BEST WRITING TIP EVER or BEST LISTENING TIP EVER

       “You’re not reading that right!” said a new member of my critique group with dismay sprawled across her face. 

         It might have been me years ago when I first joined them. I was used to other writers silently reading five to ten pages of my fabulous, neatly typed and copied pages of my latest writing project 

       But over the years, I’ve learned there is no right way to read a manuscript. A person can only read what the writer has typed and submitted to the group. If they’ve typed a boring manuscript, the reader will read a boring manuscript. I’ve silently groaned while listening to my words that I thought were perfect.

Try it. During the reading, listen for overused words. Even your favorite, most active verb has a life span. Search for a replacement. Read other writers in your genre. Sometimes I type the paragraph or paragraphs that make my heart beat faster. The simple act of typing forces me to think more deeply about the words on the page.

       If a paragraph or a page makes your heart beat faster, read it aloud and focus on the “how”. Just how did the author bring magic to the page?

Posted by Gwendolyn Hooks

Wednesday Writing Workout: Pick a Tip, Any Tip

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Howdy, Campers, and welcome to another TeachingAuthors' Wednesday Writing Workout!

Today's WWW is based on last Friday's post, offering writing tips via under-one-minute videos.

Well, how 'bout it--are you dressed in your spiffy new 2016 workout clothes, ready to go?

from morguefile.com

Then let's get going!

 

LESS-THAN-ONE-MINUTE Video Writing tips 

from UCLA Extension's Writers' Program Instructors

Look--we know all these tips, we've heard most of them before...but personally, I need to hear ideas over and over and over—and, more importantly, I need to try them over and over and over--before they stick.

My assignment to you: watch these videos for no more than ten minutes (they're addictive), then sit down and write for ten minutes, using one of the tips which reinforced what you already knew but had forgotten to take down from the shelf and dust off.

from morguefile.com

If you're a teacher, watch them with your students and discuss which tips spark a desire to write the most.

And here's another idea. Mary Lee, from the blog, A Year of Reading, says she's thinking that her students could create their own under-a-minute writing tips. What a great idea, Mary Lee!

I especially like this 49-second tip by poet Rick Bursky in which he says "Poetry doesn't require narrative...so if you don't know what to do, what comes next, simply change the subject"

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=toc3UDtDICU&index=12&list=PLkKIvCE07OixfANAD9ZQWKFE9n2qIipDb

I also like the way instructor Wendy Oleson suggests pushing the way we explore the senses...using synesthesia. My favorite of her examples:  "The dormitory bathroom smelled like a Jackson Pollock"

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=F_vys1u9Huw&index=13&list=PLkKIvCE07OixfANAD9ZQWKFE9n2qIipDb

Now--off you go! Make that smelly dormitory sing!

posted with nose plugs by April Halprin Wayland with help from Monkey

Wednesday Writing Workout ~ NEWSPAPER STORY STARTERS ~ !

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Howdy, Campers!

Before we get to today's Wednesday Writing Workout, I wanted to share author and bookseller Elizabeth Bluemle's latest post on her Publishers Weekly blog, ShelfTalker.  It moved me.  It's called "The Best Author Letter Ever."

Yes, Virginia, we--authors and teachers--can change a child's life.  Here ~ in case you need to dry your eyes:

And now, on to today's Wednesday Writing Workout!  But first some background:

Last month I was fortunate to participate in the beautifully organized Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival in Hattiesburg, Mississippi...

April Halprin Wayland, Robyn Hood Black, and Irene Latham
play with food poems for their panel, 

“Take Five! Create Fun with The Poetry Friday Anthology"
photo by Beck McDowell

...where I met the wonderful Beck McDowell,

 Author Beck McDowell

...author of the eerily timely novel, This is Not a Drill (Penguin), published just a few weeks before Sandyhook.

Beck gives us today's 

NEWSPAPER STORY STARTERS

1) Give this exercise about 20 minutes.

