Some Thoughts on Research & Writing - Part 1

Picking a Topic

One of the most important parts of starting to a new writing project is picking a topic. Sometimes the assignment specifies a topic; sometimes writers have to generate their own topics. If a writer already has a topic, the problem is just coming up with a thesis for the essay. If the writer has no specified topic, it gets a little more difficult. Here are some guidelines that will work for either situation if you are a writer.

1. Pick a topic that interests you, or if you have an assigned topic, pick an area of the topic that you want to learn more about or about which you already have a little knowledge. It is hard enough to write, let alone to write about a subject in which you have little interest. And if you didn't care about the topic to start, you will despise it by the time you are done!

2. Make sure the size of the topic fits the size of the assignment. If you are assigned a five page essay, you probably are not going to do a very good job covering all the details of the American Civil War. At best, you would only be able to touch on the major battles, ignoring the details of the battles, the political issues, the important politicians and generals on both the North and South, the development of wartime technology, the after effects of the war, or even how and why it began. However, any one of these subtopics might work if you focused narrowly enough. For example, you might want to write on the development of wartime technology as exemplified by the ironclad ships, the Monitor and the Merrimack.

3. Once you select a topic area, you need to write a working thesis that will be the control for all of your research and help you write your first draft. If the topic is the development of wartime technology as exemplified by the ironclad ships, the Monitor and the Merrimack, then the working thesis might be, "The ironclad ships used by the North and South in the American Civil War represented a huge step forward in the Navy's wartime technology." The job of the paper wold then be to prove that this statement is true.

To be continued...

The Two Best Jobs I Almost Got (and wished I had)

American Greetings

The first best job I almost got was working as the creative director for American Greetings in Cleveland, Ohio. It was a perfect job for several reasons. To start, the people with whom I would have worked were intelligent and interesting. They were artists, writers, and cartoonists who designed and developed projects for a company that was part of American Greetings, the card company. They were the character licensing arm of the company and, of course, they were called "Those Characters from Cleveland." These were the people who created Ziggy and Holly Hobby, among others. Many of them had originally worked at Disney. My job would have been to be kind of a den mother and keep this bunch of crazies on track.

Another reason this job would have been great is because it was in Cleveland. Many people remember Cleveland being called the "Mistake on the Lake," but it is really quite nice with great museums, ethnic restaurants, and beautiful parks. Besides, my best friend from college lived there, so I would not have been alone in a new city.

Finally, applying for the job was the best job interview I've ever had. The company director came out with a cardboard box filled with stuffed toy animals all wearing rollerskates. These were a new line of characters called the "Getalong Gang" that the company was developing into a book, movie, and TV cartoon series. He gave me two weeks take the animals home and use them as charcters in a children's book. I wrote the book and turned it in, and I thought I had the job, but then the woman whose job it was decided not to leave. So American Greeting paid me $200 for the book. But I would have rather had the job!

Olympic Equestrian Team

The other job I wish I would have gotten was as the groom and exercise rider for a woman who was trying out for the U.S. Equestrian Team. Once again, this job had many features to recommend it. First, I would have gotten to ride her two horses which were top of the line jumpers who were each worth more than my house! I could never afford a horse of this quality, and the opportunity to ride and jump two of them was incredible.

Second, I would have had the chance to drive all over the country, hauling the horses to events on the Olympic circuit and watching all of the top riders compete for spots on the American Olympic team. The competitions were usually in big cities on the east and west coasts, so I would get to travel to interesting places and attend events for free when most people had to pay for tickets.

Third, Not only would I have had these great perks, but I would have been paid three times what I had been making in my previous job mucking out horse stalls, plus all my expenses, including food and hotels, would have been covered while we were on the road.

Actually, I got this job, but two days before we were due to leave, I was jumping my horse over a big fence, and I miscalculated the jump, causing my horse to get hung up in the fence and flip over. She wasn't hurt, but I broke my nose, jaw, and arm. I also had to have reconstructive surgery on my face, and I probably had a concussion; I was such a mess that I never noticed if my head hurt. Needless to say, I couldn't ride or drive a horse van after the . The horses and their owner left without me, and I spent the summer recuperating instead of traveling the Olympic equestrian circuit.

Welcome Back!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Too bad we didn't have better weather.

Sometimes Starting is the Hardest Part

The Problem of Getting Ideas

Sure, you say, writing isn't hard. Getting the ideas about what to write is the hard part. And you're right. So how do writers get ideas?

As a professional writer, among other things I have been a columnist and a freelance feature writer. Writing the columns wasn't too bad because I had a regular topic (antiques) and I just had to find column-sized ideas to write about. I was already half way there because I had a general topic; all I had to do was refine it. Feature writing was harder because I was supposed to send in two or three articles with photos each week about people and things of local interest. So I was always on the lookout for material. I kept a small notepad with me to jot down ideas for stories when people mentioned things I thought might be interesting. I wrote about local people with interesting jobs or hobbies, county history, and unusual events. It was fun because I got to be nosey and ask a lot of questions, but it was hard to continue to come up with new ideas every week.

A good topic is important because it is much harder to make something dull look interesting than to fill out the details on an idea that is already interesting. You have to work a lot harder to write about something in which even you aren't interested!

It gets even harder when you have to come up with an idea to write about in class because most people are worried about picking "important" topics for class papers. But over the years people who teach compostion have come up with a number of ways to help writers get started. Here's a few.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is just sitting around throwing out ideas. You can brainstorm by yourself or as part of a group. The trick is not to worry about the quality of the ideas at this point; just try to generate quantity. The more ideas you can come up with, the better chance you have of finding a topic. And sometimes the craziest ideas are the most interesting and make the best papers. Here's an example of brainstorming for a paper about the topic of jobs:

Jobs -- best job -- worst job -- Cedar Point -- Snow cones --first teaching job --cleaning out horse stalls -- manure spreader -- frozen water buckets -- newspaper advisor -- student staff -- PhotoJournal -- wall-eyed boss -- $1.60 an hour

All I'm doing here is thinking about jobs. After I get done jotting down a few more ideas, I can go back and pick out the job that I want to write about. I came up with four jobs that were potentially good for writing about in this short brainstorming session.

Idea Mapping or Clustering

This combines brainstorming with doodling. If you like to draw or doodle, this method might work for you. Using the same ideas for an example as I used above, I would start by drawing a circle in the middle of the paper and writing "jobs" inside it. Then I would draw a line from the circle to another circle with the words "best job" inside. From that circle I would draw a line ending in another circle with one of my best jobs inside, "newspaper advisor," and another line off the "best jobs" circle with the words "first teaching job" inside. Then I would draw lines from the circles with "first teaching job" and "newspaper advisor" inside of them with details about each job connected to that job's circle. I'd do the same with "worst job," connecting the information about worst jobs to it by lines and circles. I'll have to show you this one in class because in this case, a picture is worth at least 1000 words!

Free Writing

The last method I want to talk about is called free writing. All you do is put your pen on the paper and write without stopping for a certain length of time, say ten minutes. Don't worry about writing in complete sentences; don't edit in any way. If you can't think of anything to write, just write "can't think" or "don't know" without stopping. The point of this method is to force ideas out of your mind. You'll get a lot of stupid stuff, but if you keep writing, eventually some real ideas might come out.

So there's a few ways to get started. There are lots of other ways; the important thing is to find one that works for you. Once you get started, the rest is easy.

It's Been a LONG Holiday

Too Tired to Write Much!

This week has been much longer than expected. So far, since the last time I have written I have:

1) Sold a building

2) Remodled a bathroom

3) Moved my daughter from an upstairs apartment

4) Moved some of my stuff out of the building that I sold into another building that I am trying to sell

5) Drank two and a half bottles of wine with my almost ex-husband

6) Found out that the state of Ohio has some money for me from 20 years ago

7) Finished a book I have been reading for two months (and was disappointed in the ending!)

8) Walked 22 miles (over 4 days)

9) Lost 5 pounds

10) Mowed half of my 3 acre lawn

11) Applied for 3 jobs, and

12) Drove to Mt. Pleasant and back.

So that's why I am not writing much today.