We Have A Winner! And We Have A Writer's Drought Poem for Poetry Friday!

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Howdy, Campers!

Happy hot and glorious summer!  I'm loving this hotter-than-usual Southern California summer: lying on hot cement by the pool in a wet bathing suit, barefeet, no sleeves, long days, bright mornings, driving with all the windows down, sleeping with all the windows open, taking Eli to the dog park early because he's black and brown and otherwise he gets too hot to romp like a pony, cold drinks with just the right kind of crunchy ice...I can go on listing all the things I love about summer.

Speaking of lists, we have a winner of Sylvia Vardell's book, THE POETRY BOOK OF LISTS!  If you were on vacation, Sylvia was our Mystery Guest Author on August 3rd.  It was very exciting.  And so is announcing the winner, who is...dum-dah-dah-dum...Carl Scott!   Yay, Carl!

And now onto the topic we TeachingAuthors have been discussing:

GETTING THROUGH TIMES OF DROUGHT
OR HOW I FILL THE WRITING WELL. 

(Sorry...I didn't mean to shout.)

Mary Ann posted about finding at least three things to write in her journal each day that trigger her curiosity.  Carmela posted that she replenishes her writer's well by taking herself on an artist playdate. And Carmela tells us about her friend, Leanne Pankuch, who writes a page a day.  

My contribution is the following poem, inspired by our topic.

DROUGHT
by April Halprin Wayland

We writers,
we've been through Hard Times.
Dry times.
The Long Drought.

Dry?  Oh my.
We place our plates upside down,
glasses bottom side up,
so the winds won't blast dust into 'em.

Our typewriters go thirsty on parched parchment.
We've got scrawny stories—or none at all.
Ideas simply
evaporate.

We hear that on the outskirts of Amarillo,
crows built a nest from barbed wire—
the only thing they could scavenge
from burned-out fields.

Those birds made a nest
from barbed wire?
Well, Sir, then so can we.
And then: we'll crow.

poem © 2012 April Halprin Wayland.  All rights reserved.

WRITING WORKOUT: Vitamins

Raise your hand if you take vitamins.  Now look at the vitamin bottle.  Do the directions say: take one when the mood strikes you?

I challenge you to write something, anything, every day, even if it's small, even if it's crummy. The trick to doing this consistently, for me, turned out to be connecting with a writing buddy.  You may remember that I write a poem a day and send each one to my friend who sails around the world in a trimaran.  Well, Bruce is now writing a poem a day, too, and sending them to me.  It's a lovely circular thing. 

One brilliant poem a day?  Ha ha.  Some rare days the poems are wonderful.  I give those a star.  Some days they're just okay.  Poetic possibilities in waiting.  And some days, wandering in a desert, or depleted by Real Life, I can only squeeze out what Bruce and I call a PHP--a Place Holder Poem.

So every day, take your vitamins.  Write a page or a poem.  And walk out your door into the world feeling virtuous.  You are a writer.

Thanks to Andromeda at A Wrung Sponge for hosting Poetry Friday!
(Note from Carmela: Andromeda's roundup didn't come out until Saturday.
Meanwhile, Mary Lee was kind enough to post one at A Year of Reading) 

posted by April Halprin Wayland

"Replenishing our Inner Well"

Like much of the United States, Illinois is experiencing a terrible drought this year. Earlier this month, the USDA declared 98 of Illinois's 102 counties "disaster areas" because of the combination of drought and heat. Interestingly, the county I live in is one of the few NOT designated a disaster area. You'd never guess it from looking at the parched lawns around here.

I was inspired to suggest the topic of "writing droughts" to the TeachingAuthors team after reading "A Writer's (non) Drought"  by my friend Leanne Pankuch on her blog. Leanne quotes a local meteorologist as saying, “Drought begets drought,” and talks about how the phrase is as true about writing as it is about weather. I agree.

