3 Things You May Not Know About Me

Howdy, Campers, and happy Poetry Friday! (My poem, the links to PF and to my upcoming classes are below).

We in the TeachingAuthors treehouse 

decided to get personal this 'round, so hold onto your hats as we blog about the 3 Things You May Not Know About...

Carmela started our 13th(!)-year with a bang: 3 Things You May Not Know About TeachingAuthors and a Trimeric Poem which details our new posting schedule, new calendar, and her terrific trimeric poem; Mary Ann reveals the famous children's author/illustrator she kissed, a shocking newspaper interview, and the book series she--a former children's librarian--has never read. 

And here are 3 Things You May Not Know About Me:

1) About 700 years ago at a conference far away, Nikki Grimes and two of her friends I'd had dinner with, knocked on my hotel room door past midnight. 

I was in my pajamas. 

They plopped down on my bed. 

I did my best to wake up. (I felt as if I were thirteen again, this time with the "in" girls who wanted to talk to me...in my pjs...on my bed!) 

Three older white men had had dinner with us--possibly publishers or book sales reps--I don't remember now. Nikki asked if I was aware of the racial slurs they had flung across the table at dinner. 

Now I was wide awake. Whaaa...? 

Those remarks had flown invisibly past me. 

These women were sitting on my bed, in the middle of the night, to open my eyes.

Maybe those remarks were dog whistles, meant only for the ears of the three black women at the table. 

Or maybe I was focused on the salmon, maybe I was dying for another roll but didn't want to look like a glutton, or maybe my monkey mind was buzzing from the conference.

They did their best to help me see that night, but I don't think I really understood. Though my family--grandparents, uncles, aunts, mother, father, sister and I--had been activists first and foremost in our lives, I'd never endured what Nikki and her friends had.

I look back with embarrassment. But also with gratitude. 

Thank you, Nikki, for trying that night, though I didn't understand. 

I am just beginning to understand, 700 years later.

[Addendum posted 2/9/22: I appreciate Heidi Mordhorst's comment below (and our subsequent correspondence): The stories that we white people can tell each other of our ignorance, our safety, our privilege are really important, April. Thank you. I'm so interested in how you characterized the "dog whistles" as meant for Black ears, when usually they're meant from white mouths for other white ears. Some of the ignorance of us "good white people" is that we don't suspect others of being racist; we don't hear what they're really saying. Let us be owls in all seasons, listening for what's underneath the surface.  

I now realize that it may be hardest for those of us from activist families to shift from believing that not being blatantly racist is enough. It's up to me to become anti-racist, an upstander and an ally.]

2) My picture book, MORE THAN ENOUGH ~ a Passover Story, illustrated by the wonderful Katie Kath (Dial Books), is coming out as a paperback and an audiobook on 2/22/22 🌞What a happy date🌞 (You can pre-order it from an indie bookstore now!)

(For those of you with an iron stomach, here's the whole, bloody creation story behind More Than Enough...which you can wash down with these delicious reviews.)

3) I recorded the author's notes for the audiobook in a fancy Santa Monica studio!  (The author's notes are just seven sentences long.)

Moi, after reading the author's notes

from More Than Enough...stoked with coffee

4) A bonus fact you may not know about me: my intention this year is to be present. So my word for 2022 is presence. When we're truly present, our  presence is a present 🎁

About a year ago I learned something (which you'll read in the backstory) that made me appreciate how focused owls are...how present they are, which inspired today's poem:

OWLS
by April Halprin Wayland

They are a special breed,

those focused listeners

who block out all

 

as if they're owls,

who hear

a mouse's heart

 

beat 

under

snow.

poem © 2022 April Halprin Wayland
=====================
Backstory:

I heard on the radio that "Owls can hear a mouse's heartbeat under a foot of snow"!  Isn't that MARVELOUS?

