Dear Tomato & New Year at the Pier: Food and Forgiveness for Poetry Friday

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Howdy, Campers--happy Poetry Friday (link at the bottom) and happy home grown veggies to all! (Did you know that August 2-8th was National Farmers Market Week? Or that August 22nd is National Honey Bee Day and September 7th is National Acorn Squash Day?)

We're blogging about going back to school this round. Esther starts us off with a review of Kate Messner's book on revision, a useful and inspiring book; JoAnn writes about using repetition and how to Write a Poem Step by Step, and you can win her book of that very title by entering the latest TeachingAuthors' book giveaway (which ends tonight at midnight) Then Carla shows how to approach the familiar How I Spent My Summer Vacation essay as a non-fiction writer, and Mary Ann tells us the story behind her wonderful book, First Grade Stinks!

Now it's my turn. I'm here to suggest two very different books for this time of year. One about food, one about forgiveness...and the new year.

As the daughter of a farmer and the sister of a sustainable agriculture journalist, I was proud to be included in Carol-Ann Hoyte's latest anthology, DEAR TOMATO ~ an International Crop of Food and Agricultural Poems.  (Great title!)

This collection,with photographs by Norie Wasserman (wonderful cover!) includes poems about small gardens, free range chickens, bees, farmers' markets, fair trade, food banks, a poem that mentions Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, and more.

Any of these would be a wonderful topic for student poems, stories or a class discussion about food and farming.  And the remarkable Renee LaTulippe, at No Water River, has created what she calls "poet-a-palooza" about Dear Tomato. which includes videos of some of the poets reading their poems from this book. Many of the poems are by friends from the Kidlitosphere, including B.J.Lee, Mary Lee Hahn, Charles Waters, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Bridget Magee, Buffy Silverman, Stephen Withrow, J. Patrick Lewis, Elizabeth Steinglass, and I'm sure I've missed some others. This is the book I've been giving my neighborhood gardeners with whom I trade homegrown veggies.  

Here's one of my poems from the book:

           HOE OBSERVING THE FARMER

           by April Halprin Wayland
            .

            He knows a hoe.

            Never letting go.

            Holds me steady in his grip,

            lifts me up to rip against the weight of air.

            Then he pulls me back, bearing down,

            yielding to the power of the ground.

            Holds me steady in his grip,

            never letting go.

            He knows

            a hoe.

poem (c)2015 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

my father and mother on the farm

The second book, relevant this time of year is:

The Jewish New Year--Rosh Hashanah--is on September 13-15th this year, so now is a good time to read my picture book, New Year at the Pier--a Rosh Hashanah Story  illustrated by Stephane Jorisch. Here's Dial Books for Young Readers' summary:
Izzy's favorite part of Rosh Hashanah is Tashlich, a joyous ceremony in which people apologize for the mistakes they made in the previous year and thus clean the slate as the new year begins. But there is one mistake on Izzy's I m sorry list that he's finding especially hard to say out loud.

Humor, touching moments between family and friends, and lots of information about the Jewish New Year are all combined in this lovely picture book for holiday sharing.

Winner of the Sydney Taylor Gold Medal for best Jewish picture book of the year

Here are four ways to use New Year at the Pier with kids--and adults:
1) Use it to explain to students where absent schoolmates may be during the Jewish New Year.
2) Use it to open discussions about how to apologize and forgive.
3) Use it to show how other cultures celebrate New Year.
4) Give it to someone you’ve wanted to apologize to for a long time

Click here for more activities,and for New Year rituals around the world.

 And remember to enter our latest book giveaway (which ends tonight at midnight!)

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Reading To The Core--thank you!

It's been nice chatting with you today--thanks for allowing me to share ~ April Halprin Wayland

Those Medals and Medallions!

I confess: my heart quickens this time every January when I think about the children’s book creators whose lives are about to be fortuitously changed, thanks to the awarding of a literary medal.

The night before the American Library Association announces the recipients of its awards for distinguished children's books, I fall asleep contented, knowing someone somewhere is about to be surprised!

[Note: ALA announces the awards Monday, January 23, at 7:45 am CST from the Dallas Mid-Winter Meeting.]

