Writing

Here is a quick 1 question quiz (but a tough one).

1.)  The process of writing is? (chose one answer)

                                a.)  Writing is a process of recording already developed thoughts.

                                b.)  Writing is a process of figuring out what you think.

Answer:  If we are to believe "Rules for Writers", (Diane Hacker, Nancy Sommers), then,"Writing is a process of figuring out what you think, not a matter of recording already developed thoughts".

Then they go on to say:

      "Since it is not possible to think about everything all at once (What!, does that mean that I am not an idiot after allllahhhhh??!), most experienced writers handle a piece of writing in stages".

      Believe it or not, this was a revelation to me.  Oh, I had had my own informal suspicions about the whole process.  But to hear it declared boldly and forthrightly, that, it is "a process of figuring out what you think", oh, my oh my.

      This sounds like a very possible explanation as to what happened to me when I got online some 8 years ago.  What I did not realize then was that I was being sucked right into the very traumatic process of figuring out what I thought. The process of better developing my thoughts. I logged on... I wrote... I thought... and then I rewrote, and... all of the sudden things were much clearer.  And much more well developed.  Including the fact that I needed to learn better how to write.  And that still stands true today.

      So for right now, I think I will stop writing and keep reading, "Rules for Writers".  And that should help the rest of the process.

I've Changed Majors to Applied Behavioral Science

       But first, about 7 years ago, at a rummage sale for about $20.00, I picked up a nice old 4-leaf oak dining room table.  Well-used but still in decent shape. Its purpose was going to be to provide a frame for a ping-pong table.  It worked real well in that capacity for a couple of years and then we moved here.  Since then I've been using it to feed dinner to an occasional 12-15 member Mennonite family.  Now I've got the ping-pong table screwed back on its top in the dining room and my daughter is getting pretty good at it. If I can get her to just let me leave it attached to the table for the winter, we could seat 6 additional people.

Current shot (1/15/13) with door and windows waiting for me to put trim on

     I've changed majors from Nursing to Applied Behavioral Science.  I have 70 total college credits by now (64 transferable) to apply to the BS program.  If all goes well, I will be doing my clinical work 20 minutes away at the Lincoln Hills School for Boys in Irma WI in about a year and a half.  The nursing training I've been involved in for the past 3 years has been invaluable.  But now its on to obtaining a BS degree online at 100 year old Ashford University in Iowa, toward the field of psychological counseling.  The decision has a lot to do with "mind over matter" (so to speak).  The "psychological" over the "physical".  Not that quality nursing is not equally demanding mentally, but it simply involves a different set of skills, and a different aptitude in a different setting than does life counseling.  Counseling is more of a "solo" sport - so to speak.