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Trying to walk a straight line with Covid

The year 2022 came in  stumbling and reeling from Covid. It staggered on stumbling and reeling dogged by another new variant dragged over from the previous year. We struggled with the ambivalence of Omicron. It was not as bad they said but it was still worse. You won’t get as sick as with other variants but you are more likely to get sick. It was easier to catch. Seems like they wanted us to celebrate but there is nothing to celebrate about Covid-19. We do not want to catch it at all. We don’t want to be sick at all. don’t tell us about being less sick.

Well we won’t get as sick but the booster was necessary, advisable even, for the less likely to make you sick Omicron. So a third dose was to be taken. And we were even being prepared for a fourth dose or second booster. The future seemed an interminable experience of a vaccination without an exit strategy. How many shots will one person have to take to fight this one virus. The vaccine suppliers were happy to suggest and to supply more boosters of course. Great business model. Create up-selling demand. 

With the adults locked into the booster, the momentum gathered to include the children. This started with fifteen year olds to 18 year olds. As 2022 progressed, the age limits broadened to include downwards to 11 year olds. High schoolers basically were the targets. The recent information is that the vaccine is safe for children aged 6 months to 5 years. Parents and governments wanted schools to reopen and schools are essentially mass gatherings and possibly mass infection and incubation sites. Will these children have to get boosters too? Did anyone answer that? We will have to wait and hear.

By this time the economies were shrieking for attention. So the getting back to normal agenda was implemented. No more hiding from this virus. We will be facing it head on and full face too. No more mandatory masks. Open up the businesses. Open up the schools and daycare centres. We had to take the consequences but we have had less deaths. A lot of people have been vaccinated and boostered. Let’s try our own social and scientific experiment. We already did the early phase of lock in and lockdown. Now it is time to open up.

That strategy faced criticism of course and was accompanied by fears. Fortunately for the proponents the attention of the world was diverted from Covid-19 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Instead of numbers of infections the statistics in the news were the millions of Ukrainian refugees crowding railway stations trying to flee the attacks on their homes. The deaths being counted were casualties of war. A country against country war.  The personalities on the screens were political leaders – heads of State and of countries, generals and pundits of violent conflicts not health officials.

Prices of goods, including houses, and the cost of living are the economic news we follow. How the war is affecting supplies and prices is the new concern. We now watch each day the rising price of petrol and listen to hear about possible shortages of grain. Strange how easily our focus can shift to new concerns.

The vaccines for children is not as pressing as the shortage of baby formula which is not caused by the war, nor by the pandemic. Of course the Covid 19 virus is still active. Some countries are reporting fourth and fifth waves. But that news no longer screams at us. We have been going back to the office, going back to school and best of all going back outside of our countries on holidays.

But vacationers had better move swiftly to enjoy a trip overseas. There is a new virus in town – monkeypox. Here we go again and it is still 2022.

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Finding writing markets

Finding markets for my writing takes time. I spend hours, looking through lists of recommended markets. I go about it the difficult way browsing through all combinations of search results – Thirty best markets for short fiction, Publications that pay, Short Fiction markets.

I check the lists then I begin to scrutinise some of the suggestions. I look at the submission guidelines and the deadlines for sending submissions. I definitely look at whether or not they are paying markets. I omit those that ask for manuscripts of 30,000 words or more. I am not writing a novel yet. That creates a shortlist of sorts for me to look at . This is when I begin to read the online offerings of the journals or magazines to study the type of writing they usually publish. Of course this means reading at least one short story for each selected market. I write short stories so that is my interest.  I fall down some rabbit holes going through the writing, but I consider myself lucky to be able to read and discover what I would call the attitude of a publication. It would be such a waste of more time and foolish too, to submit writing that is at odds with the interest of a publication.

The question I ask myself is whether I wouldn’t be better off spending all that time on writing my own stories. Maybe, but I would still have to find a suitable market for whatever I write. So which should come first? Someone please tell me. Of course I still write. I have come to the conclusion that I have to write and I have to write towards or for some sort of market. I have four completed short stories on hand and I continue my research in order to find markets for them. So I have to find a way to divide my time between searching for opportunities for publication and building an inventory of stories or other writing so I can have creations to send out into the world.