Two of last year’s winners, first-time author and Newbery medalist Clare Vanderpool (Moon Over Manifest, Delacorte Press) and first-time illustrator and Caldecott medalist Erin Stead (A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Roaring Brook Press) gave all book creators hope.

To me, giving hope to the reader is what our Children’s Book World is all about.
Jeanne Marie said it best in her Monday post when she reminded us we are writing for children.
To my way of thinking, a children’s book must always leave the reader hopeful. Not with the proverbial happily ever after ending; simply with the possibility that we could live happily ever after.

The brilliant editor Jean Karl, who headed Atheneum and discovered award-winning authors Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Judy Viorst and E.K. Konigsburg, wrote, “A good children’s book respects a child’s intelligence, his pride, his dignity, and most of all his individuality and his capacity to become.”

I have but one Very High Bar when it comes to choosing award-winners: Is this a book I’d want to passionately read aloud to my fifth graders, were I teaching? Is this a character who could and would change the way my students view themselves, each other, the world?

For those reasons, I so wanted Jack Gantos’ Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000) to win the Newbery. There’s an ADD Joey in every classroom, waiting to be understood.

For that reason, I so wanted Ruth White’s Little Audrey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) to win too. These are Hard Times in which we live; wouldn’t it be nice to know that if Audrey could make it in her depressed Virginia coal-mining town in 1948, so could we today. Booklist editor and reviewer Ilene Cooper starred this book, describing it as “tough and tender.”

Jennifer Richard Jacobson’s as small as an elephant (Candlewick Press, 2011) is tough and tender too and my hopeful Newbery pick.

Here’s the press release:

“Ever since Jack can remember, his mom has been unpredictable, sometimes loving and fun, other times caught in a whirlwind of energy and "spinning" wildly until it's over. But Jack never thought his mom would take off during the night and leave him at a campground in Acadia National Park, with no way to reach her and barely enough money for food. Any other kid would report his mom gone, but Jack knows by now that he needs to figure things out for himself — starting with how to get from the backwoods of Maine to his home in Boston before DSS catches on. With nothing but a small toy elephant to keep him company, Jack begins the long journey south, a journey that will test his wits and his loyalties — and his trust that he may be part of a larger herd after all.

Here are but two of the many starred reviews:

“This simply written but emotionally rich tale of an 11-year-old boy abandoned by his bipolar single mother will kindle profound responses in young readers." — Booklist Starred Review

“…Jacobson has great success putting readers inside Jack’s not-always-thinking-things-through mind, and by the end of the story, nicely tied together by the elephant theme, Jack comes to realize that he hadn’t been alone, that family and people he didn’t even know were there for him in a 'makeshift herd.' The happy yet realistic ending leaves Jack (and readers) 'light-headed with hope.'” – Horn Book

And here’s what Jennifer wrote:

"I believe in Jack and his ability to understand his mother in shades of gray. I believe in his ability to be fiercely independent: to try and try and try . . . and at the same time to recognize that he needs others. That others are right there, waiting to catch him."

I want young readers everywhere to know Jack, to take heart and hope from his quietly-powerful story.

Ironically, I’m cheering on between shades of gray (Philomel, 2011), Ruta Sepetys’ first novel, for Prinz attention.
The novel is based on Sepetys’ family. It tells the story of 15-year-old Lina who in 1941 is pulled from her Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp.
The concluding Author’s note begins with the words of Albert Camus: “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

I am obviously, unabashedly all about Hope. 
(Were this post about the Cubs, I'd tell you this year is The Year!)

Yesterday, the Association of Jewish Libraries announced the 2012 Sydney Taylor Book Award winners.

Hurrah! and Mazel tov! to Michael Rosen and Robert Sabuda for their Younger Readers winner Chanukah Lights (Candlewick), Susan Goldman Rubin for her Older Readers winner Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein (Charlesbridge) and Robert Sharenow for his Teen Readers winner The Berlin Boxing Club (Harper Teen/HarperCollins).

My fellow TeachingAuthor April Halprin Wayland and her picture book New Year at the Pier (Dial, 2009) won this honor in 2010.

As luck would have it, one very cold January afternoon in 2003, I was one of those “someone’s, somewhere,” when AJL’s Dr. Libby White phoned to tell me my picture book Chicken Soup By Heart (Simon and Shuster, 2002), gorgeously illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger, would be wearing a Sydney Taylor gold medallion.

