David Bowles at Writing the Westward Sagas tagged me to share eight things about myself and my writers that others probably don’t know.
1. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t “write” stories even before I could really write. I’d scribble and tell my grandmother, Nannie, what I had written down.
2. My mother has often said I had to become either a writer or a politician because I always see and remember things differently than others.
3. Writing is fun and easy when I listen to my characters and let them tell me what it is they are planning to do. Like children, they don’t always cooperate when I try to tell them what it is that they need to be doing.
4. I love to write and enjoy it very much except when hate it and, as I believe it was Ernest Hemingway who said, sometimes writing is like sitting at the typewriter bleeding - those are the times I hate it (usually when I am trying to get the characters to do something they really don’t want to do).
5. Although I love my office, I find I write better and more in a small cluttered space.
6. I love writing because in my world, I can make things wonderful or awful. I can kill people, but if I have made a mistake I can bring them back to life with a few well-placed words.
7. I’m still old-fashioned. I enjoy writing with a well-sharpened wooden pencil. But I’m also modern. I love, love, LOVE writing on the computer (except when the carpal tunnel is giving me fits).
8. Writing and meeting writers has reassured me of my sanity. There are people out there just like me who not only hear voices in their heads, they answer them and make money doing it. I’m so glad I’m not alone!!!!!
Although I’m not going to tag anyone because I think everyone I know has already been tagged, I invite any of my readers to participate. Just leave me a comment to let me know when you’ve posted.
Technorati Tags: Grace Anne Schaefer, eight things
Grace Anne,
I saw Ken at the Austin Pow Wow but never made it down to see you. Did you participate in the event at BAMC this year? I never heard from them. There’s a small Pow Wow in Killeen this coming weekend. I belive it is at the Civic center. Will you be there? Let me know.
Bye!!
SD
Comment by Sandra Ann Delgado — November 15, 2007 @ 7:11 am
Good to hear from you. You’ll be receiving a private reply in e-mail.
Comment by Admin — November 17, 2007 @ 5:16 am
Can you contact me again?–I accidently deleted it!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
Comment by Sandra Ann Delgado — November 23, 2007 @ 4:06 am
The message bounced but will try again. You can contact us directly at info@gaslightpublishing.com.
Comment by Admin — November 24, 2007 @ 4:15 am
Hi Grace,
I love your books! My husband and I were at the powwow at Eagle Creek Park in Indiana a couple of years ago and I bought your first book. I literally could not put it down, and waited for your new book to be completed. I was sorry to hear about your illness and am so happy to hear that you are well again. Could you please explain the counting with the hands. “When they talk about a hands hands????” I am sure it is very simple, but I am confused.
A loyal fan…………..Darlene
Comment by Darlene Smith — March 19, 2008 @ 8:32 pm
Darlene: I hope this will help you to understand the hands system.
Unlike our number system which uses base ten, the People of the Frozen Earth’s counting system used base five. We are taught to count using both hands as a unit and ten sets for hundreds, thousands, etc., but when I was taking a course in teaching elementary math, we were taught to use other bases to count (to help us understand the frustration of children who had no idea what we were talking about when we were trying to teach addition and subtraction in base ten which is as natural as breathing to most of us.) For some reason, although I never used it again, this stuck with me.
The People of the Frozen Earth did not have many “things” to count. For some unexplained reason, it made sense that a unit for them was simply the fingers of one hand. The next largest set was a hand or five. A hand of hands is twenty-five; two hands’ hands is fifty, etc. A finger is either one or five — two hands plus a finger is eleven, but two hands plus a finger of hands is fifty-five. I truly cannot tell you where this method came from beyond that distant memory of elementary teaching methods. I did not find any information in my research to contradict it so I have continued to use it because, as I said at the beginning, “my” people did not need the ability to count as many “things” as we do.
Trite? Yes, but I hope to convey that the most important “things” can neither be counted or measured. Thank you — > Grace Anne Schaefer
Comment by Grace Anne Schaefer — March 26, 2008 @ 4:16 pm