Here's a fun art project to do with the kids--drawing your hand in 3-D!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203388520264353&set=vb.1552160823&type=2&theater
Friday, August 8, 2014
Thank You, Mrs. Cummins
Yesterday my granddaughters went shopping for school with their mom. When they got back, they showed me all of their cool new outfits. One granddaughter is entering third grade and I told her that one of the great things about third grade is you start doing more writing.
It got me to thinking...I can trace my love of writing to my second and third grade teacher. I had Mrs. Cummins for two years. She encouraged our creativity in writing in such a simple way, but I'll always be grateful to her for it.
She had us cut a picture out of a magazine and then write a story about it. My mother saved all my stories. I read them now, and they're very primitive but when I read them, I remember the feeling I had when I wrote them.
There's not a red pen mark on any of them. Even though my spelling was less than perform, Mrs. Cummins was focusing on something else. She was wanting us to learn to love expressing ourselves through the written word.
Thank you, Mrs. Cummins. I hope my granddaughter has a teacher like you for third grade.
It got me to thinking...I can trace my love of writing to my second and third grade teacher. I had Mrs. Cummins for two years. She encouraged our creativity in writing in such a simple way, but I'll always be grateful to her for it.
She had us cut a picture out of a magazine and then write a story about it. My mother saved all my stories. I read them now, and they're very primitive but when I read them, I remember the feeling I had when I wrote them.
There's not a red pen mark on any of them. Even though my spelling was less than perform, Mrs. Cummins was focusing on something else. She was wanting us to learn to love expressing ourselves through the written word.
Thank you, Mrs. Cummins. I hope my granddaughter has a teacher like you for third grade.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Ready...Set...Get Playful
Years ago I took a creative writing class. One of the most helpful things that I learned was this: Before starting to write, loosen up...get playful!
Children are naturally creative. Watch them at play. What do they do? They use their imagination. They giggle. They have fun. They play games.
Got writer's block? Before writing, try this: Act like a kid. Get down on the floor with your 4-year-old and have a tickling contest. Play dress-ups with your grandkids. Share knock-knock jokes with your tween.
Do something...anything to loosen up. You'll be amazed at how much more creative your writing will be after this exercise of acting like a kid.
Children are naturally creative. Watch them at play. What do they do? They use their imagination. They giggle. They have fun. They play games.
Got writer's block? Before writing, try this: Act like a kid. Get down on the floor with your 4-year-old and have a tickling contest. Play dress-ups with your grandkids. Share knock-knock jokes with your tween.
If you don't happen to have any children around, think of something playful to do. Stand on your head. Call someone up and share a hilarious joke. Play Chopsticks on the piano. Pat your head while rubbing your tummy.
Do something...anything to loosen up. You'll be amazed at how much more creative your writing will be after this exercise of acting like a kid.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Expose Your Children to Music and Culture
Summer is a fantastic time to expose your children to a variety of musical, art, and cultural events. Many communities have free concerts at the park, featuring a variety of genres. If you live near a university, find out about recitals that may be open to the public. The wider the variety, the better. Museums, art shows, dance festivals, celtic festivals...the list goes on and on.
I'll be forever grateful to my dad, who took his children to many cultural events even though money was very tight. I remember the thrill of sitting in a huge auditorium and being blown away by a full evening of Beethoven. He took us to the Ice Capades and to "The Nutcracker." We went to many community plays and concerts.
Largely because of this exposure, I have loved the arts all my life.
I'll be forever grateful to my dad, who took his children to many cultural events even though money was very tight. I remember the thrill of sitting in a huge auditorium and being blown away by a full evening of Beethoven. He took us to the Ice Capades and to "The Nutcracker." We went to many community plays and concerts.
Largely because of this exposure, I have loved the arts all my life.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Read, Read, Read
Not only do I love to write, I also love to read. I have found that if I want to write for a certain genre or certain age group, I must first read tons of books in their genre or for that age of child. If I want to write for beginning readers, I must read dozens of books written by various authors. I read somewhere that an aspiring author of children's books should read 100 books in the specific reading level on which he or she will be focusing.
Sounds about right.
Sounds about right.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Revising
A critical part of the writing process is the revision stage. It's not always the most fun part of writing, but it is vital to producing a polished finished product.
When I begin a writing project, I initially don't worry about such things as grammar, punctuation, or even readability. I focus strictly on getting my story down. Once that is accomplished, then comes the challenge of re-reading the piece over and over again. Where, at first, I am the creator, now I must become the editor.
Each time I go through the piece, I scrutinize it for different things. One time I may look at how the story flows, whether or not the plot makes sense, where the bottlenecks are, whether all the questions are answered. Another time I will focus on grammar, punctuation--and at this stage I must be very picky. Is there an extra space between two words? Are the ellipses handled correctly? That kind of thing.
Again, this can be quite--even very--tedious. But it is essential.
One of the last things I like to do is read the piece out loud. I catch a lot of errors that way.
That's where I am today on my newest junior fiction novel, Return of the Schmurthies. For several months now I've read through that book--dozens of times (and I'm not even joking)--revising and re-revising. Today, I will read it as my readers will read it--straight through. How sweet it is!
When I begin a writing project, I initially don't worry about such things as grammar, punctuation, or even readability. I focus strictly on getting my story down. Once that is accomplished, then comes the challenge of re-reading the piece over and over again. Where, at first, I am the creator, now I must become the editor.
Each time I go through the piece, I scrutinize it for different things. One time I may look at how the story flows, whether or not the plot makes sense, where the bottlenecks are, whether all the questions are answered. Another time I will focus on grammar, punctuation--and at this stage I must be very picky. Is there an extra space between two words? Are the ellipses handled correctly? That kind of thing.
Again, this can be quite--even very--tedious. But it is essential.
One of the last things I like to do is read the piece out loud. I catch a lot of errors that way.
That's where I am today on my newest junior fiction novel, Return of the Schmurthies. For several months now I've read through that book--dozens of times (and I'm not even joking)--revising and re-revising. Today, I will read it as my readers will read it--straight through. How sweet it is!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)