Firstly, I am so sorry for the terribly long radio silence. It has been a busy month and a half with Nanowrimo (I didn't finish), the holidays (they are finished), and finalizing the classes for Inkreadable Kids (hopefully, they will never finish). It is the 23rd of January and it's here! That's right, I have my first class today. I have three students in this first class. It is going to be a riotous exercise in the power of the girl writer. I have been talking to the girls' parents through email and they are so excited to get started. They can't be as excited as I am. I have been looking at tons of online resources and gathering material to teach. Not only is it the beginning of the classes, I am teaching the beginning of a story. I am teaching several things today, among them what the beginning does, how to write a beginning, and the hook. What is a hook, you ask? Why it's that thing that you catch s fish, or a reader with. It that interesting question, that makes you go, hmm, I want to learn more. It can be a question, dialogue, or a great piece of action. My favorites always contain something noire to them:
He looked, rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.
That's from my favorite of all the hardboiled writers, Dashiel Hammett in The Maltese Falcon.
Literature has great lines too:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Mr. Dickens, I think you're sentences are a bit long, but I after I waded through the above, attempting not to edit, I agreed.
Writing that makes you go hmm.
Anyhoo, to back Inkreadable. So I have three students today, and one tomorrow. One plus three equals four. Phew, I learned something in math. Thank you, Tom O'Mara and Sam Smith.
Here they are, the four. They come from Murch and WIS and are in for a great time. They also made my life a bit easier because they've been bitten by the writing bug already. I can't wait to see what they come up with.
Finally, before I go, major shout outs to my inspiration, you all know her as the Monkeybread Musings girl, Madeline, but to me, she is Maddie, without whom, I've have been more of a nervous wreck than I already am, and to my awesome sister Alex, whose support with marketing, and tips on art materials, made this project fun, even before it started. Lastly, thank you, Tina Thuermer, for making the WIS community supportive of its alumnae and our "make a difference".
Right, that's all she wrote. For now. Stay tuned, as I regale you with "It happened on Thursday".
He looked, rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.
That's from my favorite of all the hardboiled writers, Dashiel Hammett in The Maltese Falcon.
Literature has great lines too:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Mr. Dickens, I think you're sentences are a bit long, but I after I waded through the above, attempting not to edit, I agreed.
Writing that makes you go hmm.
Anyhoo, to back Inkreadable. So I have three students today, and one tomorrow. One plus three equals four. Phew, I learned something in math. Thank you, Tom O'Mara and Sam Smith.
Here they are, the four. They come from Murch and WIS and are in for a great time. They also made my life a bit easier because they've been bitten by the writing bug already. I can't wait to see what they come up with.
Finally, before I go, major shout outs to my inspiration, you all know her as the Monkeybread Musings girl, Madeline, but to me, she is Maddie, without whom, I've have been more of a nervous wreck than I already am, and to my awesome sister Alex, whose support with marketing, and tips on art materials, made this project fun, even before it started. Lastly, thank you, Tina Thuermer, for making the WIS community supportive of its alumnae and our "make a difference".
Right, that's all she wrote. For now. Stay tuned, as I regale you with "It happened on Thursday".
I'm so excited for you Tina! Let me know if I can help in any way.
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