My Love Affair with 3x5 Cards

Writers sometimes experience a conundrum when they face a blank computer screen, or when they pull out a fresh, white piece of writing paper. On the one hand, the blank canvas presents delicious possibilities; but the flip side is that the yawning expanse, waiting to be filled, is a bit overwhelming. Where to start?

The lowly 3x5 index card can be the anecdote to the dilemma. Its small size narrows the field and helps a writer mentally scale down the possibilities to a manageable size. Speaking of size, the cards are aesthetically pleasing because they are proportioned according to the famous "golden mean," the mathematical ratio that the human eye finds beautiful.

For me, writing on a 3x5 card is also a tactile pleasure. Good quality cards have a creamy finish and it is a pleasure when the nib of a fountain pen glides silkily along its surface.

The cards are great for journaling, whether you adhere to the one-line-a-day school of thought or are a little more prolific. They can be dated and boxed for posterity at the end of the year.

Serious writers find index cards convenient for sequencing. If you are writing a story or novel, the elements of the plot can go on the 3x5 cards and you can play with arranging and rearranging them until it fits together the way you like. Similarly, college students writing a research paper can place their research data on the cards and then order the bits of information logically before writing the first draft.

I have found that a 3x5 card is also a great reading companion. It can serve as a bookmark, a place to jot down a quick quote that I want to remember, and a straight edge for underlining. The best of the quotes will find their way into my stash of pink 3x5 cards, and I pull one out every day for viewing. Today's quote is, "The broken become masters at mending." It's a great way to recycle worthy words and keep uplifting thoughts in view.

Believe it or not, index cards can be a great tool for uncluttering the mind. Does your mind ever get full to the bursting point? Right now I have some of these random and disjointed thoughts rolling around in my head: I need to get a birthday card in the mail for my friend, it's time to make my next dental appointment, I've got to get a quote on new shades for the living room, need to write down the name of that book I want to read before I forget it, etc. Carrying around this alphabet soup in the mind drains my creativity and also detracts from my ability to stay focused on what is most important. Unloading these thoughts on a 3x5 card is very freeing. I put only one thought on a card and later I can take action, starting with the highest priority item.

In my purse I keep a few 3x5 cards, held together with a binder clip in true Hipster PDA fashion. They are always handy for making a  grocery list, jotting an address, or taking notes at a meeting. Unlike a notepad, you can toss them when you get home or file them if they contain info you want to keep permanently.

During my 16 year homeschooling season (which is still on-going), I've used tons of index cards. Every morning I wrote a card for each student containing  daily chore and assignment list. When the kids were young, I'd use colored cards and attach fun stickers. They carried them around all day and checked off their assignments as they finished them, before presenting them to me at the end of the day. We also found them useful for making quick flashcards, memory games, and word banks. I'd definitely place 3x5 cards near the top of my list for homeschool essentials!

There is a rather elaborate home management system that centers around the use of 3x5 cards, popularized in the 1980s by the book Sidetracked Home Executives.  It is really a variation of the timeless tickler-file system, but with some color coding and twists especially relevant to home managers. One great advantage of this system over the more techno-savvy apps available today is that only ONE card with one action point lies in your view. You aren't tempted to run off on a bunny trail, surfing the net instead of focusing on the thing that needs to be done.

Finally, I have to mention the vintage recipe box in my cupboard that is crammed full of  recipes handwritten on 3x5 cards. Although there are some definite advantages to keeping recipes on a computer file, I could never part with the recipes penned lovingly by Grandma Jordan, my Mother-in-law, my Mom, and far flung friends. Some are splotched with food stains, some are dog earred, others proudly proclaim "from the kitchen of . . .," and a few have roosters stamped in the corner. Back in the day they were convenient to slip in the purse to be shared at church and today they remind me of wonderful shared meals, holiday feasts, church suppers, and Sunday potlucks.

Yes, I have a history with 3x5 cards. How about you? Do you find them useful or outdated?

A Worthy Pursuit

I've had a friend on my mind for weeks, someone who moved out of state a couple of years back. I'm glad I had only a snail mail address for her, because it gave me an opportunity to write a "real" letter and try out my new fountain pen (pictured).

Julie, my Twitter friend, has inspired me to try my hand- literally! at writing with a fountain pen. I remember writing birth announcements with a fountain pen, some 15+ years ago, with not-very-satisfactory results. Blotting, spotting, and blobs were the result. I am sure the fact that I had a cheap fountain pen contributed to that problem.

I still cannot afford a really nice fountain pen, but on a whim I picked up this Pilot Plumix at Target. The pen is lightweight and the angular barrel feels nice in my hand. It has a blue ink cartridge and a fine nib. The cost was about $6.00 and my test drive tells me it's much improved over my last experience!

There's something satisfying about hearing the gentle scratching sound of a fountain pen. It's fun, too, to add a few flourishes to the gentle art of writing.

