Writer's Meme

painting by Georgia O'Keefe

I found this meme on Rondi's blog May's Day. I thought it would be fun to try.

What’s your favorite genre of writing?

I really like to write memoir

How often do you get writer’s block?

Not very often because I have many books with inspiring prompts to use.

How do you fix it?

return to those books, walk in the garden, or go on a photo hunt

Do you type or write by hand?

I used to always write by hand. I still do in my journal, but other writing is word processed.

Do you save everything you write?

Yes, I do. I try to set a good example for my students because I have them collect writing. I still have pieces I wrote in classes twenty years ago!

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
All the time. I found a poem I had written about a box in the closet many years ago. I tried it again and used it in class.

Do you have a constructive critic?
Many... a friend Bev, my brother who was our visiting writer at the retreat last summer, a poet that willingly reads my stuff when I ask, and my students.

Did you ever write a novel?

No, I have never been interested in big projects like a novel.

What genre would you love to write but haven’t?

I would love to write travel pieces about the Pacific Northwest and places I have visited and informational essays on gardening.

What’s one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
Horror /scary stuff

How many writing projects are you working on right now?

I am always writing for my blogs, working on a cookbook project, poetry, and some professional writing.

Do you write for a living? Do you want to?
No and I don't want to because I am afraid I wouldn't enjoy it as much if my livelihood depended on it.

Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?

I have written articles for both magazines and newspapers.

Have you ever won an award for your writing? No

What are your five favorite words?

glistening, hope, wondrous, serene, memories

Do you ever write based on your dreams?no

Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?Happy endings

Have you ever written based on an artwork you’ve seen? Yes, I did a series of exercises with poetry based on famous works of art like the one above.

Now ... this is enough writing for today. Try the meme. It will help you examine your own writing life.

Cold!

How many ways can you say it?
How many ways can you explain it?
How many ways can you illustrate it?

It has been really, really cold. Last Friday the heat stopped working in my classroom. When I arrived it was 46 degrees and it finally reached 56 by the end of the day. That is pretty darn cold to think and work.
The ice has never melted on top of our snow and the parking lot at school has a path of ice I get to navigate each morning heading inside.
When I watch my car thermometer as I drive to school, it drops all the way south down the lake until I reach school and it has read 2 degrees, 5 degrees, and 11 degrees this week.
Wearing my scarf and gloves all day has helped, but they don't always match my outfit!
Wearing wool socks and lined boots keeps my feet warm, but make it tough to stand on my feet.

I need to be like these cats and find a warm place inside at home...or sit in the sunroom and feel the warmth on my back....or be Kit and go anywhere that is warm!! I heard a rumor the weather is going to warm up above freezing next week!

Reading Like a Writer

" An absolutely necessary addition to the personal library of anyone who is a writer or dreams of writing, but it's also a terrific choice for anyone that loves to read." -National Public Radio

I have started, stopped, revisited and now continued with this book since last summer. As I read this book I think of so many of you that would love it. She opens the book by posing the questions "Can creative writing be taught?","Can the love of language be taught?", "Can a gift for storytelling be taught?" She would say no.

As a teacher herself she doesn't feel creativity can be transported from teacher to student. She then begins to reveal to all of us her ongoing process of becoming a writer and invites readers to notice great writers that have continued to provide models of inspiration in her own process. Often as readers we are engrossed in the story line and the action with the characters and don't think to take apart the paragraphs, sentences, and words and look at it for the writing. Studying some of her examples has made a difference as I have tried reading like a writer. It may be a second reading of a part of a book. It may be revisiting paragraphs that stayed in your mind long after you put a book down.

She then introduces things that can be learned and that is where I am at. I look forward to reading the rest of the book. She has a list at the end called "Books to Be Read Immediately". Since I haven't read many of the books on the list I have obviously not been reading as a writer! Some of the titles included are Middlemarch by George Elliot, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

" On a very basic level, I can't figure out why people would want to write unless they like to read. I mean, what would be the point? For the incredibly glamorous fast track lifestyle? I don't think so." - Francine Prose

Creating A Community: Leave No Writer Behind

Every day I read good writing. I read it as my students imprint their thoughts to paper. I read it on blogs that fill me with appreciation, laughter, amazement, and curiosity every day. I read it in literature, magazines, and online.