I did a virtual cartwheel when I heard that.
======================
Thank you for stopping by today! One final note:

I'll be teaching Introduction to Writing Children's Poetry on Saturday, March 26, 2022 12 noon-3pm PST, and Introduction to Writing a Children's Picture Book on Saturday, April 9, 2022 12 noon-3pm PST. Both are virtual classes; enrollment is limited to 20 students.

Thank you, Elisabeth, for hosting Poetry Friday at Unexpected Intersections

posted by April Halprin Wayland, with love

PW: Halloween Book has "Luscious Rhymes"

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Howdy, Campers and Happy Poetry Friday! (The link to Poetry Friday is below.)

Be sure to enter our current give-away of Carmela Martino's new novel (inspired by two amazing 18th-century sisters who were far ahead of their time, one a mathematician, the other a composer), Playing by Heart. Details on how to enter are in this post, which introduces the book. The give-away ends October 16th.

Campers--I'm overjoyed to feature one of my former students in today's TeachingAuthors "Student Success Story." 

As soon as Denise Doyen walked into my 2005 UCLA Extension Writers' Program class, "Writing the Children's Picture Book," I knew she was a force of nature. Her writing was so strong, her life energy filled with such forward motion, this gal was going somewhere! She's a perpetual student. Before my class, she'd taken classes with Ann Whitford Paul and Barney Saltzberg. After my class she fit perfectly in Barbara Bottner's critique group.  

Author and poet Denise Doyen with her newest book
photo credit: Michael Doyen

Denise's first picture book, Once Upon A Twice, drew starred reviews (Kirkus raved that it was "Undeniably arrayed in a gorgeous brocade, woven of fresh, inventive wordplay," and a member of the EB White Committee wrote, "Wonderful writing in the spirit of Lewis Carroll. Enchanting. Tickles the tongue and 'comes to life' as a read aloud."). 

And...BOO!  Just in time for Halloween, her newest stellar rhyming picture book is out, illustrated by the fabulous Eliza Wheeler, published by Chronicle Books. Filled with Denise's trademark inventive wordplay, it's earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly which said, "Luscious rhymes and an atmospheric eeriness immerse readers in a neighborhood battle." (Read the whole review here.)

So, let's meet poet and author Denise Doyen, shall we?

Welcome, Denise! We're so glad you stopped by. Could you tell us a bit about how your writing career began?

I had been a director/choreographer for children’s television at Disney. I loved creating entertainment for kids; but production hours are long and Hollywood’s a tad ruthless. I quit so I could closely raise my two sons. Later, when they got to be teenagers (that poignant, inevitable age of detachment, “Mom, drop me off a block ahead!”) I realized I missed having a professional creative outlet. My focus remained children. So, I enrolled at UCLA Extension, in “Writing for the Youth Market.” Over two years, I took in a succession of courses, primarily about picture books.

I really enjoyed your class; we made dummies, visited booksellers and children’s librarians, made fave-book lists, wrote/rewrote stories, read Bird by Bird and generally, got inspired. Great class. After UCLA, I joined SCBWI, and started attending all of its editor/agent days, writing workshops and conferences. I worked hard to make sure I really knew my stuff, then I jumped in! ...and began submitting. 

Boy, you're not kidding you jumped in, Denise. Can you talk a bit more about the critique groups, workshops, etc. you've jumped into? 

I’m in a critique group called GOYA which stands for either the Urdu word for “the suspension of belief created by a good storyteller” or an acronym for Get Off Your Ass! (and get published.) As you mentioned, I also claim a seat in Barbara Bottner’s Master Class, which is sort of a guided critique group with savvy pointers/prompts when you need them. I circled back through UCLA Extension and took novel and poetry classes to expand the scope of my writing. And I still take advanced workshops or seminars when I can find them and fit them in. I think a writer can’t help but keep learning while reading good books, editing, critiquing. But I do consciously search for new tools and shoot for keener insights. 

And how did you connect with your agent?