I hadn’t even known the book was being considered!

I sat on my living room couch for 30 minutes, waiting for Dr. White to phone me back, to tell me she’d made a terrible mistake.

When she didn’t call, I finally pinched myself, teared a bit, then out-and-out wept.

2011 saw more than 10,000 children’s books traditionally published.

I smile thinking about all those stories,
medaled or not,
making their way to readers,
there for the taking,

and the handful of deserving creators about to be surprised.

I offer my Hurrahs! early, often, sincerely.

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.

You can win too this January!

Don't forget to enter our latest TA Book Giveaway (from April's most recent post):

To enter our drawing for an autographed copy of Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg, post a brief comment sharing an "oops" in your life and how you (or someone else) turned it into something beautiful. Be sure to include an email address (formatted like: teachingauthors at gmail dot com) or a link to an email address. OR...you can email your comment to teachingauthors at gmail dot com with "Contest" in the subject line. Entry Deadline is Wednesday, January 25th, 11 pm (CST). You must have a U.S. mailing address to win. The winner will be announced on January 27th. Good Luck!

Adventures on a YALSA Poetry Panel in Albuquerque for Poetry Friday!

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Howdy!  I was all set to write a whole post about the best advice I found on writing an acceptance speech.  It’s in an article by Thomas Murrell:  Speech Tips: Ten Things to Remember When Accepting an Award. The one that particularly struck me was:

“End With a Call To Action. What is it that you want the audience to do? You are the role model - inspire them to greater heights!”

It’s terrific advice.  It jump-started my stalled writing of the five-minute award acceptance speech I gave in Seattle this summer.

And if you’ll stay with me, I promise I’ll show you how that’s connected to what we TeachingAuthors call an Out and About:

This past weekend I was Out and About at the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I should have known it was going to be a good conference from the start.  On the shuttle from the airport, I met two wonderful women: Natashya Wilson, Senior Editor at Harlequin TEEN, and Jacque Alberta, editor at Zonderkidz (she’s the editor of Nikki Grimes’ forthcoming book, A Girl Named Mister.)

I was on a panel called THE FORMS AND FACES OF POETRY FOR TEENS created by (bowing low to the ground now) the woman behind the go-to-blog for children’s poetry, Sylvia Vardell. 

Author and poet Janet Wong introduced me to Sylvia many years ago, and boy, am I glad she did.

Sylvia Vardell, Ph.D: author, speaker, Texas Woman's University Professor and SO MUCH MORE!

Besides being smart, classy, funny and generous, Sylvia is also a professor of School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University, AND the author of: POETRY ALOUD HERE, and POETRY PEOPLE, and CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN ACTION, and co-editor of BOOKBIRD, the journal of international children's literature,
and the annual review guide, LIBRARIANS' CHOICES; whew!

It was fabulous to be included as one of the five poets on Sylvia’s panel.  The others were: Jen Bryant, Ann Burg, Margarita Engle, and Pat Mora. (Sylvia wrote, “Betsy Franco had hoped to be part of our panel, but had to be in NYC to act in her son, James Franco's movie! Cool, huh?”)

Our poems, personalities, and backgrounds were all very different—that’s what made this panel so interesting.  And Sylvia sure knows how to build a cozy community between the speakers and the attendees in a session.

The panel began with a Poets’ Q & A and ended with Poetry Improv Prompts. I loved the way her original format encouraged us to play off each other, like jazz improv—lots of fun!

Sylvia’s spells out the format in this post and shows you how this format can be used with teens.

I waited about a gazillion hours for lunch along with my tablemates YALSA president Kimberly Patton, two fabulous librarians whose names I've forgotten (someone please remind me!), author/poet Ellen Hopkins, and Albuquerque's own author, Carolee Dean, who has also posted about the YALSA Symposium 

Author Carolee Dean lives in Albuquerque!

Oft-censored author / poet Ellen Hopkins

Also at the conference was my friend and fellow Southern California poet extraordinaire Nikki Grimes who gave a terrific session called OPEN MIKE: REACHING TEENS AT RISK THROUGH POETRY.

