at a large, non-denominational church in the
western suburbs, where he was Mr. Hospitality and I was a lowly, recent
college grad. But he took pity on this introverted girl who got stomach
pains whenever she walked into a ballroom and talked to me. We got
married 2 1/2 years later and started having babies right away. (Steve
was 31 and figured he had waited long enough to have children and there
was nothing else I wanted to do!) So, Ben was born a month after we
moved into our first house and two weeks before our first anniversary.
I had convinced Steve that I really wanted a home birth and, as hard as
it was, we were both glad that I had.
On our honeymoon, Steve and I sat on the balcony of his condo and discussed the direction of our life.
Shannon: What do you really want to do?
Steve: I want to spend time with my kids.
Shannon: Okay. So, what do you want to do while you are spending time with your kids?
Steve: It doesn't matter. Whatever will allow me to spend time with my kids.
That turned into a nine-year adventure of praying that God would bring Daddy home while we investigated buying a deer farm, an apartment building, and a camera shop. We talked about raising llamas and starting a Bed and Breakfast. We discussed his going back to school to become a veterinarian, or my pursuing a performing career in music and his taking the kids with me on the road, or having a family ministry. We especially talked about moving to the country in the hope of getting out of debt with a lower cost of living. But we always understood that Dad being home was the goal, not country living.
With his computer work for various companies, Steve finally ended up at a job that was in a small town/country environment, but there was no housing available with all the building going on and he was commuting so far that some of the children were acting out terribly. There were only five of them at the time, and we all missed Steve dreadfully. Well, coincidentally enough, my father (Papa) retired and followed my mother's (Mutti's) inclination to move to Southwestern Wisconsin so she could become a recluse. They knew of Steve's interest in multi-generational living, and his desire to move us to the country, so Papa and Mutti invited us to dinner one night and said, "How would you like to move up to Wisconsin with us and we will find out what we're going to do when we grow up?" Steve was 40!
So, we did! We had two small houses in town while Mutti and Papa located land to build a house for us all. It was a house like you've never seen, since it was essentially two houses connected by common areas. My mother insisted that we have our own kitchens, so she wouldn't take advantage of my cooking and she would not have to face our mob for every meal.
After fifteen years of living together and raising alpacas, which I did all the fiber processing for, my mother decided to retire away from the Badger Bunch, so we gave away the alpacas, and simplified our lives by selling the farm and dividing households. We are still on the best of terms, but Steve's mom, Grandma Grace, is moving in with us. So, we are a homeschooling, home-birthing, home-dadding, multi-generational family.
On our honeymoon, Steve and I sat on the balcony of his condo and discussed the direction of our life.
Shannon: What do you really want to do?
Steve: I want to spend time with my kids.
Shannon: Okay. So, what do you want to do while you are spending time with your kids?
Steve: It doesn't matter. Whatever will allow me to spend time with my kids.
That turned into a nine-year adventure of praying that God would bring Daddy home while we investigated buying a deer farm, an apartment building, and a camera shop. We talked about raising llamas and starting a Bed and Breakfast. We discussed his going back to school to become a veterinarian, or my pursuing a performing career in music and his taking the kids with me on the road, or having a family ministry. We especially talked about moving to the country in the hope of getting out of debt with a lower cost of living. But we always understood that Dad being home was the goal, not country living.
With his computer work for various companies, Steve finally ended up at a job that was in a small town/country environment, but there was no housing available with all the building going on and he was commuting so far that some of the children were acting out terribly. There were only five of them at the time, and we all missed Steve dreadfully. Well, coincidentally enough, my father (Papa) retired and followed my mother's (Mutti's) inclination to move to Southwestern Wisconsin so she could become a recluse. They knew of Steve's interest in multi-generational living, and his desire to move us to the country, so Papa and Mutti invited us to dinner one night and said, "How would you like to move up to Wisconsin with us and we will find out what we're going to do when we grow up?" Steve was 40!
So, we did! We had two small houses in town while Mutti and Papa located land to build a house for us all. It was a house like you've never seen, since it was essentially two houses connected by common areas. My mother insisted that we have our own kitchens, so she wouldn't take advantage of my cooking and she would not have to face our mob for every meal.
After fifteen years of living together and raising alpacas, which I did all the fiber processing for, my mother decided to retire away from the Badger Bunch, so we gave away the alpacas, and simplified our lives by selling the farm and dividing households. We are still on the best of terms, but Steve's mom, Grandma Grace, is moving in with us. So, we are a homeschooling, home-birthing, home-dadding, multi-generational family.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
10 Great Authors to Learn From
I love reading. What writer doesn't? I've already shared my top ten books with you. But what did I learn from them?
From Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe) I learned to be descriptive. He is often accused of being flowery in his writing, but most of us don't have enough description. If we used him as an example, we might just put in enough adjectives, adverbs, and descriptive nouns and verbs to make our writing come to life.
From Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) I learned two things: to follow through a theme, and living characters. She uses her characters to develop a theme that every single character is an example of. And those characters are never the same. Even incidental, side characters are never duplicated and this is in a very limited world. I stand in awe.
From Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment) I learned about taking a huge theme, and putting it in an exciting context so that the philosophizing doesn't get boring. Actually, Tolstoy was good at that too. Anna Karenina probably did a better job than Crime and Punishment.
From Tolkein: world-building, of course. No one can beat The Lord of the Rings. Ever. But to make such a world, you have to be invested in it with your whole life, as Tolkein was, and not many writers can make that investment. Most of us need to work. Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern did that to a certain extent, but it wasn't as full as LOTR and she has written volumes of other worlds, as well, which, while fascinating, sort of dilutes the depth of Pern.
From Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries) I learned about the efficacy of dialect. It helps make your characters come to life. Mark Twain did the same in Huckleberry Finn, but her characters, from being more contemporary with us, are probably even more alive than Jane Austen's and I credit Sayer's mastery of dialect with that.
From Benjamin Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, I learned how marvelous an autobiography can be. From Ulysees S. Grant, I learned that not everyone should write one.
From Shakespeare and Tolkein, I learned the importance of comic relief. No matter how grim the work, they made sure there was a laugh at the right moment to give you a break. Even Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus had clowns, as bizarre as they were, which made the horror of the whole play a little bearable. And what would The Lord of the Rings have been without the hero clowns of Gimli, Sam, Merry and Pippin?
The best way to learn is to learn from a master. These are my masters. Who are yours?
From Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe) I learned to be descriptive. He is often accused of being flowery in his writing, but most of us don't have enough description. If we used him as an example, we might just put in enough adjectives, adverbs, and descriptive nouns and verbs to make our writing come to life.
From Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) I learned two things: to follow through a theme, and living characters. She uses her characters to develop a theme that every single character is an example of. And those characters are never the same. Even incidental, side characters are never duplicated and this is in a very limited world. I stand in awe.
From Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment) I learned about taking a huge theme, and putting it in an exciting context so that the philosophizing doesn't get boring. Actually, Tolstoy was good at that too. Anna Karenina probably did a better job than Crime and Punishment.
From Tolkein: world-building, of course. No one can beat The Lord of the Rings. Ever. But to make such a world, you have to be invested in it with your whole life, as Tolkein was, and not many writers can make that investment. Most of us need to work. Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern did that to a certain extent, but it wasn't as full as LOTR and she has written volumes of other worlds, as well, which, while fascinating, sort of dilutes the depth of Pern.
From Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries) I learned about the efficacy of dialect. It helps make your characters come to life. Mark Twain did the same in Huckleberry Finn, but her characters, from being more contemporary with us, are probably even more alive than Jane Austen's and I credit Sayer's mastery of dialect with that.
From Benjamin Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, I learned how marvelous an autobiography can be. From Ulysees S. Grant, I learned that not everyone should write one.
From Shakespeare and Tolkein, I learned the importance of comic relief. No matter how grim the work, they made sure there was a laugh at the right moment to give you a break. Even Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus had clowns, as bizarre as they were, which made the horror of the whole play a little bearable. And what would The Lord of the Rings have been without the hero clowns of Gimli, Sam, Merry and Pippin?
The best way to learn is to learn from a master. These are my masters. Who are yours?
Thursday, October 6, 2016
10 Favorite Books
Readers don't always write, but writers always read.
What are your ten favorite books? What do they have in common?
If I were only allowed 10 books on a desert island, here's my list:
1. The Bible
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. The Count of Monte Cristo
4. Moby Dick
5. Ivanhoe
6. The Lord of the Rings trilogy
7. Shakespeare's plays
8. Crime and Punishment
9. The Chronicles of Narnia
10. Winnie-the-Pooh
My mother says that the best books are always too short. I guess that is what all of these have in common: they are long and complicated, even Winnie-the-Pooh. The cleverness and intricacies of all of these books keep me coming back to discover more each time I read them.
What are your ten favorite books? What do they have in common?
If I were only allowed 10 books on a desert island, here's my list:
1. The Bible
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. The Count of Monte Cristo
4. Moby Dick
5. Ivanhoe
6. The Lord of the Rings trilogy
7. Shakespeare's plays
8. Crime and Punishment
9. The Chronicles of Narnia
10. Winnie-the-Pooh
My mother says that the best books are always too short. I guess that is what all of these have in common: they are long and complicated, even Winnie-the-Pooh. The cleverness and intricacies of all of these books keep me coming back to discover more each time I read them.
Monday, October 3, 2016
How many rewrites are enough?
Let's be honest; there is no perfect work; we can always rewrite.
For my book Adopted and Restored, first, I wrote.
