2005 Winter - Wisconsin Writers Association

Page 30Galloping Grammarian, Don Schambow by Mary Jacobsen, WebsterDon Schambow, retired pastor andnew WRWA President, introducedhis topic, “Galloping Grammar,” byreferring to an address by Dr. GradyDavis, Professor at Lutheran Schoolof Theology in Chicago. Dr. Davistold his students that their missionwhen they preach was not to saythings so people can understand, butto say them so people can’t possiblymisunderstand. This could be a missionstatement for writers as well.Don then stressed the importanceof learning the precise meaning ofwords and the fundamentals ofgrammar and punctuation in order toprevent misunderstanding. He emphasizedthe need to surround ourselveswith useful resources, such asa dictionary, a grammar book, and athesaurus. He illustrated a problemcaused by a word with more thanone meaning by citing an anecdoteabout the word “lousy” used to referto something bad when his listenersunderstood the word to mean“infested with lice.” That’s the timeto consult a thesaurus for a substituteword.Don reminded us that editors havespecific requirements regardingpunctuation and grammar. In submittingmanuscripts for publication weneed to know what a particular editorexpects of us. Over the years, punctuationrequirements change andmay differ among various publications.Some of us felt a bit smug inthinking we already knew it all whenwe glanced over the first page ofDon’s handout of forty-four sentenceswith grammar, punctuation,and structure to correct or improve.As we worked on the sentences,however, many of us discovered thatwe didn’t know it all. For example,consider correcting the followingsentence: Have you ever asked yourself,“Where will I be 10 years fromnow”? Since the entire sentence is aquestion, where would you put thequestion mark?Anyone who doesn’t believe thatcommas, parentheses, semi-colons,and ellipses can evoke passion, wasn’tthere.Following this final session of theconference, we headed home inspiredto write so we can’t possiblybe misunderstood. #(Rhinelander, continued from page 26)Everyone else is as nervous in sharing their writing as I am;- The love of writing is contagious;- I need to learn to come out from behind myself;- I am so lucky to be surrounded by those who have been there,done that – and want to do it again and again;- Creative art not only includes writing, but yodeling, photography,playing a guitar or a dulcimer, making stained glass creationsand five-foot puppets, and improv comedy;- Making new friends is just as important as holding onto the oldones;- With study and discipline I can become a better writer than I amtoday;- Next time I will bring a whole lot more WRWA brochures!I have to tell you that it was incredible to have so many creativepeople around me for a whole week. Not only writers, butpeople wanting to learn improve comedy, photography, puppeteering,stained glass..it was something else.I was impressed with two of the three classes I took: Writingthe Feature Article and A Sense of Place in Fiction. The third,Creative Non-fiction, was alright, but not quite what I expected. Ilearned a number of direct (and indirect) ways to tighten up mywriting, markets to explore, and just how to have confidence inwhat I write.. The people were energetic and fun.Jane Osypowski (attendee)Besides the opportunity to network with incredibly talentedpeople, I did learn some things. For one, I learned that I am notinterested in writing feature articles. Darlene Kranschnabelshared a wealth of information from her years in the field. But, Idecided that my time is better spent writing poetry than researching.Marshall Cook has a wonderful reputation as a writing teacherand now I understand why. He has a comfortable familiarity withall of his students and puts everyone at ease. He taught our"Sense of Place in Fiction and Nonfiction" class.My favorite was Ellen Kort's "Poetry Within" class. I've hadclasses with Ellen before and always come out with fresh enthusiasmfor my poetry. I'd forgotten about the useful practice of“spilling”—just writing about something and going back later toform it into a poem. What fun that was! I will spill more often.By the end of the week, I had two spillings that will make greatfinished poems and a list of prompts to work with.Roxanne Aehl (SOAR Scholarship Chair)I was happy to see that Frank and Claudia enjoyed themselvesand would encourage WRWA members who feel even a slightdesire to travel to the northwoods to apply for one of the two$250 scholarships next spring. I was impressed and felt WRWApride at seeing Frank read a poem on stage in front of the wholeschool and watching Claudia try her hand at modeling. I finishedmy fifth consecutive year at SOAR and already can't wait for nextyear. The teachers are knowledgeable about the subjects and howto teach them and the classmates turn into friends by the end ofthe week. Please feel free to seek out this year’s scholarship recipientsor our other two attendees, Jane Osypowski and me, todiscuss applying for one of the scholarships or just attending thiswonderful week next year. #