Writing the story or researching the writing market?

One writer I found on YouTube thinks that it is best to have an inventory of work ready to be sent out. I agree for I was in the situation where I found a journal that had out a call for submissions. The deadline for the call was the very day I found the information. I did not have any story or other writing in my stock that I could submit. My inventory was not large enough. More than that my stock of writing was not varied enough either, to find a piece fit for purpose.

New ideas from the writing market research

The research actually helps my writing. When I look at the content of the journals and magazines, I see writing that I find interesting and unusual. I discover new themes for writing and new approaches to telling a story, or writing a poem or writing non-fiction. I find writers exploring gender issues of all types. I see poems with abbreviations and ampersands as part of the language. I find encouragement to be bolder and explore new topics.

I find other good leads for writing markets by taking note of what published writers and competition winners reveal about where they first got a story published. I often follow the links they give showing where they have their short work published. This is really helpful and more hopeful than a blind search.

Researching writing markets is time-consuming but it is necessary. It gives more than promised financial rewards for it is a treasure of information and free writing education.

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How to help your child write a book review

Take turns reading the book aloud together

Take turns reading the book aloud to each other. Let him read five pages aloud to you. You read the next five pages aloud to him. When you read the book this way you can be certain that he has read the entire book. Reading aloud will create more interest in the book if you make the book come alive by reading in what you believe are the characters’ voices. Try to express the characters’ emotions when you are reading the dialogue. Change your tone of voice to suit the mood of the character. If a character is angry then have an angry tone. If he is happy then adopt that tone for the dialogue. That can make the reading fun.

Have discussions at various points

Don’t turn this into a one sided interview by asking all the questions. At a certain point in the story you could each give your prediction as to what will happen next. What you both think a character will do or say next. You can each give your reasons for your prediction. Then you can read to discover who was right or if any of you made a correct guess at all.

You can also begin to focus on what type of writing the author uses. Together you can identify the time period in which the book is set. You can both give reasons and proof for your decision.

Use correct literary terms

When you talk together about the book use the correct literary terms. You may tell her that you think Mabel will decide to join the chess club. Later however you can use the word character in discussing Mabel and others. You may say to her “I find that some of these characters are very shy.” When you discuss the place or places in which most of the book is set you should introduce the word setting in your discussion. If you use it to her she is likely to use it back to you and also in her writing.

Encourage giving opinions

Show her the difference between giving a summary of the story and having an opinion about the story. When you have finished reading the book you can take turns briefly saying what story the book tells. Let her know that this is a summary. Then you let her give her opinion on the characters. Which ones were realistic and believable and whether any were not believable. Let him explain his reasons for his opinions. Let him identify the impression the book made on him and why he had that impression.

Try to get him to be bold enough to say if he really disliked any part of the book. You can have fun by making a scale and rating different aspects say from 1 to 10.

Outline a structure

Suggest a structure to follow when he is writing so that the book review information he will give will be organised according to headings and paragraphs.

Here are some ways to organise:-

Name of book and author

Type or genre

Brief outline of the events/What was the book about? What were the characters like?

Opinion about the book –likes, dislikes, strong points, weak points

Recommendation – Would you encourage others to read the book? What is the reason for your answer?

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Creative nonfiction – what is it?

Twisted tree trunk

Creative nonfiction sounds contradictory. Fiction is creative. Nonfiction is true. You make up fiction. It wasn’t there before. You’re telling a story about people who do not exist except in your mind. Nonfiction is the opposite. It is the truth. It is about people who do exist and about events that happened. For nonfiction to become creative nonfiction it must be the truth but told using the literary techniques of fiction.

So you tell a true story but in a way that can include dialogue. You may or may not wish to use dialogue but you can. You set scenes and build your characters. You give the story a structure that would create drama and suspense; a structure similar to that of a novel or short story. You use imagery and figures of speech – all the techniques of fiction writing. That is nonfiction told creatively.

