School and Library Visit Info
 Objectives:
My goal is to:
- help students gain a better understanding of and skills in the craft of writing,
- enhance students' learning and creative abilities, and
- develop students' sense of observation.
I see writing as a journey -- a journey of self-discovery for
both students and writers. Young people bring to the workshops
their enthusiasm and intense interest in the world around them.
Their fresh outlook so inspires me as a working writer. In a
sense, they reopen the doors to my own youth when everything was
still new and exciting. This is part of the "raw
material" that writers need to begin their own journeys.
In turn, I bring my wisdom, experience and insights on how to
"see" with a writer's eye. I tell my young charges that
they must pay attention to details and care for the truth. Good
writing isn't just pouring words on paper. It is about shaping
the material into a form that will give meaning and resonance to
a story or a poem or an essay.
By the end of the day we leave with "batteries
charged" eager to go back to our own writing. And to new
journeys yet undiscovered.
Nothing matches the joy
of creation more than when an idea takes shape on paper.
Workshops:
| A TYPICAL SESSION |
| - I read a selection of my published work to the students, encouraging the class to examine the development of an idea or character into a manuscript. |
| - I critique the students' working drafts individually or in groups and have the students share their efforts with each other. |
| Workshop #1: What to Write if You Can't Think of Anything |
| Description: Students are introduced to sentence starters (evoke powerful feelings). What makes a strong beginning? How does a writer create a mood? Students will choose one of their sentences and illustrate it. |
| Workshop #2: Notebooks, Journals, and Memory |
| Description: Students will explore journal keeping -- what it is and what it isn't. Hands-on exercises will help students mine their own memories and enhance their power of observation and description. |
| Workshop #3: Poetry Pleasers |
| Description: This hands-on workshop is designed to jump-start students' creativity through fun, lively
writing exercises. |
| Workshop #4: Characterization |
| Description: A well-written story character interests readers and moves them emotionally. I open the
presentation with a discussion of the techniques fiction writers use to make a character come alive.
Students learn how to find the right descriptive detail and incident, thereby revealing the story character
through action and description. The session includes writing exercises. |
| Workshop #5: A Day in the Life of a Working Writer |
| Description: I describe a typical day in the life of a professional writer, highlighting such points as how to:
approach an editor for an assignment, manage different writing projects in the same time, prepare and
submit a manuscript to a publisher, etc. |
| Workshop #6: Creating Books |
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket -- Chinese proverb
Description: Students will write and illustrate a "tiny book" (e.g. Happiness Is, The Tiny Book of Dreams,
Big Wishes for a Tiny Book, etc.). |
| Workshop #7: The Elements of Fiction |
| Description: I guide students through each step of the creative writing process to develop a piece of short
fiction. Students will define their own story idea (premise) and develop it while exploring various technical
aspects of short story writing: the story problem, dialogue, plotting, point of view, etc. |
Scheduling:
Honorarium: negotiable
Maximum number of presentations per
day: Four presentations/45 minutes each.
Audience age group: Many
of the presentations listed can be adapted for elementary through
high school age students.
To schedule a visit:
please send me email.
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