I went to the Big Sur Writing Workshop hosted by Andrea Brown Literary and Henry Miller Library. The wonderful writer, Meg Medina, was in my group. We synched, liked each other’s work. She rec’ed me to her agent there, Jen Rofe, and we hit it off as well. It was a kind act by a fellow writer, an example of a generous spirit that I’ve continued to find in the kidlit world. And Jen’s proven a true champion of my writing, exactly what one hopes your agent will be. 

(Campers, it's true, we are part of kidlit's generous community, and let me tell you, Denise is one of the most generous--truly.)  Denise, tell us about your new delicious new book.

It’s called The Pomegranate Witch. It’s loosely based on a childhood memory of a mysterious lady in my neighborhood. I told the anecdote to my writing group one Halloween and when I finished they said, “That’s a book!” Hunh. So, I stored that kernel of inspiration in my idea journal and started working on the story the next summer.

How did you go about writing it?

There were underlying themes I wanted to explore/expose: the fact that the hermits, loners or odd cat ladies we sometimes brush by, surely have—on closer inspection—interesting stories, depths or surprising former selves. I also wanted to show kids’ antics and imaginations back in an era of Free Play when an afternoon was full of exploring, scavenging and inventing on your own. Kids back then solved their problems without adult intervention. They learned from successive failures. They kept trying. It’s how one becomes resilient person. In the book, the gang fails time and again before they score a pomegranate—and yet they are thrilled with that singular prize ... because they really, truly earned it. (And yes, presenting those challenges is part of the Witch’s agenda.)

Because all this had a nostalgic feel and the witch and her tree, a legendary vibe – I decided on a traditional ballad form like Casey at the Bat or Paul Revere’s Ride, with their heptameter meter. It took me three months to craft the poem’s 24 stanzas--to make the rhymes unique and the cadences flow. I remember: I was working at a campus café at UCLA every morning from 8:30am – 12:30pm while my son took a pre-calculus course. He’d come out of class and I’d be so happy, “I got a line done!” And he’d be like, “Wait. You’ve been writing for four hours and you got one measly line done? And that’s good?” “Yes!” (Let’s face it: writing a rhyming picture book is a fun but grueling process.)

Then, my insightful editor at Chronicle, Taylor Norman, challenged and goaded and patiently helped me make everything more crisp and clear. It’s an interesting process, figuring out when to defend and when to bend. We worked well together, worked things out. And finally came Eliza Wheeler’s illustrations. <sigh> I was so captivated when I first saw her fantastic, charming, quirky rendition of The Pomegranate Gang! I’m still smitten. Lucky, lucky author here.

The Pomegranate Gang ~ from book, The Pomegranate Witch

I love that--"figuring out when to defend and when to bend." And it's true--writing a rhyming story can be a "fun but grueling" process. Many of our readers know this well.  And finally, Denise, what’s the One Thing You Wished You’d Known as you began your Writer’s Journey? 

Ya know, I naively started out thinking I was already a pretty good writer. But what I actually was―was a natural writer with good potential. I wish I’d gotten down to the nitty-gritty of tackling my craft at a rigorous and professional level sooner, really learning all those boring punctuation and grammar rules, not being content with an overused metaphor, etc. etc. etc. It would have made me competent and competitive years earlier.

That's a great answer--thank you for your honesty, and for stopping by for a chat. I don't want too give much away except to say that your rollicking, rhyming original story make me hungry for pomegranates!

Yum!

Now off you go, Campers, to Poetry Friday at Violet's today--
and oh, what a pumpkin-spiced feast it is!

posted with pomegranate juice stains on her shirt by April Halprin Wayland

Listen Up and Share a (Real Life) Story!

I love how good ol’ Serendipity works.

There I was,                                                                                         

roaming my terrific City of Chicago on a gorgeous August Saturday,
wondering what I could write today to meaningfully follow my colleagues’ posts about Real Life sparking fiction,
when what do I come upon,
in the northeast corner of the Chicago Cultural Center,
but the StoryCorps Chicago StoryBooth!