Some might say handwriting is a lost art, but I don't think so. My Mom has the world's BEST handwriting, and my own children carry on the tradition by taking pride in their handwriting. Three of my children have used the excellent Getty-Dubay Italic handwriting system and their manuscripts look so much alike that I can hardly tell them apart! My other child has chosen to do a more traditional form of cursive because she likes the curlicues and rounded shape.

I used to be ashamed of my handwriting, but at the time I was teaching my kids to write I picked up an adult handwriting workbook, also by Getty-Dubay, called Write Now. It took me several months and some concentrated effort, but I radically changed my handwriting. I've deviated from the italic system a bit by adding my own "extras" and borrowing the best from what I have admired in others. And that is as it should be~ there is nothing more personal than the style of your handwriting.

What are your thoughts on handwriting? Do you consider it a worthy pursuit?

Leisure & the Educated Mind

"Peace of mind, solitude, long stretches of concentration, have become luxuries almost beyond reach. We express this very inadequately by saying that we are 'frightfully busy just now.' Deep down we know that the condition is permanent for all who cannot afford the blessed relief of a nervous breakdown.

Now the educated as we have known them in the past have had roots in an entirely different soil and breathed a different air. They were products of leisure and independence, of established institutions and quiet maturing. They contributed to others' enjoyment of life by sharing with them the pleasures of conversation and friendship and spoken wisdom, but enrichment of the mind was the chief concern. The enterprise was deemed legitimate. Whatever was done to earn fame or money, from winning battles to farming estates, the doer was not so bedeviled by it that he lacked time to engage in the fundamental activities of the educated, which are: to read, write, think, and converse." ~ Jacques Barzun

I learned recently that Jacques Barzun is over one hundred years old! Surely then, his words about leisure and quiet maturing are worthy of a second glance. He's had the time to test them out.

I fondly remember my first reading of historian Jacques Barzun's work. It was the very large tome he is best known for, From Dawn to Decadence, a history of the 1500's to the present. We had many a wonderful afternoon together, Jacque and I, as I read his book while sprawled out on a blanket under a tree. It took the whole summer.

Leisure is not something I easily carve out for myself. When I do, like as not I will feel a little guilty about it. After all, there is always another load of laundry to fold, or a phone call that I need to return, or a floor that needs swept. But when Barzun speaks of the "frightfully busy" condition as being permanent, I shudder. That thought provides me with enough resolve to put aside the busy-busy tasks and "breath a different air."

The short term reward is recovery of breath; rejuvenation. The long term reward is that I gain an education.

To read a book deeply is to "put my roots in a different soil" and to "breathe a different air." I can glean wisdom from great men and in fact share the very air they breathe. Spirit is "breath", and the written word enables me a living connection with men of far-flung locale from any generation.

The four activities that Barzun says mark an educated person are all word-related:

*READING
Most Americans probably read a lot: the back of the cereal box, the billboard on the way to work, the news blog. The problem is that we have become accustomed to mini-snippets and unaccustomed to the "long stretches of concentration" to which Barzun refers. Those long stretches require scheduling.

As a parent, I also feel a responsibility to assure my family's ability to read and concentrate in a focused manner. Jane Healy's books have convinced me that TV, movies, and computer usage should be severely limited before a child has the capacity to read fluently. Even after fluency is achieved, it remains prudent to be vigilant. The mind is lazy and loves to be coddled with passive information rather than to be challenged by deep thoughts.

Here are my own current reads:
Ideas Have Consequences
Money, Possessions, and Eternity
Savannah
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge

What are yours?

*WRITING

From personal journaling, to blogging, to writing Sunday School Curriculum~~ writing is the thing that forces my rusty brain to get in gear and get to work. The best writers normally schedule in daily time to practice and do not wait for the "mood" to strike. Writing is learned by jumping in and DOING it. Sometimes, I like to do my high school kids' writing assignments alongside with them. It's instructive and sharpening.

William Zinnser, in his book Write to Learn, contends that the linear, step-by-step process of writing enables us to learn difficult subjects. Think physics or calculus or whatever else you might find difficult. When grappling with a knotty problem, tangles are often cleared up when I write about it.

*THINKING

Writing and thinking are closely connected. Clear writing produces clear thinking; or is it the other way around?

One uniquely human attribute that we have is the power of will to direct our thinking. To CHOOSE what I think about is an aspect of self governance that I suspect will take a lifetime to truly master. I can and I ought to take my thoughts captive. Sometimes I have helped myself along by speaking or reading aloud, or by writing my thoughts on paper.

We also have the ability to store up beautiful memories, songs, and stories in the treasure chest of the heart. Whenever we need something uplifting to think about, those gems are waiting for us to retrieve and to enjoy again.

