Since grade school I've always been a poor writer. Just to write one paragraph and organize my thoughts, it would take me hours. To be in the field of journalism right now still makes me wonder. Was it sheer faith or there is really a writer in me that is blossoming….no one knows.

I found this list (written by Roy Peter Clark ) at Poynter Online, the website that helps you become a better journalist. Technical wise, my knowledge of journalism is limited and inadequate. If I have known that God would throw me in such predestination then I should have spent my time studying B.S. Communication in my college days (by the way, I am a B. S. Nursing graduate). But then it might not be too late to study again and learn things from scratch.

Use this quick list of Writing Tools as a handy reference. Copy it and keep it in your wallet or journal, or near your desk or keyboard. Share it and add to it.

I. Nuts and Bolts

1. Begin sentences with subjects and verbs.
Make meaning early, then let weaker elements branch to the right.
2. Order words for emphasis.
Place strong words at the beginning and at the end.
3. Activate your verbs.
Strong verbs create action, save words, and reveal the players.
4. Be passive-aggressive.
Use passive verbs to showcase the "victim" of action.
5. Watch those adverbs.
Use them to change the meaning of the verb.
6. Take it easy on the -ings.
Prefer the simple present or past.
7. Fear not the long sentence.
Take the reader on a journey of language and meaning.
8. Establish a pattern, then give it a twist.
Build parallel constructions, but cut across the grain.
9. Let punctuation control pace and space.
Learn the rules, but realize you have more options than you think.
10. Cut big, then small.
Prune the big limbs, then shake out the dead leaves.

II. Special Effects


11. Prefer the simple over the technical.
Use shorter words, sentences and paragraphs at points of complexity.
12. Give key words their space.
Do not repeat a distinctive word unless you intend a specific effect.
13. Play with words, even in serious stories.
Choose words the average writer avoids but the average reader understands.
14. Get the name of the dog.
Dig for the concrete and specific, details that appeal to the senses.
15. Pay attention to names.
Interesting names attract the writer – and the reader.
16. Seek original images.
Reject clichיs and first-level creativity.
17. Riff on the creative language of others.
Make word lists, free-associate, be surprised by language.
18. Set the pace with sentence length.
Vary sentences to influence the reader's speed.
19. Vary the lengths of paragraphs.
Go short or long -- or make a "turn"-- to match your intent.
20. Choose the number of elements with a purpose in mind.
One, two, three, or four: Each sends a secret message to the reader.
21. Know when to back off and when to show off.
When the topic is most serious, understate; when least serious, exaggerate.
22. Climb up and down the ladder of abstraction.
Learn when to show, when to tell, and when to do both.
23. Tune your voice.
Read drafts aloud.

III. Blueprints


24. Work from a plan.
Index the big parts of your work.
25. Learn the difference between reports and stories.
Use one to render information, the other to render experience.
26. Use dialogue as a form of action.
Dialogue advances narrative; quotes delay it.
27. Reveal traits of character.
Show character-istics through scenes, details, and dialogue.
28. Put odd and interesting things next to each other.
Help the reader learn from contrast.
29. Foreshadow dramatic events or powerful conclusions.
Plant important clues early.
30. To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers.
To propel readers, make them wait.
31. Build your work around a key question.
Good stories need an engine, a question the action answers for the reader.
32. Place gold coins along the path.
Reward the reader with high points, especially in the middle.
33. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Purposeful repetition links the parts.
34. Write from different cinematic angles.
Turn your notebook into a "camera."
35. Report and write for scenes.
Then align them in a meaningful sequence.
36. Mix narrative modes.
Combine story forms using the "broken line."
37. In short pieces of writing, don’t waste a syllable.
Shape shorter works with wit and polish.
38. Prefer archetypes to stereotypes.
Use subtle symbols, not crashing cymbals.
39. Write toward an ending.
Help readers close the circle of meaning.

IV. Useful Habits


40. Draft a mission statement for your work.
To sharpen your learning, write about your writing.
41. Turn procrastination into rehearsal.
Plan and write it first in your head.
42. Do your homework well in advance.
Prepare for the expected -- and unexpected.
43. Read for both form and content.
Examine the machinery beneath the text.
44. Save string.
For big projects, save scraps others would toss.
45. Break long projects into parts.
Then assemble the pieces into something whole.
46. Take interest in all crafts that support your work.
To do your best, help others do their best.
47. Recruit your own support group.
Create a corps of helpers for feedback.
48. Limit self-criticism in early drafts.
Turn it loose during revision.
49. Learn from your critics.
Tolerate even unreasonable criticism.
50. Own the tools of your craft.
Build a writing workbench to store your tools.

I owe it my brother, Caloy for finding this glittermatic program that enables you to make glitter text and graphics. Although I haven't sent one yet to any of my friends and family, I could see already it's advantage when sending greetings and SMS, posting in forums and blogs. The glitter effect..or as you might say bling bling gives you some kind of identity, the privilege of becoming unique, extraordinary and important. Try some yourself in this link (http://www.blingyblob.com/glittermatic/) and tell me if I am correct.



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Help me stop ....this is addictive! (Whahhhh!)

Harry Potter books are not just mere books...it's a legend already! In the beginning I read it out of curiosity but then I end up liking it and reading all the 6 books J. K. Rowling wrote. The books made the child in me live again. When I was young I love to fantasize about magic,and heroism and I was able to really connect with the plots of great dame Rowling. Your great!

