1 Day, 2 shots, 3 teachers: So Grateful!

Howdy, Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday! (The link to PF are below)

This round, we’re sharing “Matters of the Heart”💕. Esther starts us off in her characteristically generous, loving manner, offering three books that keep her heart beating;: Of, By and For Our Reader’s,Writer’s and Teacher’s Hearts; as she takes time off from this blog (I miss her already), Bobbi shares a song I’ve fallen in love with, Baba Yetu, in her very short post, Song of the Week: Here’s to You!;  Mary Ann, who always writes honestly from her heart, shares old family photos as she chronicles her process of returning to writing in Welcoming Home the Prodigal Heart; and Carmela shares two original haiku inspired by a prompt on Storystorm in her post, #TwoHaikuFromTwo.

And me? As a spring breeze of hope blows across my face, three things come to mind when I hear the word "heart"...

1. Heartbreak: March 7, 2020 ~ the last time I taught in person at UCLA.💔

I thought I was so clever putting up this sign to keep our classroom safe that day     :

Pl                                                Please read the exciting tale of
                                   ALCOHOL AND KLEENEX ~ A LOVE STORY 
· Pour a small amount of alcohol in your palm.
· Wash" your hands the same way you would with soap and water (the classic love story you may be more familiar with). 
· Let your hands air dry completely.  Do not rub them on your clothes to dry. 
                                          Thank you.

(We live and learn: I quickly stopped using alcohol. Anyone need a bottle? I have extra.)

There are many markers for when, exactly, the pandemic began in the US. The consensus is March 11, 2020. I was haunted recently, thinking back...it felt as if it had been at least two years. Or ten. I wrote this poem March 11, 2021:

THIS DAY

by April Halprin Wayland

This day.

This day a year ago

(or maybe more? Am I remiss?)

We stood upon a precipice

and knew not this:

this day the route was stayed, dismissed.

We thought it was the way but no—

it was the cliff.

2. 💕Take Heart: Two shots!💕

Now, thanks to the policies of a human, humane POSTUS, I’m double-vaccinated, as is my husband. And though we know democracy is not and has never been a spectator sport, still, my heart beats with hope for our country. Soon we may have a big, warm hug with our son and his beloved (he's an ER doc in Albuquerque, we live in Southern California)!

3. 👪From Heart Burn to Open Hearted: Three Musketeers teach a three-hour class👪

In the writing/teaching realm, my heart is filled with affection and appreciation for... 

                             

Alexis O'Neill ~ photo by Sonya Sones

and 

                                                                 

Barney Saltzberg

...two dear friends with whom I've been teaching intro to picture book class for absolute beginners each spring for many years. This quarter, UCLA Extension Writers' Program asked us to condense our one-day eight hour class into a one-day, three hour class.

Did you catch that? From eight hours down to three.

How were we going to teach everything a beginning picture book writer wants to know but is afraid to ask in THREE hours?

ACK! There's so much students won't be getting. 

But as every seasoned teacher knows, that's nothing new, right? Learning what to leave out is part of teaching. It's just that remote classes gobble up time like bears gobbling blueberries. 

Once we agreed that stuffing eight hours into three was like stuffing a dictionary into a thimble, we ripped up our syllabus and our carefully paced 8-hour schedule, created a tear in the space-time continuum,

...and crawled through.

And now it feels as if we've birthed something new. It's exciting!  So...if you know someone who doesn't know ANYTHING about picture books but is curious, please tell them about our class ~ just $30 for 3 hours. It'll be an adventure. Tell them to join us!  

Here's our flyer with Barney's fabulous illustration:

UCLA EXTENSION WRITERS' PROGRAM PRESENTS:

INTRODUCTION TO WRITING CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS

A BASIC WORKSHOP FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS

Saturday, April 3, 2021, 12-3pm PST

$30

You have the dream~ I've always wanted to write a children's picture book. 
But how? This inspiring class offers you practical tools to help you realize that dream. It includes writing exercises, examples of current picture books and behind-the-scenes stories and advice from award-winning authors. By the end of this class you'll have tools to guide you in this vibrant field.

