The Lulu Blog Tour by Hilary McKay

The Writing Process
Is hard.

I have a little room where I do it. It used to be a garage, not really part of the house, so it is rather colder than the rest of the building. As well as my desk and some bookcases and all my daughter's art equipment, and the camping stuff that never really has a proper home, there are lots of boxed in water pipes. All around the water pipes live large dark spiders.

But I digress.

To begin the writing process I have to take myself to this cold and spidery place, clamber round the camping stuff and get to my desk. And sit down.

In front of my desk is a window with a view down the garden and across to the hills on the other side of the valley. Birds are in the garden. The bird feeder is empty.

Hurray!

Rush away from the desk to feed the birds.

Come back some time later having done a bit of pruning.

Computer on.

Emails

.

It really isn’t possible to write when there are emails waiting to be answered. It is lazy. Perhaps even rude.

So.

Then there is Twitter. I only recent discovered it but already it seems to be taking over my life.

Twitter then.

What a pity I have writer friends who twitter too. One of them is baking cakes. One of them is slightly indignant about something I could easily, with a little effort, become slightly indignant about as well. Several have petitions that need signing.

They all have enormous word counts. How do they achieve that when they spend their time tweeting?

Anyway.

It is one of the days when it is not possible to write without music and the only cd I can bear to play is scratched but perhaps polishing it will work.

Polish it.

Good.

Stare at blank screen, stare at blank screen, stare at blank screen, turn to paper instead.

Good old fashioned paper. Well, if it was good enough for Dickens... (what long books he wrote)(but he didn’t have Twitter)(or email)(I wonder if he fed the birds though?) (Should I google that?)(Yes)

Okay, now I know about Dickens and birds, I have paper, I have chosen pencil over ink and sharpened it. I have drawn a small picture of the cat in the margin of my paper...

I am off.

I have written the date.

With twirly bits round the edge.

All the best stories begin with ‘Once upon a time’

So I’ve written that too.

And here I go.

Coffee. That’s what’s the matter with me.  I forgot coffee.

And I haven’t rearranged my poetry books in alphabetical order for weeks.

Can’t even remember when I last polished a mirror.

Or put air in the car tires.

This is how I write. This is how all the writers I know write. If they are not putting air into the tires of their car they are off for a little run, cleaning under their washing machines, Googling their names, Christmas shopping or meeting each other to compare royalty statements.

The writing process is an absolute miracle. It truly is a wonder that anything ever gets written at all.


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Check out the Lulu series by Hilary McKay for the readers and animal lovers in your life! Book three, Lulu and the Cat in the Bag will debut this fall. You can follow the tour which moves on to http://www.the1stdaughter.blogspot.com/ on  Tuesday, April 02, 2013 where you can find an interview and a giveaway. Thanks to the folks at Albert Whitman & Company for providing this opportunity to be part of Ms. McKay's blog tour!

   

PICTURE BOOK: Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming

Jack has nothing to give the princess at her 10th birthday party. But he trades the things he does have for supplies to bake her a cake. And it is lovely. But by the time he walks to the castle and is face to face with the princess, something has happened to each part of his beautiful cake and he has nothing to give the princess... except the story of his adventure.

I have already read this to several of my classes because I liked it so much - I love the message of the value of a good story. I could see using this for a general reading time as well as a discussion of writing and stories.

5 out of 5 stars
AR Reading Level of 3.8

PICTURE BOOK: Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter

I read about this book on a teaching blog and had to get it for my writing students. (This is a great resource - I read it extensively and purchased some resources from him)

Eva is trying to write a story, but she has no idea what to write about. Her neighbors offer great suggestions, saying there's more going on around her than she is aware of. Eva's eyes are opened about the ideas around her every day.

I enjoyed Eva's story and I am looking forward to sharing it with my writing students.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommended for: classroom use, discussions about writing and ideas for writing

Cautions: none

PICTURE BOOK: Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills

A sequel to Rocket Learns to Read, and just as precious as the first!

Rocket and his teacher, the little yellow bird, are still working on reading. Rocket discovers new words every day and hangs them on a tree. One day he decides he is going to write a story with some of his new words. But writing a story is hard - Rocket has a hard time coming up with an idea. Once he has an idea, there are days when the writing goes well and days when it does not. Then Rocket makes a new friend when he shares his story with an owl who lives in the tree that inspired the story.

The illustrations are absolutely delightful. I just want to hug Rocket! This will be a great story to share with my writing club students. I may even share it with all of my students for the start of school this year.

Rocket is a treasure!

5 out of 5 stars
No AR rating yet

Recommended for: classroom and library read alouds, bedtime reading, any time reading!

Cautions: None

FRIDAY: A Writer's Book of Days

This was one of the books I set aside to read in January from my ridiculously overflowing To Be Read (TBR) pile. I am really enjoying it.


It's set up to be used over the course of a year. Each month includes writing instruction and recommendations as well as writing prompts for each day of the year. The book can easily be used over and over as the prompts are nicely open ended. 


If you are looking for a little structure for your writing life, check out A Writer's Book of Days.


4 stars out of 5

Waiting on WEDNESDAY

    I received Writing Picture Books for Christmas this year. I think it was the only writing book I asked for after taking about 6 months off from anything related to a writing "career." Then, I saw these other two books at Barnes and Noble the other day and they were on sale for 20% off and I thought it might be time to think about writing again. I am really excited to dig into these, to do the exercises and see what bubbles up. My current job is part of a grant that will likely end in December, so I am starting to think about what might be next.... I am also hoping to pick up The Write Start: A Guide to Nurturing Writing at Every Stage, from Scribbling to Forming Letters and Writing Stories some time soon.

