Write On Wednesday: Toolkit

In the neighborhood where I grew up, there was an old-fashioned hardware store within walking distance of our house. Well, it would seem old-fashioned now, when most of us purchase our gadgets and gewgaws at huge warehouse type places like Home Depot or Lowe's where you must walk 10 miles on cement floors and peruse nine millions layers of plastic packages before you find just the right five-dollar pair of screws for the job.

At our little hardware store in Melvindale, Michigan, all the nails, nuts, and bolts were tossed into bins up and down the narrow aisleways. You could pick a handful if you liked, or just one if that were all you needed, and put them into tiny paper bags.

When I was a toddler, I loved going to the hardware store almost as much as I loved going to the drugstore and looking at magazines. All those shiny objects in so many sizes and shapes were great fun to look at. The man who owned the store knew my father and grandfather, and enjoyed watching me sink my chubby little hands into the mounds of steel and iron. Perhaps he wasn't quite so enthusiastic the time I took home a pocketful - but he forgave me nonetheless.

My early obsession with tools didn't last. I'm pretty hopeless with a hammer and nails, and you certainly wouldn't want me within operating range of any kind of power tools.

But then, I'm not an engineer like my husband, or a machinist like my father.

I am, however, proficient with the tools specific to my trade.

Like any other craft, writers and musicians have their own set of tools, a personal kit of indispensable items that help them tackle the job at hand, whether it's writing an essay or playing a sonata.

See what I carry in my writer's toolkit at today's Write On Wednesday.

How about you? What tools are specific to your trade? What are the essential items in your toolkit?

Five Essentials for the Writer's Toolkit

I want to suggest that to write to your best abilities, it behooves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you. Then, instead of looking at a hard job and getting discourages, you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work.  On Writing, by Stephen King

I may not be a handyman, but I know you can't complete any kind of job around the house without the proper tools.

The same holds true for the writer. No matter how many great, creative ideas you have, you'll never get them onto the page and in front of your reader without the right tools for the job.

Here are the essential items in my writer's tool chest:

1. Love of Language: Words are the building blocks for everything the writer does. The process of selecting the right ones and placing them in the proper order can be frustrating at times, but writers must be completely enamored with wordplay and willing to dig deeply into the recesses of their vocabulary for that perfect word or turn of phrase.
2. A Sense of How Language Works: If words are the foundation of the writers craft, then grammar is the cement that holds it all together. This is the weakest spot in my personal tool kit, a place I often need to seek assistance. There's always a copy of this book close at hand when I'm writing.
3. A Good Library: For research, for inspiration, for general knowledge, writers must read. Having access to books of all kinds is essential.
4. Physical Tools: Whether it's a computer screen, an electric typewriter, or a legal pad and felt tip pen, writers must have a method of putting their words on the page. Beyond that, they must also develop a system of organization for notes and ideas. Some rely on looseleaf notebooks, index cards taped on the walls, or some of the new computer programs like Evernote and Scrivener.
5. Faithful Readers: The writer should have at least one or two trusted readers who will support and advise her in the early stages of her work, before the words go out to the millions of people waiting eagerly to read them!

What essentials are in your writers tool kit?

Give It Up For Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday. This is a day of reconciliation, of being joined back together with God, of being reunited with the one who made you. This is a day of intentionally stopping to remember that we are made in the image of God and we are to treat others as the image of God. This is a day of consciously living in the knowledge that God made us, that Jesus came among us as servant that we might know God better, and that God continues to live among us as the Holy Spirit. Today is a day of reconciliation and being reunited. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Shannon Kelly, from Journey to the Cross

My friend Lisa and I were walking home from school one afternoon, and she was talking about what she planned to "give up" for Lent. As I recall, she couldn't decide between chocolate and chewing gum - big decisions for a 10 year old.

Because I always wanted to appear at least as smart as Lisa, I pretended I knew exactly what she was referring to, and quickly tried to think of something I could claim to relinquish as well. It seemed that it must be something loved, since I knew chocolate and chewing gum were two of Lisa's favorite things.

"I'm giving up television," I said proudly, the words "giving up" feeling foreign on my tongue. Remember I was a well-loved only child, and giving up things wasn't in my usual vocabulary.

When I got home I asked my mother what Lent was all about and why people gave things up for it. We went to church only sporadically in those days so there were some holes in my Christian education.

