Progressive Poem for Progressive Poets--and our 9th Blogiversary!

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Howdy, Campers!

Happy National Poetry Month and Poetry Friday!  And Happy-Amazingness that we're celebrating TeachingAuthors' 9th Blogiversary--wowza!

As I wrote to our Founder, Coach, Computer Genius and Blogging Wizard, Carmela today: "I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that the universe reached all the way 'cross the country nine years ago and knocked on my door...

...it's been life-changing in many ways.  Thank you for starting it, thank you for captaining our ship."

Read Carmela's blogiversary post which includes JoAnn's terrific, short spring poem...then join in our combined Blogiversary/Earth Day celebration by passing along a book that helped you grow in your craft, or that was a favorite read aloud, or that you'd simply like to share with someone else.

April Halprin Wayland on World Book Night 2013,
giving away a book at Lawndale High School

JoAnn's perfect spring poem made me think of this quote (I cannot for the life of me find the rest of the poem--can you?) that makes my heart happy and my head swim:

I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face. ~ Langston Hughes
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Onward!  If you don't know what the Progressive Poem is, hop on over to Irene Latham's post. Okay...so now you understand this poetry game, right? Well. My line's due this Sunday and here's my current state of my mind:

PROGRESSIVE IDEAS ABOUT PROGRESSIVE POEMS

by April Halprin Wayland
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I'm supposed to contribute, I'm pregnant to post.

I'm due to distribute, I'll be Sunday's host.

My foot is a-tapping, my thoughts overlapping:

no, don't think ahead—you'll for sure be misled.

Perhaps the main actor's a scarecrow instead

of the seed which we started with

(now it's a monolith!)

But here is a thought:

take a breath, take a vow...

light a lemony candle

and just 

be here now.

Poem (c)2018 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

My line is due on Sunday. Wish me luck.

Here's Team Progressive Poem's posting schedule:

April 2018 ~ Progressive Poetry Contributors:

1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

2 Jane at Raincity Librarian

3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

4 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

5 Jan at bookseedstudio

6 Irene at Live Your Poem

7 Linda at TeacherDance

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales

12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

13 Linda at A Word Edgewise

14 Heidi at my juicy little universe

15 Donna at Mainely Write

16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle

17 Ruth at There is no such thing asa Godforsaken town

18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering

19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan

20 Linda at Write Time

21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

23 Amy at The Poem Farm

24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

28 Kat at Kat's Whiskers

29 April at Teaching Authors note: this link won't work until Sunday, April 27, 2018

30 Doraine at Dori Reads 

Be sure and visit Jama's Round-up of Events in the Kidlitosphere for National Poetry Month!  

And thank you, dear Irene, for hosting
the last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month 2018
at Live Your Poem!

PS: Before you go, share in the comments if you have a book you're planning to pass along in honor of our Blogiversary/Earth Day celebration!

posted with overflowing love to my sister TAs and with trepidation about you-know-what by April Halprin Wayland

YAY! for lucky accidents!

The Celebrate Oops! initiative we TeachingAuthors are currently exploring in our February posts celebrates both Barney Saltzberg’s picture book BEAUTIFUL OOPS! – and – the Teachable Moments accidents fortunately bring us.

I had such a fortunate Teachable Moment while brainstorming my picture book FANCY THAT with my Holiday House Editor Mary Cash.

I knew the setting – Berks County, Pennsylvania; I knew the time – 1841; and I knew my story’s Hero – young Pippin Biddle, orphaned without warning, the son of a limner - an itinerant portrait painter.

Mary agreed with me that such a picture book would be ripe with historical and arts curriculum connections.

My sketchy plotline was just that – i.e. sketchy: accompanied by his dog Biscuit, (whom I pictured to be lap-size), Pip would travel the Pennsylvania/New York area through the first 3 seasons of the year unsuccessfully earning his keep painting people’s portraits, returning at Thanksgiving with an empty purse and heart.

“But why would young readers care about such a boy on such a journey?” I asked my editor. 

“Well,” Mary began, “could he have a few sisters who needed Pip to earn his keep?” she asked.

