Little Writers

February 2004 - Tootsie Roll, Age 1 1/2

February 2010 - Curly Jones, Age 2 1/2

Writing has been a part of my kids' lives from the time they were (are) very little.  Books and stories and words are just a natural part of our days every day.  Curly Jones is starting to recognize "ABC"s on the pages of books (although she thinks they all say her name) and has long repeated the familiar parts of stories that we read together.  Her current favorites are The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Napping House.

Tootsie Roll is seven now, and I find her curled up with chapter books up in her loft bed or snuggled in random places around the house.  She has always been a reader and a writer.  When she was little, I used to tell her bedtime stories about a little girl who looked just like her but whose name was Amy Jamie.  Amy Jamie would draw things on her "magic doodle" and the jump into the pictures and have her adventures. 

When we didn't have time to tell those stories (they got kind of long), we improvised by telling stories about another one of our favorite made up characters, Frank Pickle.  Frank Pickle stories, as a rule, could only be three sentences long and always started the same way, like:

Once upon a time, there was a man named Frank Pickle. 

He wanted a hamster but the pet store was out.

So he bought a snake and got over it.

THE END.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Frank Pickle.

He sent a Valentine to the girl he loved but she didn't send one back.

Oh well.

THE END.

Lol... poor Frank Pickle had a lot of bad luck.  Sometimes he had good luck, but that wasn't nearly as much fun.  We would crack each other up with Frank Pickle stories.  Every now and then, we still do.  I'm sure Curly Jones will put her own spin on Frank Pickle, or we'll come up with our own bedtime story characters.

Tootsie Roll does a lot of creative writing now and I'm always amazed at the way she looks at things.  She thinks it's cool that I'm working on a book and she wants to illustrate it.  :) 

I never thought about writing much until I was in fifth grade and my teacher, Mrs. Ritts, told me I could write.  She encouraged me all the time and three years later when my younger sister had her, she pulled out pieces of my writing to use as an example in class.  I never forgot that, and although I haven't tried to publish before and this is my first serious effort, I have always written and always felt like a writer.  I try to encourage my students at school in the same way, in whatever areas they excel or enjoy.  Eric Carle says in his video "Eric Carle, Picture Writer" that his kindergarten teacher told his mom that he was talented and should be an artist and she enrolled him in art classes after that.

Who encouraged your dream, whether it be writing or something else?

Let's Look Stuff Up!

I have to admit that I really enjoy the research part of a new idea.  I had done a bunch of research and then my pesky Main Character decided that she was going to take the book in another direction.  (I think she was just trying to thumb her nose at me.  That's how she rolls.)  So I began writing what she wanted (bossy) and all is going just duckily, but I needed to do new and different research.  More fun, I totally enjoy it.  But let me make one recommendation to you - When you find a New York Times article about your topic, check to make sure that it is not from the year 1900 before you write down all sorts of nifty and interesting things.

Now don't say I never taught you anything.

Show Me Your Dangerous! *Contest*

(The teacher in me feels the need to explain that the "Your" in the title is not supposed to be "You're".  It's like "Show Me Your Underwear".  Only I do not want to see your underwear.  I want to see your dangerous.  Ok.  Proceed.)

Holy wow.  There are almost 100 of you over there who "dare to follow"!  I know, it's a little preemptive, most people don't celebrate until they actually hit 100, but hey.  I'm Dangerous.  It's in the header.  But listen... we're not celebrating me here.  We're celebrating YOU!  My almost 100 Bloggy Miyagis!

That's right.  In the world of aspiring writers, I am but a babe.  I have been seriously going at my Work In Progress (WIP) since the beginning of January.  I started this blog to put my goal out there to see the process through and journal it, both because I have a terrible memory ("Mom, tell us about the time you wrote a book."  "Huh?  I wrote that?  Nah, I'm pretty sure that was aliens.") and to give myself an audience so that I would have to actually produce something.  To kick my butt when needed.  (Thanks, Mike... keep it up!).  A completely unexpected result has been finding this amazing community of fellow writers from whom I have learned immense amounts already.  So thanks, to all of you.  Wax on.  Wax off.

So let's celebrate!  Dangerously, of course.  First, the prizes: A random lucky winner will dance away with these fine trinkets!

