Fears Into Fiction--HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Poetry Friday and happy nearly-HALLOWEEN!
Today we have THREE rather bloody poems and a lesson plan / Writing Workout!

Let’s start with a scary song! With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm, written in 1934 by R. P. Weston and Bert Lee is one of my favorites. It’s about the ghost of Anne Boleyn haunting the Tower of London. Here’s a 1938 recording featuring Cyril Smith (2:25 minutes).

Now that you're in the mood, let's talk Halloween.  Here’s one of four of my limericks that are included in the fabulous how-to-teach poetry book for teachers, WRITING FUNNY BONE POEMS by Paul B. Janeczko

LIMERICK

by April Halprin Wayland

Once was a ghost dude named Dave,

Who lived at the beach in a cave

On Manhattan Beach turf

he invisibly surfed

scaring up some gigantic rad waves.

© April Halprin Wayland

* * * * * *
That’s one way to look at Halloween. But Halloween can be scary...right?  So let's try writing something scary.  I'm going to start by telling you one of my secret fears...

I’m terrified of writing something that’s mediocre. Of writing something that’s ordinary, common, average, inferior, second-rate, uninspired, amateurish, middling, undistinguished, unexceptional, unremarkable, run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, lackluster, forgettable.

(Thank you, Thesaurus—you may take a bow.)

If my fear were a monster, what would it look like?

It's a blob. A beige blob.  With blood-shot eyes. It's as big as a refrigerator and hunches on the rug blocking the window. It smells. Like a wet giraffe. It has tuna stuck between its yellowing teeth and a runny nose, and it's dropping Snickers wrappers on my clean carpet. And it JUST KNOCKED OVER MY OBAMA DOLL which was carefully balanced on top of my stuffed dog!

What do I do to this monster? What do I say to it?  Or maybe I'M the monster.  THEN what do I do?

Here are two Halloween poems that came from this weird daydream..one funny, one scary:

GO AWAY, BIG BEIGE MONSTER OF SECOND-RATE WRITING

by April Halprin Wayland

I’m pushing you out, so GO AWAY—

don't touch that chandelier!

I’m airing out my office

from the last time you were here.

You smell of ink and blood and death

and seventeen kinds of fear.

My hands still shake, my headache’s back

and now my stomach’s churning.

I will not play with you anymore.

GO HOME!

(Hooray! I’m learning!)

© April Halprin Wayland

* * * * * * * *

A WRITER ON HALLOWEEN

by April Halprin Wayland

I push open

the heavy door.
I take out the cleaver, the machete,

the switchblade, the scalpel, the penknife,

the X-acto knife.

I plunge my arm into the oily black pile of drafts

and haul one out.

And though it screams a thousand deaths,

I stab it over and over and over with the cleaver,

hacking it in two.

Then I amputate.

I sever. I cut.

I carve.  I slice.

Finally,

I mince words.

I take a breath and step back to admire my bloody work.

Then…I drop it back into the oily depths,

pack away the knives,

wipe the black spots off my desk

and leave.

I close the heavy door.

I will come back.

Tomorrow.

To do it all

again.

© April Halprin Wayland

* * * * *

Writing Workout / Lesson Plan—Fears into Fiction

For ages 7 through adult (or younger, with individual help.)

Objective: This lesson teaches beginning writers to find story and poetry ideas from their deepest darkest fears.

Instructions:

1) What are you afraid of?  Make a list of at least five things that scare you. Are you afraid of snakes? Of flying? If you’re an author, are you afraid of rejection?

2) Circle the one that scares you the most…or the one that you can’t wait to write about.

3) Make this fear into a creature.  Try to include as many of the five senses as possible--how does it sound?  How does it smell?  Maybe your fear of heights is a moldy grey vulture who hides in caves, makes snarky noises, and wears high tops…or maybe your fear of the dark is a neon green monster with sticky skin and garlicky breath that whispers evil things in your ear.

4) Write a story or a poem about this creature. You might want to speak to it or yell at it. Dialogue is fun to read aloud. Wouldn’t it be neat to YELL at your fear?  Or maybe YOU'RE the creature!

5) Share your writing with someone.

And…even though it’s Halloween…even though you’re scared…write with joy. And remember to breathe.

all drawings by April Halprin Wayland

The First Book I Ever "Owned"

Ever since I was a girl, I've dreamed of living in a house with its own library. You know-- the kind of room wealthy people in movies always have, with floor-to-ceiling-built-in bookshelves and a rolling ladder to reach the top shelves.

The fantasy was inspired not only by my love of reading, but also by the fact that we had very few books in our house when I was growing up.  (One of the few I can recall was a light blue softcover my father studied to prepare for his "citizenship" test.)  For my working-class Italian-immigrant parents, books were a luxury we couldn't afford.

Then one day when I was around ten years old, a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman rang our front bell. You can imagine my amazement when the salesman managed to convince my father to buy a brand-new 20-volume set of the World Book Encyclopedia. I don't know how the salesman did it, but he was my new hero! And since my younger sister and brother were too young to read at the time, I considered the set mine.

