In the Writer's Web

It’s been several years since I enjoyed children’s literature as a child. But, no matter how much time passes, I remember the excitement of reading a beloved story from way back in the day.

The first picture book I made my parents read to me night after night was THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK. I don’t know if it was Grover, a favorite character from Sesame Street, that captured me. Or if it was the plot of Grover begging the audience not to read one more page because of the monster at the end. SPOILER ALERT: Little did Grover know, that he was the monster at the end of the book.

If Grover epitomized my early years, HATCHET embodied my reading during middle school. It was Brian Robeson’s survival story that hooked me. I felt like I was watching a movie, a thriller, and I had to know how it ended. I hadn’t read anything like it up to that point. It was my crossover from sweet and fun books to daring middle grade.

My tastes continued to evolve over the years. While I grew up listening to and reading Judy Blume books, I discovered one of my favorites, FOREVER, in high school. The book and Judy spoke to me about love, the love of your life, and break ups. Something, I didn’t have much knowledge about but was anxious to experience.  In a way, reading these stories helped me comprehend things that weren’t in my world.

While I enjoyed these books when I was young, they have stuck with me and I think of them fondly, like a good friend. What about you? What book memories do carry with you from back in the day?

I have the opportunity to facilitate the lunchtime Creative Writing Club at the elementary school where I teach. Student creative writers give up their recess and lunchtime with classmates to come and be part of our writing community. These students are motivated, bright and eager. They are students who recognized writing as a way to express themselves. They love to write and thrive in this situation that encourages and supports their efforts to use writing to tell a story they need to tell.

I have gained insight and inspiration into my own writing by working alongside these young artists as they hone their skills and grow into the writers of the future.

• Writers write. They write a lot. No one can be a writer without filling up a lot of pages and spending time and energy writing.

• Sometimes the deepest and most brilliant ideas are found in incomplete sentences and misspelled words that speak to the essence of the story.

• You have to tie everything together. A story that is all middle isn’t much of a story. You must have a beginning and an end.

• Imagination is the best guide. Although some accuracy is important, don’t let the facts get in the way and obscure your story.

• Use adjectives and action verbs. Don’t use adverbs. Use the very best words you know and don’t ever worry about spelling- you can figure how to spell words later.

• Sometimes you have to slog through a lot of boring stuff to get to the great stuff.

• Some stories don’t need to be taken to completion. They just don’t turn out to be interesting or meaningful. So, let them go and put energy into something that you want to finish.

• Writers really, really hate to revise, but they have to do it anyway.

• Try to find new ways to say something. A lot of people have the same ideas… but it matters that you say the idea in your own way.

• Play with emotion- make others cry or laugh or gasp. You know it’s good if your teacher gets the shivers.

• Writers have to share their work. Creative writing is meant to be shared.

• If people don’t understand something that you have written, you need to listen to them. They want to help you make your work stronger and work for everyone, not just you.

• The best writers are the best readers. Reading is the springboard for writing.

Long long ago at one of my first SCBWI conferences, I remember a speaker talking about revision and recommending, “Tape your manuscript on the wall…lay it all out…” It appealed to me because it sounded like a lot of fun, but, I was no where near revising. For me, it was out there in a land far far away. The thought of revising was so intimidating. After all, I was working on a rough draft and had just learned the meaning of PB, MG, and YA.

Today, if you entered my studio, you would see sheets of paper on the walls. They greet me daily; they challenge big time. I’d like to report that I carefully planned this, but well, it just happened.

Here’s how: I couldn’t find a chapter (an organizational consultant would keel over at the sight of my Word files!) and was feeling overwhelmed and confused about my plot. I resorted to pen and notebook which always clears my cobwebs. I started writing on individual pages, “Chapter Number/POV/Year,” then below that, I wrote a tight one-sentence chapter summary. I ripped out (love that sound!) one sheet at a time and it hit me – Get tape! Put these on the wall! I taped each piece of paper in a horizontal line traveling across a wall. I couldn’t stop. If I was unsure about a summary, I left space on the wall and kept going. After I reached the corner of one wall, I moved to the next and the next, until I taped up the summary of the last chapter.

I stopped. I was a kid in front of a huge drawing board. I glanced over the first wall. Suddenly, I spotted a connection between two chapters (that are some hundred pages apart). I had no idea, had never thought about it. Then, it hit me – Get yarn and thumbtacks. I used the yarn to “draw” and tack a line between the connection. Then, I saw more connections, a possible plot twist, an ah-ha about what motivates a secondary character, a what-if… This went on for days, weeks; it’s still going on.

