A WWW for EVERY day of the year!

                                                        (Morgue Files/www.essentiallymom.com)

I began 2013 with a BOLD move:  I bought an iPhone5.

Finally I was joining the technologically-savvy-and-cellular-device-connected Human Race!

I could hear my Luddite heart quicken as I studied the icons, thumbed my keyboard, clicked on images. 
But soon, like everyone around me, I too was finger-swiping screens like there was no tomorrow.

My 3-year-old grandson had fortified my courage.

A week earlier, within 3 hours of being introduced to his family’s Christmas present – i.e the iPad, I’d watched him arrive at Level 4 of Angry Birds and pout when his fingered launches failed to earn 3 stars.
 
The aforementioned grandson also inspired my newest August, 2013 Sleeping Bear Press release TXTNG MAMA TXTNG BABY which brings 2day’s Techy-Techy World to the sturdy pages of the ultimate hand-held device: the baby board book.

So it’s only fitting that I end this Life-changing year by offering up as my Wednesday Writing Workout the app I purchased yesterday  - Day One, a simple journaling platform that allows the user to “record and preserve memories for the long term.”

Of course, we all know the value of journaling.

And now, I can journal anywhere, and post a Selfie of me journaling, to boot!

The Good News is: If – I – can use DayOne, anyone can. J

To start a new entry, I simply click the +sign at the top left of my screen. A new post opens.  I can type away, adding text, photos, locations, the weather, the day and date of course, even music and tags.  The app connects with the cloud; it synchs in with other Apple devices (none of which I own yet); it’s totally searchable and entries can be downloaded as a PDF and printed out later.

The Chicago Tribune headline that introduced me to my newest daily journal says it all:

when it comes to writing every day, recording daily thoughts, ideas, adventures, you-name-it, “Day One app (is) a good place to start.”

Try journaling in the New Year.

Enjoy! Enjoy!

Esther Hershenhorn

 

The DayOne blog offers up a multitude of journaling possibilities, whether you own an iPhone, another brand’s notebook or even choose to journal your day the old-fashioned-way, with a notebook and pen or pencil.

Check out the app's website  for thoughts on why and what to journal.

Reading through the DayOne list of uses will turn on all sorts of light bulbs to get you writing about your day, every day, Sunday through Saturday, in an easy, focused yet creative manner.

Think about your:

movie log
food log
travel log
photo log
idea log
work journal
word processor
Baby Book
Family conversations
Routines
Scenes from your novel
RESOLUTIONS (!)
Even your Dear Santa letter – it’s not too late!

(And who’s to say you can’t journal as your character?)

Priming the Writing Pump

    As long as I have lived in Georgia, (eleven years now), the state has suffered from drought. I don't remember what a green lawn looks like.  My yard (and everyone else's) has turned cornflake brown, with lots of bald spots. Lake levels have dropped until people with "lakefront homes" now have "mud front homes." Fourth of July often includes a ban on fireworks.  Even sparklers feel hazardous when everything around you has turned to kindling.

    The writing life has it's dry spells, too.  We all have them, even though we don't like to admit it.  After all, we are writers. This is what we do.We are supposed to be endless founts of creativity. We are "supposed" to write every day. When we don't, we feel guilty. OK, I feel guilty.  For me, not writing is in the same league with not working out and eating junk food.  A few days of not writing and I come down with a bad case of brain fog.

    My first experience with a dry writing well came at the end of my MFA program at Vermont College. After two years and four drafts,  I thought I had finished Yankee Girl. (Wrong. I had another two years and three drafts to go.) Feeling very pleased with myself I jumped right into a new novel.  I had a setting and some characters so I thought I was good to go.  I wrote the first couple of chapters and sent them off to my faculty mentor, Randy Powell for critique.

   Randy made his usual cogent comments on the writing, but ended his last letter with a comment I thought odd at the time. Sometimes, after a big project like Yankee Girl, he wrote, it's good to let the creative well refill. What was he talking about?

   A year and another "finished" novel later, I figured out what he meant.  I had three hundred pages of writing; I didn't have three hundred pages of a novel.  I'd pushed myself to write a novel, when I really didn't have a novel in me at the time.  Sigh. Fortunately, by then I was working with an editor on yet another revision of Yankee Girl. From those three hundred pages (which are still lurking in  my hard drive) I learned to let a story simmer on a back burner awhile. Writing Yankee Girl drained me, emotionally and creatively. I should have given myself some time off. I should have let my well refill, as Randy had suggested.

    However, time off can turn into goofing off.  You can't just sit around waiting for rain to refill your well.  The trick is to keep writing, keep priming the pump until you get your mojo back.

    I should know. I am halfway through my current work-in-progress.  For a variety of reasons, I am too creatively pooped out to do the story justice, right now.  So what am I doing?

   Writing this blog, for one thing. Knowing that I will be talking to you all every other Monday has kept me going.  I am also lucky enough to have a series of Young Writer's Workshops lined up for this school year.  Working with students always energizes me.

   But what if you don't write a blog or have a continuous supply of workshops and school visits to keep you sharp?   What if you don't have the time or energy to journal for even fifteen minutes?

   Writer's Workout I try to find at least three things every day that I want to write in my journal. Three things that make me stop and think, or that bring back specific memories. If I am not writing, at least I'm keeping my observation skills sharp.  At the same time, I am adding "water" to the well. Priming the pump. (I promise that is the last time I will use that expression in this post!)

     Here are some of random entries in the "three things" section of my journal:

     Adult in a clown suit and full make-up, waiting for a city bus at eight in the morning

    A butterfly garden

    Sisters nine months apart who quarrel constantly

    "Take the Long Way Home" by Supertramp

     Canine siblings

     What is it like to be an Olympic athlete at the closing ceremony?

     All of these things triggered my curiosity.  Will I remember them if I don't jot them down in my journal?  Of course not.  Do I have time to write a full journal entry about them? No.  But making myself observe three things a day, keeps my writer's sensory circuits open. It's the writer's equivalent of taking a ten minute walk in place of a full work out.  This daily exercise keeps me from drying up and giving up. I will continue to write down my "three things a day."  Eventually I will discover that drop by drop, my well has refilled.

