KYGuyz asked:

Liz and Kate plow the organic vegetable garden with the Jerrys in tow. At the end of the row, we plowed up a brick! If you watch close you can see the plow “pop” and the horses start a bit. This was our first year working horses on our Kentucky sustainable farm.

BRENT

Surender asked:


If you want to get that e-book or sales letter done — and you’re not afraid of using “Marathon Writing Techniques” to get the job done fast — then let me share some tips to help make writing easier and faster. Here’s what I do when I write sales letters and e-book… INCREASE YOUR CAFFEINE INTAKE — Okay, so I’m caffeine junky. I’m talking loads of it. Of course if you don’t drink caffeine currently, I wouldn’t recommend getting started. But if you do enjoy a good cup of Jo or a soda here and there, then try using it before writing. Studies have shown that it actually increases your IQ points you can visit www.web-sales-letter-supreme.com  And I find coffee is a great way to “oil” my mind and fingers for writing quickly while increasing my clarity. RESEARCH YOUR WRITING PROJECT — Read everything you can on the subject right before you start. If you’re creating an e-book, look at other books on a similar subject. Same with sales letters;

Read all you can. And the best way to absorb it and use what you find is to read about it moments before you actually start to write. NOODLE YOUR IDEAS AROUND –After researching I like to sit back and think about the subject. And when I do, I notice new ideas that pop into my head like magic. Then it’s time to start taking notes so I don’t lose an ounce of inspiration. START TO WRITE — Beginning to write for me is like dipping my big toe into a pool before diving in. I like to start writing whatever comes to mind so I can center in on the subject. With sales letters I start working on headlines and openings. And sometimes I’ll start over a hundred times or more. It’s a warm up for writing, and it lets me try out different ways to best communicate.

Same with e-book I write chapter by chapter. I get ready, start writing a chapter, and I might do it over a dozen times as a warm up. I write like this until I’m like a horse eager to get out of the gate or go to www.sales-page-rapid-fire.com and then I just let my writing take over — once I’m warm — and start a marathon writing cycle. WRITES FAST –Writing fast does wonders for the work you produce. By writing fast you’ll have a more continuous flow and that makes for an easy read. Sentences ideas paragraphs all blend together perfectly when you just write what you think and stop for nothing. Don’t worry about mistakes or things that don’t seem right as you’re writing them. Just keep plugging along. Get that first draft out, let it settle, and then go back and clean it up later



EDDY

help!! asked:


I have done the basics, harness parts, harnessing, parts of a horse, grooming, show supplies, riding. This is my 8th year in the project and I am really having a tough time thinking of an idea. Help I need an idea to use on Saturday, June 14th!!

Thanks!

ETHAN

JHON CODY asked:


If you want to get that e-book or sales letter done — and you’re not afraid of using “Marathon Writing Techniques” to get the job done fast — then let me share some tips to help make writing easier and faster. Here’s what I do when I write sales letters and e-book… INCREASE YOUR CAFFEINE INTAKE — Okay, so I’m caffeine junky. I’m talking loads of it. Of course if you don’t drink caffeine currently, I wouldn’t recommend getting started. But if you do enjoy a good cup of Jo or a soda here and there, then try using it before writing. Studies have shown that it actually increases your IQ points you can visit www.web-sales-letter-supreme.com And I find coffee is a great way to “oil” my mind and fingers for writing quickly while increasing my clarity. RESEARCH YOUR WRITING PROJECT — Read everything you can on the subject right before you start. If you’re creating an e-book, look at other books on a similar subject. Same with sales letters;

Read all you can. And the best way to absorb it and use what you find is to read about it moments before you actually start to write. NOODLE YOUR IDEAS AROUND –After researching I like to sit back and think about the subject. And when I do, I notice new ideas that pop into my head like magic. Then it’s time to start taking notes so I don’t lose an ounce of inspiration. START TO WRITE — Beginning to write for me is like dipping my big toe into a pool before diving in. I like to start writing whatever comes to mind so I can center in on the subject. With sales letters I start working on headlines and openings. And sometimes I’ll start over a hundred times or more. It’s a warm up for writing, and it lets me try out different ways to best communicate. 