National Book Award Finalist LIPS TOUCH: THREE TIMES
by Laini Taylor (with gorgeous black and red illustrations throughout by her husband Jim DiBartolo)

This book is insanely beautiful.  I got the last copy at Barnes & Noble (you'll win a new copy, I'm not giving up mine!).  Laini's SILKSINGER just won the CYBIL for Middle Grade Fantasy.  The girl is on a ROLL!

Dangerous kisses.  Believe it.

What!?!  This book isn't even out yet!  Nope.  But I'm gonna preorder it for you.  Cause that's how I roll. 

I'm going to assume that you've already read the first two books of the trilogy, THE HUNGER GAMES and CATCHING FIRE.  Because you have.  And if you haven't, don't tell me, just slowly back away from the computer and find the nearest copies as quickly as possible.  Or at least before August 24th, when this one comes out.








And, finally, because it's a must... my most favoritist Frustrated Writer movie.  Which you all must have.  There be murder.  And mayhem.  And a novel gets stolen.

Because what's more dangerous than being thrown from a train, anyway?

So that's what I'm gonna do.  Here's what you're gonna do:

1. Comment on this post only to enter. (+1 entry)

2.  Be a Bloggy Miyagi (aka Follower, old or new +2 entries)

3. Link to my contest in a post or sidebar (+3, please let me know)

4. Show me your dangerous!!!  Tell me a story about when you did something dangerous.  Post a dangerous part of your Work In Progress.  Write a dangerous poem.  Sing me a dangerous song.  Draw me a dangerous picture.  Get dangerously creative!  (Don't hurt yourselves, though.)  (+3!)

Contest ends on the Ides of March. :)  (Beware!)

Thanks again - love you guys - have fun!!!

Stay Tuned...

Oh, baby.  This week has been a doozy, and it's only Tuesday!  Handsome Hubby had to go to the ER on Sunday for a nasty allergic reaction to an antibiotic he was given for his sinus infection (we had matching sinus infections, isn't that sweet?).  It was also very convenient of him to need to go to the hospital just when I had to drive past it to pick Tootsie Roll up from a birthday party.  So considerate, that hub o'mine.  Oh, and they wanted to cut off his wedding ring, but he wouldn't let them.  See?  He's the sweetest thang.  Apparently it's going to take a while for him to get better but he had to head back to work yesterday like the rest of us.  He teaches TV Productions and is Tech Director for his high school's musical (not the one with Troy Bolton).  It opens this coming weekend, so this is Hell Week, Play Style for him and he's at work from 7am until 9pm pretty much all week.  Which means I have the kiddies all night and, believe me, after a day full of first graders and a night full of a second grader and a preschooler (dinner and homework and dance and Brownies and baths and bedtimes, oh boy!), I'm about ready to crash by the time he gets home and then we try to watch a little Olympics together while I mark papers.  Oh, and the little one just spiked a fever.

I probably could have just said, "I won't be posting much this week..." :)  Yeah.  I won't be posting much this week.  BUT fear not, I do have some fun in store for you.  (I couldn't leave you to your own devices for days on end, you know)  I am inching ever closer to that magical number *100* and you know what that means!  Check back  later tonight for CONTEST DETAILS!

Let's Chat: Prologues

I am currently writing the prologue of my WIP.  I think.  I started with a later chapter, a scene that just burned in my mind as clear as day and had to be written down at that moment.  Then I wrote the end of the prologue and I have been sort of working backward to the beginning.  It's a weird way to write but seeing as I have no method, I'm going with it.

I was rolling merrily along, perusing too many blogs, when I came across one that was discussing prologues and made an offhand comment about a specific agent who dislikes prologues, because if you can't tell your whole story within your story, something is wrong.  (Of course I don't remember where in the interwebs the conversation was, which  is, I know, very helpful).