   Here's to ending the drought!

   Don't forget about our current Mystery Guest Teaching Author Book Giveaway

   Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

   

Ham the Ham

First things first:

Don't forget our second blogiversary critique giveaway! Details at:

http://teachingauthors.com/2011/04/our-second-blogiversary-critique.html


And enter our book giveaway for Mary Ann's new release, Camp K-9!

Good luck!

***

So... momentous moment in our household of writer types! My four-year-old wrote his first note the other day – unprompted and perfect.

[Translation: “I luv Kate.”]

You wouldn’t know it from all the fighting heard around our house this weekend, but hey.

In fact, Patrick is currently in a phase (I hope) in which at least 20% of what he says is completely made up. I asked him to describe a book he read the other day, and the fantastical account that I got led me to believe that he either A) has no idea what he read or B) decided he could make up a much better story. (After enduring a zillion easy readers about ‘nibs’ and ‘vats’ and all manner of CVC words that mean little to preschoolers, I am pulling strongly for the latter.)

His elder sister, on the other hand, is mostly a staunch realist these days (apart from the occasional game of Superhero and her steadfast belief that someday she will indeed fly). She brought home from kindergarten this week the most perfect writing assignment of all time.

Ham is a (stuffed) English Bulldog. He comes with his own carrying case, bone, leash, collar, bedtime books, and journal. He goes home with a different student each weekend and comes back to school with a full report on his weekend activities.

Because we are one of the last families to have Ham (and boy, have I heard about that!), we had the privilege of reading most of Kate's classmates’ tales. These were generally factual accounts peppered with some fun leaps of faith: Ham misses the teacher. Ham enjoyed a mac and cheese dinner. Ham made a puddle on the floor (three, in fact).

The delicate melding of fact and fiction is, let's be honest, something we do in our lives every day. How often do we embellish, do we add or remove detail to make our point most effectively? Creative non-fiction and biographically based fiction (“write what you know”) have a lot more in common than we might like to admit.

I always tell my students that the fact. vs. opinion vs. fiction dichotomy is more of a continuum -- much blurrier than we often realize.  Into which category, for example, does The Bible fall?

When I wake up from a hazy dream – as occurs frequently since I can’t remember my last uninterrupted night of sleep – and later can’t remember whether something was real or a figment of my imagination – if I were anyone but a writer, I might think I was losing my mind. As a writer, I think -- good! My unconscious is working on a story for me!

Writing Workout
 
1. Write a 250-word account of an event that's happened to you within the last 24 hours.
 
2. Change one specific detail to make your story more vivid or interesting.
 
3. Finally, keep a nugget of truth from your story and rewrite the whole thing so that it's almost entirely fictional.
 
Which is your favorite version?

Happy National Day on Writing!

Today is the second annual National Day on Writing. Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), it's a day to celebrate writing in its many forms. Why? According to the NCTE flier:

"Because we, as a nation, are writing like never before—through text messages and IMs, with video cameras and cell phones, and, yes, even with traditional pen and paper. Whether it is done in a notebook or on a blog, writing, in its many forms, has become daily practice for millions of Americans."

As part of the celebration, we TeachingAuthors are addressing the question: "Why do I write?" In the series kickoff post, JoAnn shared how she writes "to remember and to uncover the truth—not only in stories but also in me." Then on Monday, Mary Ann described how she writes "to figure things out." I write for the same reasons. But when I thought about my answer to the question "Why do I write?" the first thing that came to mind was a quote from novelist Padgett Powell:

"I knew I was supposed to be a writer; I had made that declaration in the closet of my soul." 

When I first read these words, they struck an immediate chord in me, in part because my earliest writing was done in a closet. Literally. I was around 12 or 13 years old at the time, and struggling with the turbulence of adolescence combined with family discord. Something deep within told me I needed to write, but I had to do it in secret. Since I shared a room with my younger sister, I had very little privacy. So after she fell asleep at night, I sat on the floor of our bedroom closet with the door shut, writing under the light of a bare 40-watt bulb. I wrote page after page, trying to make sense of my feelings and my life. Writing became my life preserver.
 

Over 25 years after my closet-writing days, I came across Padgett Powell's words in Susan Shaughnessy's Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations for Writers. Like books of spiritual meditations, each page of Walking on Alligators contains a quote followed by several paragraphs of reflection. At the bottom of each page, Shaughnessy shares a suggestion for action or a question to ponder.

In her reflection on Powell's words, Shaughnessy says:

"You don't 'become a writer' because others say that you have written well.
You become a writer when you tell yourself that this is what you are.
If you have fundamental self-honesty, you will then write. You will carry out the activity you have linked with your deepest identity."

And that is, at least in part, why I write: because it is an activity that I have linked with my "deepest identity." What started out as a way to deal with adolescent angst has evolved into a creative outlet for me. I admit that there are times when I get frustrated with the publishing world, and consider giving up fiction writing. But I can't imagine living without writing. It's too much a part of me.

What about you? Why do you write?

Writing Workout

Celebrating National Day on Writing

Why not celebrate today by writing your own piece in honor of the National Day on Writing? Then contribute it to the National Gallery of Writing. Perhaps you'll share your own essay on "why I write." Or you can submit a story, poem, recipe, email, blog post, even audio, video, or artwork. See details here for instructions on submitting your piece. After your done, please come back and post a comment about it.

 

Blogosphere Buzz

• Want to keep the celebration going? Check out the National Day on Writing Live Webcast today between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. EDT. The event "will highlight local celebrations and compositions from the National Gallery of Writing. A wide range of authors and writers will be featured during the webcast."
• In an interesting coincidence, blogger Catherine Denton also talks about Padgett Powell's quote this week on her blog, Winged Writer.
• This week, Newbery-medalist Sharon Creech talks about how she uses her writer's notebook on her blog, Words We Say. She even shares photos of her doodles!
• Our thanks to blogger Christie Wright Wild for honoring the TeachingAuthors with the "The One Lovely Blog Award" on her Write Wild blog today.

Happy National Day on Writing and Happy Writing!