Nikki Grimes, Ann Burg and me, April Halprin Wayland,

                                                   at the YALSA Symposium

The best thing about the authors and editors and librarians I met at this conference was their generosity of spirit.

Authors Ellen Hopkins and Lauren Myracle spoke at the closing session about intellectual freedom and the banning of their books. Lauren quoted Judy Blume who has said that censorship is “Fear disguised as moral outrage.”

Author Lauren Myracle spoke without notes--
as if she were speaking to a just a few special friends. 

 Lauren also said, "Authors are freedom fighters...fighters for intellectual freedom."

Ellen and Lauren made us laugh, made us squirm, made us well up with tears, and, finally, their stories from the trenches of intellectual freedom were a call to action—they inspired us to greater heights. 

So, inhale that inspiration--go out there and write what you need to write.  Some reader, somewhere will need to read exactly that.

 drawings (c) by April Halprin Wayland

A Poem about Acceptance Speeches

Hello and happy Poetry Friday!  Today's poem is below.

OUT AND ABOUT ~
I'm off to accept the Sydney Taylor Gold Medal for Younger Readers given by the Association of Jewish Libraries at their annual international convention.

I'll be giving a presentation the morning of July 6th as part of the session called "Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Jewish Book". The friendly organizers told me that they open this session with a presentation by the author of the award winner for younger readers--moi!there                                

That evening there's a terrific awards banquet.  I know it's terrific because I attended last year--the AJL convention was in Chicago right before ALA. 

My speech will be five minutes long.  Five minutes, an hour--I seem to sweat about the same amount!

So of course I've been thinking about this speech.
Acceptance Speech
by April Halprin Wayland

In six days
I will speak to two hundred Jewish librarians
and seven of my relatives
for five minutes.

I will thank the librarians—all librarians.
I will thank my relatives—all of my relatives.
I will thank my wonderful illustrator
in Montreal with his 82-year-old father

I will not tap dance like Shirley Temple
or sing “My Grandfather’s Clock”
or put on a dinosaur mask.
I probably won’t even buy a sparkly new dress that makes me look thin and sexy.

Here is what I would like to do:
look up at the ceiling.
Take a deep breath.
unbutton my chest

then gently lift out my heart
and place it on the podium
to share with these golden people in this banquet hall
as they finish their chocolate raspberry truffles.

TeachingAuthors are on vacation until July 19th.  We'll miss you and hope you  miss us, too! 

So--what about your own writing?  Why not drop a writing pad in your purse or backpack and listen/look/smell/ be mindful for moments of inspiration.  

Write one paragraph or a poem a day 
about anything in the entire galaxy, 
just for you, 
just to keep your hand in it, 
just for the joy of writing.

Have a fabulous Fourth and a great Bastille Day--and remember to breathe.

A perfect summer afternoon: 

poem and drawing (c) April Halprin Wayland

Milestones

Today's Teaching Authors post is number 200 already—wow! I'm so happy to be working with my clever, talented, generous blogmates. Thanks, you guys!

Blogosphere Buzz

Speaking of my blogmates, you can read an interview with our own April, posted by Heidi Estrin, on The Association of Jewish Libraries Blog. April will be speaking at the 2010 Association of Jewish Libraries Convention in Seattle and will also be an honored guest at the Tuesday night gala, where she will receive the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award for her picture book New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story. Congratulations, April! We're so proud of you!

I've barely had a moment to think about writing as a reader, although I heartily recommend it. I’ll have to address that topic some other time. Today is my husband’s birthday. (Happy birthday, dear Gene!) Our younger son graduated from high school last night. (Congratulations, Billy! Whoopee!) I just completed two conference speaking proposals. With help from my brilliant writing group, I’ve been working on a major revision of an old picture book manuscript that I just couldn't give up on. After eleven years and more versions than I can keep track of, I think I finally have one that’s ready to submit. Cross your fingers!