On Monday, Mary Ann shared how she uses her journal to "prime the pump" by noting brief observations. Similarly, Leanne finds that journaling at least a page a day helps her get the writing flowing again. I sometimes use similar techniques. However, one of my favorite ways to deal with a writing drought is to go on what Julia Cameron calls an "Artist Date" in her book, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (Tarcher Books). 
 
If you're not familiar with the term, here's Cameron's description of it from her blog:

The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly “artistic”– think mischief more than mastery. Artist Dates fire up the imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play. Since art is about the play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well of images and inspiration.

If you have two minutes, I recommend you watch this videoclip of Cameron describing how an Artist Date works before reading on.

© Jusben @ Morguefile, used with permission

When I found the adjacent photo on Morguefile, I thought it a great image to represent what Cameron calls "replenishing our inner wells." (Click on the image to enlarge it.) The photographer says the photo is of "water flow at the Holy Well in Edington Somersetshire England." To me, the inner source of our creativity is indeed "holy."

That doesn't mean an Artist Date is a solemn occasion. Here are examples of some I've taken:

• visiting a large garden center and walking around the blooming plants and garden decorations
• browsing an arts and craft fair, enjoying art in many different forms
• cutting out interesting images from magazines and gluing them into a collage
• using rubber stamps of flowers and plants to create an image and then coloring it in with colored pencils

While I enjoyed all of the above, I found the last two especially fun. I don't consider myself at all "artistic"--I tell people I can't even draw a decent stick figure. So finding that I could create, with my own hands, something I found visually appealing was very affirming. Plus, using colored pencils made me feel like a kid again. (I'm smiling just remembering the experience.) And the process must have activated the creative center of my brain because I came up with all sorts of wonderful ideas. 
    
Funny--despite how much I enjoy Artist Dates, I can't remember when I last took one. I think it's time I do. There's no need to wait for a writing drought. See the (un)Writing Workout below for more on planning your own Artist Date. And if you have additional ideas for Artist Date activities, or would like to share your own Artist Date experiences, please post a comment below.

And don't forget--time is running out to enter our Mystery Guest TeachingAuthor giveaway. You must enter by 11 pm (CST) tomorrow, August 16.   

(un)Writing Workout:
Take an Artist Date

In the book The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron says,

"An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist."

It's basically a play date with what Cameron calls your "inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child." It's something you do alone, either in your own home, or away from it. Some samples Cameron shares in her book:

• visit a great junk store
• take a solo trip to the beach
• watch an old movie
• visit an aquarium or art gallery
• go to an ethnic neighborhood to taste foreign sights and sounds
• visit an unfamiliar church to hear gospel music

Another idea: do something you loved doing as a child that you haven't done in a long time, such as coloring a picture, riding a roller coaster, or going out for an ice cream sundae. The key is to HAVE FUN!

After finding Jusben's wonderful photography on Morguefile, I may make browsing more photographs there my next Artist Date. 

For additional suggestions, see these listed on Cameron's blog.

Happy (un)writing!
Carmela

Priming the Writing Pump

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    A butterfly garden

    Sisters nine months apart who quarrel constantly

    "Take the Long Way Home" by Supertramp

     Canine siblings

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

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

   Here's to ending the drought!

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

   Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

   

How I Became a Teaching Author

I still remember how something shifted inside of me, back in kindergarten, the moment I realized that the 26 letters on those dark green cards stapled in a row above the chalkboard were enough to create every word I’d ever heard. And, what?! Reading was simply a matter of knowing the sounds of those letters? Ding! I was hooked. Before long, some of my best friends lived in books. I loved writing stories, too – little dramas about lost bears, frightened owlets, marauding raccoons (camping weekends and Disney nature movies were big in my family, can you tell?) So writing stories was an early passion, but one that got lost along the way in the busyness of life.

It wasn’t until I started reading picture books to my own kids that I recalled those bone-deep storytelling roots and was bitten by the maybe-I-could-do-this bug. I took a short class at a local community college called The ABCs of Writing for Children, then proceeded to dive in – making a lot of mistakes. Oh, so many mistakes. (I once submitted an unfinished story hoping an editor would like it enough to help me come up with an ending.) I read dozens of writing instruction books, absorbed wisdom at writing conferences, and, every so often, received rejection letters that included pointers that simultaneously enlightened and mortified. 

