The Florida Keys is a diving paradise that isn’t too far from the Tampa Bay area. Not only are The Keys fabulous for diving, they are a great, inexpensive winter getaway with lots of variety. Surprising affordable! The Caribbean blue waters of the most southerly mainland United States offers 120 feet visibility and scuba divers from around the world come down to the Florida Keys underwater paradise to experience the colorful life within the coral reef. There are more than 600 species of fish and the sea creatures and plants never stop moving so the landscape is constantly changing. Elkhorn coral, brain coral, and sea fans are just a few of the plant life that draws the exotic underwater animal life.

Along with reef diving, there is an array of historical wrecks that await scuba divers (and photographers, artists, writers, fishermen, and vacationers) of all levels. Civil War wrecks and Spanish galleons are amongst all the underwater history. Artificial reefs have been created by people who want to protect the natural reef and give it some R&R from all the divers and diving.

There are many dive operations on Florida Keys islands and they are outfitted to provide beginner lessons, scuba diving certifications, equipment, and even boats and boat rides to the reef and wreck dives. A local dive shop can even provide you with a professional who can go out with you as little or as long as you wish. It is a diver’s heaven down there and there are businesses that will teach you the ropes of underwater photography and recording. If you don’t have the video and photography equipment that you need, all can be rented or purchased along this string of islands called The Keys. Writers and artists from around the world are inspired by the underwater paradise that they followed Ernest Hemingway (who lived on Key West) by making the Florida Keys their home and destination for creative material.

Each island offers its unique gifts so you’ll want to make time to go from Key Largo, the diving capital of the world and where you can swim with the manatees, all the way to the lively Key West  full of cultural, history, literature, and art if you get the chance. The laid back life of these islands are reminiscent of the Caribbean life where the lazy sunny days lull you into relaxation and the easy way of life is also gentle on your wallet. Hotels and rooms start at $79.00. Sometimes you can get online discounts, coupons, and Florida resident specials for even lower than that!

Whether you live in Tampa Bay or are visiting this area, head on down to the cluster of islands in the Caribbean to savor the inexpensive, amazing diving and the underwater adventure AND island life. Stay a little longer because you can afford to!

As we all know, the Internet is made of words and in order to improve your writing skills, use pre-writing/ invention strategies:

Writing is a way in which we learn, figure out what we know or do not know about a topic, and to understand a topic better; therefore, the best way to write about something is to use pre-writing strategies. Roen, Glau, and Maid (2008) states, “Many famous writers have commented that they cannot really know what they think about something until they write about it.” Therefore, tried-and-true writing strategies help us learn, discover, explore, and understand the topic that we choose to write about.  

Paraphrasing, muddiest point, and the double-entry notebook are three pre-writing/invention strategies that are effective in generating ideas, knowledge, and information and upon experimentation, I have found them to be the most effective of all the other pre-writing/invention strategies. It is important to implement more than one strategy and this essay will compare and contrast the three most effective ones as well as list the least effective pre-writing/invention strategy and why it was the most ineffective.

Paraphrasing is a most effective way of understanding a topic because it requires you to put information about the topic into your own words. According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary a paraphrase is “a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form.” By restating and explaining something in my own words, I was able to have a better understanding of the topic. If I could not paraphrase certain parts then I knew that I needed to do more studying and/or research in order to understand the topic better so that I could put it into my own words.

The effective strategy of muddiest point required writing down ideas and concepts that I did not understand in order to use writing to help clarify my thinking. I found using the muddiest point strategy highly effective when I could not understand something that I had read in my other college course. I made a list of things that I could not understand and then used the Internet to conduct some research on the topic of SQL. Then I jotted down important information that was useful in organizing what I read and found that using a muddiest-point entry was indeed extremely helpful in make sense of what I could not understand earlier.

The double-entry notebook was the third most effective pre-writing/invention strategy in my experimentation as it allowed me to take notes on a topic and also to jot down my own thoughts and questions right beside the related entry. The double-entry notebook has two columns. The left column contains information that is related to the context. In other words, this was where I took notes about my college course reading. Then in the column on the right side of the page, I wrote questions, responses, and jots that related to my notes on the left side. The double-entry notebook was effective in creating a “dialogue” between the two columns and I was able to answer my own questions as I saw the information laid out side by side.