Out and About

I leave Sunday to spend a week in Madison, Wisconsin, teaching a weeklong course called “The Building Blocks of Children’s Literature” for the Write by the Lake Writers Workshop and Retreat at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Saturday, June 19, the day after I come home, I’ll be at the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books. From 11:00 – 11:50 a.m., I’ll be on a panel in the Library North Lounge with Ann Angel and Lisa Albert called "Up Close and Personal: Biographies for Teens." Autographing follows near the bookstore. From 2:30 – about 3:45 p.m., I’ll be at the SCBWI-Wisconsin table near the library. Then from 4:00 – 4:50 p.m., I’ll be on a panel in the Library South Lounge with Janet Piehl and Carol Schwartz called "Best Friends: Words and Pictures in Children’s Books." Autographing follows near the bookstore. Please stop by if you'll be in the neighborhood!

The following Tuesday, my summer semester begins. Yikes! My pile of books to read includes many I’ll be dipping into for the two courses I’m teaching at Mount Mary College, Advanced Workshop in Poetry and Workshop in Technical Communication and Design. Right now, I’m taking my time with Firekeeper: Selected Poems by Pattiann Rogers. I met her recently at a workshop at Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee, and I devoured The Dream of the Marsh Wren: Writing as Reciprocal Creation, a book Ron Koertge recommended many years ago when I was a student at Vermont College. I’m so glad I finally found it. For my future enjoyment, I’ve got these to haul along to Madison (unless I finish them before I leave):

Time You Let Me In: 25 poets under 25 selected by Naomi Shihab Nye
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Word after Word after Word by Patricia MacLachlan
Split by Swati Avasthi
Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

I can't wait to dive in!

JoAnn Early Macken

The Rules

Congrats to Ticia, first grade teacher, mom of three (including twins -- wow), and winner of our Teaching Authors book givewaway contest!  She will receive, per her request, a copy of the wonderful Sing-Along Song, by JoAnn Early Macken. And thanks to all of you, including Ticia, who so generously shared your own teaching and homeschooling experiences.

And speaking of contest winners...
The Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour takes place next February 1-5. The schedule is posted at www.jewishlibraries.org/blog. Please stop by to read our own April Halprin Wayland's interview, posted February 1st at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/practicallyparadise.

As a kid, I read the All-of-a-Kind Family series at least 20 times and cannot tell you how thrilled I am to know TWO Sydney Taylor Award winners (hello, Esther!). I am now craving a midnight snack as I think of Charlotte regaling Gertie with stories while eating chocolate and crackers in bed. I only recently learned that the character of Sarah was, in fact, based on Sydney Taylor herself.  Knowing the stories were autobiographical, I was always sure Sydney would turn out to be Charlotte, the storyteller, Henny the "spirited" one, or Ella, the star.  Did anyone else ever guess Sarah?

***

So, I was just on the elliptical reading a fantastic mystery by Ayelet Waldman, the premise of which was basically that being an overwhelmed mommy is completely and totally normal. The relief I felt from reading this affirmation in a light work of fiction is, honestly, indescribable. My 20-minute workout also somehow spurred a plot idea to emerge, fully formed, in my tired brain. Takeaway message -- reading and exercise feed the soul and should be performed with utmost regularity. Of course I might have to engage a babysitter in order to do so, but that's another story.

"The rules" of society tell us, it would seem, that we cannot be good parents if we don't cherish every moment spent with our children. The truth is, I deeply cherish every pleasant moment spent with my children. But today, my husband and I had a rare afternoon date. When our wonderful baby-sitter texted: Where is the toilet plunger? and we returned home to a list headed "Patrick's Accidents," (five items in three hours) we were gladder than I can say for our temporary escape. Our babysitter might never return, but again, that is another story.

My composition students this semester -- and most semesters -- are all about "the rules." By the time they get to my class, most of them have been drilled mercilessly about topic sentences, thesis statements, and the five-paragraph essay format. When I tell them that they may indeed begin a sentence with "but" or use a sentence fragment as long as they do so in a purposeful manner, many honestly don't know what to do with this freedom. While I certainly believe that it is important to learn the rules before we break them, sometimes it seems that breaking them is the hardest thing to do.