We actually use creative nonfiction often. We would tell a friend about a disastrous first effort at making bread or the first time our article was accepted by a newspaper. We never tell the facts of such events in a flat, monotonous way. We inject excitement through dialogue, bring in characters and even set the scenes. Here is an example:

Girl, you know how the paths in the square are all buckled and cracked from the roots of those old trees. Well yesterday I stumped my toe against one of those bricks. The pain shot through my foot like an electric shock. Luckily I was close to one of the cement benches. I hopped over to it. When the pain eased I tried to get up. To my horror, girl I could not move. I sat there paralysed for about ten minutes. I just kept saying, “Please let me not have to call for an ambulance. Please don’t let me have to call the ambulance.”

There it is. I did not just say, “I stumped my toe while walking through the square. It was painful”  Both accounts are true but the first is told with techniques used in fiction such as figure of speech, setting of a scene and even some internal discourse.

When did it begin?

Some people credit the origin of creative nonfiction as the 1960s with the adoption of New Journalism by some journalists who were giving their reported events a more subjective approach. Others point to earlier origins in the stories of pilgrims. They were telling true stories but writing them in interesting and exciting and narrative manner. It was not a genre at that time but it is the type of writing that we now call creative nonfiction. But you know some types of nonfiction such as memoirs and travel writing have always been told with a narrative manner. They were not labelled as creative nonfiction or narrative nonfiction though.

Jacob Garrett, is on a goal to walk from Melbourne to Sydney. He writes about this experience in “Desire Lines”. It is a travel story in literary style His descriptions of the landscape are vividly full of imagery. It certainly demonstrates that travel writing can be included in the genre of creative nonfiction depending on how the travel story is told.

Famous examples

Some famous examples of creative nonfiction include  “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote. It is a true account of a crime, the murder of four members of a rural Kansas family, but it is written like a novel. Truman himself called it a nonfiction novel. The nonfiction aspect of the writing can require extensive and focused research. Capote did extensive research including interviews of investigators, and local people. He took six years to produce the book.

“Into Thin Air”, by Jon Krakauer is another famous example of creative nonfiction. It is the story of expedition to Mt Everest by Krakauer and others. The expedition is tragic as several climbers and guides die, the most of any climbing season on Everest. It is factual. The writer was there and participated in the events and successfully climbed to the summit of Mt Everest. He witnessed the events. He is a character in his own story. The book is written like a novel with a narrative structure, characters, definitely set scenes and even dialogue.

Recent writing

A more recent example of creative nonfiction is a short piece published in PREE an online literary magazine. The title of the piece is “Daffodils for E.R Worrell [aka Mister Double-Yuh aka WOW] by Linda M. Deane. The author definitely uses a narrative arc to tell the story of her father’s life as a West Indian immigrant in England. She uses dialogue, descriptive scenes and builds the character of her father and herself. Using this narrative technique the writer brings to life the man, her father in a vivid manner more effectively than she would have done in a strict report type account of the facts.

Though the name creative nonfiction may seem contradictory, the technique itself is not and the type of writing firmly holds its place as one of the literary genres.

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Finding new trends in short stories- easy sources for writers

bonsai trees Image by Ilona Ilyés from Pixabay

When you write yourself you need a measure, call it a benchmark against which to compare your own stories. You need to know your competition. A quick route to discovering current short story topics and writing styles is through online magazines and newspapers and literary websites. The following sources publish interesting, well-written short stories that you can access easily.

The Atlantic

The Atlantic Magazine has a section for short stories. The magazine is a literary magazine but I was first attracted to it for its articles on politics, current issues and for its crossword puzzle. I got to the fiction later. This magazine is a very instructive place for emerging writers and for writers who are trying to improve their writing.

The fiction in The Atlantic is sometimes cutting edge. The topics can be unexpected and sometimes the treatment of the subject is unexpected. This makes you pay attention and have a second look at your own writing. Such fiction may encourage you to try new approaches and escape your safe mode. All writers need fine examples of the craft. The stories in the Atlantic will provide some of these.

The Irish Times

The short stories in the Irish Times are very diverse. This magazine is another place to observe examples of how writers create multi-layered stories. In one of these stories “I told him not to fly so high”, the writer brackets his modern day story of drones and viral videos with the echoes of the ancient legend of Icarus. Within that same story the writer also deals with the conflicts in a relationship between the protagonist and his girlfriend’s son. Included as well is the internal conflict and emerging self-awareness of the protagonist.