Fortunately forty-five of my poems, stories, and articles were published in children’s magazines over the next few years, but I was still struggling to write a picture book story that somebody besides my dog enjoyed. One writing friend dubbed me The Rejection Queen, not just because I got so many (which I did), but because I was so cool about them – those babies just bounced off my Teflon skin. After four and a half years of pouring heart and soul into the effort, I finally received The Call. When I heard that my Stink Soup was going to be published, I fell into chair, hyperventilating. The editor instructed me to find a paper bag to breathe into, then waited while I did so. Yep, one cool customer. 

In the ten years since The Call, I’ve taught many workshops, including an ongoing one at the University of Iowa’s Summer Writing Festival, and spent five years as an instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature. I co-host the Whispering Woods Picture Book Writing Workshop/Retreat each July and also do private critiques for aspiring picture book writers. Turns out, I love teaching as much as writing. And when a story I’ve critiqued earns another writer The Call? That’s almost as exciting as getting my own, way back when. Minus the hyperventilating.

My twelfth book will be published this fall. Yet writing still isn’t – and never will be – a job to me. Like reading the best stories, trying to write them leads to unexpected adventure, loads of fun, occasional mayhem, and many serendipitous moments of joy. . . .

Like being invited to join these TeachingAuthors I’ve long admired. Yay! 

Jill Esbaum

Wait, don't go! Remember our mystery guest? If you haven't yet entered to win a copy of Sylvia Vardell's The Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists in our current book giveaway, please do!

Drum roll, please! Meet our newest TA!

Please join me in welcoming our newest TeachingAuthor, Jill Esbaum of Iowa City, Iowa!

TeachingAuthor describes Jill perfectly.
She not only authors award-winning picture books, such as Ste-e-e-e-eamboat A-Comin’! (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and To the Big Top (FSG), as well as a National Geographic nonfiction series; she also teaches her own Picture Book Workshops and in the University of Iowa’s Summer Writing Festival.  She’s served as an instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature too.

I’ve been a True Fan of Jill, her writing and her teaching since SCBWI first connected us oh, so long ago.

Click on ABOUT US to learn about our newest TA. 
Then visit Jill’s website to learn even more.  
And be sure to read Jill’s first TeachingAuthors post this Friday.

My fellow TAs and I thank the Universe Jill stepped up to fill the shoes of JoAnnEarly Macken, a TeachingAuthor original and our first alum. 

Lucky us!

But best of all, lucky you, our readers!

And speaking of you, our lucky readers, time’s running out for one among you to win a copy of Sylvia Vardell’s The Poetry Teacher’s Book of Lists in our current Book Giveaway.

Now that you’ve entered our Book Giveaway, join me as I vicariously attend the 41st SCBWI Conference, held this past weekend in LA.

I’m still disappointed I was unable to attend this once-a-summer event that every August changes my Writing Life, connects me to my Children’s Book World Community, helps me hone my craft and lets me dance like no one was watching.

Brew yourself a pitcher of ice-tea, charge your laptop, then claim a park bench where the world will let you be and work your way through the SCBWI Team Blog's Post beginning

Friday, August 3 with editor and publisher Arthur A. Levine’s opening keynote address to the closing celebratory Autograph Party Sunday, August 5.

Thanks to Lee Wind and his SCBWI Team Blog for making my attendance and yours possible.

                                              

And if you and your fingers are still itching to learn more online about Writing for Children, you can join me next week for WriteOnCon, an online Children’s Writer’s Conference created by writers, for writers, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 14 and 15.

I’m happy to report the cost is free!