Some pre-writing/invention strategies may not be effective as I discovered in the strategy of listing. Listing required me to create lists of keywords that would help me to remember more ideas for later writing. Categories of these keywords were created in the attempt to provide clarification and a solution to a problem. Yet I found that in my mind I was constantly listing and categorizing keywords automatically. Therefore, I felt that doing what I already do subconsciously and consciously and putting it all in writing was a waste of time and using key words was not enough to provide additional information or to jog my memory. Listing did not give me enough information to work in the way that it is supposed to work and, needless to say, listing was the most ineffective invention strategy for me.

Pre-writing/invention techniques help to generate writing ideas (such as blogging topics and the right words to create a buzz online), gain information, and acquire knowledge as writing is a very effective way in which we learn, figure out what we know or do not know about a topic, and to understand a topic better. It is often said that in order to improve your writing skills, you must understand the topic and in order to gain more knowledge of the topic. The many benefits of pre-writing/invention strategies include learning and figuring things out as you use writing to work through processes, jotting and brainstorming ideas, and categorizing keywords for research purposes. Other benefits include finding solutions to problems, clarifying what you do not fully understand, and gathering new ideas. From putting the information into your own words, which leads to further understanding and/or discovering which areas you need to do more learning, to finding answers through the strategy of questioning, the benefits of using pre-writing/invention strategies are many. Regardless of the purpose of writing, these strategies will assist in generating information and knowledge through invention techniques. There are many different pre-writing/invention strategies and techniques and they are highly effective in preparing one to write, regardless of the type and purpose of a writing that needs to be accomplished. It is best to experiment and figure which one is most effective and applicable for you.

References

paraphrase. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved January 23, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paraphrase

Roen, D., Glau, G.R., & Maid, B.M. (2008). The Brief McGraw-Hill Guide. New York, NY:  McGraw-Hill.

by Lena Hunt

Contact lena@celebritizeyou.com if you have comments and questions regarding this blog or other related topics.

Behind the amazing 200 feet drops and hills of The Swamp Mountain Bike Club trails is an amazing history which leads to an off road cycling destination that involves the collaboration of motorcycles, bikes, and horses for many years. Also, private citizens (the first members of The Swamp Club), the government (local, state, and national agencies), and investors (on every level) helped to preserve and maintain lands that are now an outdoor adventure destination just outside of the Tampa Bay area. People from around the nation are starting to flock to Florida’s largest off-road biking destination that is geared for all levels. Many vacationers are bringing their bikes to ride these trails or turn to The Swam Club trails when looking for a place to ride their bikes while on holiday. These trails add to Tampa’s what to do when visiting.

In a series of blogs, I will tell the fascinating history of committed individuals and groups who have come together to form not only the physical trails but a community that educates, entertains, supports, contributes, and helps support people of every riding level, health and fitness, community, and our earth. Comradery, grants, and volunteers help to build and maintain all of the things that The Swamp Mountain Bike Club trails behold.

In the late 1980s, most cyclists were road cyclists. Wes Eubanks and his wife were road cyclists and ran the local road riding clubs. During this time, the small trails were for multi-use purposes. Road cycling keeps you bound to a road versus off road cycling allows you to, according to Wikipedia, experience different terrains and conditions. But biking on the roads was the big thing back in the 80s.

However, in the 1990s off road cycling became extremely popular and as these trails were for multi use, there were conflicts between the bicyclists and the equestrians. To find a solution, property owners asked equestrian groups and cyclists to get together to decide what to do regarding these trail encounters. This was quite a task and a commitment because cycling is all about biking and as, forequestrians.com would agree, equestrian is all about horses. The two groups did set off to be a unified group and this is how The Swamp Club was formed in 1992 to oversee a mere fifteen members and six miles of trail.

Read about the gator-filled lakes on some of these trails. Then check back for the new writing of how motorcyclists became involved and how many members the Swamp Club now has and the number of miles you can ride on the largest trails in Florida!