First rewrite: organize and fill in gaps.
Second rewrite: add 1500 words. That was actually not enough. I ended up adding 2500.
Third rewrite: remove 1500 words. I found, when rewriting magazine articles that needed to be trimmed, that removing words forces me to tighten up my writing.
Fourth rewrite: My agent/editor/friend reads my book and gives details criticism. It's okay, (sniff, sniff) I can take it. Then I work with those critiques, adding, subtracting, shifting.
Fifth rewrite: Read the whole shebang and polish, tightening the rhetoric.
My mother told me of a romance novelist who did 17 rewrites, each one on a different color paper. Sound excessive? Maybe, but she was published. Can't argue with success.
For my book Adopted and Restored, first, I wrote.
First rewrite: organize and fill in gaps.
Second rewrite: add 1500 words. That was actually not enough. I ended up adding 2500.
Third rewrite: remove 1500 words. I found, when rewriting magazine articles that needed to be trimmed, that removing words forces me to tighten up my writing.
Fourth rewrite: My agent/editor/friend reads my book and gives details criticism. It's okay, (sniff, sniff) I can take it. Then I work with those critiques, adding, subtracting, shifting.
Fifth rewrite: Read the whole shebang and polish, tightening the rhetoric.
My mother told me of a romance novelist who did 17 rewrites, each one on a different color paper. Sound excessive? Maybe, but she was published. Can't argue with success.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Preview of "Adopted and Restored"
Almost all of my memories of
Charles are in the dark: standing backstage during our Theater Tech
class, leaving Marksmanship class after sunset, meeting me at the
train station, walking back to the dorm from the campus movie,
walking around town discussing what we would do if I were pregnant.
That night, after Paul
broke up with me, Charles met me on the train platform coming back to
school after Spring Break. How did he know? I never asked, but was
there something insidious telling him that now was the opportune
moment? That I was at my most vulnerable? It was so dark, as I
stepped down from the train, that I could hardly see him. He was just
a shape in the blackness surrounded by other shapes drifting around
the open train platform, waiting or descending from the humming
monster that went from Chicago to the country hinterlands and back
again. I had stepped down from the train depressed by the walk to
come down the shadowed street, dragging my heavy suitcase, having
nothing to look forward to and nothing to look back for. I would
never go back home to Chicago again – my father had gotten
transferred to Florida. Chicago, my dear city, my home, my lake, the
air I breathed, the secret ways through the buildings and under the
streets, were cut off for me. Everything was behind me and ahead of
me my walk to the college was only darkness, literally and
figuratively. And who should be waiting on the train platform in the
dark, but Charles. How did he know? How could he know to be there? He
was just there, because the train vibrated so loudly I could barely
hear him.
“Charles! Are you meeting
someone?”
“Yes. You.”
Humpty
Dumpty
The good girlfriend
Gets taken to the doctor
By a girlfriend who knows better.
“You are pregnant.
How do you feel about that?”
“I don't know.”
Friend who knows better takes her to the mall.
“Look at the pictures in this book.
Real babies.
Aren't they great?”
A hole I have fallen into
With nothing to keep me company.
No more the good girl.
And what do I do with that?
Who will put me back together again?
Saturday, September 24, 2016
What's Your Process?
What's your process?
Generally speaking, I'm an outliner. If I'm writing non-fiction, I collect my information, categorize it and, voila! an outline. When I'm writing fiction, I write an outline of the major action points and fill in the details. That works most of the time, though I was surprised once by discovering that my male love interest was someone other than I had planned.
But, on my most recent book, an adoption memoir, I used a writing book entitled Imaginative Writing. I used the exercises as a starting point for sparking thoughts and memories. The author said her personal process was to write scenes as they came to mind, and then tack them together in a way that made sense. So, I used that as well and I got some beautiful rhetoric out of it, being less businesslike, as you might say, as I wrote. If you've found me on Facebook, you may have noticed I missed a few vital points in my first draft, but that's what rewrites are for!
What's your process?
Generally speaking, I'm an outliner. If I'm writing non-fiction, I collect my information, categorize it and, voila! an outline. When I'm writing fiction, I write an outline of the major action points and fill in the details. That works most of the time, though I was surprised once by discovering that my male love interest was someone other than I had planned.
But, on my most recent book, an adoption memoir, I used a writing book entitled Imaginative Writing. I used the exercises as a starting point for sparking thoughts and memories. The author said her personal process was to write scenes as they came to mind, and then tack them together in a way that made sense. So, I used that as well and I got some beautiful rhetoric out of it, being less businesslike, as you might say, as I wrote. If you've found me on Facebook, you may have noticed I missed a few vital points in my first draft, but that's what rewrites are for!
What's your process?
