Hey again;
If you are looking for opportunities to write, start a blog! It can be on any subject, and it is a great way to write about things you love. If you do want to start a blog, make sure the topic is about something that is easy to write about, and there are plenty of post ideas. Color and pictures will make your blog page more entertaining to read. Unfortunately, on some blog topics there aren't really any pictures that are relevant (such as this blog, which I apologize for). Comment about a blog that you have started, or really like, so I can check it out!
Happy blogging!
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Friday, December 4, 2015
Your Inner Critic
Hey all,
As you might have already found out (if your a frequent writer) you're going to have days where you're bursting with ideas and are feeling very confident. There unfortunately also are going to be days where you have no idea what to write, and maybe not feeling very positive about what you're working on. An author that was at a teen writing program I recently went to said :
If your feeling down because you have no idea what to write, (and not because your discouraged) it might help to get your creative juices flowing by doing prompts (see second entry for definition, plus more about prompts). I find prompts quite fun! Hopefully you do to, and I'm pretty sure they might help you over come the Blank Page. Below are a couple books that I have read or are in the process or reading, that have some good prompt ideas:
Until my next entry, stay confident, keep your pencils sharp, and keep on writing!
This is your fellow writer, signing off!
As you might have already found out (if your a frequent writer) you're going to have days where you're bursting with ideas and are feeling very confident. There unfortunately also are going to be days where you have no idea what to write, and maybe not feeling very positive about what you're working on. An author that was at a teen writing program I recently went to said :
"When you are writing, ask your inner critic to leave the room... then when you are done, invite it back in."Though I am not one the type of person that struggles with inner critics I know that there are writers, young, old, professional, or beginner that have inner critics whispering in there ear. It is very important to ask your critic to go away!
If your feeling down because you have no idea what to write, (and not because your discouraged) it might help to get your creative juices flowing by doing prompts (see second entry for definition, plus more about prompts). I find prompts quite fun! Hopefully you do to, and I'm pretty sure they might help you over come the Blank Page. Below are a couple books that I have read or are in the process or reading, that have some good prompt ideas:
- Writing Magic, Creating Stories That Fly! By, Gail Carson Levine
- The Write Brain Workbook, 366 Exercises To Liberate Your Writing. By Bonnie Neubauer
Until my next entry, stay confident, keep your pencils sharp, and keep on writing!
This is your fellow writer, signing off!
Grammer and Drafts
Hello everyone,
Lets talk drafts. If you're writing a first or second draft of something, don't worry about grammar and spelling, you just want to make sure you get all of your ideas down on paper, (or computer screen).
Review. It will take many, many edits to get your story perfect. Don't get discouraged! Make sure you have someone else review your writing, otherwise you might keep reading over them.
If you're trying to clean up your writing for a final draft, you will want to pay attention to the nitty gritty details. Small mistakes matter (don't have them)!
Best of Luck!
Lets talk drafts. If you're writing a first or second draft of something, don't worry about grammar and spelling, you just want to make sure you get all of your ideas down on paper, (or computer screen).
Review. It will take many, many edits to get your story perfect. Don't get discouraged! Make sure you have someone else review your writing, otherwise you might keep reading over them.
If you're trying to clean up your writing for a final draft, you will want to pay attention to the nitty gritty details. Small mistakes matter (don't have them)!
Best of Luck!
Writing for School
Hey everyone.
So, first of all I really want to apologize for not keeping up with this blog. My life has been crazy! Unfortunately, I can not make a promise that I wont be making this apology again sometime. But at least I still remember the fact that I have a blog. Speaking of blogs some friends and I started a blog about climate change, check it out: vermontclimateclub@blogspot.com
Back on subject: writing. So, I have been talking a lot about inspiration, but today in this post, I'm going to be talking about writing for school. Often, writing for school is accompanied with reading. Often with these assignments there is a criteria sheet, or something. Before you even start reading, review these guidelines so you can be prepared to look for certain things in the text. Then do the reading as soon as possible. Then write. If there are multiple choices for assignments, don't just immediately go for the simplistic easiest one, challenge yourself!! Other tips? Have fun with it. Often it is hard to imagine having fun doing writing homework, but if you truly are a writer, you can find joy in any kind of writing. Think about all that you are learning. If you push yourself, your brain will grow.
Good luck, and happy writing!