Carmela

"Oh Good Grief, Mary Ann"

     Why do I write? Boy, what an easy topic. I can rip this blog off while watching Court TV and eating a tuna sandwich.
    Or so I thought. I had such lofty thoughts about The Muse and such. Yet, there was something vaguely familiar about them. And not familiar in a good way. Like in a plagiaristic kind of way.
     Then I realized who was being so philosophical in my head. Peanuts. Charles Schulz's Peanuts. Snoopy who fancies himself a writer (don't we all?). Linus, the thumb-sucking, blanket-dragging philosopher. And of course, Lucy the Critic. I have always been a huge Peanuts fan, but to admit they inspired me to write...well, then I'd also have to admit that I took my blankie with me to college. (Seriously.)
     Couldn't I at least claim Eudora Welty as my muse? She lived several blocks from my elementary school and I often saw her around town. I could. . .but it wouldn't be true.  However, once I got over my writing pretensions, I found my artistic connection to Charlie Brown and all the rest.
     The daily Peanuts strips were among the first things I read as a child.  I read the other comic strips too, but I never mused over them for days and weeks the way I did Peanuts.  Somewhere around eighth grade (slow muser that I am) I figured out why Snoopy and Lucy and Linus seemed closer to me than most flesh-and-blood people.
     The Peanuts gang are small children. Schulz never says how old his characters are, but I assume they were somewhere in the K-2 range. What do kids that age do? Ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. So do the Peanuts characters. Oh sure, there is usually a punchline, but a lot of deep and even religious questions appear before the tree eats Charlie Brown's kite( again), or Snoopy steals Linus's blanket.
    When I re-read my third grade journal, I see that I was asking questions, and trying to find my own answers.  This sort of soul searching evolved from simple question and answer format to the way I write today. I write to figure things out. (And I could have said that about 250 words ago.)
      Mostly, I use my stories and journals to work out the kinks in my own life.  For instance, Jimmy's Star began as a journal entry in which I was trying to figure out why something that had happened to me at age eight still enraged me as an adult. Now understand that my original incident doesn't appear at all in Jimmy. But in my journal, I wrote my way through that eight-year-old's rage, and discovered the true name and nature of this emotion.
      Yankee Girl began as a not-very-good memoir, and ended up as a catharsis. After I finished that one, I truly felt as if I had toted bags and bags of memories and emotions and thrown them in the Dumpster. Those characters and events are based in reality, so it really was like taking out the mental trash I'd been hauling around for forty plus years.
    Why do I write? To figure out life (good luck with that one, MA!) To get rid of my own demons and to honor the beautiful spirits I've had in my life. In every one of my books, I am still trying to help five or seven or eleven-year-old Mary Ann understand why things are. The funny thing is that just as you know Charlie Brown will never get his kite to fly, I see the same questions asked and answered over and over in my work. Charlie and I have had a lot of kites consumed by that kite-eating tree, but we keep trying. Wondering. Hoping. Trying to figure it out.
Posted by Mary Ann Rodman
  

Letting Your Characters Have Their Say

This is the last post in our series on journaling. The series was inspired by my interview with Karen Romano Young, author of Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles--a book about a girl who combines doodling and writing together in her journal. The novel is, in essence, one character's journal.

Like Mary Ann, I've kept journals and diaries since I was a girl. However, it wasn't until graduate school that I stumbled on the idea of keeping a journal from a character's point of view. While working on the first draft of my novel, Rosa, Sola, I was also reading Finding Your Writer's Voice by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall. I decided to try completing the writing exercises in the book from Rosa's point of view. I hoped the process would help me find Rosa's voice, and it did.

Rosa's Journal

Later, when I decided the novel would work better with a third-person-limited viewpoint, "Rosa's journal" became an important tool for keeping close to my character. Whenever the writing became distant, I would take out the journal and turn to a fresh page. At the top, I would write a question for Rosa. Here are a few examples:

• Rosa, how did you feel the first time you saw AnnaMaria's baby brother?
• Rosa, do you believe your father loves you?
• Rosa, what do you really want?

After writing the question, I shut my eyes and imagined what it must have felt like to be Rosa, a ten-year-old only child of Italian immigrants living on the north side of Chicago in the 1960s. I opened my eyes and pretended I was Rosa as I wrote a first-person answer to the question at the top of the page.

I learned a great deal about Rosa via her journal. To my surprise, I was also able to use it to solve plot problems. For example, when I was stuck in a scene, I'd turn to the journal and ask Rosa, "What happened next?" To my amazement, she answered!  

I was in the midst of revising the novel when I was reading another craft book: Judy Reeves' A Writer's Book of Days, which includes, among other things, a writing prompt for every day of the year. One of the prompts was: "She doesn't know . . . " At the time, I was having problems with the character of Rosa's father. So I decided to use the journal to let Rosa's father respond to the prompt. That's when I discovered that Rosa didn't know the motives behind her father's behavior. She also didn't know that, despite his actions, he really did love her. The insights from that journal entry helped me make him a more rounded, and more sympathetic, character.

Writing Workout

Create a journal where your characters can have their say.

• I prefer using a paper journal that I write in with a pen. Something about physically pushing the pen across the page allows me to connect with my characters in a different way than typing on a keyboard.
• The journal doesn't have to be expensive. It can be a simple spiral notebook or composition book. (These are on sale now for back-to-school!) 
• I also like personalizing the journal's cover. I typically paste a photograph that represents something important to the character, or that is an image of the character herself. 
• Use the journal to ask your character questions: What are her likes/dislikes? What is his biggest problem or fear? What does she REALLY want? and/or
• Let your characters respond to writing prompts from their points of view. You can do this for both your main character and important secondary characters. (See the Blogosphere Buzz below for more on finding writing prompts.) 

