words - Karen A. Chase

Ciao 60: Fun

October 25, 2013 By Karen A. Chase

From the posts of the last few days, you could say that our trip through Italy was serene and moving. It was. However, as this entry shows, it was also blissfully fun. The photos below feel like a series of out-takes or bloopers from a holiday, but they’re not. This is how Ted and I behave on vacation together. I would be remiss if I did not mention a huge part of the reason why. It’s the same reason we took this Ciao 60 trip in the first place. Ted.

Traveling with Ted is romantic, like driving a convertible top-down through Italian villages. However, the car also has no brakes, is constantly in top gear, and only slows down for photographs, love, food and wine. It’s crazy fun. Silly. Playful. He’s like that at home and not just on vacation. Thank goodness. Ted displays what he often encourages in others: curiosity and openness. It allows him to try new things, constantly learn, and share a laugh with complete strangers (even Italians who don’t speak English). The result? We all want to come along for the ride.

For a man now in his 60s, it’s impossible to guess his age. When most men are becoming grumps (research shows it’s because their testosterone levels are falling) or languishing in retirement, Ted faces each day as if life is merely beginning. That, on holiday or otherwise, is easy to love. We should all be striving saying Ciao 60! the way he does. Laughing. Loving. Joyful.

Fun is in what he sees, does, and encourages. Click to enlarge and scroll through the photos.

Nearing The End

September 20, 2013 By Karen A. Chase

This post is part apology, part celebration. After five years of research, books, libraries and writing, writing, writing, I have at last finished my manuscript about the Declaration of Independence! Five years! In addition to moving, reparing an historic house, running a business and publishing Bonjour 40, I filled in my spare time doing this. I have been weepy all week and thrilled beyond measure. So, yaaaaay!

This post is in part an apology, because in the last month in order to finish the last hundred or so pages, I have ignored many of you. I’ve been delinquent with communication, forgotten to do a few things, and been late to more than one event. For all of you who wondered what happened, I was just spending time 237 years ago, and they didn’t have internet then.

I have been writing the book chronologically, and from page one to the end. So in this last month, these fictitious people have finally been performing my scenes I outlined for them years ago. It’s been joyous. Emotional. Thrilling. As a friend said, “It’s epic. What you’re writing is epic.” I hope so. My characters have at last become who I knew they could be.

Yes, there will be more edits (I’ve already done numerous edits). Yes, there will be plenty of work ahead to find an agent, a publisher, and readers. However, for those who are already asking what’s next… Please just let me swim in THE END until my fingers get all pruny. For just a little while.

Shawnee Words

September 6, 2013 By Karen A. Chase

While researching the Shawnee for my American Revolutionary novel, I came across these words by Chief Tecumseh. Although he figured more prominently in the war of 1812, his words are still a great code to follow:

• So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
• Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.
• Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
• Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.
• Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
• Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place.
• Show respect to all people and grovel to none.
• When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.
• If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.
• Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
• When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
• Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

English Lesson

August 30, 2013 By Karen A. Chase

800px-Penwriting — Fun coupling of two English words, for fans of 30Rock. Thanks, Tina Fey (and Wikimedia Commons for the photo).

This week, my sister-in-law sent me an email that we both adore. Part of it is from a poem called “The English Lesson.” A little research found it’s not really attributed to anyone, though it does sound similar to an old poem called De Chaos, by Dutch author Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenité, published in 1920. Both poems prove that English… ’tis a silly language. Here is her email, read, share, enjoy. (Even if it’s more than 250 words.)

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren’t invented in England .

We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don’t fing,
Grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them,
What do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

We ship by truck but send cargo by ship…
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.

Oh well, we can all shake our heads as we nod in agreement.

Blogging Guidelines

August 23, 2013 By Karen A. Chase

This Public Domain image is of Anna Brassey (1839-1887). She was an English traveller and writer. Her bestselling book, "A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months" was published in 1878 and included this illustration. — This Public Domain image is of Anna Brassey (1839-1887). She was an English traveller and writer. Her bestselling book, “A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months” was published in 1878 and included this illustration. Journals were the original blogs.

An important element in a writer’s arsenal is a blog. It proves to publishers we have an audience and we’re capable of communicating with them. It also provides us a pure, unfiltered format for our words.

However, building and maintaining a blog that is consistent, noteworthy and timely can be time-consuming. That simple fact was why I set parameters for my own blog. 250 words maximum. Post on Fridays. Always about “composition.” These guidelines have allowed me to keep it simple, and each week I learn to eliminate excess words. I delete stuff. I simplify.

Even so, I’ve missed a few Friday posts. (Hang head. Shame.) This week an editor and I were chatting about the blog she’s had since 2001. She told me that when she doesn’t post it’s “partly for lack of discipline, partly out of self-consciousness, partly for lack of focus/purpose.” Exactly.

Well, dear editor, I think readers will forgive an occasional blog holiday. Their inboxes need a break from us, too. Yes, I think the “guidelines” are important to give us direction, but we should concentrate more on what we hope to contribute long-term through the life of the blog. Inspiration. Perspective. Information. Sometimes a little entertainment. A blog is a journey, not a destination.

What blog parameters have you seen that are helpful for authors?

(FYI, this post: 226 words.)

Fuhgettaboutit

July 26, 2013 By Karen A. Chase

Tai-wei, a foreign exchange work-visa from Taiwan, is staying with us, learning English and building street-cred.

Now through September, Ted and I have a houseguest staying with us (now considered a friend) from Taiwan. Tai-wei is working in the US on an exchange visa, and already speaks Chinese, English and Spanish. He has been sharing with us about his languages and we’ve been sharing ours. The one thing we’re all learning, is how often we use phrases that don’t make any sense at all.

Tai-wei has heard us say, “This will be great for getting some experience under your belt.” Or, “Well, it’s hump day.” Or, “Take a load off.” There is no way for someone new to the language to understand that these phrases mean he’s building a resumé, suffering through Wednesday, and sitting down. So we’ve had to explain some of them, and we’ve had to quit speaking in phrases and movie quotes.

Tai-wei has a really good English vocabulary already, so the most fun we’ve had language-wise is sharing phrases that we think are really funny, and are used casually. So we’ve been teaching him, “Fugettaboutit,” “Yeah, right. Yeah, sure,” “Don’t bust my chops,” and even the much more crass, “Don’t bust my balls,” and “Eat my shorts.” We’re certain his parents will be thrilled with this education.

In exchange Tai-wei’s teaching us some very important Chinese phrases (some of which I will not repeat here). My favorite is, “Mei quan xi” (pronounced may kwan shi). It’s kind of like saying, “fugettaboutit.” So next time someone insults you, or leaves you high-and-dry (stranded), just say, “Mei quan xi.” It’s no problem.

What other phrases do you think we should share with Tai-wei, eh?