As nerdy as it may sound, I loved reading those books. We didn't have the Internet back then, and a trip to the public library meant taking two buses each way. So having my own encyclopedia was indeed a luxury. I used it not only to research class assignments, but for recreational reading, too. I never read a volume from front to back as you would a novel. Instead, I flipped the pages until something struck me as interesting.

I tell students at school visits that my favorite volume was the letter "B," and it's true. As a girl, I pored over the color photographs of Birds and Butterflies from around the world. I studied the rules of Baseball and memorized the stats of many of the record-holders. (I believe Joe DiMaggio still holds the record for the longest consecutive hitting streak at 56 games.) I learned the hand signals for right and left turns on a Bicycle.

Those books held more than information for me. They took me places I could only dream of visiting. They introduced me to presidents, poets, and painters. They sparked my curiosity in mathematics and music.

As I grew older, I became more interested in reading fiction and drifted away from the encyclopedia.  But every so often, I still went back to my old World Books. And every time, I inevitably learned something new and interesting from their pages.

I'm happy to say I still own that set of encyclopedia--you can see it pictured here:

Now, whenever I pull out the "B" volume, I'm reminded of how it felt to be ten years old and own not only one book, but a whole set of 20. I was the richest girl in the world!

* * * * *

This is the last in our series of posts for the National Day on Writing, sponsored by NCTE. I will be submitting this entry to the "A Lifetime of Reading" Gallery of the National Gallery of Writing. I hope you'll use the following Writing Workout to inspire your own contribution to the gallery.

Writing Workout

The first book I ever owned . . .

What's the first book you recall as your very own? Was it a picture book, a reader, a novel? Was it brand new, or a hand-me-down? Who gave it to you? What memories are evoked when you think about that book?

Post the title of the book as a comment here on our TeachingAuthors blog, then write a 250-500 word description, essay, or anecdote about the book. When you're done, I encourage you to submit your piece to the gallery called "A Lifetime of Reading," curated by Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, who blog at A Year of Reading. You can read more about the gallery at their blog.

Happy writing!
Carmela

P.S. To My Post

 In case you're wondering, the Katie John books...Katie John, Depend on Katie John and Katie John and Heathcliff are all out of print. They were published between 1960-65, and were last reprinted in paper in the '70's. Katie John may be out of print, but she's not forgotten. When students ask me what my own favorite books from childhood were, and I mention Katie John, there is always a teacher or librarian of my generation whose face lights up and says, "Ah, Katie John. I'd forgotten her, but boy did I love those books!"

Mary Ann

Living Inside the Story

     From the time I taught myself to read, I have been an obsessive reader. My mother used to joke that the first time she saw me without a book was at my wedding. (Little did she know that one of the things that worried me the most that day was knowing that I didn't have a "good book" to take on my honeymoon!)
    As a child, I was an undiscriminating reader. I read in the book aisle at E.J. Korvette's while my parents shopped. I borrowed books from friends, relatives, the neighbors. I read newspapers left in busses and cabs. Cereal boxes. Anything.
     Finding reading material when I was in elementary school was not that easy. Public libraries in the 'burbs were either non-existent or meagerly stocked. I never knew that schools were supposed to have libraries until I moved to Mississippi in the fifth grade. There was the school book club catalog, but once you'd ordered the five or six books you wanted to read, that was it for the year. A book store was an exotic destination, found only "downtown" in large cities.  I spent a good chunk of my day finding books to feed my habit. (Yes, this does sound like something from Intervention.)
     It was during those years, that I found the four books that formed me as a reader, a writer, and as a person. I didn't just read these books. I read them to shreds. I climbed inside them and lived there for weeks at a time. And when I finished the 515th reading of one of these books, I would read it again. And again. They have followed me to college, into marriage and motherhood, and are on my shelf today.
      Three of these titles are Charlotte's Web, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Diary of a Young Girl. The fourth was the first to show me how writing could transcend the printed page and become a part of my life. This was a religious experience for a fourth grader.
     Fourth grade stunk on ice as far as I was concerned.  I had managed to run afoul of my teacher the first week of school, and things grew progressively worse as the year wore on. My saving grace was the classroom copy of Depend on Katie John by Mary Calhoun. As an adult, I can see how the fourth grade me could identify with the tomboyish-always-in-a-jam Katie John.  What made the book memorable was that it made me laugh out loud.
     Unfortunately, this happened during arithmetic.  I was supposed to be listening to my teacher explain the intricacies of long division, not reading a book tucked under my open math text. This didn't happen once; it happened over and over until my teacher confiscated the book, for the rest of the year.
    I felt as if I had lost a friend. Not just a friend, but one who could always cheer me up and make me laugh. If fourth grade had been a long slog so far, without Katie John, it threatened to turn into a death march. Losing the book certainly didn't improve my attitude toward my teacher. My school day was already an eight-hour tightrope walk, trying not to tick off The Teacher. Without Katie John, I found it hard to keep my balance.
     Life took a turn for the better when my father gave me my own hardcover copy of Depend on Katie John for my tenth birthday. I didn't know that regular people could own hardcover books; I thought they were something special only for libraries and schools.
     "Don't take that book to school," my mother warned. She didn't have to worry. No way would I risk my precious book and friend falling into the clutches of The Evil-Math-Loving-Book-Hating Teacher. I really did depend on Katie John. That book was the flotation device that kept my head above water until the end of fourth grade.
    I had always loved books, but the power this book held for me was something magic. How did this Mary Calhoun person put those words together in a way that made me laugh every single time? Even though I had been writing for several years already, I began to wonder could I ever be that kind of writer? One who could make a kid laugh, could create a character more real to me than my best friend?
     I have spent my life so far, trying to live up to the challenge of Mary Calhoun and Katie John.
     And speaking of reading...
  
