French for "Was"

Last Friday, in English class, we discussed how to better our writing. My teacher instructed us that nouns and verbs should do 90% of the work while writing, and the other 10% is all the other types of words, including prepositions, adverbs, adjectives, and articles. That's a big difference. He said one way to keep that percentage rate is to cut out all the "to be" verbs, in what ever tense. Words like "is," "am," "are," "was," "were," especially when the word following ends in -ing (that's the past continuous tense, a horribly ungrammatical tense in writing). Many times, an excess of these verbs leads to your character passively being acted upon, instead of your character actively acting. He said that if your writing ever seems to drag, it may be because of an overbearing presence of these verbs. That prompted me to analyze my story MtH, for I find it dragging and boring in many areas, and I'm the author! I searched for "was" and found over 300 occurances, so over the past few days, I started the process of slowly editing my work and lessening my "to be" verbs. It is a challenge, but an extremly gratifying one. I find myself on page 12 with 270 occurances of the dreaded word, and still more to eliminate. Perhaps my writing skil will increase through this exercise. Other words to avoid include "would," "could," and "should," although we did not do any excersizes related to deleting these words from our writing vocabulary.
Now, another challenge presents itself. In French class, we study various verb tenses. This past week, we learned the imperfect and the conditional tenses. Imperfect means "was doing" and conditional is "would." This makes me wonder, is there such thing as Proper French, and if so, what are the rules and do to the imperfect and conditional tenses count as improper. If so, why are we learning them? Why are we learning them in the first place, if, when we translate, we should be translating into Proper English? Until I answer these questions, however, I will continue to study hard these tenses to increase my French knowlege. Also, learning these tenses makes translating songs fun, like "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. That song fits perfectly with these new tenses. Also, the line from Peter Pan (with Jeremy Sumpter and Jason Isaacs) "If I were you, I'd give up." "If you were me, I'd be ugly." translate more easily now. Learning French, although confusing, makes me happy.

Undoubtedly

So, here at school there's a bi-weekly writing workshop, on Tuesdays and Wednesday, that I have started to consistantly attend, and share my work. It is really fun to see everyone else's writing style and story ideas. They also give little lessons and writing prompts which helps aspiring writers be better, not just through the critiques that come. I love it. Currently, I am sharing Dreamrunners, and they love it, which makes me so happy! Perhaps one day I will share MtH, but I am still hesitant because it is still in the works. But it would be good to get a critique on it thus far.  Anyway, we're about 1/4-th of the way into the story, and each night after the workshop I make edits based on their comments. Most of the comments so far have been "Work on Showing, not Telling" which is a big problem for me, but I feel I am getting better. Plus, I get writing time for my Creative Writing Class.
Anyway, the main reason I wanted to post today was, I just observed a rather interesting phenomenon. I started writing Dreamrunners a few months over a year ago, and it has been finished for a little less than a year. During the workshop session today, we read the part when Camaron meets 901 for the first time. "[Camaron] smirk[s] as the silence continues, a sly confident smile. I hold all the answers to the questions undoubtedly running through his head." As this was being read by a fellow workshop-goer, my mind wandered to Winnie the Pooh singing the word undoubtedly in his Blustery Day song. I have not thought about Winnie the Pooh for the longest time, especially that song, but I think I did not put the word "undoubtedly" in error. I think my subconcious remembered Pooh singing "So it's rather safe to say/That it seems that it may turn out to be/It feels that it will undoubtedly/It looks like a rather blustery day, today" and added ubdoubtedly so that I could make the concious connection later.
It wasn't until I got home and began editing the section we read in the workshop that I made the connection and started singing "Blustery Day." It brought back sweet memories of childhood. I now have a strong desire to watch Winnie the Pooh, but as a college student, I will refrain.

Another writing exercise I think would be interesting to try is create a dialogue between two characters from different stories. This would help you guarantee that each character has his or her own voice, and that you're not just relying on dialogue tags between characters. That is my goal for one day. It would also just be interesting to see how two different characters from entierly different worlds meet...

Everything Else

My Goals:

I need to learn how to talk to people and not be shy, and to stop worrying what other people think of me/what I have to say. Once I step out of my comfort zone, I will be able to accomplish more, like asking people for information concerning an ancestor.

Index at least one record a week. Attend the temple twice a month while in Rexburg. Long Term goal/records retention project: Type up the family history records compiled by Emma Jacobson concerning my ancestors.

 Challenges: Forgetting. Not being focused. Being “lazy.”

My Dreams turning into Goals

---Goal 1--- Be Published

Daily: 

• Free-Write five minutes a day

• Edit two paragraphs in MTH a day.