Instructors:
Seasoned teachers and award-winning children's picture book creators
Alexis O'Neill, Barney Saltzberg and April Halprin Wayland 

Please understand that learning to write a picture book in three hours
is like speed-dating a cheetah on roller skates. Downhill. 
Still, the chase will be quite exciting!

Enrollment is limited.
https://ucla.in/3eUCzWU
...................................................................................................

Many thanks to RhymeZone and its "find phrases with the word heart in it" option.

Now it's your turn: if you were to list 3 things that changed your heart this past year, what would they be?

Thank you to Linda for hosting Poetry Friday at TeacherDance this week!

posted by April Halprin Wayland with the help of Sheldon, our 20-year-old tortoise, who came out of hibernation today to assist with all his heart.

Early Mornings From My Window

Spring and summer are my favorites.
Sunshiny  days.
Early mornings on my patio.
A cup of coffee,
my journal,
and a smooth writing pen
completes my morning ritual.

By Gwendolyn Hooks

Letting Go of Fear (in Our 10th Year!)

.
Howdy, Campers! Happy Poetry Friday! (poem and the link to PF is below)

Before we begin, there's good news for those of you who want to win a terrific book: We’ve extended the deadline to enter our latest book giveaway of a signed copy of The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by editor and author Cheryl B. Klein. You’ll find giveaway instructions in Carmela’sMarch 29 post. The new deadline is now Tuesday, May 7, in part to honor the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book Week. Click here to find out how to enter.

And now...happy 10th blogiversary, fellow Teaching Authors! In particular, happy blogiversary to our founder and fearless leader, Carmela Martino, who has steered the TA ship across the years. I cannot begin to thank you for hauling me on deck just before we set sail. My world is so much richer for it!

pretty amazing

In honor of this memorable milestone, all current and several former Teaching Authors are sharing our favorite posts.  I've decided to go all the way back to 2009. Here's my post on our first topic, "How I Became a Teaching Author."  At the end of that post I conclude that teaching is generosity.

I've become more and more comfortable being honest with our readers. Today I know that being honest is a form of generosity.  (And to be honest, I was scared straight out of my jimmy-jammies writing that post.)

In this safe space, we've often shared fears about writing or teaching (find some of those posts here); I felt like an imposter as a writer and as a teacher for so long, fear was a second skin.

But this year something's changed. 

I must be like the Cowardly Lion at the end of the movie, The Wizard of Oz. As he is awarded a medal for courage, he becomes brave. After I was given an outstanding instructor award by the UCLA Extension Writers' Program, I believed that I actually was a good instructor, rather than pretending to be one.

Here is a not-yet-good-enough draft of a poem about how I so often felt:

TEACH
by April Halprin Wayland

I cannot do this today.

I sit on the stool in this empty classroom.

How dare I believe I can teach.

Am I a teacher?

Do other teachers feel this way--

slightly flu-ish, wanting to puke, even?

They should bring in someone else,

someone with a sword, maybe.

I wonder if my second grade teacher felt this way.

I wonder if all my teachers felt this way.

I almost fall off my stool 

imagining that.

But as I began teaching the first quarter of this year, here's what I wrote:
.

AGAIN
by April Halprin Wayland
.
Again she drives in early

unloads books

hooks up her laptop to the screen

puts one sheet of lavender paper

on each desk

puts the perfectly blooming hyacinth

just so on the edge of her desk

tapes her favorite quote on the front door

and two more inside her classroom.
.

Again she takes off running shoes

puts on high heels

brushes her hair

fills her water bottle

settles in.

She breathes for a moment,

closing her eyes.

Then she looks at the clock,

opens the door

and...
begins.

poems (c) 2019 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved. (Even on that crummy draft.)

One sign on my classroom door

As we celebrate 10 years of this blog, I celebrated 20 years as an instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program.

I am no longer afraid to walk through that door. (And, though the fear has diminished, I still sweat writing this blog!  Perhaps that fear will disappear by our 20th blogiversary.)

my wonderful first class of 2019 holding some of their favorite picture books
both photos taken by our guest speaker, author Alexis O'Neill

Thank you for teaching me so much, readers. 