Blogosphere Buzz

• This week, I answered some questions about dealing with critique group jitters on my good friend Michelle Sussman's blog, Reading & Writing by Candlelight. Michelle will also be giving away a copy of Becky Levine's The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide this week, so be sure to enter for a chance to win by Tuesday, Aug. 17. And if you missed Esther's review of the book, you can still read it here.
• I also recently shared an inspiring quote on "Show and Tell Me," an online zine run by author Amy Timberlake. Check out the site to see fun quotes, photos, and artwork posted by children's authors and illustrators.
• Thanks to Sarah at the Slushbusters blog, I found out that the 2011 edition of the Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, which contains my article on group blogging, is now available. I have yet to get my hands on a copy, though. :-)
• For the month of August, award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson is again encouraging her blog readers to "Write Fifteen Minutes a Day" (WFMAD). To help, she's providing daily writing prompts. Read her first post explaining WFMAD here.
• Looking for more writing prompts? See the Writer's Digest blog Promptly.
• This week, the Tales from the Rushmore Kid blog features an interview with former editor Harold Underdown in which he shares tips for both published and unpublished writers regarding agents and promotion.

Happy writing!
Carmela

The Five Minute Journal

       I've kept diaries/journals since third grade.  Decades of journaling has left me with more notebooks and journals than I can count.  As a third grader, I figured out writers have to practice, like I had to practice piano. Unlike piano practice, which felt like an hour chained to the piano bench, writing practice was nothing but fun.  I wrote morning, noon and night, when I wasn't doing other things like oh, say, going to school, or later, going to work.
     I got married.  I kept journaling. I worked two jobs. I wrote during lunch and work breaks. Going a day without writing was like forgetting to brush your teeth. The world didn't end, but you had this feeling that something wasn't quite right.
     Then I had a baby, and my world did cartwheels. Now I had a baby, two jobs and a husband who traveled. A lot.  I was tired. A lot. I had read A Writer's Way.  Julia Cameron's voice whispered in my ear
You're not journaling. Writers journal.  Oh great. In addition to all the other things I fretted about, I coud add the voice of a woman I'd never met, nagging me to write.
      I wanted to write. But now, even when I had a spare ten minutes, the words didn't come. My words were like stale bread; dry, tasteless, crumbling. No wait. Make that  crummy. See, said my imaginary Julia, what happens if you don't journal.
      But I couldn't do everything.  If I only had an hour a day to write, I didn't want to spend it writing "Morning Pages." But I couldn't just sit down and write without some sort of warm-up.  And without my journal I was finding it hard to generate new ideas, stay enthused about writing. I was a Writing Burnout, and I hadn't sold a single sentence.  That was just sad.
      When I began working with young writers, we discovered we had a mutual problem;  journals. Me, because I had no time. The students were "victims" of a well-intentioned local curriculum that requires ten minutes of journaling first thing every morning, second through eighth grades. My students blanched at just the word journal.
      So we stopped journaling.  Now we observe and report.
     We keep a large notebook, which is our log, but we carry with us a pocket size notebook for reporting.  We have a standing assignment. Each day, my students and I record these three things.
       1. Something that makes you stop and go "Hunh?  I wonder what's up with that?"
       2.  An overheard piece of conversation that catches your ear. Yes, I encourage eavesdropping, but only in public places.
       3. Something that makes a strong sensory impression.
       That's it.  They aren't supposed to do anything with it. They don't draw story webs or brainstorms ten ideas they write about. Just the facts ma'am.
        Here are some examples of my students observations: a bright yellow Porsche parked in the driveway of a small shabby house with an unkempt yard.  A person (sex undetermined) in full clownsuit mode---red wig, floppy shoes and all---waiting at bus stop in the middle of a weekday afternoon. An unused baby swimming pool, now swarming with tadpoles.
      Overheard conversation include such memorable quotes as "Hey, you wanna piece of me?" "I am not leaving this bathroom until I find some mascara." "Peas do not belong in ears."
      Strong sensory impressions ranged from "the pain of having your braces adjusted" to "our neighbors' noisy parties" to "the taste of Grandma's Pizza Potpie.
      At the beginning of each session, I ask if anyone would like to share their observations. I never insist that someone share, but after hearing their friends observations, nearly everyone wants to share.

      Sometimes, the image is so thought-provoking that the group will spontaneously brainstorm on their own. If it happens, cool. If it doesn't, see the five exercises below.

                                                                    Writing Workout

  1.  Have the student choose one of their observations for a five-minute free write.

   2. Using one of the observations, the student will write about it, using all five senses in the description.

   3.  Have the students choose one of their five senses. and write using only that sense. They are not allowed to choose sight as their sense.

   4.  The students write from their observations, this time using all the senses except sight.

   5. Ninety-nine per cent of the time students write first person personal narratives. It's easier (I do it, too!)  Assign each student a particular character (the snob, the mom, the little sister, etc) and have them write the piece again, this time from the point of view of their new character. They can still write in first person, but now they are writing as mom, or an orthodontist, or an older brother.

     After each exercise, the students are then encouraged to share. When sharing generates enthusiasm resembling a pep rally. ("Hey why don't do you this?" "What if..." "And then he could..."), it's time to turn the hounds loose.

     Typically, I only need to use one or two of these exercises before students leap from straight description, to a story or a poem.

     My students come to a session, notebooks in hand, dying to "share."  Little do they know that "share time" is a spring board to writing in their logs." I call it "expanding your observation."You could also call it journaling.  I don't.

    This process has also worked for me, the writer. Jotting down a couple of things to expand on later takes the pressure (and guilt) away.  Julia Cameron is where she should be; between the covers of her books, and not in my head.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

Wherever I Go

I am lost without a notebook and pen. First thing in the morning, almost every morning, I grab a cup of coffee, a purple pen, and a spiral notebook. Morning Pages are my confessional, my pep talk, my to-do list, my way of working out priorities and possibilities. They often contain more writing about writing than actual writing, but on a good day, those pages turn into creative work or at least lead up to it. In between projects, when I’m feeling my way through the dark to begin something new, I dump what I can on paper and try to move forward. That’s where I am right now, peering into the void, hoping for a spark. Actually, that’s what I’ve been doing for much of this summer, slogging away, trusting that sooner or later, something worth my while will come of the scribbling.

Sometimes I write poems and picture books in spiral notebooks, too, and sometimes on loose leaf paper or legal pads. When an idea is burning in my brain, I grab whatever paper is closest and write as quickly as I can, from the beginning to as far as I can go. The next day, I start at the beginning again and write as far as I can, usually at least a little farther.

I carry a pocket notebook everywhere I go, whether I’m walking the dog, working in the yard or the kitchen, riding a bike, or even paddling a canoe. In those little notebooks, I might jot down one word, scribble an inspired thought, or tear through page after page. I also keep paper and pens next to my bed for the ideas that pop up in the middle of the night. I turn on a book light so I can decipher my writing in the morning.

Esther’s post reminded me of another journal I keep and really ought to update one of these days. It’s a Word file I call my Sent Mail Journal. In it, I paste copies of important e-mails I’ve written and sent, and then I delete them from my e-mail folder. For me, it’s an easy way to keep track of events and thoughts without having to write about them again.

From time to time, I pull out an old notebook and pore over the pages. Sometimes I see topics I’ve circled around for years. Sometimes an old idea fits perfectly with a new one. Sometimes I find things I don’t remember writing. I’m due for that project now: the notebooks are piling up, and I could use some fresh old ideas!

JoAnn Early Macken

P.S. Look for me today at Concordia University Wisconsin's Early Childhood Literacy Festival on the Lake!

A page from the journal of...

August 4, 2010
So,
I’m supposed to be posting today about writers and their journals.
What exactly do I want to say - or even show - after thinking about this topic for the past seven days?
Hmmmm…
Probably that

(1) I personally journal to figure out Stuff. MY Stuff.
 Sometimes, I have a question that needs answering or a quandary that needs clarifying (and I don’t
 even know it).
Other times an issue begs for daylight.
I probe my heart, mind, soul and gut, spilling words onto the page as I write in the moment.

(2) My journal entries are for my eyes only.
For my ears too, actually, because I’m speaking non-stop.
(I love how my journal lets me hear my own voice.)

(3) My journal ISN’T my Writer’s Notebook, in which I live as a writer, growing and crafting and  
polishing a story.

(4) My prompts vary,
from an astrological forecast for the coming month (“Your Moment has finally arrived…”)
to a passage from a newspaper book review,
(“When something is broken, it can be pieced back  together. It might look and feel a lot  
  different than it did in its original incarnation, but there’s strength in moving forward.”)
from a painful situation, an intentional hurt,
to a Random Act of Kindness or one of Misfortune.
An email from a friend. (“Remember me? Long time no see...")
A card from my son. (“Thanks for remembering…”)
A bit of gossip overheard.
A long-standing “To Do” list.
Maybe something or someone made me feel proud,
or angry,
or determined,
or hopeful,
and I want to know why.
Sometimes I simply type the lyrics to a song I can’t stop singing. ("I just haven't met you yet!")
Often I simply write a Gratitude List.
A friend gifted me with a book – “Write It Down! Make It Happen!”
Those two simple directives continue to prompt journal entries galore.
I love to journal conversations I’ve had,
or words I wish I’d spoken,
Wouldda-Shouldda-Couldda’s.
I’m Sorry’s.
Lost promises.

(5) My journal writing times vary too.
I might go weeks in between entries, or even once or twice, months.
Morning time.
Lunch time.
Bedtime.
In the middle of the night.
I follow no set schedule or time of day.

(6) Since 1996, my computer has been my vessel, my vehicle, my leather-bound journal, so to speak.
Forget those gorgeous hand-made volumes I use for Writer’s Workshops and Conferences.
When it comes to recording my very own story,
I click on New Document.
I date the entry.
I type my prompt.
Then I writewritewrite ‘til my fingers stop. (“So there!” I usually say.)
Finally, I save the document in a yellow computer file named JOURNAL.

(7) I love re-reading my earlier journal entries!
How else can I know how far I’ve come (or not) if I don’t know from whence I started?
I celebrate each New Year by reading previous posts written around the same time of year.
I mark Key Anniversaries by doing the same.

(8) I also love reading other people’s journals, especially those of writers.
A recent favorite?
Phyllis Theroux’ The Journal Keeper, A Memoir (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2010)
A long-ago favorite?
Paula Graham's Speaking of Journals (Boyds Mills Press, 1999)
(Interviews with children's book authors Bruce Coville, Marian Dane Bauer, Jack Gantos and
  20-some other notable authors, with excerpts from their Journals)
A little-known journal I discovered via research and use with Young Writers?
Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals (Roberts Brothers, 1889)

(9) I’ve been known to create journals for my characters. I choose an interesting font, adjust the type  
size, give the entry a meaningful prompt that usually addresses motivation or plot, and just like that, a
character lives and breathes, speaking on the page, opening his or her heart the way I open mine.

(10) Dare I share my current work-in-progress utilizes a journal for its format and structure? :)

That should do it, along with my Good Wishes.

I’ll likely end with,
      “Happy Journal Writing – whenever, wherever, however, whatever!”

So there!

       Esther Hershenhorn

p.s.
Don't forget to remind readers about TeachingAuthors’ latest book giveaway for Karen Romano Young’s intriguing graphic novel about a girl who keeps a doodles-and-writing journal, Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles. The entry deadline is TODAY - 11 pm (CST) Wednesday, August 4, 2010!

p.p.s
Maybe mention that Phyllis Theroux's journal website offers a video with journal-keeping advice - "If you want to keep a journal... "

On Not Keeping a Writing Journal

As a kid, I took flute lessons for many years.  I was supposed to practice nightly.  I think once or twice per week was the best I ever managed.  The part I dreaded most was always the scales -- chromatics, thirds, "long tones."  I always hurried through to get to the "real music." 

As an adult, I play only for fun.  My competence level is probably about what it was when I was in seventh grade.  I haven't attempted scales since, and I can't say I've missed them.

I think of keeping a writing journal as the writer's equivalent of a musician's disciplined practice routine.  Unfortunately, "discipline" and "routine" are problematic concepts for me and have been all my life.  Right now, I am teaching an online class; I have an article due on Monday; I have a full-time job; I have two kids whose favorite word most days seems to be "Mommy." Writing time is precious. Some days I fall into bed too tired to brush my teeth.  (Thus, I'm sure, my long chronicle of dental woes.) 

I know that disciplined writing practice outside of my current projects is simply not going to occur.  Unlike flute-playing, at least I do write all day long.  If my writing "muscles" aren't well limbered by emails, thank-you notes, and the 20-page outline (or two) that I write weekly, then spilling out words in a rough draft can count as my morning (or, more likely, late-night) pages.