Orphans, Mary shared, can be lovely in a story.
“And, maybe,” she suggested, “Pip’s dog could be part of the resolution?”
And then she paused, her gaze meeting mine.
“You know, Christmas books do so much better than Thankgiving titles,” she commented.  “What if Pip returned at Christmas?”

Driven to tell this singular story, I back-burnered Mary’s 3 delicious suggestions with an open mind, even though I’m a nice Jewish girl from West Philadelphia and writing a Christmas picture book was not in my wheelhouse, as they say.

But guess what?

Fast forward to the stacks of the Wilmette Public Library, one week later, when I discovered (1) there was no Thanksgiving to celebrate in the U.S. in 1841 and (2) few Americans celebrated Christmas at that time!

OOPS!

And OOPS²… except...the German immigrants, who’d just happened to settle in Berks County in central Pennsylvania, had brought along their Christmas tradition of making evergreen wreaths and decorating their fir trees!

So,

while Pip’s dog Biscuit gathers the greenery of each season, and Pip paints his portrait to send home to his Poor House-ensconced sisters Emma, Lyddie and Martha,

 

before too long,

Pip’s sisters themselves, inspired by Pip’s portraits, create a livelihood that builds them their home

and Pip discovers his hidden talent.

 

Fancy that!

Lucky Pip and his sisters! Lucky me and my readers!

And all quite by accident.

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.
Jennifer T won the SKIN AND BONES giveaway!

P.P.S.
A writer with whom I corresponded this past week shared the following Dalai Lama quote benath her name.  I thought it relevant.

 "Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." 

Utter Expression Without Consequence: a Wednesday Writing Workout by Barney Saltzberg

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Howdy, Campers!
(Before I begin...make sure to enter our latest Book Giveaway of Sherry Shahan's Skin & Bones (which ends February 6th)!

Two of the six TeachingAuthors in our corporate headquarters.
photo courtesy morguefile.com

In 2012 we invited author/illustrator (and good friend) Barney Saltzberg into our tree house for a cuppa tea, a chat, and a book give-away, and just last Friday we told you about the newly launched, worldwide Beautiful Oops! Day based on his book.

Today, to complete the trifecta, Barney is graciously sharing a Wednesday Writing Workout with us.  Take it away, Barney!

This is Barney (with friends).  He's the cutest one.

Barney: I thought I'd share something I teach at UCLA Extension which seems to help unleash power and in many cases, people’s dark side.  It's terrific.

I call it, Utter Expression Without Consequence. Here's the prompt:

Write to someone and really let them know how you feel.  It’s a chance to get anything and everything off your chest.  It could be that you secretly are in love with someone.  You could despise someone.  Maybe a boss is constantly picking on you and you haven’t opened you mouth to complain.  Now's your chance!

It can be in the form of a letter, or even a list.

Choose your blackest crayon.
from morguefile.com

This exercise gives you the opportunity to tap into feelings which you've sat on.  Topics which you've avoided.  Now's your chance to pour everything out...to a boyfriend, a wife, a friend.  Or someone you ‘thought’ was a friend.  A boss.  Anyone you address.  Just let it go and flow.  This is a very freeing moment.

What I find is that this prompt helps shape a character. Ultimately, I hope this exercise lets the writer get into the head of a character who has a lot weighing on them.  It's a step towards shaping a character.  Our job is to know who we are writing about, even if some of the background research we write never makes it into our story.  It just makes it so our characters appear to be writing the story for us when situations arise, because we know them so well.

Have fun with this--dive in!

I wish I had something brilliant to tell you as far as how this writing prompt helped make a story. I can say that time and time again, I saw how it empowered people.  Students who were struggling to find their voice finally had a sense of what that looked and felt like.

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C'mon...tell them how you feel!
From morguefile.com

A woman told off her husband in a letter.  A teacher got everything she ever wanted to yell at an administrator on paper.  If you are looking for a way to tap into feelings, this is a great way to dive in.

Thank you, Barney!  And readers ~ tell us how you really feel!

posted loudly and proudly by April Halprin Wayland

Beautiful OOPS Day--Mistakes into Masterpieces

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Howdy, Campers!