When you read such stories you learn how a writer can manage these threads in the short fiction form. it makes you want to reach deeper within yourself for engaging ideas and fresh treatments for even commonplace issues.

That’s the reason for reading the stories of others. You can see where other writers are more inventive and how they create interest in the reader. And you can try to follow their example.

adda Magazine

Commonwealth Writers produces adda as an online literary magazine. The stories come from across the Commonwealth. Commonwealth Writers describes adda as an “online magazine that crosses literary borders”. Because the stories come from different areas of the world they are rooted in the cultures and experiences of the writers and this gives a very global perspective to the collections.

The stories in adda encourage you to tell the story of your place. They give you the confidence that your characters can be like the people of your city, town or village no matter how small or remote your location. The characters can speak like you. The fiction in adda promises that you have a place to be heard and stories to tell which have not yet been heard. That is encouragement to the new writers who might have thought that their voice was too small to be heard.

Benchmark

Measuring tools

As a writer you will find these publications as sources for encouragement, entertainment and education as you continue to learn the craft of telling the short story. Benchmark your writing against those you find in these sources and level up your skills.

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3 Benefits of reading more during Covid pandemic

Have you been reading more now that you have to stay at home because of Covid-19? I always loved reading and I have recently increased my reading consumption. I have been discovering and observing and even analysing what I read. There are three benefits in particular that I am gaining from reading.

Hearing the voice

The most entertaining and enjoyable benefit of reading more is the exposure to the styles of writing whether in short stories or novels especially where authors can so accurately capture the voice of the protagonist. By voice I mean the colloquialisms, the speech mannerisms and the vocabulary of a character. When the writer captures these characteristics effectively, realistically and effortlessly you are captive to the story. One of the best examples of this I found in Tim Winton’s The Shepherd Hut in which you can hear the young boy’s very accent and dialect.

Eliza Robertson in We Walked on Water brings her teenage protagonist’s voice through markers or references such as food and games.

“ I wanted Dairy Queen. A Butterfinger Blizzard layered twice with hot fudge”

She also uses the preoccupations and predilections of the current youths. In reference to his sister the young protagonist says, “I remember her in screenshots”. This could only have come from the generation that lives its world on screens.

I gravitate towards such writing. The joy of reading such works is to find yourself knowing this character and being immersed in his actions and thoughts because he or she is what exists in the real world.

Discovering the marginalised

What I also observed is that more writers are choosing to tell stories about people on the margins. Some writers are pushing to include or to tell stories of those who are usually unheard. You can now read stories from the perspective of the transgender person. You can find one such story, The Bump written by Morgan Thomas and published in the June 2021 issue of The Atlantic.

The transgender protagonist in that story thinks that his desire to be pregnant would be considered an “immoderate desire”. Although we might expect a male who has become a transgender female to want female clothes and perhaps a female body, this desire to experience pregnancy is unexpected. But should it be?

These stories give you a view into the lives of transgender persons revealing their goals, their desires and their challenges. You can through these stories form an understanding of how transgender persons navigate relationships, whether family, work or dating.

Hearing the other side

The loneliness of a refugee who cannot fit into the culture of the country to which she has moved is told in Edge Of The World. Surprisingly and interestingly it is told from the perspective of a child’s memory. Though it is an adult remembering it is her childhood memory that she recounts. This story shows that writers are giving a voice to those who don’t often speak perhaps because they are afraid and probably because they do not have the language as is often the case of a refugee coming to a new country. Writers are telling us that there is a story of the refugee beyond the escape from conflict or from poverty. I think the writers are brave to reveal these feelings.

I learnt that there are many sides to the story of those who have found refuge in another country. The story Spires byTamas Dobazy taught me not to judge the success of a refugee by my standards. This story reveals that refugees have to use so much of their courage to escape and save their lives. Reaching another country where they are safe is an accomplishment. To struggle again beyond that to learn new things in order to succeed may not be their desire, or at least it may be difficult. Mixed with the relief of successful escape is also the guilt of leaving others behind. Looking on from outside we may not understand this. Stories like Spires give us another side to the newcomer’s actions. Through the telling of these stories we reach more understanding and sympathy for the refugee. There is more to Spires of course, but I’m just choosing one cautionary lesson of listening and looking for the complexity which often guides the actions of others.