What I've Been Reading
Adult memoir: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen; The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker; Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (technically this is fiction, but it reads like a memoir)
Adult non-fiction: The Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg
YA fiction: Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher; The Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka; The Sniper by James Riordan; Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan, Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan. The Goodbye Season by Marion Hale; Liar by Justine Labalestier, Crossing Stones by Helen Frost; Death on the River by John Wilson; Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Graphic novel:  The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan
Middle grade non-fiction:  Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge; Eleanor, Quiet No More by Doreen Rappaport
Picture Book: You and Me and Home Sweet Home by George Ella Lyon; Subway Ride by Heather Lynne Miller; Crow Call by Lois Lowry

National Gallery of Writing Now Open for Your Viewing!

JoAnn is unable to post today as planned, so we will continue our series in celebration of the National Day on Writing next week. Meanwhile, I want to remind everyone that the National Gallery of Writing is now open for viewing. I invite you to visit the Gallery called "A Lifetime of Reading," which features entries by members of the Kidlitosphere. And don't forget to contribute your own work, be it a story, poem, recipe, email, blog post, or even audio, video, or artwork, to the Gallery--NCTE's goal is to collect 100,000 pieces of "writing" by next June!

So get writing!

Carmela

Write? Right!

Write? Right!

And, especially today, October 20, our National Day on Writing as declared by the National Conference of Teachers of English (NCTE).

TeachingAuthors joins other Kidlitosphere bloggers in submitting this, our third post, to The Gallery A Lifetime of Reading, curated by Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, two teachers who blog at A Year of Reading.

Let’s hear it for Story, both written and read.
It’s a technical wonder every bit as marvelous as any GPS; in fact, maybe even more so, to my way of thinking.
Not only can story help pinpoint the reader’s and/or writer’s location in Life, determining where he is at any given moment; it can help illuminate where he’s been and might be going.
Printed and bound, story is there for everyone to use, hand-held, heart-held, impervious to storms. Signal-sending story characters from time in memorial compute important date, cover to cover.
No, not for me, the alluring, beckoning Gypsy-like voice of today’s GPS.
No siree.
I prefer the voices of my tried-and-true story favorites.

For instance, the poignant heart-ful tones of Brave Irene, William Steig’s Heroine who braves wind, snow and cold, not to mention steep terrain, to deliver to the Duchess, (in the nick of time, of course!), the dress Irene’s mother had sewn for the ball.
I re-read this classic picture book whenever I’m lost, accompanying Irene on her obstacle-strewn plotline.
The burdensome box she totes provides her ticket out.
Her foe, the wind, becomes her friend.
Once again I pinpoint where I am on my journey. Once again I see where I’ve been and might be going.
In honor of our National Day on Writing, let’s hear it for Story, the ultimate Global Positioning System!

Esther

(A quick addendum: NCTE is holding an all-day webcast today in honor of the National Day on Writing. To take part, see the link on their page.)

Celebrate!

Today was the third day of our cold, rainy long weekend here in Maryland. Desperate to entertain our restless preschoolers, my husband and I took them to the mall. Wonder of wonders, we discovered that our high-maintenance children are finally old enough to play quietly at the train table long enough for me to browse in the children's section! Before my blissful browsing time was finally cut short by my son's proclamation of "Ew, stinky diaper," I had amassed a big armful of books to buy with a big, fat gift certificate from my boss, and I am still on a big high. (Writer in bookstore, kid in candy store -- I am equally dangerous in both situations.)

This week we honor the National Day on Writing.  Tomorrow is the official day of observation per resolution of the U.S. Senate (!), and I'm sure my English 101 students will be observably more thrilled about their classification essay assignment when I tell them of this momentous occasion.  When (if) someone asks about the preposition (why 'on' and not 'of'?), I will have to admit that I am mystified.  Anyone?

Like the fervent exercisers among us, there are those who can't start the day without committing their daily 500 words to paper.  Then there are the rest of us (professionals and students alike), who have lots to say but might need some measure of encouragement/prodding to get through the whole sweaty ordeal to the Finished Product. 

This day is for you (and me).  As in a 5-mile run, endorphins and that elusive high may or may not materialize, but at the very least, completion of a writing exercise will provide immediate beneficial results.

Last night I was ellipticizing to The New Yorker (blissful apart from the elliptical part) and found not one but two articles about children's books.  The first, nominally about Alloy Entertainment, essentially addresses the question of why kids read and why we write for them.  The second article, possibly even more interesting to me as the parent of a "willful" child (and on some days, two), discussed picture books as mirrors on the parenting trends of our times and the messages they send to our kids (and to us).

