Of Jellyfish and Happiness

I went to a workshop all day today about teaching kids writing. As much as I love to write and as much as I love to teach kids how to write, I never get tired of adding another tool to my toolbox. Amanda Donnelly, of IRN, was there. We broke down the three domains (Composing, Written Expression, Usage and Mechanics) that Virginia’s students have to be able to master in their writing. We did a practice writing prompt, and I realized I haven’t mastered those domains either.


Something I learned in the Writing Project many years ago: we really don’t know how much we expect of kids in their writing until we try it ourselves. Writing teachers need to write themselves. We tried a writing prompt today. It was about the happiest memory. I make a list of possible happy memories to write about. I picked my favorite, then brainstormed some more about one particular trip. All things were going well….

THEN…I began to write my rough draft. Two pages into it, I realized something dreadful. I didn’t write to the prompt at all!!! I wrote about spearing jellyfish. Yes, a morbid, graphic, fictionalized tale. It was interesting. It had roots in reality, but it was fiction. It had some figurative language. It had some vivid verbs. It even had a central idea. It just wasn’t the central idea I was supposed to write about.

Author’s Share time came along. We were supposed to volunteer to share our writing. Now, we had been working on it for a whole 15 minutes. I am not a big fan of sharing writing immediately after it is written. It’s like eating bread dough before you’ve given it a chance to rise and bake. It just isn’t for eating. I was NOT getting up to share my OFF-TOPIC two page story beginning. First of all, it wasn’t a whole piece. It wasn’t on topic. And it certainly wasn’t happy. I shared among my small group, made up of people I know. They were so nice to me. They thought it was terrific. But it was off-topic.

As I thought about my dilemma, I realized how common this is for kids. How dreadful to realize you really like the story you are telling, but it isn’t the one you are SUPPOSE to be telling. A lesson learned for me.

I can’t change the state’s prompt. I can’t even change the fact that they will have to write to a prompt, but I CAN teach them what to do when this thing happens to them. I plan to tell them my experience, show them my writing, and brainstorm ideas with them on how to solve this problem.

By the way, I don’t plan to write anymore about the happy memory because frankly happiness and perfectness make very boring stories. I am planning to keep going with this story about the jellyfish maimer and find out what he plans to do next. He’s an interesting fellow.

Running Race #2

Last month (has it really been a month?) I reported that I was trying to finish up school. I was coming to the end of the race, only to start a new one.

I've been out of school since last Thursday. I've been running a writing race since then.

I love summer. I can make my own schedule. Work out in the mornings, write when my son takes a nap, go to the pool in the in between times, and stay up past my bedtime. The only problem with an unscheduled day is that sometimes things on the to-do list never get done. Before school got out, I made myself get organized in my writing life. I found these cool little to-do list templates on Microscoft's website. I personalized it for my writing. My categories are:
* Writing
* Research
* Correspondence/Send out
* Revisions
* Miscellaneous Tasks

Each week I make a new to-do list. When I found myself floundering, or stuck on one part of my writing or the other, I switch gears and do something different. I have gotten a tremendous amount accomplished and I feel very focused.

Things I've done so far:
1) Wrote a new story and sent it to a bedtime story contest. Here's the link to mine.
2) Revised an picture book I've been working on and submitted it to Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories Contest.
3) Revised another picture book I've been working on and submitted it to the Hunger Mountain Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing.
4) Written and revised over 30 pages on my novel-in-progress (my thesis for my Hollins MFA).

I love deadlines and I thrive off of them. Having these contests to submit to gave me a deadline for revising (or writing) my work. I have to turn in a picture book to my picture book marathon group every month. I turn in pages of my work-in-progress to my SCBWI crit group every month. I also have to submit new pages of my thesis to my Hollins Thesis e-mail crit group every week. These deadlines have been really good for me.

Here's to Race #2. I've been training for this one all year. I hope I finish strong. I will cross the finish line the end of August when I return to my other job.

The Finish Line

I really can see the finish line. You know the big ribbon marked "Summer is Here." You see, many people think summer begins with the Memorial Day weekend. Not me. I think summer begins when I officially get out of school. This year, I will burst through the ribbon on June 17. I can see it waving in the distance. By the time I get there, I hope to still be running instead of walking, out of breath.

This week I finished testing with my kids. That last day I sat out on my sweltering deck and ate a gigantic cupcake with my colleagues. I broke my diet, and loved it. That day I felt like I had a big cheering section saying, "You did it! You are almost there! Keep going!"

Even though the teaching finish line is so close I can see it, I can also see the next race I need to run. For many teachers I know the summer is spent relaxing by the pool, soaking up some good rays and devouring chicklit. Most of my last 10 years haven't been that way. I have spent time on and off since 2001 going to grad school and racking up almost 2 Master's Degrees and having two kids. I have my thesis left to go on the second degree.

It's a novel. I have been piddling with it for a year. But I joined a Hollins crit. group online and I have to turn work in every week. So even though I'll be gardening, swimming, camping, and enjoying the time off with my kids, I'll also be writing my butt off. I want that thesis done by the end of the summer!!!

So, just as one race ends, I will have a quick moment to catch my breath and run the thesis race.

I'm ready.

Time Marches On

I realized last summer that if I wanted to write, really write, I was going to just have to make time. No more excuses. See, I have been involved in these wonderful MA and MFA programs of Children's Literature at Hollins Unversity. Every summer, I became a writing maniac. I banged out a lot of writing, but I had a hard time keeping motivated after Hollins. When September hit and school got into full swing, I would taper off.

My life has gotten busier, and since I have two kids, I don't think it will settle down for many, many years. I made a determination. Write. Write. Write. Even if it is only for 15 minutes everyday.

Things I've learned about myself in this process:

1) Deadlines help me. I joined a local critique group. I must turn something into them every month, so I'm accountable.
2) Challenges help me. I did the picture book marathon in February. I have spent much of March rewriting and writing some more. I will be doing a poem-a-day in the month of April.
3) Little bits of time do add up. I write in the evenings after my kids go to bed. I am a morning person, but so is my son. So unless I get up before 4:30am to write, I have to write after he goes to bed at 7:00pm. I always have a journal in my bag so I can write when I have short snippets of time. When my daughter has ballet, I throw Cherrios at my son, and revise my writing. When she has Daisy Scouts, I leave my son with my hubby, and I write in my car while I am waiting for her to come out. It does add up.
4) I really don't need to watch TV that much. The best Christmas present I bought myself is a DVR. I record things I want to watch. I'm not beholden to that stupid TV. I watch it without commercials when I have time on the weekends.
5) Sometimes writing is serendipitous. I feel like ever since I made the commitment, I have found lots of articles about this very idea. Apparently it's a very common thing.
* Kristi Holl at Writer's First Aid talks about using "hidden time" to write.
* Kim Norman talked about "squeezing creativity into an overbooked life" at her talk at the VSRA conference (which I didn't get to go to, but her handout is on their website). She gives a dozen habits to foster creativity.
* Eileen Spinelli talks about this on an e-mail I just received from Highlights Foundation. I couldn't find this online, so I'll quote from the e-mail. Spinelli says, "In terms of 'writing time'—it's not a matter of finding it. It's a matter of making it." She also talks about finding snippets of time in your day.

6) Taking a day off is okay. I have worked 12 out of the last 14 days. I was exhausted, mentally and physically. Yesterday I cleaned my house, took care of two sick kids, and I read a book! I read the last 250 pages of the latest Jodi Picoult novel called House Rules. I was about halfway through yesterday morning and it was already two days overdue.  I never turned my computer on all day. And I don't feel one bit guilty about it.

Now...off to practice what I preach. I will be writing...

Writer on the Move

I have been in a good mode lately--writing everyday. I've been writing something, even it's something very small. This weekend, however, didn't work. For the next two Saturdays I have to work my day job. My parents are coming in 3 weeks. They live in Thailand, so when they come to visit, they stay for a couple of months. After my youngest took over the guest room, we've had to move my parents to my office. It gives them some privacy, but I have to relocate my writing location temporarily.

The good?
I cleaned out a LOT of stuff. I pared my writing paraphernalia down to the absolute necessities to bring upstairs. I can always get things out of my office, but I didn't want to clutter up my bedroom with more stuff than needed. I brought up my laptop, my printer, my basket of pens and markers, sticky notes, and two file boxes of books and files. That's it. And when I move back into my office in June, I will be going back to a clean space with little clutter of files, papers, and such.

The bad?
This writer didn't write all weekend. She spent time cleaning out. Fourteen hours to be exact. I didn't spend all of that time in my office, but my office, plus my entire upstairs got a deep clean and reorganization. The downstairs will still hasn't been fully cleaned and decluttered.

I did do some writerly things though. I cleaned up my writing stuff and I went to my writing critique group. So, I have a mission for the week--work on what they suggested.

The second part is that I will have to redo my routine. Normally, kids to bed, then I go down to write in "the cave" (as my hubby calls it). Now, I'll have to write in my room. Change of place, but hopefully my mindset will still be there.

March Madness

I just ran that writing marathon, and I am tired, but riding on the coattails of some good momentum. I am in the habit of writing everyday now, and that's GOOD. I want to keep at it! I will not be spending my March watching basketball. But I do have quite of bit of "madness" planned for March.

1) Submit poetry--specifically haiku--to two different places.
2) Rewrite the beginning of my novel (my thesis for my MFA). I got some great feedback from my critique group and I will be working hard on this in March.
3) Rewrite at least one picture book. I know I just wrote 26, but that doesn't mean 26 good ones. I want to pick one or two to really rewrite. It's going to take some time and a sharp eye and pen.

I ran a marathon in February!

Okay, it wasn't a running marathon, but a picture book marathon. Lora and Jean spearheaded the Picture Book Marathon in the month of February. The idea was to write 26 picture books in the month of February--like running the 26 miles of a marathon.

I was very skeptical. First, to write 26 picture books in a YEAR is stretching it. Picture books take so much time to hone and make perfect. But I threw my hat in the ring, just for the challenge. I knew I needed to write everyday, and this was a great way to try it.

I created a journal just for the occasion (which I bought for a dollar at Michael's).

I created a calendar that fit on the inside cover for recording my progress.

And I made a long list of ideas that I had. I started the month with fourteen ideas and ended the month with 40 ideas. Needless to say, I didn't use them all. I have enough ideas to keep going.

My goal was just to simply get a draft down--not a manuscript fit to be sent off to a publisher, but a promising draft. And I did--26 of them. Now, I don't think I will ever even polish half of them, but there are a good 5-6 that I want to work on to see what happens.

I read picture books--loads and loads of them. It helps to have a five year old who devours books. I would read them to her before bed, then run off to my computer after both kids were asleep to start the new draft.

Lora and Jean did a great job of sending encourage blog posts to keep us motivated--like good coaches. Last weekend I got sick with a bad sinus issue, then two days later the stomach flu hit hard and bad--fever, vomiting and all. I got behind. I got discouraged. I wondered if I would finish.

But I did! I have a folder full of drafts, a journal full of ideas and lines jotted down. It was a very productive month. I wrote nearly everyday and it felt great!

What I didn't have time to do--write some nonfiction ideas. I have several great ideas for nonfiction picture books, but I didn't have time to research them and keep up the pace of writing a draft a day. So, those are on the horizon. With some more time to research, I hope to start writing some of those ideas down.

I'll be having my own version of March Madness--revise, revise, revise. I have a folder full of things to work on.