Same with e-book I write chapter by chapter. I get ready, start writing a chapter, and I might do it over a dozen times as a warm up. I write like this until I’m like a horse eager to get out of the gate or go to www.sales-page-rapid-fire.com and then I just let my writing take over — once I’m warm — and start a marathon writing cycle. WRITES FAST –Writing fast does wonders for the work you produce. By writing fast you’ll have a more continuous flow and that makes for an easy read. Sentences ideas paragraphs all blend together perfectly when you just write what you think and stop for nothing. Don’t worry about mistakes or things that don’t seem right as you’re writing them. Just keep plugging along. Get that first draft out, let it settle, and then go back and clean it up later



DANE

Derek Murphy asked:


There are some things you can’t learn quickly. Spelling, grammar, word choice and sentence construction take years of practice before you feel comfortable expressing your ideas. However, there are a few simple things you can do to improve your writing today. In this tutorial we’ll give you the tips to write a successful essay, even if English is not your native language.

The main focus of this tutorial will be organization. If the word “organization” makes you uncomfortable, you’re not alone. Everybody hates the idea of structuring our sentences into some cookie-cutter format. When I was a kid I refused to cooperate with my teachers as they tried to teach us any kind of method for writing. I was creative, had a flare with words, and got straight A’s anyway. Why should I have to do the 5-part process which included brainstorming, pre-writing, a first rough draft, a second rough draft and finally a finished paper?

Now that I’m older and wiser (and spend a great deal of my time writing and editing academic essays) I’ve learned that organization is a necessary tool to make writing easy, quick and great. Unless you’re trying to write the next post-modern novel, any kind of writing can benefit from proper organization.

Step One - Organizing Your Essay

Never, ever start writing an essay without knowing what you want to say. An outline is a simple way to organize your ideas into manageable content. It will not only let you write your essay much faster, but also much better.

Many people will want to skip past this step to learn “more important things”. You probably know all about outlines and don’t think they can help you - you want to learn to write better. Take my word for it, making outlines a writing habit will make a huge difference in your writing.

Why? Because it will also help follow these rules:

An essay should have only one subject

Each paragraph should have one topic which supports the subject

Each topic should give at least three specific examples as evidence

Each sentence should be organized and linked with transitions

Most people start by writing the essay, and then go back and try to organize it later. I tried this process when I wrote my first book, and 5 years later it’s still not as organized or clear as I want it to be. The problem is, after you have a bunch of great sentences, it is really difficult to move them around or have the ideas link together logically. You’ll spend a lot of time moving things around, which can actually make the paper more complicated and difficult to read.

Even if your writing is excellent, bad organization can kill a paper. And its such an easy thing to do! So, at the risk of repeating myself: always make a detailed outline before you start writing.

Step Two - The Content:

Now that you’re ready to start with an outline, you’ve got to figure out what to put inside. In other words, what kind of content should be in your paper. Here is a basic plan for a typical five-paragraph essay:

INTRODUCTION: The introduction is your chance to make a good first impression on your reader - you have to capture their interest. Also - you need to say exactly what you’re essay will be about.

Background information. Get the reader’s attention using one or more of the following:

Anecdotes

Quotations

Questions

Facts and Statistics

Thesis Statement. Your thesis statement should have two aims - to provide the topic and the approach of your essay. The topic is what you will talk about, the subject, and the approach is what is interesting about the topic, or the focus.

For example, the thesis statement “I will talk about the rain forest” is too broad. What about the rain forest? If you think the US consumption of beef is a major factor in rain forest depletion, then say so in your thesis statement. It should be clear: “The US consumption of beef is a major factor in rain forest depletion.” If this is your thesis, you can catch the reader’s attention immediately with some fancy data, like “89% of the world’s oxygen supply comes from South American rain forests - forests which are being cut down at an alarming rate.”

BODY: The body is where you can provide evidence to support your thesis. A typical essay will have about 3 paragraphs in the body. Each paragraph will begin with a Topic Sentence which states the main supporting point of the paragraph. The rest of the paragraph will be filled with supporting details, examples and facts.

CONCLUSION:The conclusion makes final comments by doing one or more of the following:

Restating Main Points

Asking a Question

Suggesting a Solution

Making a Recommendation

Making a Prediction Step Three - The Writing:

Once you have your outline, you can start filling in blocks of text with sentences. As long as your paper has one clear focus and you write topic sentences for each paragraph, your essay will be pretty clear.

Try to write in a smooth, conversational voice as if you were talking to someone on the phone. Use transitional words to introduce ideas (also, another reason, besides, finally, first of all, furthermore, in addition, moreover, most importantly, one reason, the third reason) and to give examples (especially, for example, for instance, specifically, such as).

Generally, you want to avoid complicated or flowery language for an academic paper. Focus on clear, smooth writing. Let the facts and data speak for themselves. However brave students and writers can use stylistic techniques to write a stronger paper. It is risky when you’re just learning, but great writers - even academic writers, make their writing stand out with by adding style.

HOW TO WRITE BEAUTIFULLY: Style is the hardest thing to learn, and to teach. Read magazines like National Geographic to get a feel for stylistic writing. They use run-on sentences, began sentences with ‘And’, and drop little-used-gems like “Moniker”. They can get away with it because they are aiming for an intelligent consumer base who enjoys beautiful and intelligent writing.

In general, you can improve your writing style with these tips:

Use a lot of adjectives and adverbs

Describe each thought as fully as possible

Link ideas together in longer sentences

Try to create mental images by using metaphors and similes

Choose your words carefully - pick words that carry emotion

Instead of saying, “the man rode a horse to school”, you can say, “The strong man rode his horse roughly towards the school,” or “The elegant man and his horse moved as one, racing across the plains like a gust of wind towards the school.”

Step Four - Editing:

Read your paper again. Sentences that have more than one main idea need to be broken up. Sentences that do not support a paragraph’s topic sentence, or do not directly support the Thesis Statement, should be removed. Flowery language, big words, and artistic writing should usually be cut out. You want your writing clean, simple and easy to read. (At least for an essay - you are writing to inform or persuade, not to entertain.)

Take another look at your title - make it sharp and engaging.

Now that you’ve finished your essay, check your Thesis Statement again and make sure it covers exactly what your essay is talking about. Sometimes your essay will evolve, and cover a more interesting, but slightly different topic. That’s fine, but change your Thesis Statement to agree with it.

Step Five - Proofreading:

The last step to writing an essay is proofreading. Check your essay for punctuation, capitalization, and indentation. Make sure the format is consistent, the line spacing and page numbers are right, and the references are formatted correctly. Check your “Its” and It’s”, and your “There” and “Theirs”. Little things are the hardest things to catch, especially editing your own paper. If you need any help editing or proofreading your essay, check out www.mypaperperfect.com



CESAR

Marlo Thomas asked:


Nancy Roman

Finance

Litchfield, Connecticut

I had a rotten fifth grade. Although I made good grades, worked hard, was quiet and mostly obedient, Sister Saint Therese du Divine Coeur hated messy. And I was so messy.

Sister Saint Therese made us fasten our winter boots together with clothespins, line up our book bags neatly in a row under the windows, and cover our textbooks with brown paper. Plain, blank brown paper. Months into the school year, we still weren’t supposed to have a single doodle on any cover. I was ten. I don’t think I need to elaborate.

I also never remembered to bring a head scarf to wear on confession day. So once a month, I confessed with a Kleenex bobby-pinned to my head.

But in Sister Saint Therese’s eyes, my penmanship was her purgatory. Her handwriting was like the Declaration of Independence. Mine was the way desperate people scrawl on bathroom mirrors when they’ve been kidnapped.

At Saint Anne’s School, composition was the most important subject. That was fine with me. I was a wonderful storyteller, and I knew it. But in fifth grade, our monthly essays became ordeals. Because our stories didn’t only need to be beautifully written, they had to be beautifully written.

Each student would write a first draft on “practice paper” — cheap grayish sheets from the communal tablet. We would bring our essays one at a time to Sister. She’d look them over, correcting our spelling and grammar as she clicked her teeth. Then from her desk drawer, she would hand us our black-and-white-speckled composition book. The paper in the book was stapled to the center, so unlike spiral notebooks, if you tore out a sheet, the composition book tattled on you. Talk about leaving a paper trail.

Once we were handed our books, we were supposed to turn to the next blank page and copy our finished essay. With a fountain pen.

Giving me a fountain pen was like giving a toddler a bowl of spaghetti. No matter how careful I was — how deliberately I formed every letter — something would always go wrong. An a looked more like a d, an m always had one too many humps, the line that crossed through the t in “the” always crossed through the h, too. And don’t get me started on the ink blots and the smears. (I challenge each of you with a ten-year-old to look at your child right now and picture him with an old-fashioned fountain pen in his hand.)

So I’d turn in my story riddled with smears, blobs, shaky letters, and mistakes, all of which I had tried to fix. Sister Saint Therese would be furious.

“Mother Mary would weep!” she’d cry, holding up my open book for all the class to see. Sister Saint Therese du Divine Coeur was a serious humiliator.

That’s when I’d get a Black Ticket. These were small pieces of paper about the size of a Band-Aid, black felt on one side and white on the other. You wrote your name on the white side and deposited the ticket in the Black Box, which sat directly in front of the statue of the Blessed Virgin. I think we were supposed to be offering up our sins, but for the life of me I never understood why Mary would want our sins in the first place.

At the end of every month, Sister Therese would open the box and read the names one by one. How we dreaded hearing our names come out of that box. A ten-ticket count was very bad. Once you accumulated that many tickets, you had to write your name in the Black Book. This could be considered the hotel registry for Hell. And I got booked. Repeatedly.

The school year is an eternity when you’re ten. And when most days include at least one moment of mortification, they crawl like Palm Sunday’s high mass. But the Blessed Virgin must have known that no child should be a nervous wreck forever, because when I got to sixth grade, my teacher was Sister Regina Marie.

Like all the nuns at Saint Anne’s, Sister Regina was strict. She looked to be six feet tall. Her habit stopped just short of her ankles, so you could see her thick black stockings and heavy-soled shoes. She had big hands with knuckles like my grandfather’s.

In Sister Regina’s class, we marched like West Point cadets. Slouching was lazy, and laziness was a mortal sin. She had little tolerance for fidgety boys and less for giggly girls. And she liked science way too much for my tastes. But all of this was okay with me, because with Sister Regina there were no Black Tickets, no Black Box, no Black Book — and no black-and-white-speckled composition books.

For our essays, Sister Regina had snow-white paper with the palest of blue lines. And she sold us (at cost, I hope) special ballpoint pens.

“These pens are one hundred percent guaranteed never to leak,” she said. “You will never get a glob of ink at the tip to mess up your papers.” I bought one right away, and when my grandmother gave me 50 cents for running an errand, I bought a spare. I knew a bargain when I saw one. Still, the thought of putting that glob-proof pen to that immaculate sheet of paper was too much to bear.

When Sister Regina announced our first essay assignment of the school year, I was expecting it to be “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Not so. Instead, we were told to “describe something beautiful.”

On my walk to school each day, I passed a tree that looked like any other for most of the year — except at autumn, when it turned the most brilliant red. So I wrote about the red tree and how it always caught me by surprise. Since I liked telling stories more than describing things, the story was about a tree that decided, quite deliberately, to stay green as long as possible, letting all the other trees go first, the better to startle everyone by turning every single leaf to crimson over the course of one night.

It was a pretty good story for an eleven-year-old, once you got past the thesaurus overload. (I had a tiny green book called Little Book of Synonyms, and I applied it liberally.) My tree was fiery, ruby, crimson, scarlet, vermillion, blood-drenched like a rose, a beet, an apple, a sunset. I was in vocabulary paradise and delighted with my essay.

But I had to write the finished version on that pristine paper. With a death grip on my special pen, I was overcome with fear. The tears came, and I cried all over my white paper.

Sister Regina came over to my desk. She leaned over me from her great height.

“What in the world is the matter with you?” she asked.

I looked away. I could hardly answer. ‘Tm afraid I will make a mistake,” I whispered.

“So what?” Sister Regina said.

So what?! So what if I made a mistake? I suddenly felt like I was the star of one of those catechism filmstrips, like the one where Saint Paul gets knocked off his horse. Because at that moment, angels began singing and the clouds parted and the sun shone down on my ruby tree. A teacher had actually said “So what!”

Sister Regina leaned in closer, her veil providing a small, private space for the two of us.

“Look,” she said quietly, “we all want everything we do to be perfect, but sometimes it just doesn’t turn out that way, because we aren’t perfect. If you aren’t satisfied when you’re done, and you think you can do it better — not perfect, just better — well, then, just do it again. You can do it as many times as you like.”

I’ve had many wonderful teachers who have guided and inspired me. But Sister Regina Marie’s kind words at that moment have meant as much to me as anything I have heard before or since.

In those few words, I learned one of the most reassuring lessons of life: that you don’t have to be perfect. You only have to satisfy yourself. And there is no limit to the number of chances you get.

I’m still messy. So what?

Copyright © 2006 Marlo Thomas



AVERY

Ben Kelly asked:


Though it is most famous for its world-class ski resort, the town of Breckenridge, Colorado also offers a multitude of non-ski winter activities. With over 300 inches of light, fluffy snow falling on the surrounding mountain peaks each winter, Breckenridge also draws visitors seeking a mountain paradise where non-ski winter activities abound. Visitors can wake up to new adventures daily with options for snowmobiling, Nordic skiing, dog sledding, winter fly fishing, sleigh rides, tubing, sledding and ice skating.

The changing of the seasons doesn’t bring an end to fly fishing in Breckenridge’s high country. The area is home to several gold medal rivers, streams and lakes where highly skilled guides can hook you up with trophy sized fish. Visitors who are willing to endure the chilly winter temperatures will find uncrowded riverbanks, surrounded by an amphitheater of snowcapped mountain peaks. Massive trout are waiting to hit your fly on virtually every cast, and with an expert guide at your side, you’ll be in a prime position to catch them.

The Breckenridge area has become a snowmobiling Mecca and provides an almost unfathomable amount of terrain to explore. Local outfitters provide both guided and unguided tours and rentals, which allows guests to choose their level of adventure. Snowmobiling provides motorized access to the backcountry glades and bowls that abound in the area, with opportunities for postcard-like photos at nearly every turn of the trail. “High Adventure” tours are available for more adventurous riders who would like to rice Breckenridge’s deepest backcountry powder at full-throttle speeds.

Those seeking to experience the local backcountry with a non-motorized form of transportation will appreciate the wilderness via a guided dog sled tour. Local dog sledding tours run through the middle fork of the Swan River Valley, enabling visitors to experience some of Breckenridge’s deepest forests as well as the historic mining camps and ghost towns that once populated the area.

The Rocky Mountains are also home to phenomenal cross country skiing - a favorite pastime amongst Breckenridge locals. Stop by one of the three local Nordic Centers located in town, or break your own trail on an excursion into the area’s easily accessible backcountry. The United States Army’s 10th mountain division maintains several backcountry huts throughout the area that can be rented for a night or the week, providing a warm base of operations for backcountry skiing excursions

Families who are looking for adventurous sledding options will find several options within a short drive of Breckenridge. Although the Breckenridge Ski Resort does not offer a tubing hill on its slopes, its nearby sister resort, Keystone, does. Tubing is available at Keystone during the day and into the evening hours. The town of Breckenridge is home to Carter Park, a walk-up slide-down sledding hill with a generous slope and a long out run. Bring your own sled or pick one up at a local supermarket. Carter Park provides sledding opportunities free of charge while visitors will have to pay for access to the Keystone Resort’s tubing runs.

Breckenridge’s three local ice rinks can provide for a morning or afternoon of skating with your family. The Stephen C. West Ice Arena offers 2 NHL sized ice surfaces and hosts open skating hours daily. The Maggie Pond, located within the resort’s Peak 9 base area, offers outdoor skating opportunities with phenomenal views of the Ten Mile Range and Bald Mountain. Skate rentals are available at both locations.

Finally, local dinner and scenic sleigh rides provide an evening of entertainment for the entire family. Rides take place on red Santa-style sleighs and are pulled by massive Belgian draft horses. Sleigh rides are operated on Breckenridge’s Jack Nicklaus designed golf course and through the wilderness of the Swan River Valley. With a star-filled sky lighting the way, guests are treated to fantastic views of the surrounding mountain ranges. Filling meals and hot cocoa are served in rustic lodges heated by giant hearths and warm mountain hospitality.

Whether you’re an expert skier or a beginner who’s learning to link your first turns on the mountain, be sure you sample some of Breckenridge’s non-ski activities when visiting the area this winter. Opportunities for winter recreation in Breckenridge are unsurpassed, with several opportunities to enjoy the town’s spectacular snow that don’t involve skis, snowboards or chairlifts.



CALVIN