My children's preschool held its weeklong book fair recently, and my daughter begged daily that we buy her a copy of A Bad Case of Stripes. She is a huge fan of the No, David series (natch), and at the end of the week, she was finally rewarded for her patience.  I read her the book that night, and she was mesmerized until halfway through, when she became freaked out.  "I don't ever want to read that book again," she declared.  I put it away until she's a bit older and didn't think of it again for several weeks.

Meanwhile, I was browsing at the book fair in question when I got a call that there had been a staffing emergency at the community college where I'd previously taught.  I happily agreed to cover a class already in progress, though the ensuing childcare juggling meant that Kate had to go to beforecare at her preschool on two days.  These made for long days for a little girl and, while she ADORES her school and her teachers and was soon begging to go... at night, she started sleeping in our room.  We were tired, we were cranky, and my back really hurt by the time 5 a.m. rolled around and we had 4 people and 1 cat in our (not king-sized) bed. 

Kate now suddenly insisted that her room was scary and she "hated" it.  I did the math and figured that she must have developed a bad case of clinginess due to the extra hours at school.  Finally, on questioning about what was so scary about her room, one day she burst into tears and said, "We should have bought the The Star Wars book!"  My exasperated husband explained that he had joked that he would buy her this instead of the book she'd been begging for for days.  And suddenly it all made sense.  She was petrified.  It had all started at the book fair -- because, as she had already told me clearly, that book had scared her!

As I tell my students, words are powerful things (words like "liberal," "socialist," "fascist," "racist" -- how many of us reflexively cringe without really considering what they mean?).  Stories and books, a compilation of carefully chosen words, are exponentially more so -- especially if we are four years old and already spend half the day in the world of pretend.

And so, bearing the sacredness of your mission in mind at all times -- write on!

Writing Workout

In an effort to help my students avoid cliches, I asked them to write about fall and avoid the following words:
crisp, clear, clean, cool, colorful

I am teaching a class on writing college essays and scholarly papers, and one of my students wrote a lovely poem.  I love fall!  And I love teaching!

Joy, joy, joy! Writing about reading ~

Happy Poetry Friday! 
Today's poem and writing exercise are below.

Today begins our series of posts to commemorate
National Day on Writing.Yay!

But first, as the West Coast representative of TeachingAuthors, I have an announcement to make.  Something miraculous happened yesterday: it rained!  Real “I’d better hide my book under my sweatshirt as I sprint to the car” rain!  Usually when rain is predicted in Southern California, we roll our eyes and put on sandals, because by the time the storm comes panting down the coast to LA, it’s spent.  All it has left is one pathetic cough of drizzle.

The last time I actually remember it raining substantially was February.

I just had to share that because the rain is gone now and though the sky is sparkling blue and the streets are scrubbed clean, I wonder if it really rained here or if I imagined it.  I have to nail it down in words to know it happened.

  

Okay, back to our topic.  I’ve written a poem to post on the National Gallery of Writing.  You can, too.  In fact, there’s another one of TeachingAuthors’ famous Writing Workouts below to get your juices going.

As Carmela wrote in the last post, the National Day on Writing, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English, is meant to celebrate all forms of writing. In conjunction with the event, NCTE has created a National Gallery of Writing, a digital archive of writing samples showing how and why Americans are writing every day. The Gallery will be unveiled on Tuesday, October 20^th.

Teaching Authors will join other Kidlitosphere bloggers by submitting our posts to the Gallery called A Lifetime of Reading, curated by Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, two teachers who blog at A Year of Reading. The details about their gallery and the process for submitting a piece of writing can be found in this post on their blog: http://tinyurl.com/nc4zga

TeachingAuthors offer no prizes if you post a comment on our blog this week, but we really, really want to hear that you’ve gone to the links above and hung up your own work of art—your own writing—in a gallery.  Report in!

*  *  *  *  * 

Years ago, when my golden boy was young, I went to pick him up from kindergarten and found the teacher and a few children reading a book under a tree.  That’s when I took a lovely deep breath and s-l-o-w-e-d down.

Then I took out my notebook.

I found the rough draft of the poem I wrote and today I reworked it.  Here it is. For you.  For the National Day of Writing.  For being outside.  For yesterday’s blessed rain.  For the holy goddesses of reading.  For all of it.

READING OUTSIDE

by April Halprin Wayland

She reads us a story,

just me and Theodore

under the sycamore.

Her voice surrounds,

we swim in her sounds,

she’s our very own troubadour.

We laugh on the grass

when the silly giraffe

gets the long words all wrong.

Under this sycamore,

just me and Theodore,

my toes in this grass,

my head on her lap,

listening…

I know I belong.

© April Halprin Wayland

WRITING WORKOUT: Writing about reading

1) Look at the ideas that Mary Lee and Franki of  A Year of Reading listed to get our juices flowing:

~ an anecdote from childhood,

~ a recent experience around books or reading,

~ a memory from school (good or bad),

~ a vignette about learning to read,

~ the impact of a particular book,

~ your life as a reader.

If the list doesn’t bring up anything, observe children reading or someone reading to them.  Take notes.

2) Now—circle the topic that opens you up, that pulls you in.

