Today, Ohio seceded from the US--TeenPact Day 3

We left the house around 7:30 again and this time, got to class about 25 minutes early. Today we were in a different building than Monday and Tuesday, so we hung out in the cafeteria and looked out the windows until class started. (again, pictures of this at the end of the post)

This morning for prayer walks, we were able to pray outside the governors office, which was pretty cool. The State House has a map of Ohio with all the counties on the floor in a room, so we got to pray for our local government near that. Again, it was pretty neat. 

Our only speaker today was a person by the name of Clarence Mingo, the Franklin county auditor. He was my favorite speaker so far. He talked about a lot of things, but his main point was that God needs to be the center of everything we do. Compromise is not allowed in the life of a Christian. He had a several main points, and I list those:

• Remember you're different from everyone else because of who you serve, and therefore at times you might be alone
• Never separate God's truth from ANY subject 
• Never be afraid to speak the Lord's truth
• It is well with us to guard your tongue and speech
• Public conduct should match your private conduct
• Bible study and prayer must be a daily discipline in the life of any Christian
• Resolve to please God rather than men

He spoke for a long time and there was very little time to ask any questions. I thought it was so cool that an elected official stood up there and talked about what he did. That was probably one of the best parts of the day.

After Clarence Mingo finished speaking, the newbies went off to field experiences and the alumni stayed behind. We were assigned in small groups (3-4 people) to go walk around the State House and interview random people, asking their beliefs on various movements (Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party). I had another person in my group who lives in the same city and we actually got to talk to our senator, Senator Dave Burke. It was SO exciting. The other two people in our group thought we were really weird, because both of us were grinning ear to ear.

Senator Burke graciously answered our questions and we got to chat with him for a little while. He invited us to come sit in on a meeting he was holding in the North Hearing room. We went to the TeenPact leader to ask permission and that's where our adventure began. For at least 15 minutes, we wandered/walked very quickly around the State House trying to find the North Hearing room. I learned that I can go pretty fast in heels and I can also run up/down stairs in heels. By the time we found it, we were all breathing hard and sweating, but got to sit in. Senator Burke didn't talk before we had to leave, but it was still pretty cool.

Lunch was a lot of fun too. We had a rather interesting bill, which I'll mention later. Another one of the bills had to do with the government and CPS having more control over children/families. There was one girl in our group who was completely for it and said something to the effect of, "Well, the government should have way more control than they do!". Everyone freaked out a bit and debate broke out. I'll summarize and say it was rather interesting.

General elections were held this afternoon. Senatorial candidates gave their speeches first. They were asked some serious questions, but one was "If you were a donut, what kind would you be and why?". I remember thinking, "Okay...this is ridiculous. This isn't going to help me decide at all." However, it was quite the opposite. Several people said things like, "I would be a chocolate glazed donut because it's like me. It's awesome on the outside, but even awesomer on the inside." So...that cut out quite a few people I didn't realize were quite so arrogant and they didn't receive my vote. 2 of the 3 people I voted for became Senators.

Gubernatorial speeches were next. My friend Spencer was one of the candidates and he did a pretty good job with the questions. Someone else, Peter (someone in my committee, actually) ended up winning. He did really well too. 

Then the best part of the day: TPL (Teen Pact Legistlature, or TPLeg). Just so you all know, Ohio is now seceding from the United States. We voted on that today. The Ohio TeenPact class will be the government (so I'm a politician now!). I really, really loved this bill. It said that Ohio would secede from the US. Those who are unfairly using welfare will be forced to work to build an iron wall around the borders of Ohio and will receive a pay of $6 an hour. They will work until they pay back the already hardworking citizens of Ohio. Patriarchs/Matriarchs will be required to own an AR-15 and at least 500 rounds of ammunition. We'll have 5 iron domes that will protect against missile attacks.

Another bill was also presented today in first reads. It said that the prisoners who are in prison for life will be randomly selected in groups of 24 and put in an arena to fight to the death. That's right folks, it's the Hunger Games. I expected a bill like that to pop up at some point.

The car ride home after TeenPact was just as much fun as the rest of the day. We are all getting tired and were pretty slap-happy and just generally crazy on the way home.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

The skyline of Columbus. It was actually pretty hard to get a picture of.

The State House from the 19th floor of the Riffe Center.

Me and mah sissy. ^_^

I believe this is the House chambers, but don't quote me on it. Abbie took this picture. Anyways, we'll be doing TPLeg in the House tomorrow. I'm INCREDIBLY excited.

The senatorial candidates. It's not the best picture, but I can sort of point out who I voted for. From left to right, I voted for number 5, 7 and 11. 5 and 7 were the ones who got Senator, as well as number 3.

Me, Sarah and Abbie after class today.

TeenPact Day 2

(pictures at end of post)


Today was really enjoyable. We started off the morning with worship and a devotional. After that, we walked around the State House on prayer walks in our committees. We stopped in the Senate and House chambers, as well as near a statue honoring the military. I find it SO cool that we're able to walk around our State House and pray in public for our leaders. The prayer walks are one of my favorite things about TeenPact. Everything that we do is centered around God and how He is in the center of things.