So, first of all I really want to apologize for not keeping up with this blog. My life has been crazy! Unfortunately, I can not make a promise that I wont be making this apology again sometime. But at least I still remember the fact that I have a blog. Speaking of blogs some friends and I started a blog about climate change, check it out: vermontclimateclub@blogspot.com
Back on subject: writing. So, I have been talking a lot about inspiration, but today in this post, I'm going to be talking about writing for school. Often, writing for school is accompanied with reading. Often with these assignments there is a criteria sheet, or something. Before you even start reading, review these guidelines so you can be prepared to look for certain things in the text. Then do the reading as soon as possible. Then write. If there are multiple choices for assignments, don't just immediately go for the simplistic easiest one, challenge yourself!! Other tips? Have fun with it. Often it is hard to imagine having fun doing writing homework, but if you truly are a writer, you can find joy in any kind of writing. Think about all that you are learning. If you push yourself, your brain will grow.
Good luck, and happy writing!
Saturday, May 23, 2015
All About Inspiration
Okay, so some people have trouble finding ideas of what to write about. Bellow are a few tips I think might help.
1: What do you like? Write about something your passionate about. Whether it's horses or aliens, it's up to you.
2: Who do you like? And I don't mean this by who are your crushes. I mean have you seen or know somebody that inspires you? Maybe right something about them, it can be nonfiction or fiction, it's up to you.
3: Pay attention to the world around you. There are ideas for stories all over the place, especially in nature. Take a walk outside and bring a notebook. You can come up with many ideas just by looking out the window.
4: Read. It's that simple. Did you read about a character you like in a book? Change their name and wright a back story about them. Or maybe create a sibling or friend that character might have. Or simply expand the already ended story you read, create your own sequel.
5: Do it. Don't think to hard about it. If you have an idea write it out! Worry about spelling, grammar and layout later. Don't even worry if your handwriting is messy (I know mine is!) your the one who is reading it, at least for now.
6: Don't be afraid to cross stuff out, just don't throw away pieces that you could use later. Or even if you get writing in a direction you don't necessarily want to, don't throw it away! Remember: the pencil (or pen) knows!
I hope this helps!
1: What do you like? Write about something your passionate about. Whether it's horses or aliens, it's up to you.
2: Who do you like? And I don't mean this by who are your crushes. I mean have you seen or know somebody that inspires you? Maybe right something about them, it can be nonfiction or fiction, it's up to you.
3: Pay attention to the world around you. There are ideas for stories all over the place, especially in nature. Take a walk outside and bring a notebook. You can come up with many ideas just by looking out the window.
4: Read. It's that simple. Did you read about a character you like in a book? Change their name and wright a back story about them. Or maybe create a sibling or friend that character might have. Or simply expand the already ended story you read, create your own sequel.
5: Do it. Don't think to hard about it. If you have an idea write it out! Worry about spelling, grammar and layout later. Don't even worry if your handwriting is messy (I know mine is!) your the one who is reading it, at least for now.
6: Don't be afraid to cross stuff out, just don't throw away pieces that you could use later. Or even if you get writing in a direction you don't necessarily want to, don't throw it away! Remember: the pencil (or pen) knows!
I hope this helps!
Friday, May 22, 2015
Magazines to Get Published In
Hi everyone! I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything in a very long time. Anyway I'm going to try to get better about it, but I'm afraid
I'm not going to make any promises...
Okay, so this entry is about publishing, or at least the small amount I know about it. I haven't actually published anything. (It's quite a process.) Although I did submit a story to Stone Soup Magazine, but it didn't get published... that was when I was nine, and they rarely publish stories by writers that young. (But I don't want to discourage anybody.)
Stone Soup is a great magazine, but it is very hard to get into. They receive thousand of submissions and the magazine is not very long. But that does not mean you shouldn't try. (If at first you do not succeed, try, try again). I would recommend visiting their website for guide lines, if you're interested:
http://www.stonesoup.com/stone-soup-contributor-guideline/ Hint: You can copy and paste this, it is not a link.
My friend also told me about a newspaper similar to Stone Soup but it is more of a newspaper, and therefor gets more nonfiction submissions. It is called Teen Ink, here is their website:
http://www.teenink.com/
These are the main magazines/newspapers that I know of that publish young writers works. I would highly recommend checking out their websites and maybe even submitting something. If your not interested in submitting work I would recommend subscribing to one or both of the above websites, all the work is very entertaining and will probably give you ideas of your own.
