What is it like to be an author? How difficult is it to get a book published? Who edits my work? Do I ever revise my stories? Where did the idea for Samantha Hansen Has Rocks In Her Head come from? In this fun, interactive PowerPoint presentation, I'll talk about my journey to publication and the "ups" and "downs" of the writing business. By the end of an hour, everyone will understand why it takes hard work, patience, and humor to be an author.
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Hands up! Get ready to catch the Write Away beach ball!
I toss a large, soft ball and one child catches it. He/she digs into a bag and finds a picture—a character for a story. Once again, I let the ball fly, and it's picked from the air. This child reaches into a new bag to find another picture—a setting. The ball is tossed and caught a third time, and a child reaches into the last bag to pull out a picture that becomes the plot. As a group, the children create silly stories on the spot by combining unusual characters, settings, and plots. We talk about the importance of these three basic elements of story, and how an engaging first sentence and an interesting hook can make all the difference. We do several more rounds of Write Away, and participants learn how to outline and expand their ideas independently.
If time allows, we form a mock critique group with three sections: The Good Guys offer positive comments on the story, The Bad Guys emphasize the negative, and The Grammar Police uncover grammatical errors. We find out which group encourages us to become better writers.
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A rebus
story has visual clues to help the reader decipher the simple
text. But there’s a trick to creating a good rebus.
Young children will learn all about this clever type of writing
and will write and illustrate their own rebuses.
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Can a unicorn dance on the moon? Can a teacher snowboard in Hawaii? We’ll explore the importance of fun characters and interesting settings, and find out how to think “outside the box” when it comes time to write a story. The giggles never end as kids create and play a game based on these story elements.
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Children
in this age group love poetry that makes sense to them. Most
enjoy simple rhymes and already possess a knack for writing
this type. Together we’ll read silly poems, act them
out, and explore real and made-up words that bring life to
poetry. When the laughter ends, we'll brainstorm topics and the children will write rhyming couplets in groups of two.
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Newspapers, magazines, anthologies, and even college applications want first person essays that shine. In this presentation, writers will learn the 5 W's of writing for, and getting work accepted by, local, regional, and national publications. A professional critique is available for a fee.
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