*CONVERSING

A person who is an avid reader will never fail to have imaginative ideas as fodder for good conversation. My recent reading of Benjamin Franklin's biography comes to mind here. His reputation as a conversationalist was largely due to the fact that he made regular investments in his reading habit. Barzun, in the above quote, notes that conversation is a pleasure that adds enjoyment to the lives of others. I like the other-centeredness of that thought. We all know people who love only to hear their own voice.....that is another subject!

What living ideas have you recently gleaned from your reading that would make for lively conversation? Don't make the mistake of thinking that no one else would be interested. It's usually safe to infer that if it interests YOU, it will also interest others. Take a risk and start a conversation!

OK, I'll take my own advice. I just highlighted a quote in the book Money, Possessions, and Eternity:

"The very expression 'financial independence' may be blasphemy."

Say what?

That is a bold statement that is sure to get people talking!

In case you are interested, as I was, in the "why" behind the statement-- here it is:
When I am financially secure, I don't really sense my need for God. To have a lack in some area may be a blessing. In fact, that gap in my supply may be engineered purposefully by my Sovereign to keep me mindful of my dependence on Him. Why is it that we usually equate material blessing with God's favor? It may be just the opposite, keeping us from drawing near because we are self sufficient.



It's Sunday evening and a whole new week stretches before me. I'm so glad that for now I have wrenched myself away from that which keeps me "frightfully busy." Thank you, Mr. Barzun for your example of quiet maturing. If I live to be 100, I hope that I, too, will show evidence of that same maturity borne of masterly leisure.

More on Writing

art.com

"A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating. You're there now doing the thing on paper. You're not killing the goose, you're just producing an egg. So I don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working. I have never had the problem of a writing block. I've heard about it. I've felt reluctant to write on some days, for whole weeks, or sometimes even longer. I'd much rather go fishing, for example, or go sharpen pencils, or go swimming, or what not. But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, "Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write." There's no difference on paper between the two. "

— Frank Herbert

Herbert's words have the ring of truth in them. If I wait until I feel inspired to sew, sketch, exercise, play the piano, or write, there are long stretches in between times when those things are neglected. Then I am frustrated at my lack of skill when the "big idea" comes to me because I am unable to execute it well. Self-discipline requires consistency, which in turn develops the skill to bring an inspired idea out of the head into the realm of the tangible. Little disciplines matter.

On Writing

I borrowed the poster from Little Momma. Isn't it great?

Book Review: The Greatest Gift

This little story by Philip Van Doren Stern is the one that inspired the movie It's a Wonderful Life. I picked it up on a whim off the holiday shelf at the public library. Like many families, we watch the movie perennially, and I was curious to learn its roots.

The story itself is very simple as compared to the movie. There is little character development, and some of the best known characters from the movie are missing, i.e. Potter, Uncle Billy, Violet, and the policeman/cab driver duo. Yet the book is charming in a simple way, and the 50th anniversary edition pictured here has appealing black and white drawings. It's a quick read~~our family finished it in half an hour.

I found the most interesting part of the book was the afterword, written by Van Doren Stern's daughter. In it she traces the history of this little story, beginning with how the idea for it simply dropped into her father's mind while he was shaving on a February morning in 1938. In his own words:

"The idea came to me complete from start to finish--a most unusual occurrence, as any writer will tell you, for ordinarily a story has to be struggled with, changed around and mixed up."

Mr. Van Doren Stern never considered changing the initial idea, but knew that he had to learn to write it. His usual genre was Civil War history, so this was quite different from his normal realm of work. He wrote his first draft a couple of months later and declared it "terrible." He put it away for a season.

Two years later, he pulled it out and tried writing it again. The results the second time were little better than the first.

In the spring of 1943, five years after the idea came to him, Stern rewrote the story for the third time. This time he passed it on to his agent, who tried unsuccessfully to sell the story to magazines such as Saturday Evening Post. No one would touch it.

Van Doren Stern tells what happened next:

"By this time I had become fond of the story that nobody wanted. I revised it again and had 200 twenty-four-page pamphlets printed at my own expense. I sent these out as Christmas cards for Christmas, 1943."

Wouldn't you love to own one of those Christmas cards today?

That mailing produced a contact that led to the purchase of the story for movie rights. But because no one could work out a decent screen treatment, there was another time lapse of several years.

Enter Frank Capra. He wanted it for Jimmy Stewart, who had just finished his time with the Air Force. He found the screenwriters he needed and It's a Wonderful Life was released in December 1946.

The film has a quality that transcends time-- it's message celebrates the worth of the individual.