I was a very conscientious child who burst into tears if mildly scolded. It wasn't until high school that I became conscious of my secret identity as a rebel. No, I didn't smoke, drink (though I sure do now -- thank you very much, Kate and Patrick), carouse, skip school or even a single homework assignment. But I was, (a trait I proudly recognize in my daughter now), a bit feisty. If I was assigned to write an essay on a "mythic hero," I tried to make it a little bit different. But I still wanted my "A."  Some teachers, I learned through the years, reward and applaud what they see as creativity. Some do not recognize or appreciate what they see as failure to follow the rules. The latter kind of teacher crushed my spirits but, I realize now as a teacher and parent, would have helped others to flourish.  The trick is striking an appropriate balance out of respect for our diverse learners.  But (yes, I chose this word on purpose) --  is this ideal remotely possible to achieve? Experienced teachers out there, you tell me. 

Writing Workout

In honor of the rule-breakers among us, I am linking to an article about William Safire's "rules" of writing.  Have your students do their own takeoff of this exercise based on the great Strunk & White. They can learn the rules at the same time they discover for themselves how (and when) to break them.

http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/On-Breaking-William-Safire-s-Great-Rules-of-Writing/931717

Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford

And the Winner is…or How I Learned I’d Won!

I almost deleted the email.

It came from my website and the subject header was, “Question for You”…as in Blessed One, How much money can you send to my cancer-ridden mother in Nigeria?

But I opened it:

Hi April,

Please give me a call when you get a chance. I wanted to ask you a question about your book.

Thank you,

Kathe Pinchuck, Chair

Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee

Association of Jewish Libraries

It included her phone number.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award is for the best Jewish children’s book of the year in three categories (Younger Readers, Older Readers, and Teen Readers) given by the Association of Jewish Libraries.  I’d savored the chicken at the STB Awards dinner at the AJL Convention in Chicago last year.  The conventioneers were smart and welcoming--I'm so glad I attended.

What question could she have about New Year at the Pier?  Did she want to know if my wonderful illustrator, Stéphane Jorisch, was from the United States?  Would they disqualify our book from consideration if they discovered he is a Canadian?  (Not to worry.  The Association of Jewish Libraries is an international organization; the award is an international award.)  What else could she want to know?

So...the question she asked me?  “April, where on the cover of New Year at the Pier do you think the gold Sydney Taylor medal should go?”

Woweeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here’s the hardest part of all: I could only tell my husband.  Okay...I told my son, too.  (I mean, really.)  Then we hunkered down and did a lot of NOT TELLING for a week.  (Remember Show, Don't Tell?  This was Don't Show, Don't Tell...)

In July, they will fly me and my husband to the AJL Convention where I will finally meet
Stéphane Jorisch, illustrator extraordinaire, in person!

Here’s the complete list of the 2010 Sydney Taylor winners, honor books, and notable books.

And here’s a shout-out to my friends Elka Weber, who wrote the honor book, Yankee at the Seder, and to Jacqueline Dembar Greene, who wrote The Secret Shofar of Barcelona.

And here

The Big Reveal: 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Awards sound bite

is the podcast by  Heidi Estrin, wonderous light of librarians everywhere, who says of this podcast, “They let me record the big reveal, which you'll hear first. Then I snuck Kathe Pinchuck, the awards chair, out of the meeting for a little while to talk about the books in detail.”  Heidi also writes a fabulous blog devoted to this award.  (Yes, Heidi is everywhere in cyberspace you want to be...)

Thanks to all who have sent me an email, a facebook message or phoned in their congratulations.  Winning this award means so much to me...now they'll say my name in the same breath as fellow Teaching Author Esther Hershenhorn, who won the Sydney Taylor in 2003 for her book Chicken Soup by Heart!  

Okay.   That's enough for today.  Forgive me for repeating myself, but
WOW, wow, woweeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all drawings by April Halprin Wayland

Resolution Wrap-Up and Hurray for New Year at the Pier, Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner

I'm the last TeachingAuthor to announce my resolution for this New Year. (I hope you're not sick of the topic by now.) My fellow bloggers have already shared five wonderful resolutions, and many of our readers have contributed their own inspiring six-word goals. (If you haven't shared your resolution yet, be sure to read to the end of this post to see how you could qualify to win an extra-special prize!) I want to do just about everything that has been suggested: evict my inner heckler; have more fun; start the day with my stories; take time to read, rest, and relax, etc.

However, I already came up with my six-word resolution before reading all these terrific ideas.  Here it is:

"Match my activities to my priorities."