We returned to the "house floor" (also known as Rhodes Center auditorium) after prayer walks. The newbies went on their first field experience, which I believe was interviewing lobbyists. Alumni stayed for the first session in the Alumni track--Past and Present Movements. As part of our homework, we were required to write an essay on two different movements: one past, one present. I wrote on the Anti-Vietnam War movement and the Tea Party movement. We were separated into groups based on the essays we wrote and had to present about the movement in front of the rest of the class. Another girl and I were the only ones brave enough to talk about the Vietnam movement. There was some really good discussion on that issue, as well as many of the others. Our session ended earlier than I would have liked due to something silly called "lunch".

Lunch is in your committees as well and it's also a super fun part of the day. We talked about bills for the first time and I'm convinced we got all the ridiculous one. There was one about making Call of Duty the state video game (Call of Duty people--don't kill me), one about making it illegal to kill and catch frogs and a couple other ones. One of the people in our group wrote something about Ohio seceding from the US and we passed that one. I'm really hoped it comes up in TPL. The funny thing about that bill is we had some non TeenPacters comment on it. We all meet in a cafeteria type setting to eat and after our clerk read the bill, several people at a nearby table applauded. They came up and talked to him afterwards, so that was kind of cool.

I also found another writer in my group, which is SO exciting. He's written 5 books, various short stories and some poems. At some point this week, I'm planning to tell him about One Year Adventure Novel and Kingdom Pen.

After lunch, we did a brief session of TPL, had a speaker and then  did another session of TPL. That's another part about TeenPact that I really like. Maybe I should just start saying I love the entire thing.

The last thing today (besides the test) were the primaries. There were four parties: Agrarian, Libertarian, Capitalist and Workers. I was put on the Agrarian party. Each party is allowed to select one gubernatorial (governor) candidate and three senatorial candidates. I ran for senator, but wasn't picked. It was still fun though. General elections are tomorrow. A friend of mine (Spencer) got the nomination in his party as the gubernatorial candidate. Hopefully he'll end up being governor.


Tomorrow the alumni are going to interview random people on the street and ask their opinion on current events and things like that. I'm really looking forward to it.

I also just realized that I should probably take more than three pictures. I'll try to better on Wednesday and Thursday.

Abbie and Kit-Kat being goofy.

So, naturally, I had to follow suit.

Everyone on the way home. They look a lot tireder than yesterday. :P

Teen Pact Day 1

Today was the first of our 4-day long government class called TeenPact. The Marysville group of kids (picture at end of post) arrived at our house around noon and we drove down to Columbus.

Upon arriving at the Rhodes Center, we met other TeenPacters and the staff. Today mainly consisted of learning the ground rules, TPL (Teen Pact Legislature) and committee break-ups. For the rest of the week, we'll get to pretend that we're representatives and debate bills in committees before presenting to the "house" or TPL. It's pretty fun. I'm on the Health and Aging committee, so we got assigned some interesting bills.

Before TPL started this afternoon, we did something called first reads. Each student is required to write at least one bill to be presented before the TPL. Everyone came up, read a short portion of the bill and then it was assigned to the different committees.

There were a number of humorous bills read during first reads. My favorite funny bill is from last year and it was to start doing the Hunger Games in the state of Ohio. Last year, my committee got this bill and we decided to move it to the "house" to be discussed. We actually passed the bill. 

Since committees had not yet had the opportunity to debate bills, we used one that the staff put together. It was on education and requiring all teachers (public, private, home) to receive certification in each subject that they teach. So, the homeschool parent would have to be "certified" in math, english, science and a large number of things. Thankfully, the bill did not pass.

We also heard a few lectures by a lobbyist and the director of the state TeenPact class. Tomorrow looks to be about the same. We'll be leaving the house at 7 AM (I'm not exactly looking forward to that) and class will go until 3 PM. I glanced briefly at the material for the Alumni track and it looks pretty awesome. But, I won't talk about that just yet. I'll keep you all in suspense for another day.

From left to right: Colton, Spencer, Curtis, Me, Kit-Kat, Abbie, Marisa and Lily. 

How Much is Too Much?

Details are the most powerful tool a writer has at hand. By skillfully describing a location or the way a character is feeling, the author can make their reader experience a mental movie. They don’t even notice the words on the page anymore, because they are so immersed in your writing. However, there is a problem that many writers struggle with and that is how much detail to put into something. How much is too much?

Before I get into this, let me give an example of how details can create a mental image. If I were to say, “My Dad is weird,” any number of things could pop into the reader’s head. One might think that my Dad stands on top of a hay wagon and yodels for hours on end and another might imagine him as a one man band on stilts. The list of possible mental pictures is endless. On the other hand, if I were to tell you, “My Dad likes to dance a jig while drinking hot chocolate and practicing his archery,” then those details plant the exact image I’m thinking in the reader’s head. When you’re writing, it’s important to convey what you’re thinking through your words and to convey exactly. Otherwise, there will be confusion as to your meaning.