"I thought it was the greatest film I ever made. Better yet, I thought it was the greatest film anybody had ever made."~~Frank Capra

I think I am most fascinated by the fact that this little story lay dormant for a long, long while before it was ever recognized as being significant. The writer was the humble servant of an important truth: that the individual has great value. But in order to transmit that truth in a worthy way, he had to take the time to hone his writing skills. This small book is a gem in its own way. It is not fine literature, but it is the author's personal best. And that inspired other great artists to run with the idea and transport it across continents and even generations.
Oh, the power of a living idea combined with the pen of a scribe!

Narrating a Music Lesson

I haven't had the chance to blog lately due to the hours I've spent at my Mother-in-law's bedside and the additional hours required to administrate our homeschool cooperative school. As a result, I've a head FULL of assorted bits of interesting things that just beg to be set in order. I remember feeling a little like this when I had a colicky baby and no time to write in my journal.

In one of my recent reads, Writing to Learn, William Zinsser makes the challenge to write about something that is intangible rather than concrete. For example, a music lesson. It is one thing to write descriptively about a work of art or a photograph~~~the reader can LOOK at what is being discussed. But to describe a musical technique requires the ability to conjure up sensory information of a different sort. In the author's own words:

"Writing about music also made me a better musician. The need to write clearly about an art form that the reader can never see or hear; one that evaporates with the playing of each note, forced me to think harder about the structure of music--about what I was trying to learn."

Zinsser's approach here is related, I think, to the concept of narration. Homeschoolers, especially of the Charlotte Mason variety, are well familiar with this technique of "telling back" what has been learned. In a homeschool setting, this most often involves telling back an episode in a book. But I'm finding that this deceivingly simple exercise is valuable in other settings, too.

The music lesson is just one "non book" example. How about narrating the way in which a math problem is solved? Or describing how to do a flip on the trampoline? Have you ever tried to describe in detail an elegant meal that you enjoyed?

Oral "tellings" are perfect for young children, but writing the narrations adds a new level of learning. Even adults find it challenging! I know this because I've tried tackling some of the writing assignments I've given to my children.

Zinsser tells us that writing forces the brain to reason in a linear, sequential way and thus is ideally suited to help us tackle subjects that we might view as difficult. When we write, we must break it down into bite-sized morsels and that is far less intimidating than sorting through a huge mass of information.

I have two very excellent writers in the family. But I have noticed that when I choose the "Achilles Heel" subject as a writing assignment, the result is less-than-excellent. So I am taking Zinsser's advice which includes:
*Providing excellent models of good writing across the curriculum
*Taking the time to write across-the-board, even where symbols are commonly preferred (math, music, physics, etc.)

J. Henri Fabre, the famous French writer and entomologist, honed his incredible writing ability over a period of 20+ years by writing textbooks. His care in writing enabled him to later pen books that have been described as the "Insects' Homer". His words sing, even after being translated into different languages.

The lesson I learn from Fabre is that writing is a lifetime pursuit! I'm excited that my own learning continues to unfold as I oversee the education of my children.

Life is rich!

For more on the subject of narration, take a look at Belinda's post entitled "Narration-but With No Books!"

Word Sculpting

"Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written."
~The Apostle John
John 21:25

Containment. That is the universal challenge of the writer. Mountainous masses of information must be sculpted, the pen wielded as a chisel to structure and shape the words into beautiful proportions.

If the Apostle John had to practice large- scale editing, how much more will be required of writers who live in the era of information-glut?

Biologist Lewis Thomas calls the random bits of information which envelope us "plankton". It's an accurate simile, because we are swimming in the midst of an ocean of information and are able to digest and utilize only a tiny portion of it. Good writers manage to scale down the serving size, avoiding the temptation to dish out an overwhelming array of ideas and words.

The New Testament gospel of John is an excellent model of good writing because it has been sculpted into beautiful form:

*Clear purpose~ "...but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." John 20:31

*Strong declarative sentences~~In his book Writing to Learn, William Zinsser says, "Writing is the handmaiden of leadership. Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence."

The book of John has these in abundance. Here is a sampling:
~"the Word was God"
~ "He was in the beginning with God"
~"All things were made through Him"

*Perspective
John could have chosen to portray Christ from any number of angles, but he chose one perspective to zero in on: Christ as Deity
The streamlining of perspective eliminates clutter and confusion, and helps to weed out unnecessary information.

*Structure
Though John asserts that the whole world couldn't contain the books that could be written about Christ's life, he pares down the subject matter to include only 7 stand-out miracles and 7 of Jesus' fabulous "I AM" statements. These hand-picked examples all serve to reinforce his purpose in writing the book. There is a pleasing symmetry in the structure of the book as a result of these choices.

I love that the God of the Universe chose to communicate to me via the written word, and that He took the great care and patience to arrange those words in the most beautiful way. Although I'm sure His primary intention was not to provide me with a writing textbook, still His Word has been refined seven times and is perfect. There is no other book that can make that claim! I hope that as I remain immersed in it, I will be able to use my own pen to express clearly the wonders I encounter on my life journey.