Archive for the ‘Writing about Writing’ Category

“The obstacle standing in the way of fingers tap, tap, tapping on the keyboard”

keyboard
The email below from Brave Writer mom, Cathy, was in response to a Daily Writing Tip. Here’s an excerpt:

When a child hits writer’s block with a current piece of writing, sometimes it helps to go back and reread a success! Pull it out from the homeschool tomb (aka, the homeschool notebook collecting dust in your basement cabinet) and read it to your child with enthusiasm and feeling.

Hearing polished words that came from inside can be a catalyst for more words to emerge, or for a style to be found that had been lost. Your child can even “borrow” old work into the new piece. We call that “repurposing content” in the publishing biz. Nothing wrong with that!

Julie,

I’m always so grateful for your continued support which allows us to encourage and mentor good and thoughtful writing. You’ve taught me a lot over the years. I’d like to share my continued challenges and successes with writing in our family:

The weekend had almost come to its conclusion when I heard the words, “Mom, I have to prepare a one page short story by tomorrow for my English class.” There is never a dull moment in our family of eight, but trying to stir up energy at the end of the day, let alone a weekend is often an uphill battle.

It very quickly became evident that Louie’s attitude toward this assignment was the obstacle standing in the way of fingers tap, tap, tapping on the keyboard. Super homeschool mom to the rescue! I’ve got lots of ideas up my sleeve thanks to Julie and the Bravewriter philosophy.

“Louie, you’ve got lots of writing from when you were homeschooled, why not look at some of those to help spark an idea for your writing?” says a confident mom.

Abruptly, Louie retorts, “THERE ISN’T ANYTHING I CAN USE IN MY WRITING, I’M AWFUL AT ENGLISH!”

Tired homeschool mom snaps right back, “IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE, YOUR WON’T BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THE ASSIGNMENT.”

Like an alchemist exploring chemical reactions, Louie and I had our very own explosion at the computer desk. Space and time from one another was necessary.

Level-headed homeschooled sister eventually cajoles Louie back to the computer where she begins to type and collaborate with Louie on short story ideas. Laughter, banter and poking fun of one another is all that could be heard. The right attitude had been harnessed.

For the remainder of the evening, each worked side by side, mostly Louie providing the ideas and words, to complete a wonderful short story. It brought me back to the days when Sarah and Louie shared their days together as homeschool sisters.

Julie you have once again reminded me of the many important steps necessary to affect a small shift in our children’s attitude toward writing. Although I did suggest to Louie to look back at her previous work, I didn’t offer to read it which is so important for the moment when our kids are struggling. She was struggling with her confidence and me reading her work may have infused and reminded Louie that she is a good writer.

Keep the tips coming.

In gratitude,

Cathy

Image © David Hughes | Dreamstime.com

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What Makes a “Brave Writer”?

What is a brave writer?

A brave writer is a person who has discovered that the risk to write is worth it.

A brave writer is a person who knows that s/he has lots of words inside and that after getting some of them out for this writing task, the supply hasn’t been exhausted and there are plenty more for next time.

A brave writer discovers that writer’s block is a condition that plagues even the most prolific writers, and then writes to unblock (or goes for a walk, or takes a shower, or jumps on a trampoline).

A brave writer already lives inside each of us, but some have been coaxed into hiding until a safe space opens the way to take the writing risk.

A brave writer writes what s/he wants to write and finds ways to “tweak” assignments so that they bend toward the writer’s strengths and interests.

A brave writer tells the true truth—choosing to generate insight rather than parroting someone else’s.

A brave writer explores a variety of writing voices and genres, knowing that content can be shaped for many different audiences.

A brave writer doesn’t start from scratch every time, but freely repurposes previously completed writing as raw material for new writing projects.

A brave writer sometimes writes poorly, hates writing, resists revision, gets hurt feelings, and wishes someone else could do the writing for him or her.

A brave writer knows that weak writing efforts are a part of a life’s work of writing.

A brave writer throws away some of his/her original writing.

A brave writer discovers that a trusted creative partner is a fantastic resource and learns to ask for writing feedback.

A brave writer relishes “having written” when it all comes together.

A brave writer is not always a good speller or typist or punctuator, but is responsible to ensure that final drafts have been edited to ensure those features are in place.

A bunch of brave writers live in your house already. They simply need to be coaxed to express themselves, and supported as they do.

Becoming a brave writer takes about ten years—the span of time it takes to be a fluent wordsmith, idea generator, speller, grammatically sound sentence-builder, fluent typist or handwriter, and insight cultivator. Take it a year at a time, a writing project at a time.

Become the brave writer you wish to see in your children, and live from that risky-self-expressing space. Your kids figure out what it means to be an adult by looking at you. If they see that being an adult means being a brave writer, they will be much more likely to want to be one too.

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Image by Steven Depolo (cc cropped, tinted)

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The Comparison Game

Brave Writer

When you compare your kids’ writing output to what your neighbors’ kids do in school, you literally change the felt-sense atmosphere of your home. You dial up anxiety, urgency, and haphazard (spray it with a shot gun) tactics for “catching up” or “competing.” It’s like inviting depression in for tea, only when it arrives, it adds salt and soured milk.

Yes, your neighbors’ kids have been producing book reports and paragraphs about how much they love spaghetti and autumn leaves for months now. These kids are trained to start with a topic sentence based (often) on a topic the teacher selects.

The young writers must sit in hard chairs and write (right now!) without much help, dialog, or support. They have lines to fill and specifications for what to put on those lines. They get to the task of puzzle solving.