In high school English, we were required to keep daily writing journals for two years.  While sometimes the process was therapeutic, I was never moved to voluntarily continue the practice.  I was not a child who had a diary, who enjoyed corresponding with pen pals, or who did a good job of keeping in touch with my farflung fellow military brats.

Now I keep an open idea file on my computer filled with vaguely indecipherable notes, scraps of character descriptions and plot outlines for about a dozen different projects.  Such is my "system."  Could it be better?  Surely.  But as I tell my students, the process is highly individualized -- do what feels comfortable and refine as you go along.  I'm hanging in there, and that's about the best I can do.

Speaking of writing journals, don't forget about TeachingAuthors’ latest book giveaway for Karen Romano Young’s intriguing graphic novel about a girl who keeps a doodles-and-writing journal, Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles. Entry deadline is 11 pm (CST) Wednesday, August 4, 2010. If I did keep a writing journal, I know it would be full of doodles (and I can't draw!). And if I could enter this contest, I so would. I can't wait to read this book! 



   

Out & About at SCBWI...and Why Does She Keep Two Journals?!?

Hi, Gang!
A quick reminder about TeachingAuthors’ latest book giveaway for Karen Romano Young’s intriguing graphic novel about a girl who keeps a doodles-and-writing journal, Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles.  Entry deadline is 11 pm (CST) Wednesday, August 4, 2010. For details, read this post.

More about keeping a journal in a minute.

OUT AND ABOUT 
But first...I’m at the SCBWI’s 39th Annual International Summer Conference in my home state of California! (TeachingAuthors’ very own Esther Hershenhorn is featured on the first web page about the conference with her timeless article, Confessions and Secrets of a Veteran SCBWI Conference-Goer!)  2010 is SCBWI's biggest year ever, with over a thousand attendees!

The photo is from SCBWI's website...it's actually from the annual Winter Conference...but you get the idea: big, enthusiastic crowd!

This is the ninth year I’ve critiqued manuscripts.  Wow.  I AM old!  I love having this unique role at the conference.  Each attendee who pays extra and submits a manuscript ahead of time is given a half hour slot during the conference.  They are escorted (some on trembling legs) into a long room where there are more than fifty members of the faculty sitting across tables, talking quietly with writers about their manuscripts.

Critiquing means you have lots of work before the conference.  It takes me at least an hour--sometimes two--to write the critique I give each of the ten or so writers I'm assigned.

My favorite part is having a full half hour to talk with each person about their work.  As we’ve just read in the last few posts on critique groups, you walk a fine line…you want to encourage…and you also want to help make that manuscript the best it can possibly be.  You do NOT want to squash the person’s fragile ego like a bug on the sidewalk.  That’s easy to do!

I do my best to follow Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford's suggestions: "PQP -- Praise, Question, Polish.   Start with praise.  Always.  There's something good you can find.  Somewhere.  Always. Usually you can find a way to end on an encouraging note, as well. In between, be constructive, be specific, and offer suggestions."

Be gentle!  That's the writer's heart...

Luckily no one gives me suggestions about the entries in my journals...not that either of them is private.  As I wrote in a previous post about journaling, “Do I still keep a journal?  You betcha.  I’ve been emailing it to a dear friend, one day at a time, for years—I call it my blog with one reader.  And she actually reads it.  Now that’s a friend!”

That's the journal I call my news journal, and satisfies the journalist in me.  But something was missing.  The artistic flying-squirrel-crazed-angel part of me didn’t have a platform.  Where were my poems, my colors, my thoughts that didn’t march in a logical procession? 

When I took the Poem-A-Day Challenge in April of 2010, I wrote and posted a poem each day for the month of April.

That challenge forced me to put poetry among the top three priorities in my life (The other two?  Health and family).  A writer is SUPPOSED to make writing a top priority …but this?  This was like pouring jet fuel into my poetry paper airplane!

So even though the official Poem-A-Day Challenge ended on April 30th, I’ve kept a daily poetry journal, in which I write one poem a day, ever since.  I email each poem to one of my best friends, author Bruce Balan, who is sailing around the world in his trimaran named Migration (named for his picture book, The Cherry Migration.)  Right now he’s in Tonga.  How cool is that?

Here’s the exercise about keeping a journal which I assign to my students at UCLA Extension.  It’s from this post.

“Write a one-minute journal each day.  Take only one minute to record the thing you most want to remember about that day.   It can be weighty—that your friend passed the bar exam, for example.  But it could be that one moment—seeing the long slant of the sun on a skateboarder as she skated past.”

Go ahead.  Attack a fresh page--with words and/or doodles--for one minute.  You’ll be glad you did.

And of course, write with joy.        

Drawings (c) by April Halprin Wayland

Book Giveaway and Guest Teaching Author Interview with Karen Romano Young

Today I'm pleased to introduce you to our guest TeachingAuthor:
  Karen Romano Young. I met Karen at the American Library Association convention when it was last held in Chicago. (Could it be a year ago already?) When Karen told me about her book, Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles, (Feiwel & Friends) I knew I wanted to interview her for our TeachingAuthors blog. Well, Doodlebug came out this month, and we're pleased to help Karen celebrate its release. See below for information on how you can enter to win an autographed copy! And be sure to read the Blogosphere Buzz section at the end of this post for news of accolades for our blog and links to a couple of terrific resources.

Karen Romano Young is the author of more than 20 books for young people, and the illustrator of three. Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles is her first graphic novel. She is also a deep-sea diver and science writer--she spent most of June on an icebreaker in the Arctic Circle! You can read about the trip in her guest posts at the blog Science+Story. Karen also blogs regularly at Ink: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids. Finally, to find out more about Karen, see her website.  And now for the interview:

Karen, how did you become a TeachingAuthor?
      The children’s librarian at my hometown public library asked me to lead a writing workshop for a group of particularly passionate sixth-graders.  The Young Writers’ Workshop was born!  It is still going strong.  Begun in a tiny conference room at the library, it moved to my studio barn and now is a traveling workshop, conducted for writers ranging in age (so far) from 6 to 80.  The sixth-graders are now graduating from college.  Among them are several who are published or going into publishing.

      In addition, I’m on the faculty of Western Connecticut State University as a mentor teacher in the MFA program, and have the pleasure of teaching dedicated and talented students. I’ve also mentored writers on a one-on-one basis, including Rutgers One-on-One, a conference that matches aspiring writers with authors and editors.

What's a common problem/question that your students have and how do you address it?
      One eternal question is the one about the writing that doesn’t come out the way you thought it would when you began it.  This is such a common experience for any artist, and I think knowing that you can expect it to happen can help you deal with it when it (inevitably) occurs.   We all think we’re alone as writers, and we’re all afraid of failure. One solution is to recognize that your work is going to come out differently; another is to accept that you’ll go through a process as a writer in which you continually evaluate your work, finding the strengths and weaknesses and, draft by draft, working to improve them.  My hope is that writers take that pressure they put on themselves (we all do) and turn it into energy to keep working on successive drafts until the proverbial tuning fork is still.

Would you share a favorite writing exercise for our readers?
      I like quick responses and questionnaires.  I have a “pop quiz” for first time workshoppers with questions such as “Would you rather be hated or feared?” and “Polar bears or penguins?” or “What is today’s hairstyle called?”  These are nonthreatening, open-ended ways to spark people’s feelings that they are creative, original, and funny.  It also opens the discussion of how we writers compare ourselves to one another, and how we love an audience.  After the writers answer this quiz, we’ll share answers together – which also serves as an icebreaker.

      Another favorite is a blank sheet with a grumpy face on it (it’s actually Trina Schart Hyman’s Ugly Bird from Cricket magazine) that says “Just who do you think you are?” This can be a five-minute quick write, and has led to some great work from writers. They write from their own points of view, or that of characters, and sometimes create a brand-new character. 

Can you tell us a bit about your new book, Doodlebug, and how you came to write and illustrate it?
     In Doodlebug,  Dodo discovers journaling and drawing together, and uses them to tell her story, in which she tries to deal with classroom attention issues by drawing, and finds her own place in a new city and school.  The result is Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles. Take a look at Doodlebug and you’ll see that the whole book is handwritten and hand-doodled.  There is barely any print-type text in it at all, just maybe in the copyright pages.  It’s fun and funny and really heartfelt, and I absolutely love doing a novel this way.

     I have been writing letters to my friend Noonie since college – lots of years! – and she has always told me I should do something with the little drawings with captions and speech balloons that I include in my letters.  When I heard about some writers who were participating in March Novel Madness (in which you commit to write a novel in a month), I decided to take a stab at doing a novel the way I used to write to Noonie.  If it stunk, it would only be a month wasted!  Instead, it turned into what I think is a fantastic way to write – by writing and drawing practically simultaneously – doodlewriting! 

So is it your actual handwriting in the book? How did you submit the manuscript to your editor? How did it being handwritten affect the editing process?
      Yes, it's my actual handwriting and doodles and block letters and crazy fonts and so on. Here's a sample page:

To see more doodle-writing samples, watch the YouTube clip at the end of this post.

I wrote/doodled the book in a couple of sketchbooks.  To submit it, I scanned it, printed it out, and bound it in a spiral, so that it still looked like a sketchbook.  When it was accepted by Feiwel & Friends, I had to send the actual sketchbooks in so they could scan them.  They still have them, under lock and key!

     There were just a few small edits -- a word changed, deleted, or moved here or there. At one point I sent in some additional stuff that got photoshopped in -- things like the name "San Francisco" and an exclamation point. :-)

Do you have any suggestions for teachers on how they might use Doodlebug in the classroom?

     Certainly!  Using doodle-writing, I’ve been working with kids to show the elements of story, including character and dialogue in particular.  My Doodle-Writing workshops encourage kids to experiment with facial expressions,  classic cartooning symbols – as well as new ones they make up, layout, creative lettering, and much more.  The response is immediate, and deep. It’s easier for most kids to see a story visually – what makes a character, for example – than through words alone.  Kids are always drawing. Just about everyone I’ve had in a workshop has something or someone they draw all the time, and learning about that – and working with that – has led me to a new understanding of the power of kids’ creative force.  Drawing – and writing about drawing – opens a door into the real life inside everybody. (Teachers, be sure to check out the P.S. at the end of this post for links to info on doodle-writing with students.)

Would you share a funny (or interesting) story about a book signing?
      I’m NOT a shy person – except around children’s book people. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to write books for children – to be an ARTHUR, before I found out how the word was really spelled.  Children’s book authors are my rock stars, and I am truly terrified to meet some of them, because I am in so much awe.  Years ago I worked in the marketing department at Weston Woods, a studio that makes films of picture books.  At a Christmas dinner, I found myself sitting at a table with Robert McCloskey, the author of ONE MORNING IN MAINE, BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL, and MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS, among others.  I was speechless, awed into silence, and thank goodness my husband noticed that I was overcome and held up the conversation so I wouldn’t say something like “Did you really keep ducks in your bathtub?”

     It happened again at my first SCBWI conference, in New York City, where the keynote speaker was E.L. Konigsburg. Naturally her line for book sales and signings was the longest, and as I waited, I kept stepping backward each time my part of the line neared her table. Finally I was the last person in the line. I don’t know if you know Konigsburg, but she is pretty sharp, and she must have noticed what I was doing.  And I had noticed exactly what she had written in most people’s books, which were mostly paperbacks – something nice, but short.  When she finally got to me and my hardcover FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES, she looked into my eyes, then wrote a truly lovely little note wishing me all the best in whatever I was trying to do.

     I am not quite cured.  At several conferences, I was near enough to rub elbows with Brian Selznick, author of  THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, but just couldn’t pull off introducing myself – even though I certainly watched plenty of other brave souls do it!  At last I arrived at ALA, where Horn Book editor-in-chief Roger Sutton was doing one of his short interviews. Sutton asked Selznick how the response to HUGO had changed his writing. Selznick’s answer: it had made him realize that the place he was in while writing HUGO (a place of great fear and trepidation) was where he should be as a writer.  That rang true to me – it was where I had lived the whole time I was writing DOODLEBUG – and touched my heart so that no matter how many other people introduced themselves to Selznick after that, I stuck around until at last it was my turn. I told him I had been walking around him for a year or two, and that his comment had finally given me courage to talk to him and to thank him for what he’d said.  He was so nice. I guess, after all, writers are human.  But please – don’t ask me to talk to Sendak. 