2) Divide the class into groups of two or three.

3) Let them choose newspapers and magazines from a stack you've brought in.

4) Their job will be to select a news article and make up their own story using the article as a starting point.  They'll add characters, twists, etc. to create an even more engaging story.

4) Each group elects a spokesperson.  The spokesperson shares a two-to-three minute synopsis of the "story" they've outlined, beginning with what the article actually said so everyone knows their starting point and how the group changed it.

Beck says, "...you're demonstrating where ideas come from and how a real event can trigger a story idea that's ultimately totally different from the original."

Thank you, Beck!

 BONUS: while writing this, I came across
"102 Ways to Use Newspapers" in the classroom. 

Monkey combs his favorite paper for story ideas

P.S: My Writing Picture Books for Children class in the UCLA Extension Writers Program (which I've taught since 1999) started this week.  I hope to use the newspaper exercise in class this quarter.  Let me know how it works!  And if you have any suggestions on how to make it more effective, my students will be most grateful--please take a moment to scribble a comment!

Finally, don't forget: there's still time to enter our blogiversary giveaway for a chance to win one of four $25 gift cards to Anderson's Bookshops. See this post for details.


And after you've entered, take five minutes and do a free write.  Remember to breathe...and to write for the fun of it ~

picture of Monkey and drawing of dancer by April Halprin Wayland. 

posted by April Halprin Wayland

Light Winter's Darkness this Poetry Friday!

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Howdy, Campers ~ Happy Poetry Friday!

Jama's hosting Poetry Friday today at Alphabet Soup 
(which is www.jamarattigan.com in case this link doesn't work)

...and if it's at Jama's it's sure to be tasty!

Update: be sure to hop over to Heidi Mordhorst's

my juicy little universe

when she hosted Poetry Friday

...Heidi's email about offering poems about light in darkness

for the solstice inspired this post.

For my last post of 2012, I'm going to break from our series on publishing opportunities (see Esther's last two posts and Carmela's post, with more to come!)...

I've been thinking about my family and our, well, interesting year (especially the part about my husband dying of a heart attack and being brought back and now being completely and miraculously fine); about hard times and hope, about sunrises, candles, glowing kitchen windows at night, and about the dark of winter and the glint of winter sunlight.

WINTER SOLSTICE: GIRL TALKING TO THE SUN
 by April Halprin Wayland

On a hard day's chill,
when my heart stands still,
Sun, oh, Sun, where do you disappear?

Then Sun answers me,
answers quietly,
Look around, little girl, I am here, I am here.

© 2012 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

I am Jewish; I just recently learned that the fifth night of Hanukkah (which can be spelled many ways) is the first night in which there are more flames than darkness, more candles lit than unlit, and represents the triumph of light over darkness. 

I love that.

 

Okay...ready for today's writing workout, Campers?

WRITING WORKOUT: A Light in the Darkness

1) Take a cozy moment to scribble ten ideas triggered by the phrase, "a light in the darkness" or by the 1:06 minute video above.  Jot down memories, images, or the name of someone in particular who helped light your way in a dark time.

2) Consider imitating the rhyme scheme of the poem above:
A/A/B
C/C/B

3) Or write a 100-word story.  

3) Or write forget #2 and #3 and write the poem or story you were meant to write today.

4) Write like a little kid who is so jumpy-excited to get a piece of paper and a pencil she can barely sit still.  Give that little kid a chance; let's see what gift she creates for you this holiday season!

And speaking of gifts, don't forget to enter to win a gift for yourself or for some lucky teacher in your life: an autographed copy of JoAnn Early Macken's, Write a Poem Step by Step. I have her book and it's terrific!  See JoAnn's guest post for details.

Not actually in Southern California where I live, 
but in Phoenix, several years ago.
Still, a pretty note of light and hope 
with which to end the year...

Happy Holidays One and All!

National.Punctuation.Day? & Poetry Friday!

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FIRST…Did you know that there are only (gasp!) 10 days left to enter our giveaway contest for classroom teachers, librarians, and homeschooling parents?!?!? Win your choice of either a 30-minute Skype visit from a TeachingAuthor or a set of six autographed books—one from each TeachingAuthor—such a deal! 

And guess what?  The odds of winning are ginormous—we only have three entries so far!!!!!!

For all the hairy details, read this post. And please spread the word to your fav teachers, librarians, and homeschooling parents.

SECOND, did you know that today is the seventh annual NATIONAL PUNCTUATION DAY?  According to the website, NPD, begun by Jeff Rubin in 2003, is “A celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semi-colons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis.”

Getting a ticket from the Punctuation Police
for driving under the influence of apostrophes...

What a relief to know I’m not the only member of the Punctuation Police!  Here are some of NPD readers' photos of poorly punctuated signs.

I'm so happy that Carmela showed me the NPD site!  Other punctuation resources I use are: Grammar Slammer  and Grammar Girl.


Writing Workout:  Write a poem about punctuation. If you’d like to write a haiku, consider entering the National Punctuation Day Haiku Contest (which ends September 20, 2010) and see examples here (scroll down).

If haikus don’t light your creative fire, write any kind of a poem featuring your favorite punctuation mark…and then share it with us!

For inspiration, here are two of my own poems about punctuation…or are they about punctuation?

LOVE ME
by April Halprin Wayland

she signs her emails
love
me
without the comma

and I think
without the comma
is really
what she means


PERIOD. 
by April Halprin Wayland

It sounds so final. 
Like things stop.
When you get it.

I know that when I finally get mine,
I'm going to be so thrilled I'm going to call it my
Exclamation Point.

First published in GIRL COMING IN FOR A LANDING—a novel in poems by April Halprin Wayland, illustrated by Elaine Clayton (Knopf 2002)

Remember to breathe...and whatever you write, write with joy.

p

poems and drawings (c) April Halprin Wayland

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

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.

Two Writing Quotes, Two Children’s Poems & How to Write a Valentine’s Day Poem with Heart

Hello, howdy and Happy Almost Valentine's Day!

This week, Teaching Authors’ Mary Ann Rodman posted on rewriting.

Rewriting always makes me think of the quote by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch  (great name!):
"Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings."

And I LOVE the comment author and reader Irene Latham made when she said in part, “The biggest "aha" moment came for me as an adult when I lost a bunch of files. As I went to recreate, I realized words are disposable and MEANT TO BE MOVED AROUND. That's the beauty of the whole thing.”

One of the rewriting agonies I suffer is: how do I know when it’s finished?  There is no green button that says DONE.  No red light that says: STOP REVISING.

In writing and rewriting a Valentine’s Day poem, I came up with two versions.  Which one should I send to Cricket Magazine?  So, here they are—which do you like best?  (Which one did I send?  The answer's at the bottom of the second poem.)

WHEN YOU SAID HI
By April Halprin Wayland

My first day of school
I didn't know anyone.
I stood in the middle
of a swirling blender

of kids talking
of kids laughing
but not to me
not with me.

I stood in the middle
not knowing anyone.
Then you came up.
You came up to me and said hi.

When you said hi my whole day
                            my whole week
                            my whole year
rolled out happy.

After that
there was our rock collection
the Club House
and more.

When you said hi
that was the day
I started making this
Valentine's Day card for you.

© April Halprin Wayland

ROCK SOLID FRIENDSHIP
by April Halprin Wayland

Last summer when we were at the creek
and you and Andy and Joey
climbed up to the highest rock

thought about it
saw how deep it was
thought about how cold it would be

and finally
one by one
jumped

when you didn't tease me
or try to coax me up the rock
or call me a baby

Last summer is why
I'm giving you
this Valentine.

