Happy Poetry Friday! Poem-Making!

.
Howdy Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday!

PF is hosted by Sheri Doyle this week--thanks, Sheri!  Poetry Friday hosting can be a big job, folks, so make sure you help Sheri put away the chairs and stack the dishes before you leave.

I'm continuing the TeachingAuthors thread we're calling Books We Recommend On Writing which Esther began, reverently offering M.B. Goffstein's A Writer...(which I, too, have on a golden altar in my bookshelf!)  On Poetry Friday, Carmela continued with her top three books on the art and craft of writing poetry, and then Mary Ann offered her favorite one or two books in three categories: Inspirational Books, Craft Books and Craft Books for Kids.  Jill gave us three writing books packed with great information and inspiration, while Jeanne Marie focused on books about plotting...and one on writing "Hit Lit."

I'm going to recommend one of Monkey and my favorite books on writing poetry, POEM-MAKING ~ Ways to Begin Writing Poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston.

We like it because it's written for a ten year old--just about my level. For more on this book, read Elaine Magliaro's really excellent review of it on The Wild Rose Reader--I couldn't review it any better.

Myra Cohn Livingston was the "Mother of Us All," as Janet Wong writes.  She was Poetry Mentor/Mother to me, Janet, Ann Whitford Paul, Sonya Sones, Hope Anita Smith, Alice Shertle, Kristine O’Connell George, Deborah Chandra, Madeleine Comora, Joan Bransfield Graham, Tony Johnston, Monica Gunning, Karen B. Winnick, Anita Wintz, Ruth Lercher Bornstein and many, many other children's poets (Who am I missing? Let me know!). 

I have previously talked about two books I require in classes I teach through the UCLA Writers Program.  One of the books is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, about which several TeachingAuthors have waxed poetic in the past. 

Here's a poem from that blog post inspired by Lamott's chapter on jealousy:

ANYTHING I CAN DO YOU CAN DO BETTER

or

CAN OF WORMS

by April Halprin Wayland

Varda once told us

we were all cans on a shelf.
.

Cans of chili, kidney beans, split pea soup.

I decided that I was a can of apricot halves.

 

She said that the shelf was only one can deep

but that it stretched out forever
.

so there’s always room

for one more.

 

“You don’t have to be afraid that adding another can means 

there isn’t enough room for you,”she said.
.

“You can even help a new can

onto the shelf next to you.”
.

And she never talked

about jealousy again.
.
poem (c) 2013 April Halprin Wayland.  All rights reserved.

My brilliant teacher Barbara Bottner taught me to write about my greatest fear...because chances are, we all share it.

Monkey is writing about his fear
of writing something stupid in a blog post.

Writing Books - My Personal Favorites

Happy Friday! I don't know about you, but I've bookmarked Mary Ann's Wednesday Writing Workout. What a fun exercise! Now, back to the topic of favorite craft-oriented books. We all have our personal favorites, of course, and there are certainly enough out there to satisfy everybody's tastes. I hadn't even heard of Carmela's pick, Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook, but I'm going to have to try to find a copy. I'm more familiar with the terrific books on Mary Ann's list, although I've never had the pleasure of reading Marcia Colub's I'd Rather Be Writing. These two are going straight to my (ever growing!) "must read" list. For my own list, I'm going to stick to those books that deal with writing fiction.

When I feel the need for a writing boost, there are books I go back to again and again. But if I were going to be stranded on a desert isle with only three books about the writing craft to read while awaiting rescue (and praying for a cookbook to wash up:  500 Ways to Cook Coconuts), my picks would be:

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne & Dave King. This little gem was first published in 1993, but it's no less relevant now than 20 years ago. It's packed with information that vastly improved my writing. Vastly. And it's written in a friendly, chatting-over-the-back-fence style that appeals to me. So many illuminating examples are sprinkled throughout – good, bad, hilarious, and cringe-inducing – that there's no way you can read it and not come away a better writer. How many writing sins did Beginner Me commit? That's for another post.

Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, by Lawrence Block. Reading these essays is like picking the brain of a warm and witty, well-published favorite uncle who's willing to cut through the baloney and give it to you straight. He covers every topic I can imagine about writing and the writing life. From selecting a pen name (or not) to speeding up your writing to creating believable characters to "the perils of icebox thinking." I'm not kidding. It's ALL here. An often eye-opening read.