Happy Ramadan, Passover and/or Easter to all!

 And thank you, Amy at The Poem Farm for hosting!

Posted by April Halprin Wayland with help from Eli, the licky, lanky dog with the operatic bark.

Eli consulting Bear

Thanks to My First-ever Forever TeachingAuthor!

When it comes to thanking only one author during our November TeachingAuthors Thanks-Giving celebration, how could I not choose my very first TeachingAuthor, former Illinoisan Berniece Rabe?

If her name is new to you, click here to read about some of her books, awards and accomplishments in this Chicago, Tribune 1993 article.

There’s also this lovely write-up that sadly, has not been updated to include Berniece’s death 3 years ago.

Her very own words as to why she writes for children speak volumes about who and what she was.

"My books speak of survival, of hard times. . . . Often there is love and humor interwoven and my characters not only survive, they live with hope and confidence. I write such books for I believe all children have a time for suffering and a time for happiness. How we cope with the suffering determines the time left to happiness. Our struggles cause us to crumble or to grow, the choice is ours. To make my readers aware that there is a choice is why I write."

The first of anything is always unforgettable, often eye-opening and if we’re lucky, life-changing.

Bernice deserves all three adjectives.

She first came my way at the very start of my Writer’s Journey, courtesy of SCBW - so long ago, the “I” for Illustrators wasn’t even an idea. 

Think: no Internet (!), few Writing for Children classes and a handful of books on the craft of Writing for Children. J.K. Rowling was years away from becoming the Children’s Book Writers VIP Influencer.

The inexpensive SCBW membership offered me (1) validation, thanks to my lovely blue membership card that named me a Children’s Book Writer, (2) an informative newsletter, (3) an annual conference (of sorts) and (4) best all, The Manuscript Exchange, which is how I first met Berniece.

By that time she was already an award-winning published author of her first semi-autobiographical middle grade novel RASS and the 1978 Golden Kite Award-winning middle grade novel THE GIRL WHO HAD NO NAME.

I counted several sleepless nights awaiting the arrival of my SASE that held Berniece Rabe’s critical response to my first picture book, CATCH A PATCH OF FOG. I could only pinch myself when SHE asked ME to respond in kind to one of her manuscripts!

I still shake my head at her assessment: Berniece Rabe, a real honest-to-goodness author, thought I was a children’s book writer!

She qualified the affirmation, of course, while teaching me volumes about the truths of story-telling and the picture book format.  I had years to go before I’d be published, she shared.  She was kind enough not to tell me why. She kept to herself what she saw in my stories but I as yet couldn’t: I was unconnected to my characters, still unwilling to feel as my characters felt, writing well but above their plot lines.

As luck would have it, over the next 15 years, I continued to learn from my first TeachingAuthor - at Children’s Reading Round Table conferences in Chicago, at the Off Campus Writers Workshop in Winnetka, Illinois.  Indeed, anywhere she was speaking and teaching, there I was.

In the beginning, her words would play through my mind as I sat at my kitchen table, typing away until my toddler son’s spilled juice on the floor pulled me away, then later at my desk, when I’d  write in between Life’s comings and goings – i.e. mothering, wife-ing, freelance writing, Room Mother responsibilities, baseball playoffs, carpool, Hebrew School and familial obligations.

I was a Writer!  It was my duty and my right to honor that calling!  Berniece Rabe said so!

Simply put, Berniece gave me confidence and courage.

I remain grateful that in the late 90’s, I was able to share with her how she’d kept me growin’ and goin’ until I proved correct her long-ago assessment of my publishing time-line.

I could only smile when 3 weeks ago I handed her picture book THE BALANCING GIRL (Dutton, 1981), based on her granddaughter’s true experiences, to a Newberry Library Workshop student to use as a mentor text.  Berniece Rabe lives on!

Thank you, Berniece, my first-ever forever TeachingAuthor, for your keen eye, your outstretched hand, your steely spine and your unyielding Spirit.  YOU kept ME keepin’ on!

Happy Thanks-Giving!

Esther Hershenhorn