CREATE STORIES for children, for yourself, for all ages, make ART & MORE plus,
CHASE IDEAS & SING or listen to SONGS, STORIES & other MORE.
First up: a POEM, your poem, can be come more & more.
Creative word jugglers ::: National Youth Poet Laureate Program
SKIPPING STONES magazine. Thanks to Paper Tigers, publisher of my MFA Hollins ceative writing pal Dorina Gilmore, for this info. This magazine offers a bundle of publishing opportunity for young creatives.
LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE 4th grade & Up – A contest of the U.S. Library of Congress. Each year state winners have a chance to become national starss.
Outsiderof this contest, any age can reader can write to an author c/o Editorial Dept/ publisher name/ postal address.
Practice & for 4th grade & up, plan to win the Library of Congress contest. http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org/home
FREE NOVEL WRITING WORK BOOKS – helpful, for non-fiction too!
National Novel Writing Month has 3, free, downloadable notebooks!!!!
Read:
WRITING SMARTS by Kerry Madden. I’ve followed her works ever since she inspired me at the Hollins University MFA program in writing for children. A fabulous author to know!
LOOK AT MY BOOK! by Lauren Leedy. Multi-talented Florida artist shares tips for kids on writing & illustrating. See Lauren’s FREE downloadable illustrating & writing process poster at: http://www.loreenleedy.com/books/lookposter.html
STORY STARTERS
( I hope you enjoy looking at their project, FILLING THE GAP)
With Teachers & Writers Collaborative help, I crafted a community class of questioners.
If these questions are the sort that your family enjoys-
KNOW how to connect with the NATIONAL
& also state – such as FLORIDA- HISTORY FAIRS
http://www.floridahistoryfair.com/nhd/faq.cfm & http://www.nhd.org/KennethBehring.htm
STORYTELL Tall Tales, Old Tales & more, told with panache by young storytellers
MOVING YOU
Make yourself into a moving VOKI from voki.com www.voki.com
MOVING STORY. Create a short story, draw a bit & send it off to your pal here. Thanks to the creative folks at Seven Stories !
THE ELEMENTS SONG – can you memorize it. Many thanks to the Bookshelves of Doom blog, by way of the Fuse #8 blog.
SING OUT! Thank you, Oberlin College
YOUNG WRITERS ALERT!
So go, look, already!
POSTS on PICTURE BOOKS
A short video clip for the film, “Library of the Early Mind” about the art of making picture books
PAGES to decorate – Color, embellish, make into posters, with thanks to artist/author Elizabeth O. Dulemba
FOR Go-Go Juice in your writing world :
RADICAL REFLECTIONS by Mem Fox
The creator of KOALA LOU, POSSUM MAGIC & other treasures confides she gets maybe 4 book ideas a year & quails at the thought of telling a picture book story in 750 words. Her heart-felt words are to write from the heart, with your real reader in mind, and be sharp about language.
Many thanks to teacher Ann Danford, for telling me about Mem Fox. This is the guide, of all the fine examples out there, that I send folks to first. BUT also look for Mem Fox’sbook for adults, Reading Magic & then all her books for children, beginning with Koala Lou.
And hundreds of South Georgia & North Florida children have soared in their writing & reading skills with this, from Florida State Unveristy: Runaway with Words: A Short Course on Poetry and How to Take It with You (textbook), Anhinga, 1998. The talent behind this is Joann Gardner. [She now has her adult chapbook out with Finishing Line Press, linked at my poetry page, called glow.]
Books I’ve given to writers:
Telling Time, Nancy Willard
On Writing by Stephen King
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharpe
Radios by Jerome Stern
Touch Magic and also, Take Joy, each by our national treasure, Jane Yolen
Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin
If You Want to Write by Brenda Uleland
Not Quite Feathers Yet: A Beginner’s Guide to the Poetic Life by Lola Haskins
YOUNG WRITERS who are widely read may enjoy parts of some of the above titles, which are all intended for adults.
One more title specifically for young writers but a joy for adults who write:
How I Became A Writer and Oggie Learned to Drive by Janet Taylor Lisle
“People think getting published is the main part about being a writer.
THEY’RE WRONG. A lot more comes into it, like how great it is to sit
down and write a story out of your own head…”
A novel whose teen character has to babysit his younger brother & doing so, discovers that….
If you aren’t writing, you need a prescription of writing PROMPTS. I took these for 30 days & they boosted me. Block out the 30 days, write anecdotes, vignettes, whole stories that surprise you:
http://www.southeastreview.org/regimen.html
Creatives with caution genes
If it turns out that you know an artist or writer who is low-key,
in the spotlight dept. share http://www.shrinkingvioletpromotions.blogspot.com
To inspire you, here’s a mini-course in picture books, courtesy of the folks at Picturing Books
http://www.picturingbooks.com/index.php?option=com_igallery&view=gallery&id=26&Itemid=102
No excuses to not be creating, department:
1892, Berea, Kentucky, James Bond:
“…the clouds also bring life and hope, ..the lightning purifies the atmosphere, ..shadow and darkness prepare for sunshine and growth…”
From a commencement address given by a former slave, whose grandson would become legislator, civil rights activist and professor, Julian Bond.
No excuses moment # 2 : paint your way to an idea
http://www.jacksonpollock.org/
a box of watercolor paints, to writer M.R. Street, Blue Rock Rescue, for sharing this site
No excuses moment # 3: fix a great plate of food for a pal
from The New York Public Library
IDEAS
Attics, closets & back rooms towering with treasures, for research & writing ideas.
October is ARCHIVES MONTH
PARENTS, TEACHERS & just regular FOLKS –
Look here for a trustworthy evaluation of Websites about children and families. It’s from
TUFTS UNIVERSITY & is recommended by David Elkind, author of THE HURRIED CHILD & also, ALL GROWN UP and NO PLACE to GO.
Bookseedstudio 