The bench you parked yourself on to vicariously attend the SCBWI LA Conference will still serve you well.
The conference schedule is designed around writers' working hours.
Everything takes places within the conference website.
Lectures, panels and key note addresses, by editors, agents, authors, illustrators, are presented as blogs, vlogs, moderated chats, webinars, podcasts and livestreaming.
There’s also a critique form, where participants can post query letters and writing samples.

And, finally, should you be a do-it-aloner, and even if you’re not (!), it’s not too late to plug into Laure Halse Anderson’s Write 15 Minutes a Day Challenge at her Mad Woman in the Forest blog.

All of the above has me rewriting the lyrics of a popular seasonal song:

     Summertime,

     when the learning is eas-ier….

And to my new TeachingAuthor comrade,

I say:
Welcome!
Break a pen (or key), Jill!

Esther Hershenhorn

Beginnings and Endings

It's that time of year...  Today I turned in my syllabus for the fall semester.  Oh, summer, I miss you already. 

Of course we've all been engrossed in the Olympics this week, cheering for Michael Phelps (hometown boy), Gabby Douglas, and all the rest.  Looking at track, at gymnastics, at swimming, it occurs to me -- you can be a breast stroke specialist and so-so in the free; outstanding on the vault and a little shaky on the beam.  Like "sport," writing involves a HUGE compendium of skill sets that need to come together in a rather miraculous way to make even a passable final product. 

Like athletes, writers have coaches (editors) and fans; we also need to put in our time (thousands of hours) and sweat. Unlike athletes, we have more than one chance on the big stage to get it right.  Hallelujah.  This is great news!  Yet trying to convince my students that editing is not only important but a gift remains one of my biggest teaching hurdles.

This week I've worn my article-writer hat; my scriptwriter hat; my picture book writer hat.  I just signed up for a romance writing class this fall, so we'll see whether I have a romance writer hat in my closet.  However, my teacher hat is rather new and stiff still.  I find that one of the greatest challenges in college comp is teaching students global skills and grammar skills; research skills and sentence-level editing. Some students have had many of these skills since they were very young; others don't know where to put periods or apostrophes.  However, some who struggle with grammar are still among my strongest writers on a global level.  And how do you differentiate instruction for students you see for a whopping two-and-a-half hours per week?  Whew!

I have spent the last week contemplating last year's syllabus -- what worked and what didn't?  What do I want to keep, tweak, revamp, delete? One exercise that was fairly effective last year involved introductions and conclusions.  Many introductory comp students have had the five-paragraph essay format effectively drilled into their heads.  They think they are required to write an introduction that concludes with a three-point thesis; that the introductory sentence of each of the next three paragraphs should repeat one third of the thesis statement; and that the concluding paragraph should begin with a restatement of the thesis statement, going on to summarize all that has come before.

Many students are shocked when I suggest that it is not good practice to say the same thing three times; in fact, many are shocked by the mere notion that they can write more than or fewer than five pargraphs in one essay.  We spend much of the semester working toward the notion that the five-paragraph format is a template that can be molded to a variety of shapes, forms, and purposes.

Our textbooks concentrate on suggestions for making introductions and conclusions more interesting: start with dialogue; start with a story; start with an interesting fact.  In the final paragraph, end with a story; bring your reader back to the beginning; offer a tip or a suggestion; look toward the future.

Many students nonetheless are resistant to these ideas and continue to write summary-type paragraphs that add zero interest to their papers.  So we tried this writing workout:

Writing Workout

Rewrite your introduction once, and then do it again.  Use two different techniques (anecdote, interesting fact, etc.).  Which do you like best?  Have a peer read all three of your introductions.  Which does he/she like best?  Rewrite your introductory paragraph, using the best of all three iterations.  Repeat the process for your concluding paragraph.  Voila -- revision in action! 

What I'm reading this week:
The Grammar Plan Book: A Guide to Smart Teaching by Constance Weaver
Bunheads by Sophie Flack (outstanding -- and no relation to the CW show!)

Last but certainly not least -- don't forget to enter our latest Teaching Author Book Giveaway!
--Jeanne Marie

Mystery Guest TeachingAuthor And Book Giveaway for Poetry Friday!