Putting my YA on the wall gave me a chance to stop (and stare at my walls!), be quiet, and interact with my writing. Ah, a perfect fit for my short attention span and very visual and tactile learning style. There’s only one problem: I may run out of walls! I love moving papers, and even wadding them up. I’m amazed and humbled by how much of my writing doesn’t show up in the words on my computer screen. As Natalie Goldberg says, “Behind writing, behind words, is no words. We need to know about that place. It gives us a larger perspective from which to handle language. Silence can be the door to listening, which is one of the great cornerstones to writing.”

By Rondi Sokoloff Frieder

Twenty-five years ago, my co-teacher Liz gave me a birthday card that said, “This card is printed on recycled paper. Please return it to me when you get the chance so I can send it to you again next year.” I smiled and dutifully handed the card back to her, totally forgetting about it in a few weeks. But when March rolled around the following year, there it was on my desk, complete with a new note inside: “Here it is again! Have a great day! Soon you’ll have someone else around to share a birthday.” My second son was about to born. I returned the card to Liz and you can probably guess what happened next. The back and forth of the card became a yearly tradition. Little did we know it would continue for at least a quarter of a century.

Five years after I first received the card, Liz and her family moved to Texas. This meant we would need to use the United States Postal Service to transport the card back and forth between Denver and Dallas. We developed a system. Liz sent the card to me in March, and I sent it back to her in October, along with a new card for her own birthday.

After ten years, every inch of possible writing space on the card was filled with Liz’s newsy greetings, meticulously dated. So by year eleven, she began typing her messages on the computer. She added a birthday graphic on top, printed the note, and tucked it inside the original card before mailing it to me.

By year fifteen, the spine of the original card was beginning to fray. Its blue envelope was also split into two pieces. I’m not sure why, but neither one of us felt the need to tape it back together. We just stuffed the entire pile of paper into a manila envelope, stuck two Forever stamps onto the top right-hand corner, and dropped it into a nearby mailbox. It was around this time that Liz’s notes were becoming longer and more literary. Maybe it was the large, blank space on the computer screen, aching to be filled. Or perhaps she (and I) had reached an age that made us prone to nostalgic ramblings. One thing was for sure. In a world of abbreviated texts, flashing Emojis, endless emails, and Facebook photo postings, Liz’s notes had become full-fledged letters. Letters that chronicled our lives with meaningful reflections and joy. Great-big-smiley-joy.

Next week, I will be throwing a huge party for my dad’s 90^th birthday. After sending out a slew of invitations, the RSVP’s began to pour in. Our guests had the choice of calling me or sending an email. Although most of the respondents are in their 80s, many chose the email option. I was amazed at the touching words that flooded my “in” box. “With happiness in our hearts, we look forward to joining you and your family in celebrating Harold at this momentous time. 90 years is special – how appropriate for such a special friend!” And this one: “We can’t wait to celebrate this occasion with our friend Harold whom we love.” Also: “Judy and I are delighted to accept the invitation to this milestone event!” The people who called me were more matter-of-fact in their responses. It was either “we’ll be there” or “we can’t make it.” But the writers – the writers were filled with joy.

Writing enables us to express ourselves deeply. We often write what we cannot say out loud. So when you open your journal or turn on your computer to compose, edit, revise, cut, rework, or scream… take a minute to remember why you are doing this in the first place. It brings you joy. Really, it does.

By Denise Schurr

One of my favorite activities at a writing conference is learning about the recently released books. As a teacher, I’m looking for books to add to my classroom library. As a parent I’m looking for books to capture my kids’ interests. As a reader/writer, I’m looking for something inspiring. The last conference I attended, SCBWI Letters and Lines in September 2015, did not disappoint.

I picked up Todd Tuell’s picture book, Ninja, Ninja, Never Stop! I have two pint-sized ninjas at home who I knew would love it! I think they picked up some cool moves after reading. And it’s one I can share with my school kids too. The ninja topic paired with the rhythmic rhyme is a homerun for both sets of kids!

Another treasured find was Sean Ferrell’s picture book, I Don’t Like Koala. While you think you know the whole story, when you get to the end, there is a fun twist. It’s humorous for kids and adults.

And little did I know at the beginning of the school year, when I read The Kissing Hand to my kindergarten class, I would be picking up my very own copy at the conference. Only this one was signed by the very talented illustrator, Ruth E. Harper. When I took it to school my class was in awe. It was inspiring for them to see something autographed from the person who makes stories come to life through illustration.

Finally, I was disappointed when I was unable to pick up my own copy of Tara Dairman’s middle grade novel, All Four Stars because it was all sold out. Lucky for me, one of my critique group member snagged a copy and let me borrow it. Tara has a feel for the flow of a story and I was swept up from the beginning. For the record, that read wasn’t for my school kids or for my own kids, it was a perfect fit for me.

What about you? What is your favorite find from attending conferences?