© April Halprin Wayland, first published in Cricket Magazine, February 2008

Writing Workout / Lesson Plan
How to Write a Valentine’s Day Poem With Heart

Valentine’s Day poems can be funny and rhyming and light.  They can be deeply felt.  Today, let’s do an exercise that will help you find rich, dig-down-deep content for your Valentine’s poem.

When someone tells me that they like me, I never say this, but I secretly, achingly want to know: what did I just do?  Why do they like me? 

Here are six steps to help you find the heart of your poem which will tell your friend why:
1)    Make a list of five people you love...or at least really like.
2)    Circle the one person for whom you want to write a poem.
3)    List at three times you were with this person which you remember fondly—was it in the living room after dinner?  Sitting next to that person at the movies?  Going shopping together?
4)    Choose one of these events.
5)    Give us the nitty gritty details.  Where were you?  What did this person do that you liked?  Were there any smells that you remember from that day?  Did you eat anything?  If so, list the foods.  Did that person hold your hand or hug you or pat your back or kiss you or pat your head?  If so, how did that feel?  Was his or her hand warm or cold?  Write down the details.  What did you see in that person’s face?  Were his or her eyes wrinkled or soft or shining?  Did he or she have a special smile for you? 
6)    Now you have the content for a poem explaining why you love (or really like) this person.  You may decide to use only one or two of the details from your list, but it’s those little details that will make your poem shine. 

Writers, start your engines!

And always, always, write with joy.

drawing by April Halprin Wayland

Six Word Resolutions & Goals! A Book Giveaway! And a New Year's Poem For You!

Hiya and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Before we get to the book giveaway and the poem, I want to share my all-time favorite New Years song with you.  Singing folk songs is one way I learned how to write poetry.  This song is by the wonderful folksinger/songwriter Bruce Phillips, aka Utah Phillips—“The Golden Voice of the Great Southwest—a legend in his own time”.  It’s alternately called Here with You or I Believe if I Lived My Life Again.  One reason I love this tender song is the setting in which we sing it: in a big circle, arms around each other, acappella, exactly at midnight.  My favorite part is the chorus:

I believe if I lived my life again
I'd still be here with you
I believe if I lived my life again
I'd still be here with you

I can’t find an easy download of the music, but the lyrics are here.

Okay…and now, on with our Teaching Authors
New Year contest and book giveaway!

Remember our post (and book giveaway) about setting goals for the new school year?

Remember your own goals?  Well, the six of us at Teaching Authors can’t wait to hear how you’re doing.  And because there are SIX of us, we’d like you to send us a SIX word progress report.   To jog your memory, here's Carmela Martino’s original post about six word memoirs and here is my follow-up post about six word resolutions.

So--how did you do with those fall resolutions?   Who or what hindered you?  Who or what helped you?  Here's the place to 'fess up!  (And remember, we writers also edit—both our writing and our lives.  So if you didn’t quite make that goal, revise it and let us know your new one—in six words or less, of course!)

Here’s my own progress report:
Writing, submitting, teaching—I’m on fire!

What’s yours?  Post it by January 13th and you could win my picture book NEW YEAR AT THE PIER, which Tablet Magazine just named it Best Jewish Picture Book of the Year!  Contest details below.

Wanna Win a Book? Rules:
1) Post one six word progress report on your writing, reading or teaching goal…or your revised goal.
2) Provide your email address or a link to your own blog in your comment so that we can contact you. (U.S. residents only, please.) 
3) Entries must be posted by 11 p.m. Wednesday, January 13, 2010 (Central Standard Time).
4) The winner will be announced by 11 p.m., Friday, January 15, 2010.
Here are the complete rules (scroll down)--g'luck!

And now for the poem...from me to you. (Please imagine that the first stanza below is four lines and all the rest are three lines...this format doesn't allow lines quite that long!)