Howdy, Campers!  And...surprise!  Following the success of our first Mystery Guest TeachingAuthor which Carmela Martino posted last Friday, here's our second ever Mystery Guest TeachingAuthor (MGTA)—complete with his/her Writing Workout and a fabulous Book Giveaway! OMG.  I'll bet you can barely stand the excitement. The details about the giveaway are below, but DO NOT GO THERE YET.  If you do, you'll find out who our MGTA is and blow the whole deal.

Here's how we play the MGTA game: I'll share our MGTA's bio before giving you his/her Writing Workout [listen...this his/her thing is getting awkward...I'll give this to you: it's a her]. You try to guess who our guest author is before I reveal the MGTA's identity at the end of the post. (And even though it's going to kill you, no fair clicking on the MGTA's book links to find out the author's name!) 

Then let us know if you figured out who this most amazing lady is, either by commenting below, or an email.

Ready?  Okay, let's go!

Today's MGTA is a Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University and has taught graduate courses in children's and young adult literature at various universities since 1981. She has published extensively, including five books on literature for children [including—remember, no clicky-clicky—Poetry Aloud Here! Sharing Poetry with Children in the Library (ALA, 2006), Poetry People: A Practical Guide to Children's Poets (Libraries Unlimited, 2007), and Children'sLiterature in Action: A Librarians Guide (Libraries Unlimited, 2008)], as well as over 20 book chapters and 100 journal articles; she's recently co-edited several ground-breaking e-anthologies of poetry for children. In addition, she edits for Librarians' Choice. Is this woman is making you tired, just reading about her?  And there's more: her blog is full of tips and news (and poems) that help spread enthusiasm for poetry, and it has become a touchstone—the go-to blog in the field of poetry for children.

Have you guessed our guest yet?  No?  Well, let's let her tell us how she became a TeachingAuthor:

What a treat to be featured on Teaching Authors!

My mom tells me I started teaching neighbor kids when I was about 6, but it could be I was mainly bossing them around! My first paid gig was teaching sixth grade. Then I went to graduate school, loved it, and started teaching adults. I really enjoy working with both educators AND kids and have been doing it for 30+ years now.

I enjoy academic writing and lean toward the more pedagogical type rather than pure research. Helping teachers keep up with the latest trends and techniques is very rewarding. My focus has always been on children’s literature, sometimes generally (in my textbook, Children’s Literature in Action) and sometimes on specific genres—like poetry, my primary passion. I’ve written several books about poetry for children in hopes of giving those who feel uncertain about (or resistant to) poetry the tools they need to enjoy and share it in fun ways with kids.

This has led me to blogging; I am also the regular “Everyday Poetry” columnist for ALA’s Book Links magazine and serve as a consultant to the Poetry Foundation.

Poet and friend Janet Wong and I launched a biggie last year with the first digital e-books of poetry for young people, our Poetry Tag Time trio.  I’m so proud of those—particularly since they are traveling around the world and are a bit hit in Australia and Kenya, in particular. 

Before I reveal this author's name (if you've come here via Poetry Friday, chances are you've already guessed who our mystery star is because you're a poetry genius), here's our MGTA's terrific Writing Workout in her own words:

Here’s a Writing Workout that has helped me more times than I can count:

• Write, write, write.
• Then let it simmer,
• come back and try cutting out the first sentence or first paragraph.
• Let the next sentence (or paragraph) be the beginning. How does it sound? I find that I am often a bit wooden and cumbersome in the “set up” and cutting that off, leaves a fresh, more energetic sentence. The same is often true at the end. I say what I need to say, but then ramble.
• Chop it off.
• Read it again. Have I ended with what is most important and stopped with a fresh image or turn of phrase? Then stop. And my final tip?
• Even after that, I sometimes flip those two pieces—moving the end to the beginning and the beginning to the end. How does that feel? I sometimes find that it took me awhile to figure out my point (and say it well), but I really need to have that strong statement at the beginning, rather than at the end.
• So, flip it.