3) Go outside or find a cozy spot and write as many ideas as you can about that topic.  Cover the page.  Write for ten minutes.  Or more.  Free associate.  Keep your pen moving.  Include vivid images, smells, textures—all five senses.

4) This is your compost, as Mary Ann calls it.  Your rich soil. 

5) Go now—work in your garden.  See what grows.

April

drawings by April Halprin Wayland

Announcements and Sneak Preview

We received many original and fun submissions for our latest giveaway contest in celebration of TeachingAuthor Esther Hershenhorn's S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet. I have drawn a winner, but have yet to hear back from her. If she doesn't reply soon, I'll choose a new winner. Meanwhile, I'd like to share some other news. (See the end of this post for an updated announcement regarding our winner.)

First off, congratulations to our own TeachingAuthor Mary Ann Rodman. Her middle-grade novel Jimmy's Stars was named a 2009 Children's Choice for grades 5-6 by the International Reading Association and the Children's Book Council. See the complete list of winners here.

And if you're thinking of using Jimmy's Stars in conjunction with a study of World War II, be sure to check out the wonderful online resources set up by Usborne Publishing, the book's UK publisher.

Speaking of wonderful online resources for teachers, our friends April Pulley Sayre and Gretchen Woelfle of the group blog INK: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids have announced the launch of a free online database of nonfiction books called the InkThinkTank. The database is designed to help teachers, librarians, and homeschoolers find the books they need to meet curriculum requirements in grades K-12. We've included a link to the database in our sidebar.

Our loyal readers may have noticed some other new features in our sidebar, including:

• more links to reading lists, websites, graduate writing programs, and author/illustrator blogs 
• a new "search" function that allows readers to search for posts containing a word or phrase not listed in our subject index
• a "Bookmark and Share" link that lets you quickly add our blog to social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg, and/or share our blog with your friends and colleagues
• and, in addition to receiving our blog posts by email, as a Google follower, or via an RSS feed, you can now include it in your JacketFlap blog reader.

As always, if you know of other resources that would be helpful for aspiring writers or writing teachers, please let us know.

And now, for our "Sneak Preview:" In case you haven't heard, next Tuesday, October 20, is the National Day on Writing, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

According to NCTE:

Today people write as never before—texting, on blogs, with video cameras and cell phones, and, yes, even with traditional pen and paper. People write at home, at work, inside and out of school.

The National Day on Writing is meant to celebrate all forms of writing. In conjunction with the event, NCTE has created a National Gallery of Writing, a digital archive of writing samples showing how and why Americans are writing every day. The Gallery will be unveiled on Tuesday.

This Friday, October 16, we will begin a series of posts to commemorate the National Day on Writing. We will also join other Kidlitosphere bloggers by submitting our posts to the local Gallery called A Lifetime of Reading, curated by Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, two teachers who blog at A Year of Reading. We hope you'll make plans to take part in the National Day on Writing, and post those plans here on our TeachingAuthors blog!

I'm updating this blog post a few minutes past noon on an overcast day here in the Chicago suburbs, but the sun is shining on our latest giveaway winner: Kristy Worden of Fort Myers, Florida! For her entry, Kristy wrote:

"I say, A is for Arc. Your story must get from its compelling beginning through the challenges of the middle and finally arrive at a most satisfying conclusion."

I'm happy to say that Kristy's entry led to a "most satisfying conclusion" for her. For those of you who didn't win, we hope you'll enter our next giveaway, which will be announced in early November.
Carmela

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

Ah, the Gift of Writing!

Find out about our Teaching Authors Book Giveaway running all this week! Click here for details on how to enter for a chance to win your own autographed copy of S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet. And be sure to try out the related Writing Workout at the end of this post.

Now here's the fifth and last in our series of Q & A posts related to Esther Hershenhorn’s newest book, S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet, an A-to-Z journey through a writer’s life and process.

JoAnn: Each book is a ribboned and bowed gift—for the writer as well as for the reader. What was the surprise for you when you unwrapped this book?

Esther: I’m smiling just thinking about my answer.

My book’s closing Y and Z words and their accompanying entries shout to the world, “Writing is a gift!”

The word story comes from the word history, which means a narrative of events. And history’s story? It comes from the Greek word historia, which means to ask or inquire to learn and know.

“Writing,” I tell my reader, “helps you learn the story behind your story.”

Y is for Your Story
Yours to live and grow,
Of all you do,
And where you’ve been and where you hope to go.

My writer’s story, to date, told of fictional picture books and middle grade novels.

But writing S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet opened all sorts of doors to writing nonfiction.

The learner in me loved researching the bounty of possible supportive details for each of my entries. I was lost in thought, I was in the flow, as one fact led to another.

The wordsmith in me loved the doable concreteness of crafting 180-word pieces; I found the cutting, refining and polishing oddly satisfying.

I was teaching again, via words on paper, as I did when I long ago published for the educational market.

My journalism degree served me daily and well, enabling me to focus on each entry’s important facts.

I was telling my story – my Writer’s story, my Teacher’s story, my Author’s story, my Teaching Author’s story, up close and personally, all in the service of helping young writers tell their stories.

My current project? I’m writing a picture book biography of a little-known slave the world needs to know.

My “Z is for Zorro” entry reminds readers that we need to sign our names beneath our singular stories, maybe with three quick sword-drawn lines, as Zorro did, or with a John Hancock-like bold hand or a telling mark. Perhaps, I suggest, we could use a signature quote, words that tell the world something about us, the way the quotes throughout my book tell something about writing.

Each day brings me new and meaningful quotable words to place beneath my name. For now, though, as I sign off with thanks to my fellow Teaching Authors for their questions and support the past seven days, I choose Milo’s words from The Phantom Toll Booth.

Esther Hershenhorn
“Anything is possible as long as you don’t know it’s impossible.”

FYI:

Zachary Pullen’s singular, compelling S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet’s illustrations reflect his respect for young writers and writing. Visit Zak’s website to learn more about his work and other books.

My website offers Young Writers Extras – opportunities to write, read and discover, at home, in school, or at the library.

Visit my website’s newest page, Tour, to learn the What, When and Where of my out-and-about book events, signings, school visits, conference engagements, writer presentations, teacher workshops and upcoming October-through November Blog Tour.

Click here for Sleeping Bear Press’s Teacher’s Guide to S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet.

Writing Workout

Many writers today place a famous quotation beneath their names when they sign letters, emails and reports. Such quotations are called signature quotes.


Bartlett’s Book of Familiar Quotations sits on the reference shelf of most libraries.

A Gift of Days: The Greatest Words to Live By (S & S/Atheneum) offers powerful words from 366 artists, writers, political figures and visionaries.

What quote would you choose to write beneath your name to show the world you’re here and just who you are?

Think about your favorite books (Winnie the Pooh, the Harry Potter series), movies, characters, poems, ads, tag lines, song titles and lyrics, sports figures, musicians and games.

Let’s Hear it for Opportunities and Possibilities!

Find out about our TeachingAuthors Book Giveaway running all this week! Click here for details on how to enter for a chance to win your own autographed copy of S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet. And be sure to try out the related Writing Workout at the end of this post. Now here's the fourth in our series of Q&A posts related to Esther Hershenhorn’s newest book, S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet, an A-to-Z journey through a writer’s life and process.

Jeanne Marie:
How would you like to see teachers, parents, and young readers and writers use S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet?

Esther:
I decided to follow my own advice when creating my Writer’s Alphabet.

“K is for four Kinds of Writing,
each a style to know
Describe or preach?
Recount or teach?
Think purpose, then readers, then GO!”

My purpose was to inform, inspire and affirm young writers – as well as – celebrate the all-important Reader-Writer Connection.

And, my audience was young writers.

Fortunately, the iconic two-tiered format of Sleeping Bear Press’s alphabet books made the going easy and doable. Each entry’s rhymed verse captures the essence of the selected word for younger readers, ages 6 to 8. The accompanying sidebar’s text written in prose enhances, amplifies, and extends the chosen word. Of course, each of Zak Pullen’s compelling images visually tells the chosen letter’s story.

Most of my texts offer mini-Writing Lessons – e.g., how to create rounded characters, how to brainstorm, how to use a Writer’s Notebook.

Many of my entries include Writer’s Tips – e.g., on saving drafts, editing, collecting ideas, naming characters.

Each double-page spread shares a relevant, meaningful quote from a treasured award-winning children’s book author.

Young writers can use the book on their own – turning the pages from A to Z, or choosing letters at random, or singling out a specific element of narrative, writing process step, or subject of interest that draws their interest. The mini-lessons, the Writer’s Tips, the peeks at how writers work and the authors’ words are young writer-friendly, young-writer accessible.
In the classroom, library, or home, teachers, librarians and parents can do the same, using the entries to introduce, support, extend, and/or summarize a specific item of the writing curriculum. Included writing tools, such as Writer’s Notebooks, journals, and letters, are meant to be tried. Referenced children’s book authors, titles, and characters are meant to be read and explored, sparking authors’ studies to help writers grow.

Whether sitting on a writer’s bookshelf at home, in the library, or in the classroom, S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet offers limitless possibilities and opportunities to seed and feed young writers. The trick, Christopher Paul Curtis reminds readers, is to “make sure the writing’s got your own natural funk all over it.”

FYI:
• Zachary Pullen’s singular, compelling S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet’s illustrations reflect his respect for young writers and writing. Visit Zak’s website to learn more about his work and other books.
• My website offers Young Writers Extras – opportunities to write, read and discover, at home, in school, or at the library.
• Visit my website’s newest page, Tour, to learn the What, When and Where of my out-and-about book events, signings, school visits, conference engagements, writer presentations, teacher workshops and upcoming October-through November Blog Tour.
• Click here for Sleeping Bear Press’ Teacher’s Guide to S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet.

Writing Workout

 
Some writers borrow expressions to use as pen names, names under which they write. For instance, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson translated his first two names into the Latin “Carolus Lodovious” and then into the English pen name Lewis Carroll.

Mark Twain’s true name was Samuel Clemens, P. L. Travers was borne Helen Lyndon Goff. Theodore Geisel used the title Dr. Seuss. Paging R. C. O’Brien? Try Robert Leslie Conly. Write Lemony Snicket c/o Daniel Handler.