Hmm.  That stopped me.  Briefly.  I thought, well, plenty of other agents must be ok with prologues because there are a lot of books out there with them.  And I thought, like all first time writers probably do with our naivete` and bravado, I'm not going to let an agent dictate what I write.  (At least until it's done and I'm querying, lol.)  Then I looked over at my bookshelf and grabbed a few random books, all very successful, to see if they had prologues.  The Hunger Games does not.  Wake begins at the beginning but then Chapter 2 really goes back and acts as a prologue to tell what happened "before".  The 39 Clues does, but calls it Chapter 1.  The Book Thief does.  A Curse Dark as Gold does not.  When You Reach Me  does not.  Marcelo in the Real World  does not.  Going Bovine sort of does, but again, calls it Chapter 1.  Madapple does, but doesn't call it a prologue or chapter one, the chapters just have titles and years, since the book skips from the present to the past with each new chapter.

So all in all, a decent mix.  But then it lead to my next question.  Is the issue with a prologue just the fact that they call it a prologue?  Going Bovine  opens with the main character describing something that happened when he was five.  The next chapter bounces to high school.  I guess it's not really a prologue since the character is in the present, telling a memory from when he was younger.

So I guess my question is - Do any of you think that a prologue is a bad thing just because it's there?  Do you not like when a story doesn't jump right in?  (I never knew there was an anti-prologue movement, lol).  The blog I was reading was sort of secondhand info, and since writing tastes are so subjective, I wouldn't worry too much about one completely anti-prologue opinion.  But it did make me think.  Seeing as I am writing one.

There are definitely times when I think that a prologue does not work well - if it is super long (that sort of says to me that there is so much backstory that maybe there should actually be a prequel), or if I don't understand what is going on.  I don't mind a little mystery in a prologue, it's supposed to plant questions in your mind and make you want to find out what happens, but I do dislike prologues that are so confusing that I really have no idea what they mean until I read so far into the novel.

I did a little searching on the topic and found this article by Marg McAlister, where she states:

"A prologue is used mainly for two reasons.
1. To outline the backstory quickly and economically, saving the author from having to resort to flashbacks or ruses such as conversations or memories to explain the background to the reader. This is commonly done in science fiction and fantasy to show why a certain quest is being undertaken or what will happen in the future. The prologue is a better option than a first chapter bogged down in detail.

2. To hook the reader and provide the story question right up front, giving them a reason to keep turning the pages to find out the answer. Quite often the prologue relates to a scene near the end of the story, and the story itself then shows what has led up to this moment. When is this justified? Perhaps when you want to introduce your characters in a more leisurely fashion, and your reader's experience with 'meeting' them will be enhanced by some sort of foreshadowing of what is to come.

Apart from these two reasons, a prologue can be used to introduce a certain character's viewpoint on one occasion only. The rest of the book may be told from just one other viewpoint, or from several different viewpoint characters that are in some way removed from the one you've used in the prologue. The prologue can bypass the danger of viewpoint violation."


That last paragraph let me breathe a sigh of relief because that's the case in my WIP.  The novel is being told in first person, but the prologue is in third person and the MC is not yet born.

She goes on to analyze when to call a prologue a prologue and when to just make it Chapter 1 (again, it's just the title 'prologue' that is a problem in some instances?  Maybe it breaks the flow?  If the backstory info can weave seamlessly into the present scene for Chapter 2, I guess it's distracting to make it a prologue?)

She also mentions a serious dislike for prologues that end up being exact duplicates of a later scene or chapter.  I can honestly say that I don't ever remember reading a prologue like that until the very last book that I read, Madapple by Christina Meldrum.  In that instance, as a reader, I thought it worked well at the beginning of the story and wondered why the info was repeated, pages worth, in italics near the end of the story.  That struck me a little odd, although I liked the book overall.

What do you think about prologues?  Books where they worked well?  Books where they didn't?  Does your WIP have one?

In Which I Write Nothing About Writing

Oh, February.  How you vex me.  Teaching first grade in February goes something like this:

You've had all the holidays in December (plus I co-lead a first grade concert where another first grade teacher and I teach all of our 200-ish first graders songs about peace), then winter break.  You come back in January and hope for a nice, long, uninterrupted stretch of teaching time (except it's assessment and report card time).  And then, just when you're on a really productive roll, you run smack-dab into February.  I would really like to continue to teach important things like reading and writing biographies, how to tell time, and observing guppies and bess beetles like scientists in February.  You know.  Things we are learning right now.