Sometimes I just keep on wondering who is this wonderful and imaginative writer behind the Harry Potter character. Curious and puzzled as I was, I made my own research. Allow me to quote it from this site (http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/default.asp?sec=1), as I don't want to miss any details about this extraordinay writer. Here is her story:

"J. K. (Jo) Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury in the UK in 1965. Such a funny-sounding name for a birthplace may have contributed to her talent for collecting odd names.

Jo moved house twice when she was growing up. The first move was from Yate (just outside Bristol in the south west of England) to Winterbourne. Jo, her sister and friends used to play together in her street in Winterbourne. Two of her friends were a brother and sister whose surname just happened to be Potter! The second move was when Jo was nine and she moved to Tutshill near Chepstow in the Forest of Dean. Jo loved living in the countryside and spent most of her time wandering across fields and along the river Wye with her sister. For Jo, the worst thing about her new home was her new school.

Tutshill Primary School was a very small and very old-fashioned place. The roll-top desks in the classrooms still had the old ink wells. Jo's teacher, Mrs Morgan, terrified her. On the first day of school, she gave Jo an arithmetic test, which she failed, scoring zero out of ten. It wasn't that Jo was stupid - she had never done fractions before. So Jo was seated in the row of desks far to the right of Mrs Morgan. Jo soon realised that Mrs Morgan seated her pupils according to how clever she thought they were: the brightest sat to her left, and those she thought were dim were seated to her right. Jo was in the 'stupid' row, 'as far right as you could possibly get without sitting in the playground'.

From Tutshill Primary, Jo went to Wyedean Comprehensive. She was quiet, freckly, short-sighted and not very good at sports. She even broke her arm playing netball. Her favourite subject by far was English, but she also liked languages.

Jo always loved writing more than anything. 'The first story that I ever wrote down, when I was five or six, was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee. And ever since Rabbit and Miss Bee, I have wanted to be a writer, though I rarely told anyone so. I was afraid they'd tell me I didn't have a hope.'

At school, Jo would entertain her friends at lunchtime with stories. 'I used to tell my equally quiet and studious friends long serial stories at lunchtimes.' In these stories, Jo and her friends would be heroic and daring.

As she got older, Jo kept writing but she never showed what she had written to anyone, except for some of her funny stories that featured her friends as heroines.

After school, Jo attended the University of Exeter in Devon where she studied French. Her parents hoped that by studying languages, she would enjoy a great career as a bilingual secretary. But as Jo recalls, 'I am one of the most disorganised people in the world and, as I later proved, the worst secretary ever.' She claims that she never paid much attention in meetings because she was too busy scribbling down ideas. 'This is a problem when you are supposed to be taking the minutes of the meeting,' she says.

When she was 25, Jo started writing a third novel ('I abandoned the first two when I realised how bad they were'). A year later, she went to Portugal to teach English, which she really enjoyed. Working afternoons and evenings, she had mornings free to write. The new novel was about a boy who was a wizard.

When she returned to the UK, Jo had a suitcase full of stories about Harry Potter. She moved to Edinburgh with her young daughter and worked as a French teacher. She also set herself a target: she would finish the 'Harry' novel and get it published. In 1996, one year after finishing the book, Bloomsbury bought Jo's first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

'The moment I found out that Harry would be published was one of the best of my life,’ says Jo. A few months after 'Harry' was accepted for publication in Britain, an American publisher bought the rights for enough money to enable Jo to give up teaching and write full time - her life's ambition!"

It's quite sad that J. K. Rowling had finally ended the Harry Potter series. The last edition, entitled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released on July 21, 2007. For the fans of Harry Potter, there are many reasons why you shouldn't miss this last edition of his book. Read carefully:
1. The last chapter was written back in 1999; it dealt with "what happens to the survivors afterward"; the last word is scar; this chapter will still be tweaked
2. The book will contain a lot of the back story of the Potters
3. Aunt Petunia has never performed magic, and never will, but there's more to her than meets the eye; the letter left with Harry on the doorstep was not the first one Dumbledore sent Petunia
4. The Sorting Hat is not a horcrux, but there's more to it than what we've read in the first books
5. "Ravenclaw will have their day"
6. No book character has returned from the future
7. There is significance to the fact that Harry has his mother's eyes

For those who have just started reading the Harry Potter series, it might help to know the sequence of the books published.
1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Happy reading!

Have you heard about this new craze about avatars? What is it actually? These are those little pictures that pop up by your name when you post something in forums, blogs and cellphones. There are no limits as to how you want your avatar to look like. Many websites give you a thousand options including the choice of clothing, facial features and themes. You could make as many as you want ...sky is the limit!

If you have noticed I posted one myself on this site. It was created at http://www.thedollpalace.com/ and I offer them my praises for a wonderful service and interface. The features remind me of the time when I was small and playing with paper dolls. It made me feel like I was young again...I enjoyed it very much!



After creating an avatar in this site, the image is sent to your email as an attachment. You could save this afterwards in your computer and presto...you could upload it in your messenger and forum. Posting it in your blog is not also difficult as you are given the html code. I didn't realize it's as simple as that!

Try also http://www.meez.com/home.dm . If you are looking for a more sophisticated 3D image then this is the site for you. Just make sure that your computer is Java enabled or else you wouldn't be able to use their program.

My folks, I would be happy then to see your avatars on your posts!

Someone told me before that blogging is kind of addictive. After successfully publishing my cooking blog (http://cookingwithelaine.blogspot.com/) here I am again blogging. I have created UNDER THE SUN to be able to write and share with my friends and family my life. Life is filled with wonderful things and learnings and that by sharing them to someone else you impart something valuable. Something good must come from this...if not, what the heck ....I will still blog anyway (hehehe...stop me if you can)!