Happy Poetry Friday (link at the end, original poem's in this post)...and make sure to enter our latest Book Giveaway of Sherry Shahan's Skin & Bones (which ends February 6th)!

If you follow this blog, you'll remember the day we spent with author/illustrator Barney Saltzberg and his marvelous book, Beautiful Oops! (Workman). Well, guess what?

Now there's a worldwide Beautiful Oops! Day!

Tell me if this sounds familiar: you've wrapped the gift for your friend Julie, sealed it in a box, stuck stamps on it and then, as you're listening to the Beatles sing "Hey Jude," you address the package... to Jude. OOPS!

Now what?  Well, if you're Barney, you'll make a weird-looking cartoon heart over the word "Jude"...which sprouts legs and arms, a top hat and cane, and suddenly there's a host of fabulous creatures framing Julie's mailing address...a veritable celebration.  That's a Beautiful Oops...a mistake made beautiful.

The point of this book is to encourage all of us to allow "the magical transformation from blunder to wonder," and as schools all over the world celebrate Beautiful Oops Day (in any month, on any day; a school could decide to celebrate Beautiful Oops Day each month), I wish we'd celebrated it when I was in school!

The Beautiful Oops Day website includes project ideas shared by teachers from all over the world to get you started.  And here's a 1:41 minute video of Barney sharing with young students:

How does this translate to writing?  I just happen to have a perfect example.  Here's a new poem author Bruce Balan sent me just this week; beneath it is his "mistake" backstory:

THE PLAINTIFF CALL OF THE WILD
by Bruce Balan

I submit to the court
that this species
has ignored the proper protocol:
They’ve decided that it’s all
for them
and no one else;
Not fish nor elk
nor tiny eels.
Their ills are real.
They spoil and take
break and forsake
and maul
every spot and plot
and it’s not as if
they don’t know…
They do!
They just ignore,
which underscores
my call.

Please dear Judge,
I do not intend to fawn,
but
I pray the court
will look kindly on my call
before my clients all
are gone.

(c) 2015 by Bruce Balan. All rights reserved.

Bruce (whose newest book, The Magic Hippo, is available at the iTunes store, B&N, and Amazon) explains: "I was going to write a poem called The Plaintive Call of the Wild (it just popped into my head), but I misspelled plaintive and so ran with it…"

Perhaps today's Beautiful Oops lesson is RUN WITH IT!

So, thank you, Barney Saltzberg, for gifting us the space to make mistakes; to be human.Campers, stay tuned: next week, Barney will share a Wednesday Writing Workout (link goes live on February 4, 2015) on this very blog!

Poetry Friday's at Paul Hankin's These 4 Corners today...thanks, Paul!

 

posted with inevitable mistakes by April Halprin Wayland

Oops! THANKU Round-up and Happy Poetry Friday!

Howdy, Campers!
Today we mark the end of TeachingAuthors' annual Two Weeks of Thanks-Giving!--AND Poetry Friday!

Thank you, Carol, for hosting today!

Oops.  I fell asleep during class this week...

So...you'll be posting Wednesday AND Friday this week...got that, April? .

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I forgot I was scheduled to post twice this week; instead, I mistakenly combined them into one post this Wednesday!  One post was to have been Alexis O'Neill's Wednesday Writing Workout...right, did that...

...while the other (um...THIS one...) was to be the last post in TeachingAuthors' annual Two Weeks of Thanks-Giving, which began with Esther’s post launching the Thanku, a haiku which thanks someone. 

This year we've been posting about someone who makes a difference in ensuring others receive a quality education.

Today, in hopes that you'll forgive me, I'm repeating my Thanku, and also adding links to two blogs that joined in this year's celebration.

My Thanku is for the amazing teachers whose classes I've taken through UCLA Extension's Writers Program, where I now teach.  This is "the largest open-enrollment creative writing and screenwriting program in the nation." I appreciate all those author/teachers who set aside their own work and made time to teach me in my writing infancy. They include Ruth Lercher Bornstein, Susan Rubin, Myra Cohn Livingston, Sonia Levitin, and many, many others.