This resolution came from being frustrated with my own behavior. I've been working on two projects for a LONG time: a historical novel set in 18th-century Europe and a nonfiction biography of one of the women who inspired the novel. Despite the fact that I'd really like to finish these projects, I would often find myself spending my designated writing time checking email, surfing the Net, and reading my friends' Facebook posts. With the start of the New Year, I was ready for a change.  

I like this resolution because it's general enough to apply to my personal life as well as my career as a teacher and a writer. However, it is rather vague, which could make it hard to carry out (and measure). Lucky for me, an article in the January 3, 2010 issue of Parade magazine provided specific suggestions for how to turn vague resolutions into lasting changes. The article's number one tip:
Give yourself crystal-clear directions. 

So I translated my general resolution, "Match my activities to my priorites," into three steps:

1. Create a daily plan or to-do list
2. On that plan, block out the first two hours for writing/revising. (This means NO blogging, email, Internet surfing, or Facebook until AFTER I've put in my two hours.) 
3. Also use the plan to set aside specific, limited, times for email, Facebook, etc.

Well, one advantage to announcing my resolution almost halfway through the month is that I can report on my progress to date. So far, I've stuck with my first-two-hours-for-writing commitment. [That's why this post is up much later than my usual 7 a.m. publication time. :-) ] In fact, my dedicated writing time has stretched to close to three hours on several occasions. Hurray!

I wish I could say I've been as consistent with limiting my email/Facebook time. But I'm definitely doing better, and I hope to keep improving.

I'll share another suggestion from the Parade article in today's Writing Workout. If you'd like additional tips on how to turn your resolutions and goals into lasting changes, I encourage you to read "Make Changes That Last" by Chip and Dan Heath for yourself.

Before I present today's Writing Workout, I want to share some news that has all the TeachingAuthors jumping for joy. Yesterday, Kathleen M. Bloomfield announced the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners on her blog forwordsbooks, and the winner of the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers is New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story by our own April Halprin Wayland! Hurray for you, April! You really are "on fire"!

And hurray for you, our readers! If you posted a new or revised resolution here per the guidelines April announced on January 1, you have been entered for a chance to win your very own autographed copy of New Year at the Pier. If you haven't shared your six-word resolution yet, don't worry, there's still time. (U.S. residents only, please.). Don't forget:

1. Entries must be posted by 11 p.m. today, January 13, 2010 (Central Standard Time).
2. Provide your e-mail address or a link to your blog in your comment so we can contact you.

We initially said the winner will be announced by 11 p.m., Friday, January 15, 2010. However, tomorrow I'll be posting about a brand new contest especially for teachers and homeschoolers. I hope to be able to announce our New Year winner at the same time. So be sure to check back with us!

Finally, before I leave you with today's Writing Workout, I want to extend a special welcome to all the new readers who found us through the 2010 Kidlit Comment Challenge. We're pleased to have so many of you participate in our New Year contest and we hope you'll keep coming back. I also hope you enjoy our first Writing Workout of 2010. It's rather unusual, as it may require a bit of drawing instead of writing. Or, if you're like me and feel uncomfortable drawing, you can use your computer to copy and paste appropriate images.

Writing Workout: Create Your "Destination Postcard"

In "Make Changes That Last," Chip and Dan Heath recommend creating a “destination postcard” to help you stay focused on your goals. They describe a "destination postcard" as follows. It's a:

". . . vivid image from the near future to show you what’s possible. If your goal is to work out three days a week, find a picture of yourself from a year or two ago in which you look fantastic, and use it as your screensaver. Or hang up the dress or suit you’d love to wear if it weren’t so tight. Just keep the destination reasonable. You’ll be setting yourself up for frustration if you tape up a photo of an Olympic athlete or display jeans you last wore in college." 

I created two "destination postcards" for each of my two writing projects. One is a black and white representation of what the cover page of each manuscript will look like when it's complete. The second is a full-color simulation of the cover of each of the books after they're published.  I look at both postcards right before I sit down to work. The images remind me of my short-term and long-term goals.

For your Writing Workout, come up with your own "destination postcard" to represent your writing goal(s). If you're a teacher, have your students do the same. When you're done, be sure to report back here with a description of your "destination postcard."

Happy New Year, and happy writing!
Carmela