Create a pen name for you to use.
Think about foreign languages, code words, synonyms, antonyms, acronyms, the street on which you live, favorite characters, names of pets.

[Note: Book images used with permission.]

Oh, the Twists and Turns of Any Book's Plotline!

Find out about our TeachingAuthors autographed Book Giveaway running all this week! Click here for details.

This week we’re celebrating fellow TeachingAuthor Esther Hershenhorn’s newest book, S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet, an A-to-Z journey through a writer’s life and process.

April:
Can you give us a feel for the time-line of S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet, from the story’s spark to its first review?

Esther:
I loved sharing with readers in my D is for Drafts side-bar text that Abraham Lincoln spent seventeen days crafting his 272-word Gettysburg Address! S is for Story’s time-line totaled 971 days, from its January 11, 2007 story spark to its September 9, 2009 official release.
But, who’s counting anyway?
And, unlike Lincoln, I saved my many drafts.


Here’s how my book’s plotline played out across 2 2/3 years, in scenes that moved forward to its happy resolution, despite the twists and turns.

January 11, 2007 My story’s spark: a writing alphabet!

January 13, 2007 Submission of Book Proposal to SBP editor Amy Lennex

October 10, 2007 Amy’s phone call, offering me a contract :)

Note: Sleeping Bear Press planned to publish the book in September, 2009; my completed manuscript was due May 1, 2008.

November, 2007 Brainstorming the book idea with my Chicago Alcott School 5th graders

January 7, 2008 Submission of my 26 selected alphabetically-ordered words

Note: I’ve titled this particular Plot Episode “Esther’s Lost Weekend” because that’s what preceded the submission of my letters. My driving question? What story was I telling? What was my narrative arc? I simply could not alphabetically list word after word. My Aha! Moment? When I realized this book was my School Visit, wrapped and ribbon-ed and tied up with a bow, shouting, when opened, “Writers are readers!”

My welcoming, affirming narrator’s voice would address the reader, moving the story from WE writers (and readers) to and through writing’s Magic and on to writing’s gift, namely YOU and YOUR story.

My 26 words needed to offer a balanced representation of (1) the writing process, (2) the six traits of writing, (3) the elements of narrative and (4) the writer’s life.
My quoted and referenced children’s book authors, titles and characters would reflect a multitude of formats, genres and ethnicities.

January, 2008 – March, 2008
Research! Googling! Reading! Oh, My!
Selection of supportive concrete details and a relevant quote for each of my 17 double-page spreads

Note: I’d never solved such a challenging acrostic-like puzzle! I needed to represent award-winning authors living and dead, male and female, inclusive of all genres, formats and ethnicities, whose words enhanced my selected subject word

March, 2008 The writing of my book’s rhymed text – 26 poems that convey, for my youngest readers, the essence of my chosen subject word.

Note: Writing these poems, adhering to my established meter, yet varying the sentence structure and word choice in unique and original ways, took me all 31 days! I have a new respect for the always-admired Mary Ann Hoberman and Lisa Wheeler.

April, 2008 The writing of the 180-word text for each of my 26 side-bars.

Note: The word count included my chosen author’s quoted words. Revising, cutting and refining my copy proved editor Jean Karl’s advice right on: a writer can always cut five words more. I actually loved this challenge. Verbs became my best friends.

April 30, 2008 Submission of manuscript, electronically to Amy Lennex!

May, 2008 A few minor revisions requested and honored

May 23, 2008 An arranged conference call that included Amy Lennex, the Art Director Melinda Millward, the book’s chosen illustrator Zachary Pullen and me!

Note: I’ve never been offered this opportunity before.
I shared how I came to write this book and why I loved it so. Zak shared that he was thinking about following a given set of young writers through the book’s many pages. Our respect for young writers came through loud and clear.

August, 2008 Amy shared Zak’s rough thumbnail sketches

October, 2008 I honored Amy’s request to choose a new U and X;

Note: my original U was for Uses and the X was for Rejection; my revised U was for Unstoppable and X was for eXpression.

November 24, 2008 Amy Lennex’s emailed revision requests, with an attached document.

Note: Though still full of Good Will from Turkey Day,
I was not instantly thankful for Amy’s sharp, smart editorial eye.
In fact, it took a good two days for me to see the wonder of her comments, each posed as a question. Amy was reading my words on behalf of my readers, young and old, who deserved utmost clarity. I twinge now rereading the draft I thankfully revised. I also needed to tweak 25 of my 26 poems, again for clarity, again for my readers. After but one phone conversation with Amy, I was on my way, eager to get my words and story right.

December 22, 2008 I emailed Amy my completed revisions. :)

March, 2009 I received color images of Zak’s cover and a few letter pages –
B, C, D/E, F/G,M, P, Y/Z. I joined the chorus of viewers’ “WOW’S!”

April, 2009 Line-editing/proof-reading

Note: Over several days, I continually marveled at the fine eye shown my every word, with evident and much-appreciated respect for the author.

June, 2009 Completion of Zak’s art

Early July, 2009 Shipment of book to China for printing.

August 27, 2009 Arrival of books in SBP warehouse!