For my third choice, I’d have to go with Stephen King’s On Writing. Half memoir, half instruction manual, candid and, by turns, heartbreaking and funny, this book gives me hope that success can happen for any of us willing to work hard and BELIEVE. And who doesn’t need that?

Many, many other books on my bookshelves beckon, but these three remain my faves.  Since I never studied writing formally, they pretty much provided my writing education, helped get me where I am today. How could I not love them?

Jill Esbaum

Writing Craftily

     Asking me about my favorite writing books is like asking me about my favorite movie. I mean really, how can one have a favorite movie? I probably see as many movies as Roger Ebert.  I have to categorize my favs: war/adventure: The Great Escape; comedy: Annie Hall, Airplane, Blazing Saddles; musical: Cabaret, All That Jazz: too bloody to fit in a category: Godfathers I & II, Donnie Brasco, Good Fellas, Pulp Fiction. Also anything with Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep or Johnny Depp. (Yes, I paid money to see Joe and the Volcano in a theater.)

   When it comes to my favorite writing books, I pare it down to three categories of one or two books. (Aren't you relieved?)

   Inspirational books. Marcia Golub is a woman I would love to have as a next-door neighbor. Anyone who can write a book called I'd Rather Be Writing about how those of us without nannies, housekeepers and writing retreats in the Caribbean manage to write anyway, is someone who has my number. Lesson taken away from Marcia' book:  if you have a family and a writing career, you're always going to feel conflicted. Get over it. Oh and don't bother also trying to live the Martha Stewart life (even Martha Stewart doesn't live the Martha life without a platoon of assistants.) Alas, Marcia's book is out of print. I'd loan you mine...but then I don't loan books. (I never get them back.)

   If you have been following this blog for awhile, you probably know that my favorite book after Charlotte's Web is Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. I re-read Bird by Bird on a continual basis. (All right...I keep it in the bathroom for moment of "unavoidable delay.") Anne is funny and profane (for those of you who object to the occasional profanity in your how-to books, this might not be for you.) Anne taught me two important lessons: 1) first drafts are always crappy. That's why there are second, fourth and seventy-fourth drafts. You aren't going to get it right the first time. 2) You don't sit down to write with an entire story arc in place, any more than you would sit down to eat one of those 64-ounce-steak joints (finish it and it's free....and you have probably just had a coronary so the point is moot). The title Bird by Bird is Anne's shorthand for writing only what you see before you right this minute. Don't worry about that elusive center section, or that fuzzy ending. Write what you see clearly now.

     Craft books.  Darcy Pattison's Paper Lightning: Pre-Writing Activities That Spark Creativity and Help Students Write Effectively was written with the middle school writer in mind. Therefore, it is perfect for me, when I find myself with big story problems I can't solve myself.  There are exercises here for developing characters, settings, plots, dull language....you name it, Darcy and Paper Lightning can solve it. I have always wanted to teach a full-year class just to have the pleasure of sharing all of Darcy's common-sense suggestions and solutions. However, since I am currently relegated to teaching six session workshops, Paper Lightening is my atlas to writing sanity.

     Craft books for kids:  The classic book I hand a student who wants a book "that tells me how to write a book" is Marion Dane Bauer's What's Your Story: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction.
Although this is geared to a slightly younger crowd than Paper Lightening, it was my fiction writing bible in the Vermont College MFA program (and not just because Marion Dane Bauer was one of my four mentors.)  Unlike Paper Lightning, which is designed to be a textbook, Bauer's book can be read and understood without teacher assistance.

    My six-session workshops can be problematic. It is not reasonable to expect any student, adult or child (and I teach both) to complete more than a rough draft in such a short time. I focus on writing exercises that are fun and have the possibility of  "growing" into a larger work. Ralph Fletcher has written more books on writing with kids than I can count, but my favorite is the one he has written for teachers, Craft Lessons. Fletcher takes students Pre-K through middle school through the components of fiction writing. The exercises and lessons can be used as stand-alone lessons. Each exercise is tailored to the skills and understanding of that particular age. My kids' workshops are for grades 4-8, so this is perfect for me. And if you like this book, check out the rest of the Ralph Fletcher bookshelf; you won't be sorry.

    Tune in Wednesday when I share my favorite writing exercise that I did not learn from any of my favorite writing books!

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

A Trio of Writer's Bookshelf Favorites, Poetry Friday Edition

Happy Poetry Friday, all!

Esther kicked off our current topic, recommendations for your writer's bookshelf, by sharing a favorite of hers I'd never heard of: M. B. Goffstein's A Writer.