I still have more to explore among the books and stories. I will revisit the fantasy worlds and dystopia as well as get my eyes on graphic novels.

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5 Mistakes to avoid when writing minutes of a meeting

The minutes of a meeting are an important document. The minutes serve as a record of the meeting and are a summary of the discussions and decisions of the meeting participants. Minutes have a particular format and not everyone knows the procedures involved in writing minutes. These are some of the mistakes to avoid when you have to write the minutes of a meeting.

Trying to write a word for word account

Minutes should capture the essence of the discussion. They should summarise the important issues discussed, suggested and decided at the meeting. Writing word for word is transcription and not a summary. When you try to write every single word that is said you will miss parts of the discussion as you try to keep up with both writing and listening.

Not using the agenda items as a guide

A meeting will have an agenda. This is a document that is a list of all the issues that will be discussed at that meeting. When you use the agenda items as headings within the minutes you automatically have the discussion structured in an organised manner. If you do not use the agenda this will leave you with disorganised notes and when you want to finalise drafting the minutes you will be unsure of the topic to which those notes are relevant. It also saves time to use the agenda as a guide for your draft of the minutes. You can prepare for your note taking by listing the agenda items in your blank document or note paper like a template ready for you to fill in the main points at the meeting.

Confusing the tenses

The minutes should be written in the past tense. By the time the minutes are approved and circulated all that is written or described in the minutes took place in the past. Although you are taking notes as the meeting is taking place, once the meeting has ended you will be writing about an event that has gone. Write in the past tense throughout. Do not switch tenses. Always read over carefully to ensure that you maintained consistency with your tense.

Including your opinions and comments

Do not describe events according to your perspective. The minutes are not about the writer. They should be an objective account of the meeting. If you insert your opinion in the minutes you can influence how others view the events of the meeting. Your opinion of events may differ from those of the participants at the meeting. Avoid writing, for example, ‘’There was a heated discussion about the size of the budget.”  Use the expression, “There was much discussion”.  You might think the discussion was heated while another participant may consider it thorough and comprehensive.

Neglecting to ask for clarification

The minutes should be an accurate record of the proceedings at the meeting. If you missed some information or you do not understand something, ask for clarification. This is especially important when recording decisions. If discussion on a matter ended and the decision on that matter is not clearly stated, ask for a statement on the decision. If you omit what you do not understand or what you did not hear clearly you will produce inaccurate minutes. As the minutes are an important reference for information on decisions and on actions to be taken you should be especially careful to ensure that the record is accurate. Speak up and ask for clarification when this is needed.

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How to use your smartphone for your online teaching

At this time because of the Covid-19 pandemic more teaching has moved online. Consider your smartphone as one of the devices you could use for your online teaching. You can send lectures or materials by audio and video. This post will focus on sending audio.

Sending audio

I find that participants in a course like to receive audio feedback on their performance of an assignment. Here is one way of recording and sending an audio file to your online class. This audio can be a lecture, an explanation, a review or feedback on performance, a story that you read or even instructions for participants to follow. You want to record it so it will be available for students whenever they wish to refer to it.

First you need to install a voice recorder app on your phone. Go to the app store on your phone and in the search, type “voice recorder”. Several apps will show up. I use Easy Voice Recorder. It is simple to use and it is free.  Here is how to make a recording with it. After you have installed the app, open it. You will see the app is ready to record.

Click on the red button with the microphone at the bottom of the screen and you can begin recording. It would be best to write the script of what you want to say before you begin recording. Speak clearly and in a natural tone. The internal microphone of your smartphone will pick up the sound. When you begin recording the screen will show that.

The app has a timer at the bottom of the screen so you can see how much time your recording is taking. You can pause the recording by pressing the red record button. Below the timer you can see a check mark on one side of the record button and an X on the other side. If you are not satisfied with the recording click on the X at any time while recording and you will be given the opportunity to delete the recording. You can delete and start over.