So, how much is too much? God is the master storyteller, so let’s use the example of His Word, the Bible. During creation week, He explains everything He created. God wanted to make sure we knew exactly what He did and how He did it. Therefore, He used description! Also, look at the details God gave Noah in Genesis 6:14-16 when He told him to build the ark. “So make yourself an ark of cypress wood, make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.” See how many details are put into this? Even though we might not know exactly how long 450 feet is or how high 45 feet is, we still know that the ark was huge. This is called detail mode. Details create mental images in your reader’s mind.

I was at a writing workshop this summer in Kansas and the speakers talked about description (and the importance of it) a lot. You don’t want your reader to feel like they’re mentally walking into an empty room. 

Some things, it’s fine to leave to their imagination. However, there are cases when this isn’t good at all and can actually make the reader frustrated with you as the author. If you start writing about a character in Chapter 1 and give very vague details—gender, age, area they live in--, the reader will start to build an image in their mind of what they look like. It doesn’t take long for them to establish this and connect it with that character. Let’s say the next physical description you give them is at the end of Chapter 3. By this point, your reader has decided that the main character is a petite, dark curly hair, blue-eyed female. This isn’t what you were thinking, though. In your mind, the main character is taller, has straight, long blonde hair and green eyes. I know I’ve experienced this several times when reading and it’s really frustrating and difficult to go back and change that picture you’ve thought up. 

Just like God did when telling Noah exactly how to build the ark, we need to show our readers exactly what we’re thinking.

There are some cases where details should be avoided. Instead, something called “summary mode” should be used. Again, let’s see what’s in the Bible. When Cain murdered his brother, Abel, the only description we get is, “And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. (Genesis 4:8b)” We don’t need to know all the bloody gory details of how it happened. Abel was killed and that’s all we need to know. Or, look at the description we’re given of when Noah got drunk in Genesis 9:21, “Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.” Summary mode makes it so the reader gets the concept of what happened, but doesn’t plant any inappropriate images in their minds.

Used skillfully, details and description can be the best tool the writer has. There are certain things that are best left untouched, or very briefly mentioned. Some very ugly things happen in the Bible. Summary mode is used to avoid planting images of sin. A lot of literature these days does glorify sin and give lots of unneeded details about it. You can still write realistic literature without going into every detail. 

If in doubt, leave it out. You don’t want your words to be a stumbling block for a reader or yourself. If God didn’t—or wouldn’t—describe every detail that goes into an event, then you shouldn’t either. Follow the example of the Lord, because He is the Master Storyteller. 

My Dad, by the way, enjoys both archery and hot chocolate—however, rarely at the same time and never while doing a jig.

 

Update on writing.

I'm rather ashamed to say I've not been writing as much as I should lately. This is partially due to the fact that I've been pretty busy with school. The annoying thing about being busy is that I always seem to get tons of awesome ideas, or random bits of ideas...and of course, no time to write any of them.

I have a new novel started and it's called #754. A simple way to describe it would be to say it's a combination of Beauty and the Beast, The Holocaust, Esther and Moses. Yes, that's quite a combination. I'll hopefully do a post describing it more in detail shortly, but for now, here is a (working) synopsis:

Kiah is poisoned, or so says the government. She and all like her are forced to live in a prison camp and work until their death. No parole, no reprieve. It's for life. One day, Kiah decides she has to change her life and narrowly manages to escape from the prison. She ends up working in the house of the governor, the man she hates more than anyone else. For years, she's built up this image of him being a gnarly beast and biting off anyone's head who came near him. But that's not the case. Much to her dismay, she actually starts to like him. She starts out as a maid for just a weekend party, but he hires her on for longer. Word eventually reaches him that a poisoned has escaped. Will the governor discover Kiah's secret?

In case you're wondering about the title, #754, it's Kiah's prisoner number. She has it tattooed right below her elbow in black with an arrow above it. All prisoners have a similar tattoo. 

Another idea I had has to do with WW2 and Auschwitz, one of the main places Nazis used for extermination of the Jews during the war. I was doing some reading for my World War 2 class and found out that the prisoners arranged a secret newspaper. They managed to smuggle information out to the Polish resistance, some of which helped capture Nazi perpetrators after the war had ended. Having a great Uncle who fought in the war, it's always been a big source of interest for me. I've wanted to write a book based in that time period for quite a while, but struggled with how to make it un-cliche in the mass market of WW2 historical fiction already out there. I think I've found the way to do it.

I have a couple other bits of ideas, but they don't really fit into anything I have yet. Seems like almost anything can spark a novel idea.

The plan is to have the rough draft of #754 finished by June, the final version by August 1st and to start the Auschwitz one in September. That one will need a lot of planning and I'll need to make sure everything is historically accurate. I'm thinking of changing my favorite genre to historical fiction now.

When I was at the library yesterday, I checked out 15 rather large books on various aspects of the war, so I'm looking forward to reading those. I hope to be writing again soon, but schoolwork has to come first right now. The good news is that classes end in three weeks, so I'll have more writing time once they're over. Believe me, that can't come soon enough.

I suppose I shall stop rambling about my writing now (except, the blog IS called Writer's Ramblings. Guess it's an accurate title.). Be looking for a few writing articles in the near future!

Auf Wiedersehen!
~Katie