Thanks for your detailed responses to my questions, Karen. After reading about your new book, I'm sure our readers will want to read it as much as I do.

Readers, to enter our drawing for an autographed copy of Karen Romano Young's Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles, you must follow these Entry Rules:

1. You must post a comment to today's blog post telling us why you'd like to win a copy of Karen's book. 
2. You must include contact information in your comment. If you are not a blogger, or your email address is not accessible from your online profile, you must provide a valid email address in your comment. Entries without contact information will be disqualified. Note: the TeachingAuthors cannot prevent spammers from accessing email addresses posted within comments, so feel free to disguise your address by spelling out portions, such as the [at] and [dot].
3. You must post your comment by 11 pm (CST) Wednesday, August 4, 2010. (The winner will be announced on Thursday, August 5.)
4. You must have a mailing address in the United States.
5. If you win, you automatically grant us permission to identify you as a winner on our TeachingAuthors website.  

For more information on our winner selection/notification process, see our official giveaway guidelines.

Blogosphere Buzz

• Hurrah for us! Our TeachingAuthors blog has been named to a list of "Top 10 Blogs for Writing Teachers." And we're in among some impressive company! You can read the complete list at the OnlineDegrees.org website. There is, however, a small error in the description of our blog. Instead of:
  "Six authors of children’s books who also write run this blog . . ."
  it should say: "Six authors of children’s books who also TEACH run this blog . . ." As our readers know, we are all writing teachers as well as published authors.
• Alexis O'Neill has launched SchoolVisitExperts.com, a new blog filled with tips and resources for children's authors and illustrators. Alexis is indeed a school visit expert. If you're a published or soon-to-be-published author, you'll want to bookmark her site and visit it often. As Alexis says: "The first challenge is to get a book published.  The next challenge is to keep it published.  And children’s authors and illustrators who have an active school visit schedule not only build fans for life, but they also sell books and can keep backlist titles in print for years."
• Lee Wind recently posted a terrific interview with award-winning author M. T. Anderson, who will be the morning keynote speaker at the SCBWI conference this Friday. Check out what Anderson says about voice, "branding," and writing fantasy. 

Whew! I think that's all for today.
Happy Writing!
Carmela

P.S. After completing this blog post, I discovered that Karen has lots of great resources related to Doodlebug here on her website. And check out the following YouTube clip to learn more about doodle-writing. 

Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day!

No matter how you came to this blog post today, by chance,

by intention,

or simply by Good Luck,

may I be the first to wish you Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day!

Yes, you read that right: February 17 is Random Acts of Kindness Day.

Not to worry if you didn’t know this fact.

I know I didn’t, until I turned to today’s date in my copy of Eileen and Jerry Spinelli’s newest book, today I will (Knopf, 2009).

I’d been savoring the moment (translate: assigned blog posting date and subject matter) to kindly share this newly-published small but useful and inspiring book with TeachingAuthors readers and writers.

Today’s post became that random moment.

How perfect is that!

I ardently believe in Paying Kindness Forward.

I practice it daily.

I believe in Good Karma.

So consider this introduction to the Spinellis’ book my February 17 Act of Kindness.

FYI: February 15 through 20 has been designated Random Acts of Kindness Week!
Googling left me thinking the Acts of Kindness Foundation was behind the designation.
No matter the Who, though, or even the How. I’m smiling and paying kindness forward to you.

I’d purchased the Spinellis’ book fully intending to use it as a journal-writing tool with my Young Writers.
The review blurb highlighted the book’s simplicity. In a single page entry for each day of the year, the Spinellis
(1) share a quote from a children’s book, referencing the title and author;
(2) reflect meaningfully on the quote;
(3) make a “today I will….” promise that relates to that reflection.
The February 17th quote?

“Kindness comes with no price” from Tongues of Jade by Laurence Yep.

The Spinellis’ reflection?
Talk is cheap but kindness is free. Why isn’t there more of it?!
Their promise?

"I’ll make sure February 17th lives up to its name. And it won’t cost me a penny!”

I love that the Spinellis used children’s books as their source of thought-provoking, heart-grabbing journal prompts.
The middle-page responses make perfect practice for students boning up for the reflective reading passages in any and all state achievement tests.
The “today I will…” promise makes the reader sit up straight, indeed stand up tall, to claim his reflection and translate it into action.

The quotes offer a wide sample of titles, from Alice Dalgliesh’s The Courage of Sarah Noble and Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting to Sarah Dessen’s Keep the Moon and Carolyn Mackler’s The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things.

The Big and Small topics range from Fear and Failure and Thinking about Others to Hope and Choices and Asking for Help.

The book’s turquoise back cover says it all:
“…look inside. Turn to today. And make a promise to yourself.”

Being kind to yourself is now downright doable, daily if not randomly, thanks to this small book.

And passing word of this Important Truth on to you, our readers?
I’m simply paying it forward…hoping you will do the same.

Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day!
Esther Hershenhorn

Writing Workout

Copying is the supreme compliment, yes?
So, why not create your own book of quotes, notes and promises to yourself!
Any book or writing vessel will do: a commercially-sold composition book or a purchased blank journal or diary, books with folded and gathered, pull-out or accordion-style pages. Leaf books. Shape books. Scroll books.

• At the top of each page, copy a favorite quote from a children’s book. Include the title, author, perhaps the character who spoke the words.
• In the middle of the page, respond thoughtfully to the quote. Why did it touch you? How did it speak to you? What do the words mean to who you are now? Do they inspire, encourage, comfort, acknowledge, advise, recommend, illuminate, give hope. You choose the verb and the accompanying emotion and memory.
• At the bottom of the page, make a real-and-doable promise based on your reflection. Now I will….
• Decorate front and back covers and/or personalize each page with an image or symbol.
• Gift yourself. Or gift another.

          Either way, it’s an act of kindness.