StoryCorps is THE perfect vehicle to help us turn Real Life stories into well-told,
worth-listening-to-and-sharing NON-fiction,
and thus the PERFECT subject to punctuate our past weeks' discussion.
 
FYI: StoryCorps is the independent national nonprofit oral history organization whose mission is “to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives.”
I love its tag line: “Every voice matters.”

Since it began in 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 45,000 interviews with nearly 90,000 participants.  Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share; the CD is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Millions listen to weekly broadcasts of these conversations on NPR’s Morning Edition, on Listening pages, in podcasts and via books and animation.

The StoryBooth is here to stay in Chicago for the next three years, if not longer.  The box-like structure is actually a compact recording studio hooked up with a soundboard, a small table with two chairs, two microphones and the requisite box of tissues.

Thanks to StoryCorps’ partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Chicago Public Media and Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ, anyone has the opportunity to record a 40-minute conversation with a loved one. 

For years, I’ve shared this little-known national storytelling organization with teachers, librarians, young writers and especially their families.

 StoryCorps’ National Day of Listening is celebrated the day after Thanksgiving.  This year, come November 29, everyone is invited to use a smart phone, tablet, computer or tape recorder to record an interview with a loved one.

Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guidelines are free and easy to follow.
As for what questions to ask – on the day after Thanksgiving or on any day you’re wanting to learn another person’s story, check out this printer-friendly version of Great Questions to Ask.

It’s StoryCorps’ Story Questions – and Question Generator - that first grabbed my writing teacher’s eye.
The Story Questions gift Family Literacy Night participants - or -   First-Day-of-School Classmate Interviewers - or - even New Student/New Teacher/New Principle Biographers - with easy-to-understand opportunities to enrich their storytelling.

Even better, they also gift any writer of fiction wanting and needing to know his characters more fully.
Back Story is everything when it comes to knowing our characters – fictive or real.
IMHO: the StoryCorps questions also make for rich additions to Jeanne Marie’s WWW – “Where I’m From…” exercise.

So,

do visit WBEZ’s StoryCorps Chicago StoryBooth  if you get the chance - or - simply stop by the StoryCorps website and spend time listening, learning, reading and questioning.

And, stay tuned!

Maybe one of these days I’ll invite my fellow Chicago Teaching Author Carmela Martino to meet me at the Chicago Cultural Center so we can record our TeachingAuthors.com story?  :)

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.

Don’t forget to enter our Book Giveaway to win a copy of Sonya Sones’ newest novel in verse To Be Perfectly Honest.

Click HERE for the Details.

 

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

Giveaway Winner and Teaching Authors in Cyberspace

We've enjoyed celebrating the release of April Halprin Wayland's New Year at the Pier--A Rosh Hashanah Story with all our readers!  If you'd like to learn more about April and her wonderful book, check out these other stops on her blog tour:

• Cynsations interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith
• Barbara Bietz's "Jewish Books for Children" blog interview   
• Tina Nichols Coury's blog interview with Laurie Hornick, editor of New Year at the Pier
• Heidi Estrin’s Book of Life blog podcast interview
• The Just One More Book! blog’s podcast book review of New Year at the Pier

By the way, April isn't the only Teaching Author to be interviewed in Cyberspace this month:

• Mary Ann Rodman was interviewed by Amy Bowllan as part of her School Library Journal blog series on "Writers Against Racism."  
• And I appeared on Scotti Cohn's "It Happened in Chicago" blog. 

As promised, I am announcing our contest winner today. Thank you to everyone who took time to post a goal for the new school year. Your goals are so inspiring! Fortunately, this contest was a random drawing because it would have been too hard to choose the "best" entry.

And now, drum roll please! The winner of a free autographed copy of New Year at the Pier--A Rosh Hashanah Story is Kim Winters! Kim posted:

"My goal is to write two pages a day on my current fantasy novel in progress now through the end of the year."

Congratulations, Kim, and good luck following through on your goal!

And don't forget: we expect everyone who posted a goal to report back on your progress during the first two weeks of January! If you didn't win this time, you'll have the opportunity to enter our "second-chance" drawing then.

Finally, if you're planning to purchase a copy of April's book, we hope you'll do so at an Independent bookseller. You can find an Independent near you by clicking here, or order online by clicking here.  Would you like an autographed book plate to go with your new book? See April's website.

Activities for Teachers, Parents, and Readers Using New Year at the Pier

Today is the last day of our celebration of the new school year with our very own April Halprin Wayland. But don't worry, there's still time to enter for a chance to win a free autographed copy of April's picture book New Year at the Pier--A Rosh Hashanah Story. You have until midnight, Monday, September 7, 2009 (CST), to post your goal for the new school year.  Click here for details.

On Tuesday, September 8, 2009, we'll announce the winner. We'll also have a round-up of links to other sites where April has been interviewed, as well as links to recent interviews with two other TeachingAuthors. We won't be posting on Monday, because of the Labor Day holiday. After Tuesday, we'll return to our usual Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule.

Carmela:
April, here's our last question for you: How would you like to see teachers, parents, and young readers using New Year at the Pier?

April:
I’d like teachers to use it to help explain to students why some of their Jewish classmates are absent…and what they’re doing.

I’d like them to use it in January to talk about all the ways people around the world celebrate the new year. (For more on New Year Rituals Around the World, see my website.)

I’d like teachers and parents to use the book to open discussions about how to apologize. To help, I've listed resources for discussing forgiveness on my website.

I’d like them to use it to act out how to accept an apology.

I’d like older kids to use this book as an opening to discussions about the Rwanda Reconciliation. I've provided resources for this on my website too.

And here's an activity I’d like all readers to try:
Think of one person you’ve harmed.
Write about the incident and read it to someone else.
Sit with the feelings for a bit, then be willing to let them go.
The feelings may not go away, but the first step is to be willing to let them go away.
Then make an appointment to see the person you've hurt face-to-face to apologize.  No excuses—just a simple heartfelt apology…without expectations that you will be forgiven.  Rabbi Neil told me that forgiveness can’t be the focus of the apology.  I can’t apologize in order to be forgiven or to feel better.

Here’s an example:  Last year I gave a 7th grade poetry workshop at a Catholic school.  It was a terrific school, the students were very responsive, and I love teaching this particular workshop.  A few days later, the principal of the school called to say that a website I referred to in the workshop contained X-rated content. 

You can imagine the feedback she’d gotten from parents.

I was mortified. I called a very smart friend and asked her what to do.  She suggested that I use it as a teaching opportunity—that I offer to write an article in the parent newsletter cautioning about the ever-changing internet. She suggested that I could publish the article in a magazine.

I tried to write that article. I really tried. But it didn’t sound very sincere. 

I called my friend Bruce.

“What should I do?” I asked.
“You should apologize,” he said.
“That’s all?” I asked. “But what about the article?”
“How would you feel if you were in their position?” he asked. “Wouldn’t you just want to hear, ‘I’m so sorry?’  Don’t complicate it.” 
So I wrote and sent a sincere letter of apology.  And it felt right. 

Another thing I’d like readers to do with the book is use it to learn about feeding the hungry. I am donating a portion of the profits of this book to Mazon, a Jewish response to hunger.

Finally, how else would I like people to use New Year at the Pier?  I’d love to hear that one of you gave this book to a friend as a way of finally apologizing about something that’s been bothering you for a long-long-long-long time.

Since today is Poetry Friday, I’ll like to end with a story and a poem about apologies:

Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels told me a story of a man who was sorry that he gossiped about someone.  The man went to his rabbi for help to him make it right.

“I can’t help you,” the rabbi said.
 “But I’m really sorry,” the man said. “I want to make it right.”
“You can’t make it right.” the rabbi said.
“But why?” the man asked.
“Go get me a knife and a feather pillow,” the rabbi said.
The man brought back a pillow. The rabbi stabbed the feather pillow and shook out all the feathers, throwing them to the winds.
“There are some things that can never be put back together the way they were.  A situation can be changed through apology, but it cannot be undone,” said the rabbi.

I’M SORRY
by April Halprin Wayland

I ripped your pillow.
Your favorite pillow.
Filled with feathers.
Was it your father’s?

You ran out crying.
So I am trying
to find each feather
and put it back.

The wind is blowing,
the feathers going
out the window
all over the yard

This fixing pillows
is very hard.

© April Halprin Wayland

Open Heart Surgery—Writing a Holiday Story

Happy Poetry Friday!

Today's poem and Writing Workout/Lesson Plan on writing a holiday story are at the bottom of this post.

There’s always so much to do to launch a book. So much more than I’ll ever do. I have a file called “PR opportunities” which exhausts me just to scroll through.

Nap time!Luckily, NEW YEAR AT THE PIER--A Rosh Hashanah Story is powered both by the airy and emotionally true watercolor illustrations by Stéphane Jorisch, and by its association with a holiday. So though I am doing lots of PR, more people are approaching me for interviews and book signings than with past books.

So today’s advice? Write a holiday book!

Or maybe not. Keep reading.

When my first picture book, TO RABBITTOWN (Scholastic), came out, it was also stunningly illustrated (by Robin Spowart). It came out every Easter, which stuck me as funny, since I’m Jewish. It got a starred review in School Library Journal, went through many editions, became a paperback, stayed in print for eight years and sold over 64,000 copies.

That was pretty cool, but because it was my first book, much of that miracle was lost on me. I didn’t understand the amazing goldness of a starred review in SLJ, didn’t know that a publisher doesn’t normally take out an ad to promote a book, didn’t know that picture books were going out of print within two years.

When my next book, THE NIGHT HORSE (Scholastic) went out of print before anyone knew it was on the shelves, I took notice…to put it mildly.

There were lots of factors, of course. But it was clear to me that a book which had a handle—like a holiday—might have a longer shelf-life. So I asked my local independent children’s bookstore owner what holiday books she wished she had.

Ground Hog’s Day, she said.

With scrunched forehead and clenched jaw, I put on my mining hat, carried my heavy pick, and went to work on a Ground Hog’s Day story. I tried—I really did. But I wasn’t even sure what a ground hog looked like. And I’m a native Southern Californian—I couldn't understand why anyone would care if winter lasted longer. So the story? Flat.

Ten years later, an editor asked me if I had any Jewish stories. I immediately began to describe tashlich, a joyous, communal ritual during the Jewish New Year. I told her about the families gathered on the beach, the moving, melodic songs we sing as we troop up the pier, the goose-bumpy spiritual aura around us as we toss pieces of bread into the ocean, cleaning the slate for the New Year.

I began writing it immediately, heatedly, jumping up and down, singing Avinu Malkenu, dancing around the story, trying to get the right angle. I could write this story because I got chills when I thought about tashlich.

I think it’s called emotional honesty.

So here’s what I’ve learned. Would it be a good idea to write a holiday story? Yes…if you can’t wait to share the way you celebrate it (or avoid it, which might be an interesting spin on a holiday…). If you can barely restrain yourself from running out of the house this very minute and bopping passersby on the head with your story or dressing them up, painting their faces, taking their hands and leading them to the tent where you celebrate your holiday.

Then—congratulations! You’ve found that warm-homemade-bread-pesto-avocado-deliciousness of your story.

Writing Workout/ Lesson Plan (cleverly disguised as a poem): Writing A Holiday Story

WRITING A HOLIDAY STORY
by April Halprin Wayland

Lead us
to your backyard in the dark.
Light those red candles.

Sit us down
in your grandfather’s rattan chair
on the grass.

Bring us
that steaming rice dish.
Put a fork in our hands.

Sing us the song.
Now teach us the words
so we can sing along.

(c) April Halprin Wayland

And please--don't make this writing sandbox of ours into work, as I did for so many years with that mining hat and heavy pick. Write with joy!All images by April Halprin Wayland