But February has other ideas.  February only has 28 days to begin with, so it kind of mocks us from the start, giving us less time to work with.  20 of those days are weekdays.  Minus two days off for Presidents' Day (we get a long weekend, Friday & Monday).  Minus a half day for parent conferences.  Minus, this year, two more days for snow.  Which leaves a grand total of 15 and a half teaching days.

But guess what else happens in February?  Groundhog's Day.  Presidents' Day.  Valentine's Day.  Chinese New Year.  Dental Health Month.  Heart Healthy Month.  Black History Month.  The 100th day of school, which, in elementary school, has turned into a mathtastic celebration day.  All of those things are fun and/or interesting and/or important, so I'm not complaining about them.  Just the fact that they all occur in February, and even if we learn about/celebrate each of those things for one day, that leaves six full days of school.  Now, of course, we're teachers, we're masters at multitasking and integrating, so we observe and celebrate through reading, writing, math, and other equally educational activities.  And, ok, every now and then we make a craft.  Which, even in my very highly academic school district, we still do (every now and then, not nearly enough) in first grade.  So it becomes Whack-A-Mole:  Hitting all different things in a very short amount of time. (Note to potential first graders:  Don't even think about having a birthday in February.)

Don't get me wrong, I love celebrating interesting days with my kiddies, and they are small and many of mine are learning about American holidays and cultural activities for the first time.  So it is important to spend time on these things.  I'm not complaining about that.  But it also throws us out of routine (which is difficult at this age), and (ok, so this is just my hangup) Type A me wants to make sure that they continue to progress through reading levels, writing genres, and math skills... and there's only so much you can do to tie in Groundhog's Day with biography writing without completely interrupting what they were working on.  (Yes, we could interrupt midway through writing bios about our parents to write one for Punxsatawney Phil.  But really.) 

I hear we may be getting walloped with snow again Monday into Tuesday (we only have one built-in snow day left, eek).  Oh, and subtract today from my total, because I just got home with a pocketful of gold (aka Amoxicillin) after a doctor's appointment  and pharmacy visit for my sinus infection.   Which is probably why this post sounds a lot grumpier than I actually am (and is full of needless parentheses).

Today, by the way, is the 100th day of school.  Apologies to my substitute, but this mole is hers to whack.

My Dream Come True, Monkey Love, and Something To Amuse You

This is so ridiculous, but I had a dream come true today!  Not too long ago when I had something like 39 followers, I had this dream (one of those quick, half-conscious, no-the-alarm-can't-be-going-off-yet-ugh-is-it-REALLY-5:45 dreams) that I had 61 followers.  And not that 61 makes any sense, but I have been peeking in more often than I care to admit over the past couple of days, hoping to get to 61.  Today I was riding squarely at 60 and now tonight...63!  Wooot!  You are all my dream come true! 

Lol... aaaaand... I can stop obsessing over my followers......now.  :)  (I actually almost had a contest to get to 61, but I thought that sounded a little crazy... oops... I just exposed my crazy.)  I will have a contest at 100, but I won't be obsessing until then.  I promise. :)

So anyway.  I was going to post tonight about prologues.  I will do that soon because I just read something interesting and I want to see if you agree with it.  But I have one of those awful head/neck aches from coughing and I'm going to be heading to bed early, I think.  So, instead, I'll share the acrostic poem about flying monkeys that I wrote for Abby's contest.  While my first graders were at Art. (Now I can say I wrote today.)

Feathered beasties

Leap into flight

Yawling at the moon

In eerie unison
Northern winds blowing a

Gale their way.

Meekly they

Obey the Old One

None daring to break the

Knot that binds, that cuts.

Each secretly

Yearning for

Salvation.

Oh, and... something to amuse you, as promised.

2010 Newbery Award Winner When You Reach Me:

2010 Newbery Award Winner When You Reach Me meets Curly Jones wielding a Valentine full of stickers:

(Sorry the pic is so dark, the flash kept making a blinding white spot in the pic).  The funniest part is, not having read the book yet, the cover looks so random.  So random that I didn't even notice CJ's "improvements" until I picked it up to read it and felt the stickers under my fingers.  I particularly like how she placed the animals on the roads (except for that inexplicably suicidal cat).  Not bad for a 2 yr old! :)