Writing Your Story-Planning Your Book

Announcements

Well, I hope you had a nice long weekend. I did! I probably should have spent it working on my own research as I was in ‘the big city’ where I had access to records. But it was a gals’ get-away weekend instead. So, I scrapbooked! And visited! And ate!

Computer Classes every Sat. mornings 10-12. "Open House" Whatever you need. Drop in anytime during those two hours.

  

Genealogy tip for the day: Writing Your Story –Planning Out Your Book

I had a teacher one time suggest you use 3x5 cards to start planning out your book/paper. I have also since attended writing workshops that have suggested the same. Personally this doesn’t work well for me, but there is no one way that is best for all. However this method seems to be the most recommended. I would say give this a try. But if you don’t use the cards, try plotting out on notebook paper. The advantage to the cards, however, is you can rearrange the cards in any order. This of course would be harder to do when it is all on one sheet of paper. 

What ever method you use you will need to decide how you are going to lay out your story. Will each chapter be about a different person? Or do you want to plan it out per event:

          Vacation

          Prom

          Holiday

          Birthday party…etc.

However you use it, you can arrange and rearrange using the card system, to best suit your story line. You will find that as you actually begin writing, you will rearrange and tweak your writing even more. Don’t let the cards or outline bind you and keep it rigid. Fluidity and readability will and should take the upper hand.

Next you need to create an outline. Once you have your cards in order, this will help you create that outline with the least amount of trouble. This can eventually give you the Table of Contents. So doing the outline will have the “TOC” (as they call it) virtually done. You just have to copy it over in TOC format, with chapter headings/titles and numbers.

Remember that every story has a beginning, middle and an end. So as you talk about each person, and the book as a whole, keep this in mind. The beginning needs to grab the readers’ attention. Often, setting up the story with a question is a good way to get people pulled in. The conclusion needs to be broad, with summary statements and pulling all the points together.

If you need more specific help with writing, how-to’s, grammar, even spelling, check out your local library or book store. In the Rogers’ Library we have a lot of books to help you. Most of ours will be in the “400’s”, (we use the Dewey Decimal System). Ok – go get your pencil, cards and paper and go for it!

                                                                   

“History is who we are; Genealogy is who I am” sg

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is beneficial in anyway.

George, Duke of Clarence

February 18

1478		George, the Duke of Clarence, who had opposed his brother Edward IV, is murdered in the Tower of London.
1688		Quakers in Germantown, Pa. adopt the fist formal antislavery resolution in America.
1813		Czar Alexander enters Warsaw at the head of his Army.
1861		Victor Emmanuel II becomes the first King of Italy.
1861		Jefferson F. Davis is inaugurated as the Confederacy's provisional president at a ceremony held in Montgomery, Ala.
1865		Union troops force the Confederates to abandon Fort Anderson, N.C.
1878		The bitter and bloody Lincoln County War begins with the murder of Billy the Kid's mentor, Englishman rancher John Tunstall.
1885		The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is published in New York.
1907		600,000 tons of grain are sent to Russia to relieve the famine there.
1920		Vuillemin and Chalus complete their first flight over the Sahara Desert.
1932		Manchurian independence is formally declared.
1935		Rome reports sending troops to Italian Somalia.
1939		The Golden Gate Exposition opens in San Francisco.
1943		German General Erwin Rommel takes three towns in Tunisia, North Africa.
1944		The U.S. Army and Marines invade Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.
1945		U.S. Marines storm ashore at Iwo Jima.
1954		East and West Berlin drop thousands of propaganda leaflets on each other after the end of a month long truce.
1962		Robert F. Kennedy says that U.S. troops will stay in Vietnam until Communism is defeated.
1964		The United States cuts military aid to five nations in reprisal for having trade relations with Cuba.
1967		The National Art Gallery in Washington agrees to buy a Da Vinci for a record $5 million.
1968		Three U.S. pilots that were held by the Vietnamese arrive in Washington.
1972		The California Supreme Court voids the death penalty.
1974		Randolph Hearst is to give $2 million in free food for the poor in order to open talks for his daughter Patty.
1982		Mexico devalues the peso by 30 percent to fight an economic slide.
Born on February 18
1516		Queen Mary I, also known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants.
1795		George Peabody, U.S. merchant and philanthropist.
1848		Louis Comfort Tiffany, glassware artist and designer.
1859		Shalom Aleichem, Yiddish author.
1862		Charles M. Schwab, "Boy Wonder" of the steel industry. President of both U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel.
1892		Wendell Wilke, Presidential candidate against President Franklin Roosevelt.
1909		Wallace Stegner, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (Angle of Repose).
1922		Helen Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan magazine.
1929		Len Deighton, English spy writer (The Ipcress File).
1931		Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author (The Bluest Eye, Beloved).
1934		Audre Lord, poet.

Wendell Wilke

Word for the Day

crural

PRONUNCIATION:

(KROOR-uhl)

MEANING:

adjective: Relating to the leg.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin crus (leg). Earliest documented use: 1599.

USAGE:

"She could tell by his occasional grimace that her massage of his crural muscle above the patella on his right knee still caused him discomfort."
Kenneth Johnson; V: The Second Generation; Tor; 2008.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Beauty is the purgation of superfluities. -Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (1475-1564)

Today’s Recipe

February - Chocolate Lover’s Month

Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie

Ingredients

·         1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 cookie sheets), divided

·         2 tablespoons sugar

·         Click to see savings

·         1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         1/8 teaspoon salt

·         2 tablespoons egg white

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·         2 tablespoons butter, melted

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·         Cooking spray

Filling:

·         1/2 cup sugar

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·         2 tablespoons cornstarch

·         1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

·         1/4 teaspoon instant espresso granules

·         1/8 teaspoon salt

·         1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

·         1 large egg

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·         1 large egg yolk

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·         1 3/4 cups 2% reduced-fat milk

·         2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

·         1 1/2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°.2. To prepare the crust, reserve 1 tablespoon crumbs for topping. Combine the remaining crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl, stirring well. Stir in egg white and butter. Press crumb mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 9 minutes or until lightly toasted; cool completely on a wire rack.3. To prepare filling, combine 1/2 cup sugar and the next 7 ingredients (through egg yolk) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place milk in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until milk reaches 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil). Gradually add hot milk to egg mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return milk mixture to pan; cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; stir until smooth.4. Place pan in a large ice-filled bowl for 10 minutes or until mixture cools, stirring occasionally. Spoon filling into crust, and cover surface of filling with plastic wrap. Chill 3 hours or until set; remove plastic wrap. Spread whipped topping over pie; sprinkle with reserved cracker crumbs.

3^rd Molten Chocolate cake

4^th Chocolate Chip cookies – Alton Brown’s

5^th Chocolate Truffles

6^th Slow Cooker Chocolate Fondue

8^th Chocolate Sheet cake

10^th Brownie Tart

11^th Gooey, Decadent Chocolate cake

12^th Chocolate Covered Strawberries

13^th Chocolate Baklava

18^th Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie

ENJOY!

Now You Know!