What I am Reading Today

Cover of Shiver

I started the novel Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater a few days ago.  I read about it in an article by Julie Just.  Can I just say I am loving it?  It’s one of those novels that is helping get though some tough days teaching.  I pop it out for a half an hour and I get away for a while.

The novel is about a girl named Grace who was attacked by wolves when she was a little girl.  Ever since that day Grace has been obsessed with wolves, especially one particular wolf with yellow eyes.  When the men in her town decide to hunt and kill the wolf pack after a teenaged boy is killed; Grace sets out to stop them.  When she returns home after her attempts to save the wolves fail she meets up with an injured teenaged boy who was shot in the neck and after careful examination she discovers that the boy is her wolf and that the story of werewolves is much more than a fairytale.

Half way through, so far so good.  Actually I have trouble putting it down.

Related articles

• Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls) by Maggie Stiefvater – review (guardian.co.uk)

Teen Writing Prompt 161

When I woke I could swear that I was still dreaming but I wasn’t ….

Finish the story.

Teens Journaling -Trying to Move On When it Gets Tough

the next four journals (Photo credit: paperbackwriter)

I had a rough weekend so I didn’t blog yesterday.  My uncle died and I didn’t want to “blog” about it but I thought just saying that I had a death in the family would be disrespectful. I know that you also have lots to deal with in life.  What do you do when it all gets too much?  I journal about it.  I have been journaling almost every day since I was 18 years old.  It helps to clear my thoughts because if I don’t write them down those thought will just keep swimming around in my head.

Buy a journal today and start writing about it.  For me writing heals; it’s not just a way to be creative.

Related articles

• What I Learned in 2011: Journal to Get Your Thoughts Out (christopherscottblog.typepad.com)
• Journals and Creativity (spilledcookies.com)
• ‘The Ride Journal’ (formatmag.com)

Teen Writers – Getting the Job Done

Image via Wikipedia

Today I will be teaching my Creative Writing class at Theater Workshop Peppermint Players.  Right now the girls are revising their stories and poems.  We’re having an open house next week where parents and friends will get a chance to see what everyone has been up to.  The theater group has several dancing, singing, and acting classes.  It’s great because it transforms the students into well-rounded performers.  They get all of that and the opportunity to develop their writing skills as well.

I believe that writers should take an acting class. This way they might be able to feel more comfortable when reading their writing.  I think that writers often overlook the need to feel comfortable with speaking in front of an audience because unless you are screenwriter most writers read their work at readings.

Related articles

• Yet More Writing Resources . . . (nfaa.wordpress.com)

Teen Picture Writing Prompt 160

Write a poem describing this picture.

Teen Writing Prompt 159

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Write a story that includes a trip to an unknown place, a 200-year-old journal and a watch.

Parents Verses No Parents

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I read an article by literary agent, Julie Just in the New York Times.  The article about the presence of bad parents in young adult fiction novels. Bad parents meaning parents who were either absent or unable to really “be there” for their children. She listed several best-selling novels ranging from the Twilight series  to The Hunger Games trilogy where parents were pretty inept. I had to think back to all the YA novels I read and ask myself was it was true?  Are parents the “evil ones” in these novels?  The answer was yes.  Parents really were absent in so many ways.  But then again if you look at so many kids I’ve taught over the years in LA and on the East Coast, many of those parents were absent too.

Julie Just goes on the say that the absent of parents is designed to help the children in these novels become their own heroes and it’s true.  Who doesn’t want to see a child beat the odds, fight the good fight, and persevere? In my own novel Bait, my protagonist Alex Henderson is the same type of character that Just talks about.  She’s a kid who is basically taking care of herself but in the end her father does show up just in the nick of time.

In the end the truth is, that with our without parents these novels are very entertaining.  I guess that’s why the YA market is booming and kids are reading more these days.

Teen Picture Writing Prompt 158

It was a cold winter day and I was restless.  School was canceled and I was stuck home…

Write what happens next.

Teen Writing Prompt 157

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Write a story using the words” tunnel, misty, laughter, Sarah, nails, slowly

Be creative and have fun!

Prompt 156

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I saw this one in Writer’s Digest Magazine.

It’s Valentine’s Day and you get a message from someone you’ve been interested in a long time professing his love for you.  The message says that he wants to meet you at a certain place and talk with you.  The only problem is is that it’s the same place where you and your boyfriend are going to. What do you do?

Related articles

• 14 Valentine’s Day PR Stories We Heart (umpf.co.uk)
• Every day (penntonic.wordpress.com)