Recently I asked my students to reflect on their writing. On an exam I asked the question," What made your writing better first semester?" For my newest students in sixth grade I smiled at their answers like " I write more, and more, and more", "I don't complain so much about doing writing," and "I use bigger, stronger words." Part of creating writers ( or better writers) is to help them view themselves as writers. Even more important is to create a writing community.

Blog sites like Sunday Scribblings create that community each week as bloggers from all over the world respond to the same prompt. Building a blogroll from my own personal blog has helped me build a writing community among other very talented writers. When I have worked with adult writers at our annual writing retreat building that community is as important. I strive to create that same environment in my classroom. It isn't always easy. Young adult writers can be hurt easily. They can also be shy to share their words. After working with my sixth graders ninety days in class I am beginning to see them shed some of their insecurities. It has taken lots of baby steps.

I nuture these writers by providing time, practice, feedback, and celebration. In the busyness of preparing students for state testing, making sure we make Adequate Yearly Progress and Leave No Child Behind teachers have to carve out time for the process of writing. In my experience with students I have learned to move out of the way and give them time and practice. I am there to provide feedback along with their fellow students and families. The icing on the cake is to celebrate their wondrous words by having an author chair, read-arounds, or provide places for them to publish. I look forward to continuing with this community of writers as we move into second semester.

In closing I think one student really figured out how to be successful in my class.
" I think the best thing I can do is write about things my teacher enjoys like dogs, flowers, and things that make her laugh. It is called buttering up the teacher!"
I call it embracing individuality and leaving no writer behind!

Things

Things

The hen flings a single pebble aside
with her yellow, reptilian foot.
Never in eternity the same sound-
a small stone falling on a red leaf.

The juncture of twig and branch,
scarred with lichen, is a gate
we might enter, singing.

The mouse pulls batting
from a hundred-year-old quilt.
She chewed a hole in a blue star
to get it, and now she thrives...
Now is her time to thrive.

Things: simple lasting, then
failing to last: water, a blue heron's
eye, and the light passing
between them: into light all things
must fall, glad at last to have fallen.

-Jane Kenyon
from Otherwise, New and Selected Poems

Everyone Needs a Spot: Makeover Project #3

Just as we are completing the third makeover project around our house I finally see the sun peeking out from behind a gray cloud cover that has been hovering for many day. Now we can stop and I won't have to beat the winter blues. JEJ breathed a sigh of relief!
The front bedroom/guest room/computer room/home office now became the study. I was amazed how much I could pull into this room to make it coordinate. JEJ added the new paint, but with the exception of the candles on the wall and the striped Kleenex box, everything else was somewhere in the house before. Again, a makeover that didn't cost much.I love my writing table in front of the window and will enjoy watch spring burst forth in a few months.
There is something about having things organized on shelves... even if it doesn't last.
This beautiful print " Dancer of the Coeur d' Alenes " by Carrie Stuart Parks needed a better place to hang. Her watercolor was to commemorate the Historic Skills Fair at the Cataldo Mission in 1990. Our families have been connected for over fifty years and Carrie was raised and still lives close to the Mission. I love to have this reminder of family and historic connection hanging in this room.

I still want to use the east wall to display some of my own photos. I think I will go to the study and sit. The redone bathroom was a great sitting room, but the chair will be more comfortable here!
The colors in this room are from the Ace Colors of Your Life. The combination is Siesta ( walls), Northern Exposure , and Pink Lady ( which was the color that was "to pop"... my it does pop!). Of course, Kit always makes himself at home and looks like he belongs there. JEJ did all the hard work on this project.. I just rearranged and accessorized. Thanks JEJ!
Click any pictures to enlarge and see the details!