I have so many cherished books on my writer's bookshelf that it's hard to pick just one, so I'm going to share three. And, in honor of Poetry Friday, they're all poetry-related.

First up, I'd like to recommend my favorite book on writing poetry, Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry (Mariner Books). One of the book's most enlightening chapters for me is the one titled "Sound." Its opening paragraph reads like a poem:

"To make a poem, we must make sounds. Not random sounds, but chosen sounds."  

Oliver goes on to explain that "A 'rock' is not a 'stone'" when it comes to sound. And she offers advice on how to choose words with sounds that best fit a poem's meaning and mood. While aimed at poets, this book contains valuable advice for picture book authors and novelists, too.

The second book I'd like to recommend is Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets (Candlewick), compiled by Paul B. Janeczko. Here's an excerpt from the book's description:

 ". . . in this unprecedented volume, thirty-two internationally renowned poets provide words of wisdom and inspiring examples of their own work for new poets everywhere. . . . This rich volume - an ideal resource for classroom teachers and a beautiful gift for budding writers of all ages - offers the perfect opportunity to do just that." 

Since today is Poetry Friday, I'll share the first stanza of one of my favorite poems in this collection:

      Poets Go Wishing
      by Lilian Moore

      Poets go fishing
      with buckets
      of words,
      fishing
      and wishing. . . . 

(You can see the entire poem reproduced in this blog post at Blue Sky, Big Dreams.)

I love the image of poets "fishing with buckets of words." My third and final recommended title today is a journal to help all poets on their fishing expeditions: The Poet's Notebook: Inspiration, Techniques, and Advice on Craft (Running Press), created by David Stanford Burr. As the description says,

"Part blank journal, part helpful workbook and reference, its pages are highlighted with insights from famous poets, an exercise to summon the muse, and definitions of classic poetic techniques. . . . This ingenious and useful writing tool also includes a six-page appendix with rules of form, meter, and rhythm to help readers compose their own sonnets, haiku, and other poems."

It's a slim, lightweight journal that's easy to carry along on your next "fishing" expedition.

If you have any recommendations for poetry-related books from your writer's bookshelf, I hope you'll share them in the comments. And don't forget to check out the Poetry Friday round up today at A Teaching Life. And, in case you missed it, be sure to read the poem, "Pencil Speaks to Writer" by our Mystery Guest TeachingAuthor in our latest Wednesday Writing Workout.
 

Happy writing!
Carmela

My Writer's Bookshelf Favorite: The Small Blue Book That Says It All

My Writer’s Bookshelf consumes just about every inch of my writing room’s cleverly-extended window sill.  While I peck away at my laptop’s keyboard, wandering and wondering, each book sits there, winking and waving.

Books on Craft, the Writing Process and Children’s Literature,

books on Elements of Narrative,
books on Storytelling.
How To’s, handbooks, manuals, Dummies Guides,
dictionaries (abridged and unabridged),
my trusty Roget’s.

Smack dab in the middle of the line-up, though, rests my very favorite writer’s book - M.B. Goffstein’s A Writer (Harper & Row, 1984).  Its sky-blue book spine short and slight brilliantly shines as my writer’s North Star.

I’m almost hoping you’ve never ever heard of this title, so this post can gift you the way the book first gifted me.

I came upon it at Florence Shay’s antiquarian bookstore Titles, in Highland Park,
Illinois while out and about on my Writer’s Journey sometime in the late 80’s.
I was figuratively lost, unsure of my path.
Opening this small treasure of a book, I was instantly found.
Everything was okay.
Really and truly.
Days spent daydreaming, imagining, probing my heart…
According to A Writer, that’s what writers do.

A writer

sits on her couch,
holding an idea,
until it’s time
to set words
upon paper,
to cut, prune,
plan, and shape them.

Thoughts that open

in her heart,
and weather every mood
and change of mind,
she will care for.

Back then, I was seeding and feeding my own stories as well as my writer self.

Marilyn Brooke Goffstein’s simplicity in words and lines spoke to the gardener in me.
Today I still grow my own stories but I also spend my days seeding and feeding other writers – Young Authors and authors young-at-heart.
Goffstein’s A Writer speaks even more loudly.

But, don’t take my word for it. See for yourself! 

Come to know this Minnesota-born writer, illustrator, children’s book creator, Parsons School of Design faculty member.