These are not absolute, of course. But it can help me look at my work with fresh eyes and see those words and sentences as more malleable than I thought at first.

*   *   *

Thanks for this Writing Workout, MGTA!  Campers, we'd like to know if you try this exercise—please comment below or or email us!  Now, finally, it's time for the big reveal. 

Today's Mystery Guest TeachingAuthor is (drum roll please):

Sylvia Vardell!

I met Sylvia many years ago at a conference through Janet Wong and I've been a friend and admirer of her ever since.  Readers, how'd you do? Did you guess who our MGTA was?  We'd love to hear what you think of our new feature. 

Appropriately enough, Sylvia would like to share a poem today from The Poetry Friday Anthology (edited with poet Janet Wong) (available Sept. 1).  

Isn't this a great cover?  

This book is a new anthology of 218 original poems for children in kindergarten through fifth grade by 75 popular poets from J. Patrick Lewis and Jack Prelutsky to Jane Yolen, Margarita Engle, Nikki Grimes, April Halprin Wayland, and many more. [Sylvia wrote this...I swear I didn't pay her to include my name in this blurb!]  Here is a sample poem to whet your appetite:

The Do Kind by Janet Wong

When my ball flies over the wall,

you run and get it back.

When my books fall down the stairs,

you help me pick them up.

Some friends are see friends,

me me me friends.

You are the do kind,

the me and you kind.

April says: Be a "do kind" of FOP (a friend-of-poetry)—or an FOTOP (a friend-of-teachers-of-poetry)—and arrange for your PTA or school district to buy a copy in September for every K-5 teacher!

Thank you, Sylvia, for being our second Mystery Guest TeachingAuthor, for sharing such a terrific Writing Workout with us, AND for offering a Book Giveaway to our readers!

The book Sylvia's giving away to one of our lucky readers is:

The Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists is jam-packed with poetry bibliographies and research-based strategies for selecting and sharing poetry with young people (ages 0-18). Need help finding the perfect poem for a holiday celebration or a science unit? A funny riddle poem or a bilingual poetry book? This book contains 155 different poetry bibliographies and lists of research-based strategies featuring 1500 poetry books for children and teens (ages 0-18).  Pretty cool, huh?  For more info, check out the dedicated blog.

Is your mouth watering yet?  Do you want to win this book?  
Here's how to enter THE POETRY TEACHER’S BOOK OF LISTS Book Giveaway:
1. Comment on today's post or enter by sending an email to us at teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line. Tell us why you'd like to be the lucky winner.  Will you be keeping it for yourself or sharing it with a colleague or friend?
2.  You must include contact information in your comment.  If you are not a blogger or your email address is not accessible from your online profile, you must send us a valid email address in your comment.  Entries without contact information will be disqualified.  Note:  The TeachingAuthors cannot prevent spammers from accessing e-mail addresses posted within the comments, so feel free to disguise your address by spelling out portions such as "dot" and "at."
3.  You must send us your post by 11 pm (CST), Thursday, August 16th. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Friday, August 17th.  Note:  Winners automatically grant us permission to post their names here on the TeachingAuthors website.
4.  You must have a mailing address in the United States.
5.  You must respond to the notification e-mail and provide a mailing address within 72 hours, or the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner chosen.

And, hey! Thanks to Rena from

On the Way to Somewhere

for hosting Poetry Friday this week!

poem (c) 2012 Janet Wong all rights reserved                                                

TTFN! ~ April Halprin Wayland

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!

We Have a Winnah!!! Roller Coaster Kid Bookaway Winner Announced.

     Drum roll, please! (Or several actually, since I forgot to post this last week.)  A personally autographed copy of The Roller Coaster Kid goes to Jenny Schwartzberg. (Jenny email me personally with your contact information)

   Thank you all who entered and shared your own summer "ups and downs" on roller coasters, past and present.  If you didn't win this time, never fear.  There is always another book giveaway just around the corner.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman