Starting a week from today, this blog will be hosting Teachers Write, an online summer writing camp for teachers and librarians from all over the world. I’m too excited about this to sit still, so I thought we’d have a quick preview post today – think of itas the official Teacehrs Write warm-up!
Today, to get us ready for next week, I’d like to address two big questions that have come up from teachers who have heard about the program but feel a little hesitant about diving in.
Question 1: How do you find the time to write? I’d love to do this, but I’m busy, even in the summer months.
Answer: I’ve always found the idea of “finding time” to be kind of misleading, as if you can poke around in the garden and come up with an extra couple of hours a day if you look hard enough. The truth is, you don’t find time to write; you have to make it. And you make it by choosing to spend a little time each day – maybe just 15 minutes – writing, instead of doing something else. That something else that you give up might be one television show, or fifteen minutes of sleep, or (gasp!) time on Facebook or Twitter. You have to choose to make that writing time. It’s worth doing if writing is something you really want to do. I posted about this last year on Teachers Write, and you can read more of my thoughts here. Writer John Scalzi also wrote on this topic – in a blog post that is the rougher-language, tougher-love version of mine. Not really suitable to share with kids, but great if you really want a kick in the pants – it’s here.
Question 2: I’d like to do this writing thing, but I’m kind of afraid.
Answer: Yeah…me, too. Still. Every time I start a new book. I don’t have a magic answer for this one, other than to tell you that you’re not alone. Writing can be scary, but in the best possible way. Here’s a 2012 Teachers Write post about Writing Scared, and I also recommend this book – ART AND FEAR. But mostly, I recommend that if you want to write, you write. We’re all in this together, and we’ll be cheering you on if you do.
Teachers Write! is an online virtual summer writing camp for teachers and librarians who understand how important it is for people teaching writing to walk the walk. If you’re a teacher or librarian who would love to work on your own writing, we’d love to have you join us. If you already know about Teachers Write, you can go straight to the sign-up form. Otherwise, read on…
Here’s how it all works:
Primary Location: www.katemessner.com/blog (Post Category: TeachersWrite) New posts will be shared each weekday morning, and you can check in whenever it’s convenient.
Dates: June 24th – August 16th
Schedule:
Schedule is kind of an ugly word for summer, isn’t it? So let’s call this the plan-of-the-day instead. Feel free to participate in whatever floats your boat and skip the rest.
Mini-Lesson Mondays: Mondays will feature a mini-lesson on writing craft or logistics (how to make time has been a big question already!). I’ll share a workshop-style lesson with ideas, tips, and examples, and then there will be something to work on during the week. Or not. You can also just bookmark it for later. It’s summer, after all.
Monday Morning Warm-Up:Hosted by author Jo Knowles, this features a weekly warm-up to get you started after teh weekend!
Tuesday Quick-Write: Tuesdays will feature a writing prompt that can be used to brainstorm new ideas or deepen your thinking on the project you’re working on now.
Wednesday Q and A: Ever wished you could just pick an author’s brain about how they do it? Each Wednesday, we’ll have a post where anyone can ask questions about writing . I’ll answer, along with an awesome panel of author friends who come to visit.
Thursday Quick-Write: Like Tuesdays, Thursdays will feature a writing prompt that can be used to brainstorm new ideas or deepen your thinking on the project you’re working on now.
Friday Bonus: There will be some Friday surprises, too. Book giveaways, special guests, photos of bullfrogs…it’s hard to say.
Sunday Check-In: Weekends are for recharging, spending time with family and friends…and that includes online writing friends, too! Amazing teacher-writer Jen Vincent is having a weekend get-together on her blog, Teach Mentor Texts. Jen will be hosting an online writing group there. Each Sunday, she’ll be sharing reflections on her journey as a teacher who writes and encouraging others along the way. Think of it as a support group for writers, and head over there on Sundays to talk about goals, progress, struggles, and more.
Beyond these daily posts, you can expect the occasional surprise along the way – guest posts and some book giveaways for your classroom libraries, because teachers & librarians who write are worth celebrating.
Teachers Write! Virtual Summer Writing Camp Q and A
Who can join?
This writing camp is for teachers and librarians who work with kids of any age in any capacity. I’d ask that the Q and A and feedback requests be limited to them and the published authors who agree to help out, so the people who are working with kids get plenty of attention when it comes to mentoring and feedback. If you’re not a teacher or librarian, you’re still more than welcome to follow the posts and do the writing.
What does it cost?
It’s free. You’ll see that on the sign-up page, we’re asking that you buy a couple books to support the work of the authors who organize, if you can. Otherwise, there’s no cost at all. If you’re a teacher or librarian who’s found this, you’ve probably put a lot of my books in a lot of kids’ hands already, or nominated them for state award lists, or reviewed them online, or purchased copies for your library. I’m thankful for all of those things– and this seemed like a fun way to say so. Our guest authors you’ll meet along the way are volunteering their time for the same reasons — because we appreciate teachers & librarians and value the work that you do. Please support all of their books when you can.
Umm…I followed a link on Twitter and ended up here. Who are you, exactly?
Oh, hi! I’m Kate. I write books for kids of all ages, and I wrote a book about revision for teachers. I was a middle school English teacher for a long time and will never really get that out of my system. You can explore my website links to learn more. My favorite things are my family, being outside, reading, writing, and chocolate. All that should help you decide if you’d like to hang out here for the summer or not. I’m friendly, I promise.
What if I’m brand new at this whole writing thing?
Then the Teachers Write! Virtual Summer Writing Camp is especially for you. Welcome. You don’t need a license or a creative writing degree or permission from anyone to be a writer. All you need is the desire to write. Beginners and experienced writers are all welcome. Don’t worry… you can go at your own pace and only share what you want to share. If you’re happier lurking as a stealth writing camp member, that’s okay, too.
So will you respond to our questions and give us feedback?
Yes. But be patient with me, okay? I have three writing deadlines and some book travel this summer and marshmallows to roast, too, so it may take me a while for me to approve and reply to all the comments sometimes. The good news is that this camp can run quite nicely even if I’m away. Daily posts will be scheduled, and all of you can cheer one another on and provide feedback. Our guest authors will be around to help with that, too.
What if I can’t start until later? And what if I’ll be on vacation the last week of July?
That’s fine. Sign up. Join us when you can. Take breaks whenever you like. We’ll keep your lemonade cold while you’re away.
Fire away in the comments – and watch for an exciting list of Teachers Write! guest authors soon!
Note: 1st-time commenters on this blog need to be approved, so don’t worry if your question or sign-up comment doesn’t appear right away. I promise to get to them all within a day or two.
November is a busy month for me, but a great one as far as book events. On Saturday, I’ll be here…
…at the Rochester Children’s Book Festival at MCC. If you live in Western NY, I’d love to see you there. It’s an amazing event full of book energy, and if you love books, you’ll love it here as much as I do.
Next week, I’m heading west to NCTE 2012 in Las Vegas. Here’s my schedule of events there:
Friday, November 16
3 – 4pm Signing EYE OF THE STORM at Walker/Bloomsbury-Booth #501
Saturday, November 17
8 – 9:15am Author Strand: Mentors, Models, Ideas, and Dreams – MGM Grand Ballroom Room 121, Level One
9:30–10:30 Signing OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW and SEA MONSTER’S FIRST DAY at Chronicle Books – Booth #334
11am – 12pmSigning REAL REVISION at Stenhouse – Booth #721
12:30 – 2:30pmBooks for Children Luncheon – Premier Ballroom Room 318/319/320, Level 3
3 – 4pm Signing advance copies of HIDE AND SEEK (sequel to CAPTURE THE FLAG) at Scholastic – Booth # 200
Sunday, November 18
9 – 11:30amScholastic Literary Brunch
1 – 4pm NCTE Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts – MGM Grand Ballroom Room 117, Level One
Where I live, the leaves have not only turned, they’re falling by the bushels as we look November in the eye. When I was teaching, this was always around the time I’d need to step away from my desk full of papers to reflect on how things were going. The new-pencil smell of September has probably worn off for you by now, so let’s take this week’s #TeachersWrite to do the same. Here’s today’s prompt:
Choose one of your top students and finish these thoughts in his or her voice.
The best thing we’ve done in class so far has been…
My least favorite day of class was the day…
My goal for the next quarter is…
I wish…
Now, answer those same questions in the voice of one of your struggling students.
And finally, answer them in your own voice.
Sometimes, we write to be understood. And sometimes, we write to better understand ourselves. That’s what reflection is all about, after all, isn’t it? Seeing something in a different way so that we notice things we might have missed.
If you discovered anything you’d like to share, feel free to comment!
I’m working through a novel revision right now with a huge focus on character. Specifically, I’m studying the growth of my main character throughout the book, because if a character doesn’t grow and change…well, there’s not much of a story to be told.
I’ve been reading this book, which I recommend:
Jeff Gerke’s PLOT VERSUS CHARACTER takes a hard look at what we really need to make our characters live on the page. Every character, Gerke says, should start with a knot, which he describes like this:
I refer to your character’s problem as his knot. If you’ve worked with ropes much, especially in a nautical setting, you know they have to run smoothly through eyelets and pulleys and across capstans. A knot in the wrong rope at the wrong place can result in irritation, delay, or even disaster
So it is with your character. There he is, going along fine, minding his business, when something causes a knot to form in the rope of his life. Maybe he sees it and begins working on untying it. Maybe he sees it and doesn’t work on it. Maybe he doesn’t see it at all and the problems it’s causing are happening in his blind spot.
Whether he knows about it or is working to correct it or not, the knot is messing up his life.
~from PLOT VERSUS CHARACTER by Jeff Gerke, p. 85.
Good stuff, this is.
So today’s prompt is this: What is your character’s knot? Remember that when we talk about a knot, we’re talking about a character’s internal problem, rather than the bear that may be about to eat him or her. I’m not denying that’s a problem, but it’s not the kind of internal struggle we’re talking about here. If you have a work-in-progress, write a little about your main character’s knot (or your antagonist’s knot… bad guys have knots, too, you know!) If this doesn’t fit what you’re working on right now, try writing about the knot of the main character in one of your favorite books that you’ve read. What’s Harry Potter’s knot? What about Katniss?
Write away…and feel free to share excerpts & thoughts in the comments if you’d like!
Home has a soundtrack. Other places do, too. And today’s TeachersWrite prompt starts with the sounds of a shopping plaza in Texas.
I’m in San Antonio wrapping up a week of school visits right now – my first time in Texas, and I can’t stop noticing all the little things that are different here. The size of the crickets (enormous!) and the sounds of the birds. The trees around my hotel swarm with grackles at night. We have the occasional grackle up north where I live, but certainly not in these numbers, and certainly not at this volume. These birds are loud! But one of the librarians who’d picked me up at my hotel the other day had barely noticed them. Probably because they’re part of her everyday soundtrack.
And that got me thinking…. All places have a soundtrack, whether that place is a parking lot in Texas or a hospital in London, a grandmother’s kitchen in India, or a hockey rink in Alberta.
Write a paragraph or two describing the soundtrack of your place. This can be the place you call home, a place from your memories, or a place in a piece of writing you’re working on. (Write in your character’s voice if you’d like!) When you describe the soundtrack, listen for the different levels of sound, too – from the loud honks, to the medium-range notes and voices, to the quiet buzz that underscores everything. What’s the soundtrack of your place?
Can you believe it’s almost October? These first weeks of school are so crazy for teachers that you probably need some ideas for how to regroup and reclaim that summer creativity. Guest author Donna Gephart joins us today with some tips!
Now that you’re back to school, it’s vital to feed and nurture your creative spirit. These tips, ideas and resources will help you stay creative throughout the year.
1. TAKE TIME OFF to renew, refill and relax.
Read a great book . . . or a trashy one. Kick back with a fun magazine. A comic book.
Yoga and meditation encourage the brain’s alpha waves. These alpha waves are linked to relaxation and creativity.
Get out! Walk in a park or by the beach. Paddle a kayak, ride a bike, climb a mountain!
Make something – jewelry, a bird feeder, a pie. (If you make a peach cobbler, please send it to me!)
Take time off from screens. Give your brain a break from the constant stimulation. I enjoy screen-free Sundays whenever possible – no TV, computer, smart phone, etc. On screen-free Sundays, I connect more with people, nature and books. (And the pooches!)
2. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO FAIL
Anne Lamott, author of the well-loved book – Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life — called this initial failure crummy first drafts. (She actually uses a different adjective, but we’ll go with crummy. It’s a classroom-friendly blog.)
Let go of that damaging mindset of writing something perfect the first time. I don’t know a single author who creates a “perfect” first draft. And if I did, I’d have to kill him (just on principle).
Nothing is written as much as it’s rewritten. Get comfortable with your first efforts being messy.
My friend, Donald Vaughan – a successful free-lance writer – once said, “I’d rather have a bad page than a blank page.” Amen! It’s much easier to work with a lousy page than an empty one.
Don’t compare yourself to others. You don’t need to be Shakespeare or Steinbeck. Somebody already was Shakespeare and Steinbeck. You simply need to be the most authentic you that you can be. No one can write like you. No one has had the same experiences or ways of looking at those experiences.
And by the way, a “crummy first draft” does NOT indicate failure. It indicates practice and doing the work. It’s merely part of the process. (No need to be so focused on the end result.)
3. READ ABOUT CREATIVITY
Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer dissects creativity.
My favorite part of the book was where he explained that after the most frustrating blocks, when all seems hopeless, creative ideas spring.
Listen to an interview with Jonah Lehrer on Katie Davis Brain Burps About Books KidLit Podcast.
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a staple on creativity. Her idea of morning pages – writing when you first wake – changed my writing output. I used to walk the dogs, exercise, eat breakfast and check e-mail before I wrote. I squandered my best writing time!
Now? I wake and write. The number of pages I produce has jumped dramatically. The dogs still get walked, the e-mails still get answered, etc. – just later in the day . . . or the next day. (In fact, I wrote this entire post in a creative burst first thing one morning.)
Read my blog post about 6-1/2 tips to stay creative from guest blogger, Paul Grecian, who is a professional nature photographer. Scroll through the comments for more great tips and ideas about staying creative. (Sorry, the giveaway on the post has ended.)
4. CONNECT WITH CREATIVE PEOPLE
a. Join or start a writer’s group. (Check out S.C.B.W.I. critique groups in your area.)
b. Go to readings, concerts, dance performances, plays, ethnic celebrations, local festivals, museum exhibits, etc.
c. Gather a few creative friends – artists, writers, performers – and discuss ideas, while enjoying snacks and beverages.
d. Watch a TED talk to become inspired. I love this one by Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity. Of course, there’s the blog post about Kate Messner’s TED talk. I love these lines from the post: “Kids are naturally gifted world-builders. They have brave imaginations, wild fresh ideas, and are not afraid of messing up.”
PROMPTS:
Sometimes, structure and limitation don’t reign in creativity, but allow it to expand to fill the parameters. With that in mind, have fun with this word-limiting creative writing prompt:
You’ve heard of six-word memoirs, right?
For this prompt, write a six-word description of yourself.
e.g. Will write for food. Prefer royalties.
Six more words for you: Have fun. Stay creative. Write on!
Donna Gephart’s humorous writing has appeared on greeting cards, in national magazines and on refrigerator magnets. Her middle grade novels have won a number of awards, including the Sid Fleischman Humor Award. Her newest novel, OLIVIA BEAN, TRIVIA QUEEN — about a Jeopardy!-obsessed twelve-year-old — received excellent reviews, including a starred Kirkus review. For free resources for teachers and librarians (and a funny singing hamster video), visit Donna at http://www.donnagephart.com.
Necessity is the mother of invention, right? I’m not sure who said that (I think Plato gets credit for it sometimes) but I’ve found that the saying is true when it comes to revising a book. So often, I’ll get to a stage in the revision process when I know I need to try a different strategy. But deep as my revision toolbox may be, I can’t always find the right thing. Sometimes, writers need to invent the tools they need to figure things out.
Which brings me to the Timeline-Treatment-Symptom-Belief-Emotion chart…
Last week, I was finishing up revisions on WAKE UP MISSING, my fall 2013 MG science thriller with Walker Bloomsbury, and I realized that I needed to do one more pass to check on the progression of some elements of the story. The novel is about four kids with post-concussion syndome who leave home hoping for a medical miracle. But when they’re admitted to an elite neurology clinic at a former military base in the Everglades, things don’t seem quite right, and little by little, they learn that the clinic’s goals have evolved beyond curing head injuries. The book takes place over eight days, and I created the chart above to track the changes that take place from chapter to chapter and day to day. One thing that was important was making sure that the narrator’s concussion symptoms were consistent with her treatment.
On many levels, this book is about changes, so it was also important to make sure I understood how my main character’s beliefs changed and how her emotions evolved through the course of her experience.
Chapter by chapter, I read through my draft and filled in the chart. I noticed a lot of small things along the way, and I made a couple important discoveries, too . I kept a running list of changes to consider after I finished charting everything, and then I went back for one more revision pass.
This is messy stuff and probably doesn’t make much sense to you as a reader, but as a writer, I can step back and see the bigger picture here — just what’s happening, just where things are moving too quickly or not quickly enough, just where a shift in view doesn’t sit quite right, and that’s where the text needs work.
Because I am a revision geek at heart, this was a deeply satisfying process and — I’m just going to say it — really, really fun. But even if you don’t love revising, getting out the big paper and colored pens can help you see your story in a new way.
Sadly, I’ll probably use this particular revision tool just once in my writerly life. After all, how many books can an author really write that might make use of a timeline-treatment-symptom-belief-emotion chart? But the experience has reinforced one lesson for me — that every book demands new tools, and if they don’t already exist in your bag of tricks, you just may need to invent them.
It strikes me that this is not only a great excuse to hunker down somewhere with a big mug hot chocolate and notebook or laptop but also an opportunity to share.
If you’re a writer at heart, it’s tough to understand how anyone could live without putting pen to paper or clicking away some at a keyboard each day. But plenty of people — lots of kids — can’t understand why we’d want to do that at all. On October 20th, might we open a window into our writing lives so that people who don’t understand the value can have a glimpse of what this world is like?
Today: You can write whatever you want — a free verse poem, a memoir, a short story or monologue, a letter. Start with this line:
“Sometimes, when I write..”
See where it goes. Think about sharing this one with your students and inviting them to do the same. The week of October 20th, we’ll be celebrating writing with a special project on my blog. This will get you (and hopefully your students!) thinking in the right direction to join the celebration.
For today, feel free to share a snippet in the comments if you’d like!
And by the way, you don’t have to be a teacher or librarian to join us in sharing today… We’d love to hear from authors and kids and nurses and accountants and everybody, too!
Even the true political junkies among us need a break from Barack and Mitt now and then, so we’re going to talk a different kind of politics today. I love the Horn Book’s KidLit Election project, where they’ve invited folks to nominate their favorite fictional characters as Democratic or Republican candidates for the U.S. Presidency. Personally, I’m partial to this one…
From The Horn Book, http://www.hbook.com/2012/09/blogs/out-of-the-box/kidlit-election-2012-democratic-primary-results-are-in/
But there have been many great arguments made for not only spiders but also slaves and ADHD kids in the Oval Office. Which brings me to this week’s writing prompt.
Imagine your favorite fictional character running for President (or Prime Minister, or whoever’s in charge where you live). Write his or her (or its?) speech to accept the nomination, being sure to both inspire supporters and outline a clear platform of beliefs and promises.Keep it positive (the Horn Book made this rule, and I like it… let’s not have Voldemort representing either party, please). And consider what kinds of beliefs your character has and how those might shape political policy. Have fun, but be thoughtful, too.
You may also want to try this with a character from one of your own works-in-progress. Running for office really forces you to examine what you believe and how far you’re willing to go to fight for it, I suspect. Interesting stuff to ponder, wearing our characters’ shoes.
Feel free to share your speeches in the comments. I’m guessing some of you may want to try this one out in the classroom once you’ve played around with it yourself, and I’m sure kids will enjoy your examples, as well as those posted on the Horn Book’s site.
Now that you’re back to school, it’s vital to feed and nurture your creative spirit. These tips, ideas and resources will help you stay creative throughout the year.
1. TAKE TIME OFF to renew, refill and relax.
Read a great book . . . or a trashy one. Kick back with a fun magazine. A comic book.
Yoga and meditation encourage the brain’s alpha waves. These alpha waves are linked to relaxation and creativity.
Get out! Walk in a park or by the beach. Paddle a kayak, ride a bike, climb a mountain!
Make something – jewelry, a bird feeder, a pie. (If you make a peach cobbler, please send it to me!)
Take time off from screens. Give your brain a break from the constant stimulation. I enjoy screen-free Sundays whenever possible – no TV, computer, smart phone, etc. On screen-free Sundays, I connect more with people, nature and books. (And the pooches!)
2. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO FAIL
Anne Lamott, author of the well-loved book – 