Monday, September 19, 2016
Writing a memoir
It is sometimes suggested that you shouldn't write a memoir if nothing has happened to you. A memoir doesn't have to be about your whole life. Leonard Nimoy wrote at least three and Madeleine L'Engle wrote five or six. However, the memoir I am working on right now is about how a single experience affected the rest of my life.
Memoirs are currently one of the most popular genres of book out. As reality T.V. teaches us, you don't really have to have an interesting life to write a memoir worth reading. Even Eat, Pray, Love is just her thoughts about some experiences that were not run-of-the-mill, but not particular standouts, such as Robert Leon Davis (Running Scared), the man who lived as a fugitive longer than any other, or Princess Diana. Most are not actually written by the person who experienced it, though. You can be a great man or woman, and still not write a great memoir, as Ulysees S. Grant proves. There are the Teddy Roosevelts and Winston Churchills who wrote eminently readable autobiographies. But, most people, even those who write for a living, will often hire someone to write about their experiences.
I was doing the exercises in a book that either my son had as a college textbook, or my husband got for me from the used bookstore. It is entitled Imaginative Writing. The author has a chapter on memoirs because, to be readable and engaging, a memoir tells a story, with all the visceral description of a murder mystery. It was a relief to read that. It It gave me permission to be as personal in my memoir as I would be in getting inside a character's head.
Have you ever tackled a memoir?
Memoirs are currently one of the most popular genres of book out. As reality T.V. teaches us, you don't really have to have an interesting life to write a memoir worth reading. Even Eat, Pray, Love is just her thoughts about some experiences that were not run-of-the-mill, but not particular standouts, such as Robert Leon Davis (Running Scared), the man who lived as a fugitive longer than any other, or Princess Diana. Most are not actually written by the person who experienced it, though. You can be a great man or woman, and still not write a great memoir, as Ulysees S. Grant proves. There are the Teddy Roosevelts and Winston Churchills who wrote eminently readable autobiographies. But, most people, even those who write for a living, will often hire someone to write about their experiences.
I was doing the exercises in a book that either my son had as a college textbook, or my husband got for me from the used bookstore. It is entitled Imaginative Writing. The author has a chapter on memoirs because, to be readable and engaging, a memoir tells a story, with all the visceral description of a murder mystery. It was a relief to read that. It It gave me permission to be as personal in my memoir as I would be in getting inside a character's head.
Have you ever tackled a memoir?
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Writers write
Writers write.
My son knows this. Because he doesn't. He came home from one of his first classes at the engineering school. "It's so great to be around people who think the same way I do. I come from a family of writers!" (in disgust.)
You don't have to be paid for it. A writer will write.
A writer will write lengthy birthday cards.
A writer writes love notes.
A writer writes stories.
A writer writes instructions.
A writer writes lists.
A writer writes notes of inspiration.
My husband is not a writer. He has written me so few love notes over the years that I have taken to pinning them on my bulletin board so I can see them on a regular basis.
I, only the other hand, don't like buying birthday cards that have someone else's words in them. I prefer to write my own.
I have a journal for my husband and each of my kids where every year, at least on their birthdays and Valentine's Day, they get a note from me.
I write lessons to teach at Vacation Bible School, homeschool conferences, or Moms' support groups. Or just because I think it's a good idea and want to put it down in order.
I write stories. I talk about stories. I tell stories. I just have to.
I journal on a regular basis. I used to have them numbered. I think I have gotten about thirty filled since high school.
I study the Bible and other writers, chasing down words or thoughts, put them together in a coherent form, categorizing them by theme and pattern, which I then try to explain to the unsuspecting public. Which is really for my own benefit.
I am a writer. I will write forever.
What do you write?
My son knows this. Because he doesn't. He came home from one of his first classes at the engineering school. "It's so great to be around people who think the same way I do. I come from a family of writers!" (in disgust.)
You don't have to be paid for it. A writer will write.
A writer will write lengthy birthday cards.
A writer writes love notes.
A writer writes stories.
A writer writes instructions.
A writer writes lists.
A writer writes notes of inspiration.
My husband is not a writer. He has written me so few love notes over the years that I have taken to pinning them on my bulletin board so I can see them on a regular basis.
I, only the other hand, don't like buying birthday cards that have someone else's words in them. I prefer to write my own.
I have a journal for my husband and each of my kids where every year, at least on their birthdays and Valentine's Day, they get a note from me.
I write lessons to teach at Vacation Bible School, homeschool conferences, or Moms' support groups. Or just because I think it's a good idea and want to put it down in order.
I write stories. I talk about stories. I tell stories. I just have to.
I journal on a regular basis. I used to have them numbered. I think I have gotten about thirty filled since high school.
I study the Bible and other writers, chasing down words or thoughts, put them together in a coherent form, categorizing them by theme and pattern, which I then try to explain to the unsuspecting public. Which is really for my own benefit.
I am a writer. I will write forever.
What do you write?
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