THIS YEAR

by April Halprin Wayland

Because we lost Fred last year, because I had one last kiss from

Aunt Rose, from Aunt Cissy, from Aunt Polly, from Morrie…

because I want to hold on, hold back, hold them,

because I can’t, because you can’t, because we can’t,

because of this slant of sun on bees buzzing from their white boxes,

because of one spoonful of custard apple, because of this persimmon,

because your guitar, all wood and gut, echoes in rings around these things,

this year

let’s not miss present tense, salty pistachio, soft pianissimo,

let’s not miss sage incense, Native flute, one bite of fruit,

and let’s not miss these arms, these generous arms,

these loving arms, wrapping warm around us

this year.

© April Halprin Wayland

Two things in this New Year: remember to breathe and write with joy.

all drawings by April Halprin Wayland--please credit.

Our Gift To You on Poetry Friday!

Below is some Not-Quite-Poetry (or is it?) for
Poetry Friday...and a Writing Workout/
Writing Prompt / Story Starter / Lesson Plan!

Today's topic: an internet link from each TeachingAuthor...our gift to you for the holidays!

Hmmm...which one shall I wrap up for you?  Okay...I've got it.  My link is one you may already know.  It’s Smith Magazine, famous for Six Word Memoirs. 

In January we will be checking in on how you’re doing with those new-school-year goals you made in the fall, so let’s look at Smiths’ Six-Word Resolutions 

Here's one:

Start finishing first novel's last page.
~ jah 1

Here's my stab at a resolution, addressing the overly critical voice trumpeting in my brain:

Critic on shoulder?  Duct-tape her mouth! 

(Yes, this is cheating, because duct tape doesn't have a hyphen.  Or at least the critic on my shoulder told me it was cheating.)

So...what’s your six-word resolution?

a

Writing Workout / Writing Prompt / Story Starter / Lesson Plan
Six Word Memoirs:
Jumping Off Points for Your Story

Out of plot ideas? 

Wishing someone would drop a complete story in your lap?  You’re in luck!

There's something wonderful about having limits or sticking to a specific form. 

Not haiku...shorter.  Six-word memoirs.

Go to Smith Magazine to find one that resonates with you (there are lots of different categories, including Momoirs, Brushes with Fame, Love and Heartbreak),

or write your own,

or work with one of the seven from Smith below:

I punched monster, monster punched back.
~ emo122

Make a wish.  Nothing.  Always tomorrow.
~ Mook

A snow day would fix everything.
~ bluebirch114

Black and white life seeks color.
~ jae1390

I didn't walk off a roof.
~ Tobin Levy

How did I wind up here?
~ sisterpoet

And finally...this one just made me laugh:
Editor.  Get it?
~ Kate Hamill

In January, I'll ask you for a six-word essay on how you’re doing on those goals, so be thinking about that!