Writing Challenges

I'm so excited about all of the people who do "challenges" for those of us who love to write. I'm taking some of the challenges. Some I'll just do in my journal. Others I'll share with the blog readers.

Here's some of challenges I'm taking on:
1) Laurie Halse Anderson's Write 15 Minutes a Day Challenge. She gives writing prompts/exercises too.
2) Two Writing Teachers Memoir Mondays. I'll try to write some memoir piece and post it when I think it's postable.
3) Monday Poetry Stretch with The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Why am I taking the challenges? Well, I work well under structure and deadlines. So, if that means it will help "prime the pump", then so be it.

Do you know of another good challenge I should participate in? Leave me a comment.

Writing Books for Young Writers

I always find books for aspiring young writers just as fascinating as the books writing for adult who aspire to be writers. Two new-ish titles have been on my “to-read” list for awhile.

Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly
By Gail Carson Levine
HarperCollins, 2006

Levine, the queen of princess stories, encourages young writers to practice their craft and SAVE EVERYTHING. This book is full of writing exercises that she encourages young writers to try and SAVE. There is nothing new or earthshattering in this book. If you have read many writing books before, you will hear some of the same advice. But it’s worth hearing (or reading) again. In fact, the good thing is, Levine gives some of the advice I learned in graduate school and provides it to young writers.

Her first chapter includes Rules for Writing and The Writer’s Oath. She wants young writers to take their writing seriously.
Here is some of my favorite advice she gives:
-Writing: “The best way to write better is to write more.” p. 5
-Details: “The right details plunk us down inside the story and put us in our characters’ shoes.” p. 37
-Your brilliant words: She mentions that sometimes we write beautifully, but it doesn’t always make the story better. She says you should cut even the brilliant words because: “Do not do not DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT bend your story to accommodate your brilliant words.” P. 93
I loved this book, but I must admit, it probably won’t appeal to many adolescent boys. However, adolescent girls who want to write, or love Levine’s books, will probably pour over this book and try her many exercises.


How to Write Your Life Story
By Ralph Fletcher
HarperCollins, 2007
Ralph Fletcher adds to his series for young writers in this book about writing about your own life. He has written other books for young writers: Poetry Matters, How Writer’s Work, and A Writer’s Notebook. All of his books are written for middle grade readers. This is the age when students know how to write but have the developmental capability to really move their writing to the next level.
Fletcher’s recently published memoir, Marshfield Dreams, is mentioned frequently throughout the book because he shares his own writing experiences of how he went from memories to the published memoir. Marshfield Dreams would be a good companion read if teachers of serious young writers really wanted to study his techniques along with his finished product.
Other famous children’s book writers who also wrote memoirs are interviewed in this book. Jack Gantos, Jerry Spinelli, and Kathi Appelt talk about their experiences writing about their lives.
Memoirs aren’t the only genre that Fletcher talks about. He shows kids different genres they can use to write about their life. He teaches them how to mine their memories through neighborhood maps and heart maps (two techniques that I use every year with my fourth graders that I have read about in other writing books). He also recommends writing poetry about your life (like in "Where I’m From" poem by George Ella Lyon—another idea I do with fourth graders every year).
Fletcher gives practical writing tips to young writers. If you like Fletcher’s previous books about writing for young writers, add this one to your collection. It would be great to study along with some of the memoirs he mentions in the text.

Mystery to be solved...

I can't believe it's already November! I am in a dilemma--I have lost a journal! Not my current writer's notebook journal, but still, a very important journal. One of the things in the lost journal is my list of books I read for the last several months! I haven't saved my October books yet, so I have been frantically searching for it. My husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas. All I want is for him to build me wall to wall bookshelves in my office. Right now there are STACKS of books everywhere.

A Children's lit. class stack.
A Cybils stack.
A to be read stack.
A "I have no more shelf space stack".

Maybe when I reorganize after my shelves are built, the mystery journal will appear.

Aah! The Power of Words: Wordgatherers in Children's Books

Donavan’s Word Jar
By Monalisa DeGross
Illustrated by Cheryl Hanna
Trophy, 1998

One of my favorite stories that I read with my students every year is Donavan’s Word Jar by Monalisa deGross. Donavan collects words, but he realizes that his word jar is too full. He doesn’t know what to do. He has a collection of wonderful words like bamboozle, emporium, kaleidoscope, persnickety, and cantankerous. He asks his grandmother for help. One day he finds that people from her retirement community have taken the words out of his jar and are using them for their own purposes. I love this book because Donavan learns that words have power, and in this case, the power to help. It also is a celebration of words that sound really awesome. Kids love words that have unique ring to them, and Donavan picks out those kinds of words for his collection.
One of my favorite things about this story is that is always helped me lead the way to our own word collections. We always do a Writer’s Notebook entry called “Favorite Words too Fabulous to Forget” where students collect words from themselves and family and friends and write them down. Then we keep a running list of our favorite words. The word “snickerdoodle” makes it onto the list every year. I’ll admit, it is a cool word.
This year, I found two other books that are along the same theme. In fact, it’s uncanny how similar they are to Donavan’s Word Jar. But they each have their own unique qualities.





Max’s Words
By Kate Banks
Illustrated by Boris Kulikov
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006

Max’s Words by Kate Banks is about a boy named Max who has brothers who have collections of their own, but they won’t share with Max. He decides to collect words. His word collection is not made up of unusual words like Donavan’s though. Max is a younger character who collects common words. My favorite part of this book is the celebration that a word collector doesn’t just have separate words. Max realizes that his brother that collects coins just has a bunch of coins; his brother that collects stamps just has a bunch of stamps. Max, on the other hand, doesn’t just have words. When he puts them together, he can create a story—and the story can change depending on how you arrange the words. This is an excellent celebration of writers who love to collect words.
The Boy Who Loved Words
By Roni Schotter
Illustrated by Giselle Potter
Schwartz & Wade, 2006.

My most recent find is The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter. This book would even appeal to the older audience because of the use of so many large vocabulary words that might intrigue older readers. Selig, the main character, loves to collect words. In fact, others think he is an “oddball” because of it. One night he dreams of a genie who tells him that his word collection needs to have a purpose. He too, learns to share his words and even spreads them out in a word tree, which is stumbled upon by a poet who needed just the right word. The author suggests that Selig might have legendary power. If you are looking for just the right word and you find it, it might be Selig offering it to you.
This books also includes a glossary of all of the large words and their definitions used throughout the story. And there are lots of big, unusual words in the story. I must confess, I had to look a few of them up myself.
I would recommend all three books. All three of them do a wonderful job of acknowledging the power and the breadth of words in our language.
Donavan’s Word Jar is a short chapter book. Max’s Words is a picture book that is simple enough to be enjoyed by children as young as four, but appreciated by a much older audience as well. The Boy Who Loved Words is a picture books, but would appeal mainly to children 8 and older.

On the Road

Tomorrow I am heading out for a month-long trip to Thailand. I am looking forward to going, but I'm a little worried about the 30-some-odd hour plane trip with my 2 1/2 year old. I have a backpack stuffed with lots of fun stuff, but even that will get old after all of that time.

I will not be blogging as much over the next month. I am hoping to post every now and then. If the Internet connection is strong, I'll try to do an occasion blurb. I will still be checking e-mail, so I will get all of your comments.

While I won't be in the middle of nowhere, there will be some things I will probably miss while I'm there:
1) The release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Although I'm hoping it will be released in Thailand while I'm there. I may have to watch it with English subtitles, but won't that be fun?
2) The release of Harry Potter Book Number 7 The Deathly Hollows. Once again I'm hoping to get my paws on a copy of this book while I'm there. I want to see if the bookstores are carrying Harry Potter in Thai. I also want to see if Harry is even big in SE Asia. I don't know. The last time I was there, Harry wasn't around yet.
3) Keeping up with the blogs. Alas, as much as I like to read other kidlit blogs, I will not have access to Internet at my parent's house. I will have to go elsewhere to read e-mails and such. And since there are other things to do there, I will probably be hopelessly behind on a month's worth of blog reading. It's for a good cause though.

