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    I Write: Being and Writing
    I Write: Being and Writing
    I Write: Being and Writing
    Ebook75 pages55 minutes

    I Write: Being and Writing

    By Tom Kepler

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    About this ebook

    Composed of articles from the author's writing blog, this book was compiled for three reasons. One was for the author to have a book to use in his high school classroom that fit his teaching style.

    Another was to create a sense of writing community in the classroom in order to promote a more authentic discussion of writing.
    The third was to use as a model for students in the project-based learning task of publishing their own anthology.

    "I write." We have to consider both words in that declaration. We have to expand the container of knowledge, the mind, and also develop our writing skills.

    Learning how to write is a life-long process. It is one that demands dedication and humility and perseverance. It is one that requires a certain knack that is an integration of skill and comprehensive thinking. One might say "As we are, so is our writing."

    A teacher for over thirty years, Tom Kepler draws from his unique knowledge and training both as a classroom teacher and as a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation program to write this series of essays about consciousness and the writing process.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTom Kepler
    Release dateOct 28, 2012
    ISBN9781301028245
    I Write: Being and Writing
    Author

    Tom Kepler

    Tom Kepler lives a minimum of three lives in one: his life as a writer, his life as a school teacher, and his life as a publisher of Wise Moon Books. These enterprises are chronicled on his blog at tomkeplerswritingblog.com. Tom Kepler Writing Tom has published three books, a fantasy novel, The Stone Dragon; a young adult novel, Love Ya Like a Sister; and a small book of poetry, Bare Ruined Choirs. Besides publishing on paper, he is also focusing on publishing online, including poetry at Every Day Poets and flash fiction at Metazen, Every Day Fiction, and 365tomorrows. Tom Kepler, Classroom Teacher Having taught in the classroom for over thirty years, grades 7-12, his writing reflects much of what he has observed: young people raising themselves, struggling to make the right choices, helping one another, and usually finding a way to get through to the place and person they want to be. "I've learned as much as a teacher as I've given my students. Growing up is truly a heroic journey." Wise Moon Books Tom "authenticated" his poetry by publishing in literary little magazines prior to publishing Bare Ruined Choirs via Wise Moon Books. He also publishes in online zines to establish himself as an author accepted by the gatekeepers of the industry. His novels are a tougher task, though, and as he seeks publication in the traditional publishing world, he is also learning and using the new technologies to make his books available, not only to the general reading public but also to his students. "There are two things I can pass to my students. I can hand them one of my published books, and I can also give them the knowledge of how they can publish their own writing. The book may impress them, but the knowledge empowers them." Find Tom Kepler also on Facebook at Tom Kepler Writing/Wise Moon Books. Links are available at his blog, tomkeplerswritingblog.com. Click "like" or "follow" to keep current with his writing adventures.

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      Book preview

      I Write - Tom Kepler

      I Write:

      Being and Writing

      Tom Kepler

      Copyright © 2012 Thomas L. Kepler

      All rights reserved.

      Smashwords Edition

      Thanks to Bob Stone for this book’s concept; to Cynthia Cornell, Amy Labaugh, and Karen DeAngelis, beta readers; and to Allen Cobb, as always, for technical assistance and support.

      Transcendental Meditation®, TM®, and Consciousness-Based℠, are registered trademarks or service marks of the Maharishi Foundation. 6-Traits +1® is a registered trademark of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. They are referenced in this book to provide autobiographical and pedagogical accuracy.

      Tom Kepler Books

      Bare Ruined Choirs (poetry)

      Love Ya Like a Sister (young adult novel)

      The Stone Dragon (fantasy)

      Who Listened to Dragons, Three Stories (fantasy)

      CONTENTS

      Foreword

      The Writer

      1 I Write: Being and Writing

      2 Privacy and the Inner Writer: The Man from Porlock

      3 Thoughtful & Spontaneous Writing

      4 Writing Without Focus to Discover Ideas

      5 How Autobiographical Is Our Writing?

      6 Finding Your Voice as a Writer

      7 Voice and Vox Populi: A Divine Tension

      8 Progressive & Evolutionary Writing

      The Process of Writing

      9 The Writing Process

      10 Getting Ideas for Writing

      11 How Does a Fiction Writer Organize Writing?

      12 Choosing the Right Words

      13 Expand Your Vocabulary: An Easy, Effective Approach

      14 Sentence Fluency: The Flow of Consciousness

      The Written Word

      15 Mechanics & Grammar: How Rough Is the Road?

      16 Presentation: The Final Step of Writing

      17 What to Learn from a Well-written, Effective E-mail

      18 The E-reader as a Writing Tool

      19 Specific, Useful (and Positive) Comments

      20 What’s the Difference Between a Writer & a Publisher?

      Conclusion

      Online Links

      About the Author

      Foreword

      This book was compiled for three reasons. One was to have a book to use in my high school classroom that fits my teaching style. Another was to create a sense of writing community in the classroom in order to promote a more authentic discussion of writing. The third was to use this book as a model for students as they engage in the project-based learning task of publishing their own anthology.

      Having been a classroom teacher for thirty-three years, I use a variety of approaches to teaching writing, including writing workshop, the writing process, 6 + 1 Traits writing, and the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Since the essays in this book are structured around the writer, the process of writing, and the written artifacts themselves, there is something in the book to connect to every aspect of writing.

      At the end of each essay is an Activities section, providing an opportunity to interact with the concepts presented. The questions are structured to conform to Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Model of Intelligence, providing discussion questions and activities that have a focus on analytical, creative, and practical aspects of thinking.

      Versions of these essays were originally published on my blog. I’ve attempted to maintain the focused-yet-informal style that blogs engender, even keeping to the block paragraph style.

      If, as a reader or writer, you have any questions or comments regarding writing or publishing, meet me at my blog. It’s a place where I try to use my intelligence in a discriminating, creative, and useful manner—and to write something readable while I’m at it.

      Blog: http://www.tomkeplerswritingblog.com

      Email: tomkeplerwriting12@gmail.com

      Chapter 1

      I Write: Being & Writing

      I write.

      This is an independent clause, the most simple of sentences—subject and predicate, subject and verb.

      Dogs bark. Fish swim. I write.

      These simple sentences have two parts, the break occurring between the words. Some imperative sentences may be only one word long: Write. Swim. Jump! You is the understood subject.

      Looking beyond the content of these sentences to the structure provides some interesting insights. The subject is the knower, the doer, the one who acts; the predicate is the process, the action, the heartbeat of the sentence. They act together to create a complete thought.

      To improve as writers, we have to consider both halves of the simple sentence I write.

      As writers, we have to consider the subject, the I. If I am dull or impatient or distracted or unhealthy, what I write will lack my full potential. Like an athlete, I must be fully engaged, alert. I must continue to grow and expand as a person. I started writing for myself (and not just for class assignments) when I was fifteen years old. I would hope that extra years of living have added to the experience and wisdom brought to writing.

      When I was twenty years

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