Visit her website.   
Read about her books, including the 1977 Caldecott Honored Fish for Supper.

Be sure to check her Tips for Picture Book Writers and Illustrators.

• Write something you don't know but long to know.
• It is tiresome to read a text that the author hasn't fought for, lost, and by some miracle when all hope is gone, found.
• Do them (your readers) the honor of reaching for something far beyond you.

And, while Florence Shay and Titles, Inc. are sadly no longer with us, search other antiquarian bookstores for Goffstein’s one-of-a-kind books.

Lucky you should you come upon A Writer for sale so it can shine on your Writer’s Bookshelf!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.

I especially love that Goffstein dedicated A Writer to Charlotte Zolotow, beloved children’s book author and award-winning Ursula-Nordstrom-trained editor whose Admiring Declines I still treasure as much as my first edition copy of M.B. Goffstein’s A Writer

Treats and Tricks: My Q & A with Teaching Agent-Author Mary Kole

Today’s release of the hands-on how-to book for middle grade and young adult writers Writing Irresistible Kidlit (Writer’s Digest) gifts Moveable Type literary agent and KidLit.com creator Mary Kole with yet one more title:  Teaching Agent-Author.

Subtitled The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers, Mary’s interactive book offers up a bevy of agent-learned tricks, treats and best of all tools certain to help writers learn and hone their craft as well as their world.  She shares writing exercises, candid commentary and a collection of book excerpts and personal insights from bestselling authors and editors who specialize in the children’s book market.

Mary joined Movable Type from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency where she distinguished herself as an inventive and entrepreneurial agent.  Her books include author-illustrator Lindsay Wards’ When Blue Met Egg (Dial), Emily Hainsworth’s YA debut Through to You (Balzer + Bray) and Dianna Winget’s A Smidget of Sky (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).  KidLit.com was named one of Writer’s Digest’s Top 100 Websites for Writers; over 50,000 readers visit the site monthly.

This being Halloween, a favorite holiday of just about every children’s book writer and teacher I know, I consider Mary’s answers to my questions below both delicious, calorie-free Treats and writer-friendly Tricks, plural.

For one more Treat, be sure to read below of our TeachingAuthor Book Giveaway of the 2013 Children’sWriter’s & Illustrator’s Market (Writer’s Digest) which includes two of Mary’s articles - “Crafting a Query” and “Building Your Author Platform.”

(1) How did you become a Teaching (Agent) Author?

I became an agent after reading for free at an agency to learn more about the publishing business. But I've always been passionate about teaching others, so I knew that I wanted to pass on what I was learning to writers. The publishing business is often difficult to wrap one's head around, so I wanted to pull back the curtain a little bit. I understand things better once I articulate them and explain them to others, so the teaching aspect of my work has also been invaluable to me.

(2) Why and how did your book come to be?                                 

I started out as a writer, so part of it was definitely yearning to be a published author. But the book also became a personal challenge: Do I have enough to say about the writing craft and can I say it in a way that it earns its keep on my readers' writing reference shelves? I hope the answer to both questions is "yes," of course, and I'm excited to see the reactions once the book is out in the world. Since I was doing a lot of programming and teaching for Writer's Digest, publishing the guide with them was a natural fit and the process of actually getting the book deal was easy. The process of writing it, though, took a lot more stress and work, but I'm very happy with the finished product.

(3) What are the Top Three problems you note in manuscripts when you’re reading as an agent?

Beginnings are tough to do well, and I often notice that writers don't start with a strong sense of the present moment and present action. A lot of beginnings have tons of backstory and info-dumping and not enough conflict to hook a reader in. In terms of character, writers can always work on motivation and objective--a really strong reason for characters to be doing what they're doing, and an overarching goal that they work toward in the story. In a prose sense, I often find myself giving the following note: "You are saying something fundamentally simple in an overly complicated way." Not everything needs to be a showcase for Writing-with-a-capital-W. Sometimes there's style in simplicity.

(4) What are the Top Three writers’ questions you receive at www.kidlit.com?

Questions about query letters are always popular, and this is the first resource I end up sending to writers:

http://kidlit.com/2009/08/05/writing-a-simple-compelling-query/

Other than that, I've been answering writing questions on the site since 2009 and there are a lot of different concerns that writers have. I don't know if I can pick the runners up in terms of popularity.

(5) Please share a favorite Writing Exercise.