• OR: Write two paragraphs on MTH a day.

Weekly:

• Review edits and make changes as necessary

• Brainstorm where I want my story to go.

Deadline: End of Sophomore year in college.

---Goal 2--- Type up Emma Jacobson’s family history records.

Daily: Type/edit one to two pages a day.

Weekly: Review information and conduct my own research about information presented.

Deadlines: When finished.

I don't have many pictures of my family.

Picture...

Oops... I was supposed to add a picture. I forgot. This is my Grandma and Grandpa Jim right before I left for college.

"Don't Talk To Me."

NOTE: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

Having just finished rereading the whole Harry Potter series (except the first one, I'm waiting to read that one in French), I decided to post my thoughts on the book. This quote popped into my head contemplating the gloriousness of the seventh book.

"'Don't talk to me,' Ron said quietly to Harry and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened. 'Why not?' asked Hermione in surprise. 'Because I want to fix that in my memory forever,' said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face" (Goblet of Fire, 207).

Although this scene happens immediately after Malfoy is Transfigured into a ferret, I thought this passage detailed my feelings and actions perfectly. 

"All was well" (Deathly Hallows, 759). I love how she (J.K. Rowling) ends the series, with the Nineteen Years Later. Everything was well, peaceful, after Voldemort died. And that's exactly how I feel, peaceful. The books happened how they needed to happen. I liked how she drew out Voldemort's death. She didn't just say "He died." She described it, making people wait. She makes it dramatic. I wonder how long it took her to write his death scene. She draws out (in a good way) a lot of other scenes as well. I love how everything comes together in the end. Everything just fits, even small details that most people would overlook, she brings them back and makes them play an important role. I want to know what the very first idea about Harry Potter was, how these books came into being, how she planned everything out. I haven't gotten to that point yet, because she obviously had to have quite a bit planned out before she could actually start writing. Me, I just have a basic plot line, or even an opening sentence or two, and I go from there. She is really an inspiration to writers.

One interesting thing I would like to note is that both Sirius and Fred died with a laugh still on their faces. "The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock" (Order of the Phoenix, 805). Sirius was taunting Bellatrix's efforts to kill him. "And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred's yes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face" (Deathly Hallows 637). Fred had been laughing because he thought that Percy was joking when he said he was resigning. And that Bellatrix gave a laugh right before she died as well, "the same exhilarated laugh her cousin Sirius had given as he toppled backward through the veil" (Deathly Hallows, 736). I don't know what to make of it, but noticed that and wanted to point that out to others. Perhaps that laughing is the best way to die? I don't know. I don't really want to think about death right now...

I had forgotten that Percy comes back in the end (thanks to the movies, they skipped over that part). I'm really glad that he did come back, and that he and Fred make up. I feel horrible for the rest of the Weasly's for their loss though... I saw a post that Molly never dreamed the twins would be separated, even when they were both lying "dead" when she was trying to get rid of the boggart in book five, they were together, albeit dead, but together. I suppose it just had to happen that way. But Tonks and Lupin? Come on! And Dobby too? WHY? She has some nerve, killing off her characters like that. But I admire her for it (only slightly)

I also saw another post that I thought was quite intriguing "The first thing Snape asks Harry is 'Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?' Asphodel is a type of lily meaning 'My regrets follow you to the grave' and wormwood means 'absence' and also typically symbolizes bitter sorrow. If you combined that, it means 'I bitterly regret Lily's death'" Now, I don't take credit for this, but I think that is really clever, whether on purpose or not, on her part. That must have take a lot of research to come up with that. I'm sure I will always be finding new meaning in the Harry Potter books.

I was going to rant about the movies, but I'll save that for another day. Anyway, the books are the best.

The Formal Introduction

(that kinda sounds like a cool book title, doesn't it? or at least a chapter heading. If your confused, I guess that's the purpose of all this.)

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. There is a lot, but I won't sum up. My name is Matea Williams. I won't go into too much detail about myself. If you want to know you'll just have to figure it out, or just find some way to contact me (legally of course). This blog was set up as a requirement for an Introduction to Family History class, but previously as I have been searching the web, I discovered blogs to be a type of online journal. I titled the blog "writing the right" because I wanted the blog to express me, for how ever short a time. But later, as I started thinking of the things I could post on my blog, I decided that I would use the blog for other purposes besides the class. Hence all the introduction appurtenances. (Being an accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living). I like words. Uncommon words (like appurtenances), written words (I would love to learn the art of calligraphy, and I love reading, and I want to be published some day soon), words in other languages (I'm currently learning french, tried my hand at Latin, loved it, want to continue, and speak Pig-Latin fluently and joyously), and the idea of the power behind words. Hence this blog's title. I want to write the correct words. I also want to have the right to write. I also know the right (being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and I am not afraid to write it. (See, words are fun!) Hence my testimony in blog post one.
When I write, I write what I think is right. I don't really expect many people to be reading this, but if you do, and anything sounds odd to you, just know it is how I think, what I want to write and that's that. So hopefully no harm is done. If you like it, and happen to be a publisher, please email me and ask to hear/read more. I have a bunch of started stories that are dying to be read by someone other than their author.
Part of my interesting way of thinking comes in part from the books I've read. The Book of Mormon being, actually quite prevalent. The language is older, and I enjoy reading it. I currently just finished C.S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy, a wonderfully well-told story written in an older fashion of writing by a perfectly amazing writer. I will probably be posting frequently about stories I finished, or are currently still finishing, or new story ideas, although I do ask that they not be copied, as I came up with them. I imagined them. I will refrain of doing so now. I have noodles on the stove. Don't ask me for my favorite book or author. I enjoy too many favorites to list. It's mostly fantasy, sci-fi stuff with little romance. I'm not big into romance in books.
I like handwriting and cool fonts (hence the sporadic ones on the blog). I also like the color purple, and green and orange and yellow are starting to grow greatly on me. I even like purple with pink on occasion. I have a tad too much blue, although it can be a very beautiful color at times.
I enjoy the outdoors, and hiking, and animals, and playing games, and snowy weather. Rain makes me want to curl up inside and read a great book. I like being active, but for much of the time I get lazy. Much of the food I like begins with the letter "P" (don't ask me why, I don't know), but I like a great many other foods as well. I love to listen to music. Musicals, movie soundtracks, and a couple of pop artists. Namely Owl City and Lenka. Not too much into '80's music, to the displeasure of my mom. I like singing, attempt to play the piano, and can play the oboe, although I haven't practiced it for quite a number of years. I am inclined to a quiet nature, although, I think very many thoughts. (Or perhaps because of that. Anyway, hence the long post). I don't have the most friends ever, but I throughly enjoy the ones that I have. I am not a very sappy person, so I probably won't be expressing my personal feelings very often, even on here. Well, enough of all that. I have to go figure out how to strain noodles with no strainer.

2.o Optional Research

Researching Family History Sites for my Introduction to Family History class.

The records in the catalogue at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City (and I guess in other places around the world too!) are being photographed digitally! Perhaps someday they will be availible online.

Right when I pull up the familyhistory.byu.edu site, I see the scrolling information. Seems like they have a lot of cool projects. The Immigrant ancestors looks cool. Volunteers, scholars, and researchers are using emigration registers to locate information about the birthplaces of immigrants to create a database of millions of immigrants. That would be so cool to volunteer for that project!
They have a link for script tutorials, offering guidance to deciphering manuscripts and other old documents printed in old typeface or written in old handwriting, in various languages. That will be great help when for indexing!
There's also the Nauvoo Community Project, identifying residents of Nauvoo, Illinois from 1839 to 1846. Family History Students at BYU are attempting to document each resident from their birth to their death. Kinda cool.

I think it's very interesting that many resources previously availible at Brigham Young University are now availible on FamilySearch.org, like "The Family History Archives" on BYU is now availible under "Family History Books" at fs.o. I guess it does make sense though, since fs.o is put out by the Church.

Family History is pretty fun! I'm excited to start finding my ancestors. But I don't want to just find them and do their temple work, I want to learn their stories, events that happened in their life. I want to know them. I guess I should keep my own journal, if I expect my anncestors to. Perhaps I'll try again.

CI.5: Beginning my Book of Remembrance

My Testimony:

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know it, I live it, I love it. I know that God speaks through prophets, and that He has not stop speaking. Thomas S. Monson is the current prophet. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he translated the Book of Mormon, which is the word of God. The Book of Mormon was written for our day.
I know that the importance of families is an essential teaching in the Gospel, and that families can be together for ever. Sacred ordinances for deceased family members can be completed in the temple. Temples are the house of God here on earth. I know that my life has a purpose, and that my Heavenly Father knows who I am and loves me.
I know that repentance/the atonement is for everyone, and that Heavenly Father will forget my sins when I truly repent. I know that His Son, Jesus Christ, died for my sins.
I will never check my religion at the door, I will remain steadfast and immovable in my testimony.
[In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen]

Life Goals:

I will be published.
I will be married in the temple.
I will have children (lots if if can help it!)
I will always be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
I will stay positive.