Thanks for reading! And don't forget to keep on writing, and to never get discouraged!
Okay, so this entry is about publishing, or at least the small amount I know about it. I haven't actually published anything. (It's quite a process.) Although I did submit a story to Stone Soup Magazine, but it didn't get published... that was when I was nine, and they rarely publish stories by writers that young. (But I don't want to discourage anybody.)
Stone Soup is a great magazine, but it is very hard to get into. They receive thousand of submissions and the magazine is not very long. But that does not mean you shouldn't try. (If at first you do not succeed, try, try again). I would recommend visiting their website for guide lines, if you're interested:
http://www.stonesoup.com/stone-soup-contributor-guideline/ Hint: You can copy and paste this, it is not a link.
My friend also told me about a newspaper similar to Stone Soup but it is more of a newspaper, and therefor gets more nonfiction submissions. It is called Teen Ink, here is their website:
http://www.teenink.com/
These are the main magazines/newspapers that I know of that publish young writers works. I would highly recommend checking out their websites and maybe even submitting something. If your not interested in submitting work I would recommend subscribing to one or both of the above websites, all the work is very entertaining and will probably give you ideas of your own.
Thanks for reading! And don't forget to keep on writing, and to never get discouraged!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Prompts
Hi everyone!
In this entry I’m going to be
talking (or writing) about prompts. I think prompts are a great way to get your
creative juices flowing. Also, prompts are just plain fun!
What is a prompt? I define a prompt as a short description of a scenario, and then you
right about it. Different prompts have different rules; in one prompt they may
just want you to write from, say, an animal’s point of view, in another prompt
they may give you three objects to write about. I did this once at a writing workshop.
I polled three slips of paper with objects on them, I got: A jar of gooseberry
jam, a red flask, and a pocket watch. Here is what I came up with:
It had
been sitting next to the jar of
gooseberry jam for years. I had asked my grandmother whether we should get
rid of it. We never used it, but for some reason the contents disappeared,
little by little. The red flask was
one mystery I would never understand.
One day I realized my
grandmother was different. She made meals in a jiffy and made her bed so there
was not one wrinkle. I had to find out how my 70 year old grandmother could do
so many things that I could not. I was going to find out the mystery of the red
flask and the mystery of my grandmother. I decided to start at the red flask. I
had a fishy feeling that the two mysteries were connected.
I woke up at six o’clock my grandmother wasn't up yet.
“Perfect”
I hid under the kitchen table. I had a perfect view of the cupboard where the
red flask was stored. Honestly I didn't know what I was doing. I was just
following my instincts. My grandmother suddenly appeared out of thin air in
front of the cupboard. She took out her pocket
watch and seemed to turn the hands to a certain time. My grandmother opened
the cupboard and took out the red flask. She took a measuring spoon out of her
apron. And poured exactly one teaspoon of the red liquid and drank it! My
grandmother disappeared!
Okay, it may not be my best
work, but you know what? Prompts are always just first drafts and, as long as
you put something down on paper, you did what you were supposed to. If you (miraculously)
love what you came up with, save it! Or, turn it into a full length story.
Nobody every said a book couldn't be written from a simple prompt! You try this
prompt… cut up pieces of paper and write random objects on them. Put them into
a bowl. Mix them around and do a blind draw, repeat until you have three
objects. Once you have your objects you CAN NOT put them back and find another!
Write. Try this with friends or family, set your self a 10 minuet time mark,
you can allow yourself more time if you want.
Another great prompt I learned
from a writing workshop is this: Get a partner, it can be anybody. Get I piece
of paper and writing utensils. Okay! Picture this… the two of you are sitting
on a park bench in the middle of summer. Have a conversation on the piece of
paper. Pass it back and forth. Start with one person asking the other “why are
you here?” and vice-versa. ‘Talk’ back and forth as you would in real life, now,
do this for a few minuets, then imagine, it has gotten very cold. Watch how
your dialogue shifts. Add different things that happen, try different scenarios
and different starting sentences. Continue as long as you want! HAVE FUN !
Try out these prompts, and
others, and don’t forget to have fun!
This is Anika Eastman signing
off!
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