To really help writers individuate characters and think about voice, I like to ask them to describe the same scene or landscape from the POVs of two different characters. Think about syntax, word choice, what each character notices and how. This often drives home the point that each fictional person is unique and has a very distinct lens that should inform every choice that a writer is making.

(6) You’ve worn so many hats while residing in the Children’s Book World! Which do you love wearing the best?

I'd love to say "reader" but, to tell you the truth, there is no better way to frustrate one's love of reading than to actually work in publishing, where you are reading more than you ever thought possible and under time constraints. So I'll say that my favorite hat is "cheerleader," because there's no better feeling than believing in a project and championing it through to publication.

Thanks, Mary Kole, for the opportunity to bring you and your new book Writing Irresistible Fiction to the attention of our TeachingAuthor readers.

Happy Halloween!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S. Trick or treat?  You bet!  We’re giving away one copy of the 2013 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’sMarket (Writer’s Digest)!

You must follow our TeachingAuthors blog to enter our drawing.  If you’re not already a follower, you can sign up now in the sidebar to subscribe to our posts via email, Google Friend Connect, or Facebook Network blogs.

There are two ways to enter:
1) by a comment posted below
OR
2) by sending an email to teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line.
Just for the fun of it, and since we’re offering a Writer’s Book, share your #1 chocolate Trick or Treat candy. J

Whichever way you enter, you MUST give us your first and last name AND tell us how you follow us. If you enter via a comment, you MUST include a valid email address (formatted this way: youremail [at] gmail [dot] com) in your comment. Contest open only to residents of the United States. Incomplete entries will be discarded. Entry deadline is 11 pm (CST) Wednesday, November 7, 2012. Winners will be announced Friday, November 9, 2012. Good luck to all!

TeachingAuthors indeed!

It never fails, no matter the Workshop or class I teach, no matter my students, their ages and/or experience:  I always learn as much as my students,
most times even more,
courtesy of those students.

Pictured below are seven of the eight talented writers enrolled in my Chicago’s Newberry Library Summer Workshop “The Write Place,” a facilitated children’s book writers group, who literally became my TeachingAuthors June 6 through July 18:

back row, left to right - Debra Mitchell, Nancy Lee Wells, Philippa Norman, Susan Halko, Sarah Hoban; front row, left to right - T. Kari Lewis, (Susan Bazargan in absentia) and Carrie Golus.

Became, as in my June 6 post “It’s never too late!”

We were definitely watched over. 

The uncharacteristically-small class size, the commonality of story subjects and formats, the previous Newberry Workshop attendance and overlapping work experiences made for a palpable positive group dynamic.
Two Chicago students lived but two streets apart, and didn’t even know it!

The variety of formats my students were writing demanded I fill my Summer ReadingPlate to overflowing, with picture books, early chapter books, middle grade fiction, graphic novels and Readers Theatre scripts.

It was mind-boggling, the bounty the right and successful children’s books offer when read aloud and/or showcased, then parsed for Teachable Moments.

There are always considerations when telling a good story well to young readers and I was more than happy to share them with my students: the format’s demands, the readers’ needs, the appropriateness of story, the appropriateness of writing style; there’s originality; there’s the marketplace; there’s an existing body of literature and of course, the elements of narrative.

My Summer Writers excelled at considering. J

We all came to see, though, again and again, what I’m forced to re-learn with each book I write: when a writer is stuck, when a story remains flat, when a plot lacks tension or begs for subplots, the characters hold the answer, always and ever.

It sounds so simple, so formulaic, right? 
Except, as Marian Dane Bauer writes in WHAT’S YOUR STORY? (Clarion, 1992), a writing guide for middle grades I recommend to all writers,
the writer truly needs to know who his character is and what he needs and wants and why he needs and wants it, not to mention who and what stand in his way. 
Period.

Week after week, I’d share and declare, “Invest in your characters!  Learn their Back Stories cold!”
And in return, my TeachingAuthors this Summer did a swell job underscoring that Truth for me, ensuring I do as I say (and preach).

I’m happy to report: My Summer Writers also became a Writers Group, meeting online, as well as in person seasonally.

My Summer Workshop proved a Win-Win Situation indeed, for my students-dash-authors who came to know their stories and themselves, but also, thankfully, for me.

Esther Hershenhorn

Writing Workout

Following my first class June 6, each of my writers declared a project for the seven-week workshop – for example, revising a picture book manuscript, defining a book’s setting and world, creating a GPS of sorts for a second revision, writing a first chapter of a first-ever novel, simply figuring out what a story’s about.