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Actually, I'd like to include all the TeachingAuthors we've ever interviewed too--each of them takes more time then you may realize to answer our interview questions and offer writing exercises. Thank you to:

Authors who hold a
light and slow their pace so we
may walk beside you.

from morguefile.com     http://mrg.bz/v2aE2o

Also grateful, here are links to two fab writers who posted Thankus on their own blogs:

• Jan Godown Annino offers two...one giving thanks for Florida hills and dales, another reflecting gratitude for a grade schooler's drawing;
•  Michelle Heidenrich Barnes writes an acrostic thank you to a long-ago teacher who enCOURAGEd her.

Here are our six posts giving thanks this year (and if you have time, be sure to read the comments, which include many our readers' own fabulous Thankus!)

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And always, always we are grateful to those of you who follow this blog and join in the conversation ~

 posted by April Halprin Wayland with help from Monkey, seen here relaxing with a hot cuppa tea.

Oops!

Today marks the anniversary of Hymen Lipman’s patent for the pencil eraser, granted in 1858.

The Philadelphian’s design was unique . The installed eraser sat at the opposite end of the pencil. The pencil could thus be sharpened at both ends, refreshing either the graphite or the eraser.

Interestingly enough, the patent was contested and eventually the case reached the Supreme Court.
Also interesting: numerous blog posts in 2008 marking the 150th anniversary of Lipman’s patent filing mistakenly listed the March 30th date as the anniversary of the pencil’s invention!
(“Is there an eraser in the house?”)
Numerous folks now unofficially consider today National Pencil Day and celebrate any and all pencil innovations and forms of self-expression.

Where would we writers be without our trusty, handy pink rubber friends?
Or their numerous relatives treasured over the years: Correct-O-Type, liquid paper (Wite Out) and our computer’s Delete key.
I personally consider the need for an eraser (or a Delete key) an unexpected Opportunity.
It’s a chance to choose a better word, a better detail, or to order my words so the meaning’s clearer or the flow’s more lyrical or the sentence structure reflects what the story’s truly about.
We writers don’t simply erase.
We refresh or revise, revisit, reconsider, amend, alter; choose your synonym.

And even if the need for an eraser does imply a mistake has been made, so what?
What’s so wrong with making a mistake?
How many of us get it right the first time?
We can simply say, “Oops!” and consider the result.

That's what author-illustrator Barney Saltzberg shows us in his newest and most clever picture book, coincidentally titled Beautiful Oops! (Workman Publishing, 2010).  To Saltzberg a mistake is both an opportunity and an adventure.
Using pop-ups, lift-the-flaps, tears, holes, overlays, bends, smudges, and even an accordion “telescope,” the reader sees how blunders can magically become wonders. A smudge becomes the face of a bunny, a crumpled ball of paper turns into a lamb’s fleecy coat.

David Shannon and Arthur Geisert also wrote and illustrated picture books celebrating Life’s Oops!

So, Hurrah for Hymen Lipman!

Erase away!

Esther Hershenhorn

Writing Workout

Might the wonder of a story hinge on the writer's implement?

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett shares this Set Your Timer Exercise in her book PEN ON FIRE (A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within), Harvest/Harcourt, 2004.

“Experiment with different writing instruments. Choose a word or two from your notebook or file, sit down with a legal pad and pen, set the timer for five minutes, and write until you hear the buzzer.

Next, go to your computer, choose a few words, set the timer, and begin freewriting. Don’t stop until the timer goes off.

(Here’s the fun part!) Now pick another set of writing utensils: a crayon or eyebrow pencil and a brown paper bag, a manual typewriter, or anything else you can think of. Set the timer for five minutes and write nonstop until the buzzer sounds.

Which feels the best? Which instrument allows you to let go and even forget about what you were using to write? Consider using this mode of writing for the next project you tackle, whether it’s a story, essay, poem, or a novel.

Use paper of different sizes. You can even try freewriting with your nondominant hand.

Don’t fall into a rut. Every so often, experiment with other modes. Write in a circle, sideways, or diagonally across the page. By keeping your writing methods fresh, you help keep your writing original.”

Of course, if the results prove unsatisfying, thanks to Hymen Lipman you can always erase!