September 9, 2009 Official release date

September 13, 2009 Chicago Tribune review

Mary Harris Russell’s enthusiasm for our book was palpable.

“These attention-getting pages – often featuring unusual angles on a scene – slow readers to an appreciative pace for each piece of Hershenhorn’s advice. Hershenhorn is experienced as an author and writing coach; that dual expertise show. The words chosen for each letter are distinctive and strongly central for writers: genre, journal, notebook, revision and voice. She is not talking down. Her allusions are to a variety of writers children know and like – Ann Martin, Richard Peck, Beverly Cleary, Sid Fleischman, as well as to Superman, Longfellow and text-messaging.”

Somewhere in my cartons of drafts, emails, sketches and auxiliary materials sits the Chicago Tribune Sagittarius horoscope for Saturday, January 13, 2007, the day I mailed my Writer’s Alphabet proposal to Sleeping Bear Press. Georgia Nicols advised me to muster patience and trust in a Bigger Plan: I was planting seeds that in time would grow to bear prized fruits beyond my imagination.

FYI:

• Zachary Pullen’s singular, compelling S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet’s illustrations reflect his respect for young writers and writing. Visit Zak’s website to learn more about his work and other books.
• My website offers Young Writers Extras – opportunities to write, read and discover, at home, in school, or at the library.
• Visit my website’s newest page, Tour, to learn the What, When and Where of my out-and-about book events, signings, school visits, conference engagements, writer presentations, teacher workshops and upcoming October-through November Blog Tour.
• Click here for Sleeping Bear Press’ Teacher’s Guide to S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet.











Writing Workout:
A Reading and Discovery Opportunity

Dr. Seuss figured he could knock off his The Cat in the Hat in a week. After all, he wasn’t using more than 250 words. Imagine his surprise when after one year, he was still working on the story. Page through Philip Nel’s The Annotated Cat, Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats (Random House) to see and study Dr. Seuss’ revisions.

What are some of the changes Dr. Seuss made in word choice and the story’s action?


[Note: book images used with permission.]

Celebrating the Reader-Writer Connection with S is for Story

Find out about our TeachingAuthors Book Giveaway running all this week!  Click here for details on how to enter for a chance to win your own autographed copy of S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet. And be sure to try out the related Writing Workout at the end of this post.

Now here's the second in our series of Q&A posts related to Esther Hershenhorn’s newest book, S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet, an A-to-Z journey through a writer’s life and process.

Carmela:
Can you share with our readers, Esther, how being a TeachingAuthor informed your book?

Esther:
My Inner Child wasn’t the only one keeping me company while I brainstormed, grew, and wrote S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet.

The Teachers in me, plural (former fifth grade and writing) couldn’t sit still, checking off subjects each insisted I include.
For instance, elements of narrative, such as character and plot.
The Four Kinds of Writing, from Persuasive to Descriptive.
What about Word Choice?
Don’t forget Voice.
Remind young writers: mechanics are important.
      

The Author in me seconded the Teachers, before promptly adding a few Musts of her own. 
Introduce Journals.
Recommend Notebooks.
Share Writer’s Tips.
Share the glory and the fun.
Let writers know the need for revision and drafts.
Inspire writers with stories of success.

It was the Children’s Book Author in me, though, who helped me reach my story’s heart.
I’d personally learned my craft by reading, studying, typing out, and taking apart children’s books, across all formats in a multitude of genres.
I still read as a writer.
I still write as a reader.
All of me celebrates the Reader-Writer Connection.

What better way to Show, Don’t Tell as well as support my chosen content than to reference children’s books, their authors, their characters?
What better way to affirm today’s young writers than to let them know: they are not alone?
E.B. White’s eight drafts of Charlotte’s Web.
Dr. Seuss’ 1 ½ year-long revision of The Cat in the Hat.
Christopher Paul Curtis’ surprising Writer’s Journey.
Beatrix Potter’s letter-writing.
Sid Fleischman’s magic.
My book’s sidebars teem with All Things Children’s Book.
Each double-page spread offers a treasured author’s words.
Andrew Clements’ words close the double-page B spread.
“I don’t know a single writer who wasn’t a reader first.”

FYI
•    Zachary Pullen’s singular, compelling S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet’s illustrations reflect his respect for young writers and writing.  Visit Zak’s website to learn more about his work and other books.
•    My website offers Young Writers Extras – opportunities to write, read and discover, at home, in school, or at the library.
•    Visit my website’s newest page, Tour, to learn the What, When and Where of my out-and-about book events, signings, school visits, conference engagements, writer presentations, teacher workshops and upcoming October-through November Blog Tour.
•    Click here for Sleeping Bear Press’ Teacher’s Guide to S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet.

Writing Workout

Writers are readers! Readers are writers!

Reading biographies of children’s book writers helps you learn how other writers kept on working to learn and hone their craft, no matter their disappointments, doubts, and early failures.

Check out these writer biographies:

Jen Bryant: A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams
Sid Fleischman: Trouble at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West
Karen Hesse: The Young Hans Christian Andersen
Kathleen Krull: 
   The Boy on Fairfeld Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss
   The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum
Mark Nobleman: Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman
Yona Zedia McDonough: Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott

[Note: book images used with permission.]