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Cisco CLUE

…on the status of teaching. You might find it interesting. If you can’t get over there, no worries. I’ll post it on my Ask a Tech Teacher blog in a few weeks.

Umm, I don’t see it yet… I’ll go over and check on it. I’ll get back to you.

OK–it’ll be out Monday. That’s the latest. I’ll let you know if anything else changes.

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade, creator of two technology training books for middle school and three ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller for her agent that should be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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The Third Gate: A Novel by Lincoln Child

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sci Fi meets historic fiction in Lincoln Child’s newest novel, The Third Gate (Doubleday 2012) as world-renowned treasurer hunter Porter Stone sets his sites on what is considered the Holy Grail of Egyptology–a pharaoh’s grave. This one is the resting place of none other than Narmer, the pharaoh who united Lower and Upper Egypt thousands of years ago. When odd–read that ‘unnatural’–events begin to pepper the dig site, he calls in self-proclaimed enigmatologist (a specialist in enigmas) Jeremy Logan. What adds to the drama is that the site is located in the Sudd, a god-foresaken bogland south of the Egyptian border that the dig organizer calls Hell on Earth. Logan not only has made a career of studying oddities, but is an empath–a person who feels a person’s emotional history by simply touching them. It doesn’t take Logan long to realize the excavation is cursed and only withdrawing–which Stone refuses to do–can they end their problems.

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Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.

Q: What’s the easiest way to create Excel charts from data?

A: Writing is your love, but if you earn money doing it, you collect data, and if you have data, you likely need to turn it into easily-read charts every now and then.

Excel makes that easy. Collect all of your data onto an Excel spreadsheet, categories labeled as columns and rows.  Highlight the labels and data and push F11.

That’s it–a simple chart.

For more detail, here’s a link to a lesson plan I use with grades 3-5 on creating quick charts from data.

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I’m taking the day to honor our soldiers. Without their sacrifice, where would we be?

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The Last Refuge

by Ben Coes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Ben Coes–you get better every time.

If you read either of the first two Dewey Andreas novels–or both of them–don’t miss the next in the series, The Last Refuge (St. Martin’s Press 2012). Coes has always been a good-to-great writer, but here, he’s on a par with the best (I won’t name names). Dewey is vintage Good Guy with the loyalty, strength, common man characteristics we Andreas fans have come to expect from our hero. There are lots of Great Dewey moments like this one:

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I was exploring the internet–part of the requirement of staying on top of my writer’s craft–and came across Alan Levine’s fascinating presentation of fifty ways to tell the same story. Watch this video. You’ll find yourself motivated, inspired, persuaded to try at least half of them.

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade, creator of two technology training books for middle school and three ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller for her agent that should be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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Tech tips

Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.

Q: I’m teaching my students to create a book report with a cover page. what’s the easiest way to get the cover on the first page and the report on the second?

A: Students as young as 2nd grade can learn to force a new page with Ctrl+enter. I have them create the cover page during one class and add the Ctrl+enter for the new page. That way, students can type the book report without me to help–even on the classroom computers.

For writers, it’s a quick way to move to a new chapter–faster than the menu commands. Umm, please tell me you don’t push ‘enter-enter…’ to reach a new page.

To sign up for Tech Tips delivered to your email, click here.

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy.  She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller for her agent that should be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. I’ll point them out. They’ll come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.

Limit yourself to two adjectives per noun. If you need more:

• pick a stronger noun
• break up the description into several sentences. People can’t keep track of that much detail.

I know, it’s tempting to tell us everything about the colorful, flower-filled, meandering nature path, but don’t give in. If it’s that important, tell me more about the flowers that fill the path, more about what it meanders through–you get the idea.

How to be Funny if You’re Not–Part I

How do you write humor?

I’m on a constant search for humor to spice up my writing, add that spark that makes it human. I’ve written two posts on books I bought hoping to nurture whatever latent funny bone I might have:

• How to be Funny if You’re Not–II

I also keep a list of what I found funny and original in other people’s writing, thinking they might inspire my writing. It rarely works, but they still bring a smile to my face when I read through them. I wish there was a class I could take in how to write humor. I love reading it. I’m sure if I could seamlessly add it to my story, my potential readers would see my genius.

Here’s a list, some are from books I’ve read, some are my own home-grown lines. Are you chuckling? Can you tell which is which? Or have they lost their humor out of context?

• They’re going to look for you until Harvard wins the Super Bowl
• Thing about the law is one size fits all
• So many big words. Such a small dictionary
• Could turn more heads than a chiropractor
• Like arguing with a forest fire
• Wit as dry as the best martini
• If the boy were any dumber he’d have to be watered twice a week
• It sort of fell on me and like mold, grew over the top
• Who do you like (between two)? Answer: I’m pulling for a meteor strike.
• I don’t have a breaking point

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Hah! Like it’s that easy to narrow down. Come on–what are you thinking–that I can isolate one nerve-wracking, nail-biting, stomach-churning item? I think not.  A ‘worst fear’ is not something one wants to think about. It’s better to ignore it, run away if it shows up in one’s peripheral vision, pretend not to recognize it if it sits down next to you at the computer. I’ve spent years honing my skills at denying its existence…

And now Paul wants me to legitimize it with a conversation. OK. I’ll try.

What would ruin my day Photo credit: MustEatBirds

But it’s going to be a list:

• That I’ll get a bad review on Amazon. You can’t unring that bell. It ruins your averages. I have to round up my very best friends and beg them to write a review to counter it.
• That I’ll over-think what I’m writing. That I’ll take myself too seriously and then everyone will mentally throw up over my drama. I have to shake it out and start over.
• That my characters come across as shallow–people I wouldn’t want to know given the opportunity and my readers will abandon
• Anton Chekov remonstrated, Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. What if I miss that? What if I miss it twice?
• That I’ll use ‘was’ six times on one page and drain the energy out of my story like a leaky boat
• That I’ll spell ‘siesta’ with an ‘f’–or ‘Freud’ with an ‘a’. How about ‘luck’ with an ‘f’? So much to worry about
• That my story will reach a climax in the middle of nowhere and I won’t notice
• That I’ll think triumphalistic  is a perfectly good word to use

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I’d love to have you drop by for my latest article over at Write Anything. I cover what I’ve learned from blogging–entirely different lessons than one learns as a novelist.

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade, creator of two technology training books for middle school and three ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco blogger, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller for her agent that should be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.

Q:  I can’t find the shortcut for a program I want to open. It’s not on the desktop, on the start menu or in ‘all programs’. How do I open the program?

A:  Try ‘Start button’, then type in the name of the program where it says ‘start search’. The shortcut shows up.

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When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.

These are tips I picked up from my Twitter stream. When I started this list, I didn’t plan on attributions, but now I wish I had. If this is your tip, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll link back to your Twitter handle, blog, website, or whatever suits you best.

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How many is too many? Photo courtesy Writers Alley

I received another round of edits on my WIP Twenty Four Days from my wonderful agent–this time from one of the agency editors. Again–as with previous suggestions–many are spot-on, but one in particular caught my attention because I had spent a good bit of time musing over this very issue when I began the story.

POV characters, also called ‘viewpoint characters’. Specifically, how many is too many? The editor suggests I crossed that line, and worse, several die so are they even important?

I have eight (three die). I like the power of narrating through the heart and brain of the involved character rather than a flashback or some other device that brings off-scene action to the main character’s attention.

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I have an interesting rundown of my 17 greatest fears over on Write Anything. If you can’t make it–no worries. I’ll post it here soon.

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade, creator of two technology training books for middle school and three ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco blogger, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller for her agent that should be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

Follow me.

Share this:

Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.

Q: I want to use PowerPoint to share my novel with a writer’s group who’s asked me to talk with their members. I want it to go automatically without requiring me to click the mouse or push the space bar. How do I do that?

A: PowerPoint presentations are great for sharing information with their exciting colors, sounds, movements. You’ll be happy to know that auto-forward isn’t difficult:

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When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. I’ll point them out. They’ll come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments. Please add comments with your favorite editing fixes.

Almost always, eliminating the word very strengthens your story. It is the weakest adjective in the language. Look at these:

• very sad is the same as despondent
• very happy is the same as elated

Do a search for very in your ms. (use edit-find). Then do one of two things:

• Spend the time to eliminate it
• Replace it and the verb it’s attached to with a stronger verb.

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What I blog about Photo credit: Blogger Sentral

I’d like to claim that I pick topics of paramount importance in the writing community, the crux of conversations that just must be talked about.

But that’s not true. I select topics that interest my readers. It’s a pull-through approach rather than push-through.

You-all communicate what you’d like to read about in several ways:

• comments–what concerns you enough to comment about probably deserves more conversation. I take note of that.
• Search Engine terms–that gives me a sense of what’s interesting to new readers
• click-throughs–those are the links I provide in posts that people click to garner additional information

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It’s four months into the year and a good time to assess progress. In those heady post-New Year’s days, I had high hopes for finishing my novel, finding an agent and publisher, expanding my non-fiction business, and extending the

I dream of being a writer

reach of my myriad blogs, ezines and guest posts. All this while hanging on to the teaching job that pays the bills and provides my health insurance.

So, you wonder, how’s it going? Where am I in my writing efforts? Truthfully, I find few things less interesting than yesterday’s dreams, except old stock market reports, but let’s do a run-down. The good news is, I’m about where I expected I’d be, a little ahead in places, behind in others, overall a constant state of uncivil war between my muses. I’ll run it down for you:

• When I sent query letters out over the holiday season, I expected mixed reviews–some bad, some brutal. The fact that my husband loved the book I figured would have no relationship to its success. Much to my joy, I found an agent who likes the book as much as my mate. He sent me a boatload of edits for my 400+-page mss which I am working through. They were all spot on–only one did a have questions about. As I make the changes, I feel the story come to life. A few have been complicated–like rewrite the beginning.  I had as much enthusiasm for reworking the opening five pages as I have for teaching in tight shoes. It required a chunk of cerebral energy (more time consuming than the physical stuff), but I’m through it now and I survived, not unbruised, but intact and happy with the changes. My goal is to have the edits done and back to him by mid-April. At that point, he’ll either send me more (pant pant) or we’re off to publishers. An interesting side note: My story (Twenty-four Days) is a military/techno thriller. Last week, there was a news headline that grabbed the gyst of my plot. If I were publishing next week, I’d be ‘ripped from the headlines’. Unfortunately, since I’m likely a year away, it’ll probably be old news by then.

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Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.

Q: There’s a program I use all the time, but it’s not on my desktop. I have to click through All-Programs-(etc–wherever it is you must go to find it). Is there a way to add it to my start menu so I can find it more easily?

A: Absolutely. Click through All-programs to wherever it is, but don’t open the program. Instead, right click on the icon that would normally open the program and select ‘pin to start menu’ from the drop down menu. This will attach this program to your Start button in the future. Much easier!