Giving and receiving effective feedback is an essential part of the writing process.

Here is a handy checklist to help you cover the important points of a nonfiction work:

On a sunny winter day my fellow Americans spoke out against Bush’s immoral, illegal war and in support of our troops.  People carried signs and banners with messages so powerful, I feel compelled to share them.

He’s too wrong for fixin’
And too dumb to teach
So just like with Nixon
It’s time to impeach

Though he stole the election
He’s not out of reach
Let’s make the connection
It’s time to impeach

Stand up to the tyrants
Our founders would preach
Let’s show our defiance
It’s time to impeach

We’ll take back our nation
Our right of free speech
For the next generation
It’s time to impeach

This will be my last post until after the March.

I am excited, not only because I get to relive memories of anti-war protests during my college years, but because I believe this kind of public gathering is powerful and will make a difference.

I just used my last snowflake stamp. I love using nature theme stamps on letters I send out. I came across a December 2006 article in The New York Metro Area Update (a montly newsletter sent to postal employees) where I learned these snowflake images were photographed.

A new dimension has been added to the way I look at snowflakes.

Correctly punctuated dialogue is one of those pesky, but critical details; it helps your reader follow who is speaking.

Here are a few examples that demonstrate correct punctuation when a person or character is speaking:

Most of the snow went south of my area, but there was enough to reveal tracks. I’ve always wanted to take a class with Paul Rezendes. His book is my Bible. His photographs are excellent and his tracking skill is the definition of mastery.

This dog family member walked through snow-covered, muddy leaf litter. Coyote tracks are oval, fox tracks are rounder, but trail conditions can create all kinds of distortions.

Looking at the entire track pattern gives you more information. I always loved those hidden picture puzzles in Highlights for Children magazine. It takes a bit of adjusting, but you can see the pattern in dappled snow.

I have to add this to the images I uploaded yesterday.

The pictures say it better than I can.

I photographed these rhododendrons (related to mountain laurels) hours apart.

This is how the plant looked just after the rain stopped.

This is how the plant looks as northwest winds deliver a taste of winter.

Speeches are heard rather than read, so to keep your
listening audience engaged your speech must be well organized and easy to
understand.

I’ve been reading WickedWordCraft blog posts from attendee Angela Allen Parker. That’s where I learned about the net neutrality issue in the first place.

One of Angela’s articles answers a question I have about how to explain this issue in a way that makes sense to people. Angela posed the same question to Stanford law professor, Tim Wu, whom she describes as the “probable author of the term Net Neutrality. Professor Wu suggested she use electricity as a metaphor.

Here is an excerpt from Angela’s blog: