Hats, Boots, & Chocolate

    In my English 2010 class this semester, my professor has been talking a bit about perspectives, and about how, when writing any sort of research paper, it's really important to look at as many perspectives as you can and try to understand them. Whether they support your position or not, it's always good to see an issue from as many sides as possible so as to get an understanding with the proper depth.     And then, of course, he drew a little diagram to illustrate his point. Here's the basic gist:     Ta-da! Two sides of an issue, and everybody falls somewhere along the scale. Seems reasonable, right? In politics, we get a lot of these two-sided discussions: pro-life vs. pro-choice, gun control vs. gun rights, Trump vs. Biden, open immigration borders or a semi-permeable boundary of separation.     But wait! What about the issues where there's more  than two perspectives?     For a less political example, book genres. I've chatt...

     Welcome back!     Today, I'm going to discuss a common narrative structure mentioned in Mr. Ingermanson's blog post about his snowflake plotting method . And yes, I'm linking it again, because the information on his blog is pretty cool stuff.     The reason for this blog post is because I realized, while working on Step 2 of Mr. Ingermanson's snowflake method, that I couldn't visualize where things were going to be in my story. So I drew a rough diagram to get myself started, realized other people might want the diagram too, and made a much nicer version:     Now, let me explain what all the little lines and arrows and explosions mean.     First, we have the Point of Attack--which is, as my theatre professor put it, the place where the story starts. Other people call it the beginning of the story, but Patricia C. Wrede has written blog posts about beginnings on several occasions, and it is her opinion that the place where we pi...

    I just found a link to this in a post somewhere in the Reddit-verse, and after going through it, I felt a strong need to re-post. So, here it is.  I haven't yet had a chance to use it--I'm currently busy writing this blog post--but from what I can tell, this functions so close to what my actual method has been turning out to be that I think it'll be an extremely valuable resource for me.     The rest of this post is devoted to the quick-reference guide/notes I wrote for myself, so you can read that, or you can follow the link and get the detailed version for yourself. My notes are really meant to be a reminder for after reading the detailed version anyway, so if you like it, it's honestly probably better if you go look at his stuff first, then copy-paste my notes into a file of your own for easy referencing later on. But, you know, whatever you choose. Ingermanson's Snowflake Method to Writing a Novel Write a one-sentence summary of the story. This is...

    Last time I posted, I promised two of my favorite Irish legends: Tír na Nóg (Pronounced as "teer na no -gh", not like "egg nog") and The Salmon of Knowledge. These are in my own words, as best as I can remember them from the times I heard them, with pronunciation guides so you know how to handle the names. Any imperfections or inaccuracies are of my own brain's make, but I'm not super worried about them because I figure that legends like these change and morph over time anyway.     I got the story of the Salmon of Knowledge from a YouTuber known as Fandabi Dozi, who tells the story  starting at about the 10:00 mark in this video. If you want a little more info on hazel trees than that, start at 8:39 or so.      As for the legend of Tír na Nóg, I don't actually remember where I first learned it. Perhaps the storyteller Claire Murphy told it and I got to hear a recording, but I honestly can't say for sure. I do highly recommend Claire Murphy if...

    I am becoming more and more convinced, as time goes on, that I am some form of oversized hobbit. And, if not actually a hobbit, I sure behave like one sometimes. I love to eat, I love to dance, and I would very happily spend my evenings combining those two things in a cozy Hobbiton pub.     The reason this is coming up now is because, this weekend, I'm performing as part of the Rhythm of Ireland show at the SCERA theatre. We've already had opening night, and now there's two more performances to go.     Now, I am not the main event, as it were; I'm not a member of the Shelley Irish Dance Company (my dance school's pro-level dance company), rather, I'm a distraction for the audience during the show (so the SIDC can change their costumes and shoes), and participate in a grand total of two numbers.     However, the second dance I'm in is what we call the Tír na Nóg dance--the dance that tells the story of the Land of Youth from Irish legend, and t...

    Hi! No, I'm not yet quite ready to return to normal posting schedule; I still have a lot to figure out about what I want for this blog. But in case there's anybody out there who needs a place to complain about their work in process (WIP), or simply has something to say about writing or life in general, welcome to the Frustrated Writer Support Group (FWSG)!     These will be airing about every 6 blog posts, so there will always be a FWSG post on my homepage. I didn't want anyone to have to go digging through my blog posts to find it in the future!     I started one of these on Brandon Sanderson's fan website ( here's a link ), and the folks over there seem to like it a lot, but because most commenting on that thread is a site-membership type of thing (it's completely free of charge, but you still have to sign up), I'm putting it on my blog, too, so that it's more accessible to people who don't necessarily care for Sanderson's books.     The wa...

    Hi all!     I'm just writing this post to let y'all know that I'm going to be taking a break from uploading for a while. I don't know how long, I just know that I've got a lot of stuff to figure out before I continue posting. I've just discovered that this blog was taking a turn I didn't really want it to, so I've got a lot of self-reflection ahead as I try to figure out who I want to be, what I want to say, and what I want my blog to look like.     Thanks for sticking with me. I hope to continue this blogging journey soon, and I'll see you on the other side of the challenges I'm facing right now. : ) Edit as of 1/21/24: I'm clearly not doing very well at not blogging. I have a lot to say! But I'm also figuring out what I want for this blog faster than I expected when I first wrote this, so here we are. ;)

    Welcome back to Hats, Boots, & Chocolate! This week, I figured that, with Christmas and New Year's over and the long, dark, cold wintertime slog ahead, I had better do a blog post about my favorite ways to stay warm on chilly days.     With the caveat, of course, that I don't live in Canada, Alaska, North Dakota, or Minnesota. I live in Utah. And while my home state does have some pretty respectable winters, especially in the northern half where I live, my tips are optimized for our slightly milder--but still chilly--winter weather.     Here we go! #1. Invest in a high-quality compression shirt.     If you ever see me on a chilly day with relatively little jacketing, it's probably safe to say that I'm wearing a compression shirt. Since compression clothing is specifically designed to keep your muscles warm for athletics, it makes for a fantastic base layer. Because it's made of moisture-wicking material, it will help to keep you from overh...