On the other hand if you continue your recording until the end of your message or lecture you should click on the check mark to show that you are done. At this point the app will show that it is ready to start a new recording. As you are not ready for a new recording click on “Listen” to hear your recording. Click on the blue play button at the bottom of the screen, to listen to your recording. You can also fast forward or rewind to listen to particular sections of the audio. You can also see the duration of your audio and the data size of the audio.

Click on the three vertical dots on the right of the recording and you will see several actions you can take. You can delete the recording if you are not satisfied and redo it. If you want to keep it choose “Rename “ to give it the name you prefer. You will want to share the recording with your course participants. The easiest way is to share by Google Drive. After renaming your audio touch the three dots again and choose “Share with Drive”. A window will pop up showing the name of the recording. Choose Save.

The recording will be uploaded to your Google Drive. Your phone will notify you when the upload is completed. The time it takes will depend on the length of your audio. From your Google Drive you can share the recording with your online course participants directly or you can email them a link to the recording in your Google Drive.

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Covid-19: Google Forms – a great resource for online teaching during coronavirus

Covid-19 has caused so many schools and universities to offer more online classes that teachers need to find resources that will help them with the time and effort required for online teaching. Google Forms is a free resource well known for its use in surveys, but it’s also a very useful tool if you teach online classes.

Quizzes and tests

You can use Google Forms to create quizzes and tests. It is especially useful if you want to create a multiple choice test. I always wanted a way to create a multiple choice test that would let me give the correct answer and explain to the student why that answer is correct. Google Forms allows you to do that. You can also use Google Forms to set tests requiring short answers and for quizzes in which the student can fill in answers in blank spaces.

You can create a test on Google Forms by choosing the Blank Quiz template under the Education section, or you could click on Settings and choose Quizzes.

If you choose to create a multiple choice quiz you type in your question and also type in the options which are possible answers to the question. Click on “Answer key” and that will let you identify which option is the answer to the question.

Sample of question and options on Google forms quiz

Self- grading and feedback

With Google Forms you can choose settings that allow you to let students know if their answer is correct or not. When you include the answer key students can then grade their own tests or if you wish you can let them do peer grading. When you choose to include feedback then the student can see the explanation for the correct answer. If a student chooses a wrong option then he can see why he is wrong. These features in Google Forms help both students and teachers.

In Google Forms, Settings for quizzes is the place where you will choose the features that allow you to show the correct answer and to provide feedback to explain the answer. Click on the Settings icon then choose Quizzes. Turn on the button for Make this a quiz.

When you make the form a quiz you have the feature that tells the students how many points or marks you are giving for a correct answer. You can change the points according to the question as you find appropriate. The same button allows the student to grade her own work. If you want students to see which of their answers were incorrect check the box for Missed questions. You can let students see which answer was correct by ticking the box for Correct answers.

Some other helpful features in Google Forms allow you to grade manually. This you can use if you are not giving a multiple choice quiz and instead you are asking students to give answers in short sentences or short paragraphs. You can also use manual review if you do not want students telling the correct answers to other students who are waiting to submit their quiz.

Evaluate your teaching

Google Forms has a feature that will give you instant feedback and a summary of how ech student performed. It gives you the statistics to show how the students performed for each question. This lets you see if all the students answered Question 1 correctly or if more than half the students missed that answer. This tells you what areas of the quiz the students found difficult. If a significant number of students were missing the answers to questions on a particular topic then you can use that feedback to evaluate your success in teaching that topic. According to the statistics you can make a decision to re-teach the topic or teach it differently. The information collected by Google Forms helps you assess your own teaching.

Google Forms will also allow you to focus on the performance of individual students. You can see if Student B answered all the spelling questions correctly but missed the answers to most of the questions on subject and verb agreement. That helps you to identify the problem areas of individual students and take action to help such students improve.

If you had to summarise manually these statistics that Google Form provides, you would find it very time-consuming and you may not note or record performances in such detail especially if you have large classes.

When you are teaching classes online you may not have the opportunity to read student’s body language and other cues that would tell you whether or not they are understanding what you are teaching. This feedback and summary in Google Forms is very helpful if you teach courses online.

Easy to distribute and submit.

When you are ready to send out the quiz, click send and the easiest method is to send by email to each student. You can also copy the link that is given when you choose ‘link’ and post it on your website.