"Lent is the time before Easter," she told me. "Some religions require people to make sacrifices during Lent to remind them of how Jesus suffered and died on the cross."

Sacrifice - another unfamiliar concept.

Needless to say, I wasn't successful in my bid to give up television. Truthfully, I probably forgot all about the whole thing. By the end of the week, Lisa was back to devouring Hostess chocolate cupcakes at lunch and blowing huge bubbles with Bazooka bubble gum, so apparently her Lenten sacrifice had proven too much to bear as well.

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the Lenten season. Since I've become a regular churchgoer, I understand more about   Lent and the concept of sacrifice historically associated with it. In recent years, I've heard more people talk about using these 40 days as a time to deepen their faith- not by sacrificing some material thing or habit, but by increasing the time they spend in prayer or in doing God's work.

Putting a positive spin on it.

American's are good at that. As a people, we don't like the idea of sacrifice, especially voluntary sacrifice. So we look for ways to turn things to our advantage. I'm certainly no   different. I may not be the spoiled only child I was in 1965, but I'm no happier about suffering than I was back then.

And if I have to suffer, if I have to "give up" something, I at least hope some good will come from it somewhere.

The devotional message I quoted above is from a website called Journey to the Cross, a daily devotional series. Shannon Kelly, who wrote today's message, talks about Lent as a time of reconciliation, a time to remember that each of us is made in God's image, and that we should treat others as the image of God. That's about as positive a spin as I can imagine for a season shadowed by the specter of the crucifixion.

But within that positive message is the need to "give up" some things.

Like our prejudice, our selfishness, our negativity, our impatience, our lack of compassion.

And as difficult as it might be to forgo chocolate, chewing gum, and television, letting go of those things can be even harder.

It's worth a try, though. At least for the next 40 days.

Who knows? It might become a habit that lives in our hearts forever.

Last Year

Thanks for the post, Kathy Shelton I decided last year I was really into swimming so I got a membership at the local gym and started swimming every morning. I loved it at first and I actually lost a lot of weight and toned up my body but after a while my hair started to turn green in my skin got really angry because the chlorine in the water made it so dry. I know it sounds silly but I had to cut back so I've been keeping tabs on the swimming world in other ways. I am so excited about the Summer Olympics that are coming up in just a few months and I recently got tvbydirect to make sure I have all the channels I needed to get every bit of coverage I could about all of the water sports. Obviously, I think Michael Phelps is an incredible athlete and I can't wait to see what he does this year in London. It's only a matter of time before more records are broken and I hope Michael is the one to do it!

Got Bronze?

That was the slogan printed on T-shirts one of the handbell groups was wearing at this week's Bronzefest (the handbell workshop/concert I attended in Kettering, Ohio.) The word Bronze refers to several things - English handbells are crafted from bronze; also, handbell groups have traditionally been classified in levels of proficiency as tin, copper, and bronze, with bronze being the most proficient of the three. Thus, the "Bronzefest" is an invitation only affair with six of the top groups from Michigan and Ohio participating. Classical Bells has been invited to participate for 15 of the 20 years the festival has been in existence. The event involves preparing six pieces of music, working with a guest conductor for about 10 hours of rehearsals over Saturday and Sunday, and then performing a concert en masse on Sunday afternoon.

This year I was a "ringer" in more than one sense of the word, filling in as a substitute for a regular member of Classical Bells who had knee surgery and wasn't able to attend. It gave me an opportunity to brush up on my advanced handbell skills, plus work with the finest director in the handbell business, Fred Gramann, who is the music director of the American Church in Paris. Fred is a regular guest conductor for Bronzefest - he says it's his favorite handbell event. He raises our playing skills several notches by the time the weekend is over. In addition to being a superlative musician, he is gracious and utterly charming. It was worth every minute of standing on my feet for 15 hours - truthfully, I never even noticed being tired because it was so enjoyable.

What Fred does is teach us to make music instead of just playing notes. It's like the difference between writing functional sentences and poetry - one gets the job done and conveys the desired result, the other makes you sigh with pleasure and your heart beat a little faster. It's what we all want to achieve whatever our art might be - that higher level of expression and experience that separates the finished product from the everyday into the extraordinary.

So when I say we all "Got Bronze" over the weekend, it's almost an understatement.

Here's the concert if you'd like to see Bronze in action...Classical Bells is the group wearing the sparkly blue tops (see, I told you we "ring in color"!)

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/37075095]