Periodic checks allowed writers to note their progress.

 For the last class, July 19, writers came prepared to list Five Things they didn’t know June 6 about (1) Writing for Children, (2) their stories, (3) their writing and (4) themselves.

Think about your writing and your most current project.  In your journal or Writer’s Notebook, list Five Things you didn’t know when you first began the project about (1) Writing for Children, (2) your story, (3) your writing and (4) yourself.

Declare a Fall Project/Goal for Extra Credit!

The Teacher as Student, and a Giveaway Reminder

I love learning. If I had unlimited resources, I'd be a full-time student for the rest of my life. Instead, I'm a teacher, which is the next best thing.

[Speaking of teachers, if you're a teacher, librarian, or homeschooling parent, be sure to read the end of this post for an update on our current giveaway contest. And if you're not a teacher, librarian, or homeschooler, please help spread the word to those who are.]

For me, being a teacher is as much about learning as it is about teaching. To prepare for my classes, I not only reread the assigned text, I also research supplemental resources. Currently, I'm reading Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I don't read horror stories, so I'm not a fan of Stephen King's fiction. However, I've heard wonderful things about this craft book for years. Ten years, to be exact, as the 10th Anniversary edition came out this past July. So I decided it was about time I read it.

I have to say, the timing is perfect. I'm currently teaching a six-week "Craft & Critique Workshop." The first aspect of craft I discuss in the workshop is characterization. Last night I shared with my class two things about characterization that I learned from King's book:

“Everything I've said about dialogue applies to building characters in fiction. The job boils down to two things: paying attention to how the real people around you behave and then telling the truth about what you see. You may notice that your next-door neighbor picks his nose when he thinks no one is looking. This is a great detail, but noting it does you no good as a writer unless you’re willing to dump it into a story at some point.”

And,

"Skills in description, dialogue, and character development all boil down to seeing or hearing clearly and then transcribing what you see or hear with equal clarity . . . ." 

These aren't exactly new ideas for me. I received similar instructions from my teachers at Vermont College. But sometimes, I forget. That's why I consider myself fortunate to be a teacher--it forces me to remember, and it prods me to "practice what I preach."

Last week, Esther posted about Signature Quotes. The following is another quote from Stephen King's On Writing. It's rather long for a Signature Quote, but it really spoke to me when I read it:

     "You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair – the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.
     I’m not asking you to come reverently or unquestioningly; I’m not asking you to be politically correct or cast aside your sense of humor (please God you have one). This isn’t a popularity contest, it’s not the moral Olympics, and it’s not church. But it’s writing damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can’t or won’t, it’s time for you to close the book and do something else."

If you're ready to take writing seriously, I suggest you go "back to school" this fall by reading (or re-reading) a book on the craft of writing. Below, I list a dozen books that have helped me as both a teacher and a student. Do you have a favorite that's not on this list? If so, please share it in the comments.

• Bauer, Marion Dane: What’s Your Story? A Young Person’s Guide to Writing Fiction (While this book is aimed at young people, it’s a great introduction for adults, too.)
• Bell, James Scott: Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot that Grips Readers from Start to Finish
• Bell, James Scott: Revision & Self-Editing: Techniques for Transforming your First Draft into a Finished Novel
• Burroway, Janet: Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
• Card, Orson Scott: Characters & Viewpoint
• Frank, Thaisa, and Dorothy Wall: Finding Your Writer’s Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction
• Hemley, Robin: Turning Life into Fiction
• Kress, Nancy: Beginnings, Middles & Ends
• Novakovich, Josip: Writing Fiction Step by Step
• Stein, Sol: Stein on Writing
• Strunk, William, Jr., and E.B. White: The Elements of Style
• Wood, Monica: Description (This book has the clearest explanation of point of view that I’ve read so far—I recommend it to ALL my students!)

Happy Fall!
Fall begins today, Sept. 22 (if you're in the northern hemisphere).

And now for the Giveaway Update I promised: There are only 12 days left to enter our giveaway contest for classroom teachers, librarians, and homeschooling parents. You can win your choice of either a 30-minute Skype visit from a TeachingAuthor or a set of six autographed books—one from each TeachingAuthor! The odds of winning are great, as we've had only two entries so far. (Is everyone waiting until the last minute to enter?) Read this post for details. And if you're not eligible to enter yourself, please spread the word to all the teachers, librarians, and homeschooling parents you know.
Happy writing, and happy fall!
Carmela

Memoir and Remembering

Craft books can be a huge help, but I don’t always read them straight through. I often find some nugget that inspires me enough to make me go off to write instead. I figure the more helpful the book, the less I have to read, and I save the rest for later.

This semester, I’m teaching a class on writing memoirs. As I usually do when I’m preparing to teach, I checked out a stack of books from the library. A couple of them are familiar, reliable resources—I’ve read them before and found them useful: Natalie Goldberg’s Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir and Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art by Judith Barrington. Others were new to me, and I enjoyed exploring the subject from their varied points of view.

Even if you are not writing a memoir, such books can help in several ways:

• by providing a glimpse into another writer’s approach
• by reminding you that writers keep writing in spite of obstacles
• by bringing up true stories that can inspire leaps into fiction, memoir, or something else
• by sharing exercises that might help you move forward

One book grabbed my attention not only for its playful tone but also for its helpful format: Thinking About Memoir by Abigail Thomas. Instead of suggesting exercises and then giving examples of how they might be done, Thomas tells stories first and then provides writing prompts on topics that flow from the stories.



She writes about seeing a buzzard far away on a beach. After watching it awhile, she decides to walk up for a closer look and discovers a stick with a plastic bag tangled around it. Her instruction is to write about mistaking something for something else.

She says her sister suggests that “a good way to get going on memoir is to write your will. You have to decide who gets all your treasures, and this involves looking at them, and remembering where you found them.” Her assignment: write about your treasures.

She describes a trip with her sister after they had each been given a box of six truffles. “The tiny print said two pieces contained 310 calories,” she writes. “We were sitting on the bus headed downtown, quietly doing our calculations: Judy was dividing by two and I was multiplying by three.” This story cracked me up; the assignment that follows it is to write about a time when you recognized a difference between you and another person.

In the spirit of Thinking About Memoir, I’m including a memory from my childhood and a choice of writing prompts that stem from it.

Writing Workout: Begin with a Memory

One Sunday morning when most of my family had gone to church, I decided to make everyone breakfast. My father was asleep upstairs. I remember scrambled eggs and bacon, so I must have been old enough to use the stove on my own.

I was thinking about how surprised my family would be when I heard a loud crash outside. I ran out and saw a car halfway up our front steps.

My father came out and discovered that the driver was a woman whose husband had recently died. She was on her way to the cemetery with a vase of flowers on the seat next to her. When the flowers started slipping off the seat, she reached to grab them and lost control of her car.

As soon as he found out she was not hurt, my father told her not to worry. He would fix the steps himself. I don’t remember the woman, the car, whether anyone called the police, or what happened when the rest of the family came home, but I do remember his kindness.

Assignment:

Write about a time when you were home alone.

or

Write about someone being compassionate to a stranger.

Arts and Crafts

How many writers have strange word associations?  (Maybe I'm kidding myself that it's a writer thing and I'm just weird.)  Names remind me of food.  Rebecca = tomato soup with rice (explain that one).  Margaret = butterscotch.  Okay, this is sounding weirder the more I type.  Gary = ground beef (courtesy of Gary Burghoff on M*A*S*H, who was the only Gary I'd ever heard of at age 3).  And so the word craft = Kraft Mac & Cheese.  Nothing fancy.  A comfort food.  Dependable, easy, satisfying.

Perhaps it's because I read John Gardner as a beginning writer and he scared me into thinking I was certainly in the wrong field, but I realized early on that I do not write literary fiction and, perhaps sadly, don't aspire to.  While the "art of fiction" is certainly a very worthy pursuit, I am more inclined to view myself as a journeyman than an artiste. 

While other artistic endeavours (music, visual arts) involve skills honed through years of specialized study... we all write.  I am not a "morning pages" sort (though I admire those who are).  I hope I am not deluding myself when I say that I believe that every time we put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), we are honing our craft, exercising our writing muscles, in effect doing our scales.

The first craft books I read in my first serious writing class (6th grade) were the old standby, Strunk & White's Elements of Style; and Writing Well, by Donald Hall.

I also adore George Orwell's essay, Politics and the English Language.  (Today's political discourse would certainly resemble a more honest dialogue  were its principles observed by more of us -- but I digress.)

Through the years, I have added the following to my "required reading" list:

Line By Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing, by Claire Kehrwald Cook.  This one was recommended by Jane Resh Thomas (writing teacher extraordinaire) at Vermont College and should, in my opinion, be read in very small doses -- tough to slog through and absorb, but well worth reading.

And, by my late, great mentor (though not a craft book per se): It's a Bunny-Eat-Bunny World, by Olga Litowinsky.

I also heartily second the Anne LaMott and Jon Franklin suggestions. 

***
As in the art of writing, the most extraordinary teachers among us have an inborn gift.  But even these blessed few must spend years working and studying to perfect their craft. 

When I began to teach English 101, my boss recommended I read The St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing, which she said taught her everything she knows.  I am still a neophyte teacher, but I can certainly attest to its helpfulness! 

For primary teachers, I am a big fan of Educating Esme and the website http://www.planetseme.com/, tremendously useful for instilling a love of literature in young readers.  (I love reading it as a writer, too.)  I'd bet that most of us who are children's book writers had at least one teacher like Esme when we were young to whom we owe many thanks for our enduring love of words and story.

"Crummy" First Drafts and Moving That Story Along

For the past week or so, you, Our Faithful Followers, have sent us your favorite books on writing for children and young adults. Now it's our turn (the Teaching Authors) to join the conversation with OUR favorite books.

I'm going to cheat an eensy bit here, because my absolute favorite book on writing is not about teaching OR writing for children. It is more of inspirational book, and geared for all writers, not just those of us who write for the 18-and-under crowd. I also have a favorite teaching book, so you are really getting a two-for-one-deal here.

My all-time-favorite-don't-leave-home-without-it book is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Now I realize that Bird is not everyone's cup of tea. Anne Lamott is one highly opinionated writer, and her opinions in this book include hers on American politics, women's reproductive rights and religion, in addition to writing. If you pick past her mini-rants, you will find a lot of common sense on writing. Or, more specifically, in dealing with all the "garbage" your mind generates in the way of negative self-talk as you wrestle with your own prose. (Naturally, Lamott uses a shorter and less polite term for "garbage").

Negative self-talk is one of my big time problems that can stall me on a project for months at a time. "Who do you think you are? Karen Hesse?" (or my idol of the moment) "What makes you think you are a good enough writer to take on this story?" "So what if I've sold a book (or two or four or eight?) I got lucky. I'll never do it again." These are only some of the gems my mental radio station broadcasts to me in an "all-talk, all-negative, all the time" format. Lamott tells you how to pull the plug on this station, and other ways to kill your Inner Negative Writer.

Bird by Bird introduced me to the single most earth-shattering notion of my entire writing life; "permission" to write crummy first drafts. (Again, Lamott uses a far more colorful word than "crummy" to describe a first draft.) Perhaps this is just common sense to most of you, but the news that I did not have to hunt for just the right word or character name, or blitz through a transition scene, already knowing that it wouldn't work....just to get to the END of a first draft..why this was the best news ever! If given "permission," I will meander through a first draft, picking over my word choices like Forrest Gump with a box of chocolates. I will hunt through my "name books" for days, choosing and rejecting character names. All of which are good things to do...but not in a first draft. First drafts are for banging it out, getting it done, reaching the other side of the river.

My drawers are full of elegantly worded first chapters that have no second chapters, because I exhausted my original creative impulse by trying to make them "perfect" the first time. At some point, I became so frustrated with my imperfection, I gave up on them, or talked myself into thinking the whole idea was stupid.

Clearly, Anne Lamott and Bird by Bird had a lot to say to me.

But on to what I am supposed to be writing about...writing books to use with kids. My all-time recommendation is Marion Dane Bauer's What's Your Story? OK, I will admit up front that Marion Dane Bauer was one of my teachers in the Vermont College MFA program. However, I read this book long before I ever met her, and found it to be straightforward in explaining the writing process to a young writer. Without condescending, it starts with the basics of character, setting and plot, and shows the writer how to fashion a multi-dimensional character, make the setting another "character" in the story, and how to dovetail the plot events in so that each event builds on the previous. Bauer manages to convey all this for writers age ten and up, in less than 120 pages.

Plot is my weak point, and What's Your Story? reminds me not to include a single word that will not further the story. Bauer's mantra, "How does this move the story along?" is something I have to ask myself at the end of every page.

Marion Dane Bauer and Anne Lamott are my writing mentors, even though I personally know only one of them. It's sometimes crowded in my office, as the three of us plow on through my next "crummy" first draft, stifling the radio station in my head, and chanting HDTMTSA? (How does this move the story along?)

But it works.