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MAGAZINE WEEK - Day 5

I used to subscribe to both of these, but I have recently let my subscriptions go while I try to determine what I am doing with writing, other than teaching Creative Writing at my son's elementary school.

That said, I always found both of these to be great resources. For some reason, I prefer the layout of The Writer over Writer's Digest, but both are great resources for improving your writing as well as getting published.

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TUESDAY: Word After Word After Word

This is a sweet story about a class of fourth graders who spend some class time with a local author. The things they write tie in with what's going on in their lives in beautiful ways. I thought a lot of my writing students as I read this, hoping that they discover, like the students in the book did, the connections that can come through writing. This book also reminded me of why I write, which is really important to me at this stage in life.

It was beautiful. I was in tears through most of it. I would read it to my students but I know I would never make it through the book without choking up.

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MONDAY: Chester's Masterpiece

The latest volume with Chester and his red marker battling with his creator, Melanie Watt, is a winner!

This time Chester has hidden all of Melanie's supplies so he can write his very own story. Chester not only antagonizes Melanie over the right to write the story, but he also gets to learn some things about how to properly craft a story (thanks to Melanie's yellow sticky notes).

We LOVE Chester. My son loves Chester. My Writing Club students love Chester. I love the attention to detail - even the cover copy and copyright page have little Chester touches.

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Waiting on WEDNESDAY

So looking forward to reading this book about a class of fourth grade writers! 

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THURSDAY:The Young Author's Do It Yourself Book

This is a resource I wish I had discovered last September as I was preparing for my first year of Creative Writing Club. This resource is a kid-friendly description of the writing process from getting an idea through editing, illustrating, binding and promoting. combine this resource with materials from Bare Books, and you have a great starting place for young writers in your life.

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THURSDAY: Author Mama

From the woman who brought us Writer Mama and Get Known Before the Book Deal comes an e-book about writing a book - Author Mama 

I am a big fan of Christina Katz' other writing-related books - as well as a fan of her blog and e-zines. But I am generally not a huge fan of ebooks. I have only bought one other and that was from a writer I really like whose books are not carried in my area. I had my choice between a physical book or an ebook, and the ebook price was too good to pass up. But I like having a book in my hand - a book I can either take notes on or take notes IN. I know I can print off an ebook, but I don't relish the impact a 130+ page ebook would make on my already-expensive computer ink supply. So it takes something special to make me buy an ebook.

I think Christina Katz' work is that kind of special. The book goes through the different stages of getting a book published. She shares from her own authoring experiences plus shares how the current state of publishing changes the experience for current and future authors. Most chapters come with recommendations or activities for readers to try out. 

I'm not really sure what is happening with my writing aspirations right now, but despite that, I really wanted to read what Christina had to say, and I found all sorts of information, advice and encouragement. If you are an aspiring author, check out the ebook, Author Mama.


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THURSDAY: S is for Story

I picked this book up for Writing Club as (1) an example of an alphabet book and (2) because it is all about writing. It is fantastic. Each letter of the alphabet stands for a writing term that is set in a small paragraph of verse. The sidebars of each page explain the concept a little more. The illustration style is not my personal preference for style, but they work together well with the content. I am even thinking I could use the 26 letters as the structure of of next year's Writing Club Curriculum. 

Great alphabet book. Great writing resource for kids. Check it out! 

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THURSDAY: 102 Ways to Earn Money Writing 1500 Words or Less

102 Ways examines magazine, newspaper, corporate and "other" short writing forms for freelancers. Each entry describes the form as well as how to get work in that area. 

I read a lot about writing, so there weren't a ton of surprises in the book, but the sections on how to find work in a particular area were helpful.

There are no easy answers in this book. There is still a lot of hard work involved. Not only do you have to write and polish the piece to make it publishable, but you have to dig to find the right place to submit it. This is a good resource to get you started, but the work is up to you. 

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THURSDAY: The Art of War for Writers

James Scott Bell is the author of Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction), a great resource for writers.

In The Art of War, Bell provides small, manageable tips for writers on everything from the most basic ideas for beginners ("Publishing is a business," setting reasonable writing goals, no whining but just do the work) to more complicated skills like developing a "writing improvement program," developing plot and characters, and strategic planning.

I think this is a fabulous resource. I like Bell's voice and style anyway, but I found the small chunks covered in this book to be just the right size to challenge or inspire and then send me back to writing. 

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THURSDAY: A Novel Idea

I'm not sure I can come up with words strong enough to express how much I enjoyed this book. (Kind of ironic since it is a book about writing!)

This book is broken into sections about writing a novel, and then within each section there are essays from a couple of Christian writers, as well as boxes of additional information and encouragement from published authors.

In this book I found activities I could use with my writing students. I found exercises I could use to improve  my own writing. And I also found encouragement and inspiration for the writing journey.

I very, very highly recommend this book for Christian writers - really, any writers - looking to improve their fiction.

[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]

THURSDAY: Pep Talks, Warnings and Screeds

I love when I come across a new writing book. And this one was a surprising gem. I picked it up on a whim and couldn't put it down.

A long time writing teacher (and author) complied short analogies and stories to illustrate general principles for writers, many about dealing with rejection and not giving up. Or maybe those are just the ones that stuck out to me!

My favorite parts were the items the author keeps on his desk to remind him of writing principles - like keeping a wrench to help you remember to "tighten up sentences and strengthen verbs." If only my desk were big enough to hold everything he recommends!