What I hope I will get to do:
1) Find some cool Asian graphic novels--maybe even some in English.
2) Provide some ambiance for my writing. I have been diligently working on two projects set in Asia. Being there will give me the opportunity to really get to refresh my details on both projects.
3) Catch up on some reading. I have stacks of books I'm taking with me. I plan to leave most of them there after I read them.

If you don't hear from me, you'll know where I've gone. I'll be back in mid-August.

An Afternoon with Nancy Ruth Patterson

In Virginia, our big Standards of Learning Tests are getting ready to be given. In teacherspeak that means stress, test booklets, signing your life away, and lots of little bubbles on answer sheets. Adding one more thing to an already hectic schedule this time of year is always difficult, but our local Roanoke Valley Reading Council always hosts a Spring Literacy Tea during the middle of May. Every year I wonder how I will fit it into my schedule, and every year, I’m so glad I did. This year was no exception. I spent a wonderful afternoon with other tired teachers who perked up with a little food and water provided by Roanoke College’s fabulous culinary team.

This year’s speaker was local author, Nancy Ruth Patterson. While most of us have heard her speak at various events around the area, Ms. Patterson gave us all new inspiration, which we desperately needed. A former teacher herself, Patterson knows what it’s like to wear our shoes.

She talked about how her editor was gentle with her in the beginning when she was a writer-in-progress. She tells how her editor mailed her a bunch of new books so she could see what was being published in children’s literature these days. Ms. Patterson read them quickly, and was thrilled to tell her editor that she had read them all. Her editor asked if she had read them as closely as she would want one of her readers to read her own books. She confessed she had not. She told her she must treat books like good friends, going back to them often.

I loved this! It was something I always tell my students (only in different words)—a good book is worth reading over and over again. When we read Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, inevitably several students have read the book, and many more have seen the movie. I always say, “Great! You’ll love it even more the second (or third) time around.” I am firm believer in reading those faves over and over again.

Ms. Patterson also talked about all of her books and how the inspiration for each of them came from personal experiences. The Christmas Cup, a beloved Christmas story, is largely autobiographical.

The Shiniest Rock of All was inspired by a student who shared one of his own stories in her writing class about his fear of the first day of school. He was afraid to say his name—Robert—because he couldn’t pronounce his r’s.

When the local theater, Mill Mountain Theater, was conducting tryouts for The Christmas Cup, one child begged her NOT to cast her in a role unless she cast her sister too. This was the inspiration for A Simple Gift.

Her most recent book, The Winner’s Walk, started sprouted in her head when she heard a kid talking while she was swimming. He felt like he wasn’t very good at anything. His mom pointed to a poster in the pool area that said “You don’t have to be the best, you just have to try your best.” He said, “That’s what they say to losers.” A new story was born.

Beyond the fact that it was a lovely afternoon with an inspiring author, I felt like it was a push to keep writing. I have so many stories to tell, and I wonder if they will ever see the light of print. Nancy Ruth Patterson never dreamed her personal story, The Christmas Cup, would ever be published, let alone be made into a play, and become a Christmas traditional for many. Perhaps one of my very own stories, on the files of this very computer, will one day make it out into the world. We’ll see…

My "new" space

This is my new revamped writing space. Before all of the things in the blue boxes sort of found themselves out and about. No more. I have tamed the clutter so my mind won't be cluttered.

Hopefully more time for thinking, writing, blogging, etc.

My first writing priority? Figure out where I left off with my story about Thailand. I'm going back there this summer, so I think if I can get myself engulfed in the story now, it will only get better when I can refresh my memory with real details I'll experience this summer again.