Meanwhile, write; write with joy. 
Drawings © by April Halprin Wayland

Out and About: Composting Your Notebook

     I began a new Young Writer's workshop this past weekend with some middle schoolers who are pretty sophisticated writers. Excited? You bet I was! These kids were ready for some serious writing work. I passed out composition books and pencils.
     "We are going to keep writer's journals," I announced.
     Silence. Expressionless faces.
     Oops. I recognized my error. In our local school system, journals are used to strengthen writing skills, and focus the student's attention to the subject at hand. Every single day.  By middle school, they are journaling five or six times a day, as they move from classroom to classroom.
      I know that teachers have specific testing goals to meet in spelling, grammar and punctuation. Creative writing?
      Not so much.
      I don't know how our school district fares on standardized writing tests, but I do know one side effect of daily classroom journaling; fear and loathing of "journaling."
     Back to my polite little writers, whose enthusiasm I squashed in the first five minutes by using the "j" word. I backpeddled rapidly.
     "OK, not really journaling," I said. "More like um...um..."
     Great. I'm the writer, and I  can't think of the right word for what I wanted them to do with those composition books.
     "Blogging?" my teenage assistant suggested.
     "Um...no." For one thing, there are no computers available for the workshop.
      I wanted to say "diary," but that's not right either.  Diaries show you just how boring your life is. A day-by-day chronicle of my life reads like the old Cheech and Chong comedy routine about "What I Did on My Summer Vacation." To paraphrase, "The first day, I got up, I got dressed, I ate breakfast. Then I went downtown to look for a job. Day two, I got up, I got dressed, I ate breakfast...."
     In my childhood diaries, I wrote whatever I was thinking or feeling at the moment. Writing them comforted me. I might also add that I was an only child and didn't have to worry about a sibling digging through my inner musings.
     But I digress.  My Young Writers were still waiting for me to say the magic word.
     "Let's notebook," I said.
     Nobody flinched at my use of a noun as a verb. Encouraged, I made up some more "writerspeak." I knew I couldn't use the "p" word, either. (That would be "prompt.") Prompts leave me staring at an empty screen or page, feeling frustrated at my inability to cough up creativity on demand. But I am good at finishing sentences...both my own and those of other people.
     "Finish this sentence," I said.  "Just write the first that you think of.  No hard thinking allowed. Sometimes I wonder...'"
    Scribble scribble scribble.  The writers finished, and looked at me for further wisdom.
    "Now keep writing about that until I tell you to stop. If you can't think of anything, just keep writing 'I can't think of anything to write'.  Sooner or later you will come up with something."
     Yes, this is just another way of re-packaging a "free write." Say "free write" to me and watch me do a Wile E. Coyote, freezing in mid-air, just before i plummet off the creative cliff. Free writes are just a little
too "free" for me, and for most students that I encounter. There should be boundaries. That's boundaries...not walls. Less is more.
     Since I do the exercises along with my students, I wrote the first thing that came to mind....I wonder what it would be like to vacation in space? From there I rambled on about a cruise ship-like space vehicle, with room service and a gift shop that sold t-shirts that said "My parents went to Saturn and all I got was this crummy t-shirt."
     My workshoppers were considerably more serious. Their "wonderings" were about Big Life Issues. Just as I hoped, by the end of the allotted five minutes, they had moved from personal "wondering", to conjecture, which is the step before diving into fiction.
    "Let's do another one," the group chorused. OK, maybe they didn't chorus, but they were certainly having fun. While I never insist that anyone "share with the group" (or even with me, privately) if they don't want to, this group wanted to.  So we shared, and did more open ended prom...um...sentences.
     I've never had so much fun with a writing workshop. At least not one I was leading!
     By the end of the afternoon, each writer had several pages of raw writing, compost for future projects, and the bare bones of a short story.
     And I will never have to use the "j" word again.
     We are "notebooking."

     Writing Workout

     The point of "composting" is not just to give the writer material for future use; it helps to engage the hand and brain simultaneously. That's trickier than it sounds, since most of us are so used to writing on a computer, mindlessly adding, deleting and Spell-checking. As my students complain "My mind works faster than I can move a pencil." Ah ha! That means you have to slow down, and think while you are writing. (Thinking--that undervalued writing skill!)

 Here are some of the open ended prompts I used. The second part of the part of the prompt is always "now keep writing." (Usually for five minutes, depending on the group.)

My favorite food is....   Describe without using the sense of sight.

If I could invite one person to supper, famous or not, living or dead, I would invite.....(I know; this is just a variation of the "who do you admire most?' prompt, but this seems to work better, creatively speaking.)

When I was five, my favorite toy was....

I really wish that...

What really makes me laugh is....

The one thing I could really live without is....
(or)
The one thing I can't live without is...

If could be someone else for a day it would be...


I'd love to hear your open-end prompts. (Sorry, no prize involved here. I'm just interested in hearing from
you.)


What I'm Reading.
Adult Non-fiction: Anne Frank:  The Diary, the Life, the Afterlife by Francine Prose.
YA Fiction:  Purple Heart by Patricia McCormack, Comfort by Joyce Moyer Hostetter,


Mary Ann