Terri Farley

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

TAKE ACTION for Wild Horses Before They're Gone

It can be crazy keeping up with wild horse news, but I do it with a great but under-used feature of Google called an “Alert.”

With this, I get daily FREE email about wild horses.

Here's how:

To set up a Google Alert: follow this link, fill out the form, and click the “Create Alert” button.

The form asks some questions :

Search Query: Type in wild horses

Type – I set my alerts for all types of alerts – news, blogs, books, etc.

How often : Once per day is enough for most people

Volume – This isn’t loudness ; it means, how many responses you want to see. I choose “Only the best results,” otherwise you often get the same story over and over again.

When you get your Google Alerts they’ll look something like this:

Wild Horses: Fair Game On Public Land
Global Animal
The Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) collected 23 wild horses from the Virginia Range earlier this month. The range outside of Reno, Nevada is public land and thus unprotected by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which protects ...

You click on a headline, go read the story and if there’s a place to comment, do it.
THIS IS ALL ABOUT PEER PRESSURE! Your opinion influences other people. They won’t know if you’re 11 years old or 87 years old. They won’t know if you’re a student or a veterinarian – unless you think those facts are important to mention.
In a short response, I might say

“wild horses deserve freedom and the land they’re given by law”
or
“wild horses belong to all Americans and shouldn’t go to slaughter” or
“a wild horse sanctuary is a good idea, but shouldn’t be all geldings"

If you want to go a step further, use this easy format :

a 1) Describe your personal connection to the issue in 2 -3 sentences

b 2) Give 3 facts about the issue – 1 – 3 sentences

c 3) WHAT ACTION do you want people to take? – 1 sentence

That’s it! In 3 – 6 sentences, you will have explained why you want to live in a world with wild horses.
If you want, you can even keep that short document as a letter-in-waiting, but whatever you do -- put your opinion out there! You don't have to be brave or brilliant, you just have to speak up for those who can't speak for themselves.

Labels: Google alerts, take action, wild horses

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Saturday, September 06, 2014

What are the TOP THREE REASONS to Write Middle-Grade Fiction?

What are the TOP THREE REASONS to Write Middle-Grade Fiction?

The Student * The Teacher *

The Wild Horse Story

If you like reading other people's mail, you're in luck.

I was so giddy-happy over this letter, I wanted you to read it, too! T.

Mrs. T,
How are you? I am doing well. I've recently gotten a job as a speech therapist 
at an elementary school. I am writing because you helped get me out of a  
tight spot today. :)

I had prepared materials for my student (she and I were going to read together) and rhat was great except I left them at home. And I didn't realize this important fact until the girl entered my classroom.

So just to make conversation (as I scrambled to come up with something interesting) I asked her what she liked to read about most. Her response was instantaneous-horses!

I was thrilled and relieved. I may be 23, but I still have the good ol' Phantom on my Ipad! So needless to say we had a great session. We were both engrossed in The Wild One. We were able to address her speech issues AND she can't wait to come back next week!
Anyway I won't keep you any longer. I just wanted to write to let you know I had thought about you and I appreciate the Phantom's run to the rescue!

Labels: phantom stallion, reading, speech therapy, student, teacher, wild horses

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 6:58 PM 0 comments