Occasionally they will freewrite a bit or brain map. Occasionally they do the work at home, by themselves, in a bedroom when they are tired and want to watch TV.

They will turn in writing assignments, and a teacher will sit in front of her favorite sitcom and read them enough to give them a grade. Her handwritten, red ink comments will be sincere, but also removed from the moment of writing and thus, not useful to the student in the end, who glances at the feedback but is already in a new non-writing moment.

By the end of the year, a folder of writing products will follow the child home. Some of these children will toss those folders on the backyard summer bonfire (our neighbors ritualized this activity each summer).

None of them will have eaten brownies while writing.

Your kids, by contrast, will freewrite oodles of pages with lots of parenthetical statements and remarks about how the process of writing feels (“I’m stuck” and “I hate this!” and “I wish I could play Mario Kart”). They will ask you to jot down their “too busy” thoughts. They will add a sentence at another time. They will hem and haw and not want to write.

So you’ll read books to them and recite poetry over scones and then one day, all of you will get the Best Writing Idea Ever. In you’ll go, the deep end of the pool, writing, revising, laughing, talking, clipping and pasting. The final result is one you hold in your hands and admire. That one project, that one happily executed, not necessarily well-planned project will be a source of pride and joy. You’ll all relish “having written.”

Then nothing. Nothing. Not a single word of writing for a desert of weeks at a time, maybe even months. The recovery from success feels like the line to Space Mountain. It moves so slowly and the eventual ride begins to seem absurdly unimportant for all that waiting.

But then, you arrive! At the next inspired writing excursion! Off you go again! The talking, writing, figuring out, adding, deleting, laughing, wondering if there is some photo to go with it, illustrating, showing it to Dad, showing it to Mom.

Maybe at the end of the year you’ll have 3-4 writing products and a slew of freewrites, and even more pages of copywork and dictation. But these you do actually have. And no one will burn them or toss them in the round file. You’ll hold onto them for years to come, long after your kids lose interest.

When your young ones become college kids, they will write differently than their peers and their college professors will notice. They’ll be intrigued—because the writing won’t be the cookie cutter formula writing so many of their students produce.

Don’t compare. Even though it feels like you’re behind, you are actually…ahead.

My motto: Keep going!

Brave Writer Natural Stages of Growth

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A few thoughts about freewriting

Image by Kelly 250The blank page/screen continues to intimidate even the most seasoned writers. It’s the blankness of it—the not-yet of words, the vastness of the task, the emptiness of the space.

The same strategy gets words to the page each time: Write. Write THAT. Write that thought right there—THAT one; how you wish the screen weren’t so blank, or that there were already words on it. You can start by writing that.

You can start with writing gibberish or arguing with the prompt: Why do I have to write? Why can’t this be easier for me?

Sometimes those very words lead to surprisingly relevant thoughts. For instance, if you need to write a college application essay, the stress of knowing that the essay may be the difference between admission and rejection can create paralysis. So let’s follow that thought and see what it might yield!

I hate the blank screen. I want it full of words—my words, in my own voice, not trying to impress anyone. I want to go to college badly because I imagine it as a place where I’ll get to learn and grow. It’s frustrating to be one of the herd of people applying, wondering if the admissions team can even see me, the real person behind all these words. I wish I could include a picture of me with my Kindle on a train in Europe while I read Homer’s Odyssey—a trip I paid for, a graduation present to myself. To me, that’s education. I’d just like to have someone to talk with me about it, to help me see what I’m missing…

A freewrite start like that reveals some excellent thoughts that could be shaped into quality ideas for the college app essay. The student wants to have an authentic educational experience not driven by grades but by acquisition of knowledge. This student is self-motivated already—reading, thinking, taking the initiative in his own education. This student is aware that a university context could enhance his self-study. There’s a fabulous anecdote lodged in the middle that could start the essay: riding a train in Europe reading classic literature, a trip he paid for himself.

Freewriting is free—it dislodges the you that is essential to your essay. Writing an “essay draft” doesn’t often yield that same freedom. “Drafts” tend to call forth attentiveness to the prompt, the expectations of the critical reader. Freewriting enables a writer to dismiss the value of the reader and their supposed expectations in favor of what he or she really wants to say.

Those “wants to say” items then can be mined and retooled to suit the reader expectations later.

The last thing about freewriting: There has never been a freewrite I’ve read or written or heard read aloud that didn’t freak me out a little bit on the first pass. Freewrites have this way of feeling “too free” – like, “Crumbs! What am I supposed to do with all those dangly, rambly words?”

Just know that even as a seasoned freewriter and writing coach, I still feel initially knocked sideways by the sheer ungainly-ness of most freewrites. You will too.

Read it. Walk away from it. Read it again later.

Then start looking for single ideas/sentences/words/items to lift from the raw writing that can be used like boards to build the house. You’ll see them, once you calm down.

If you are in the essay for college crunch, feel free to contact Brave Writer. One of our staff members tutors college bound students in completing those essays for an hourly fee, as she has time. You can email me and we’ll let you know if she’s available. (I don’t advertise this practice too much as we can’t handle a big volume.)

In any event:

Freewriting—blank screen, terror; filled with words, daunting; final outcome, writer’s voice and power!

Image by Brave Writer mom, Kelly (cc)

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It’s okay to help your kids a lot!

Get in there! Give your kids attention, care, and HELP. Remember how you taught them to speak: you talked with them, you supplied the words they couldn’t find, you gently corrected them when their grammar choices were not quite right, you gave them scripts for answering the phone or thanking Grandma for the birthday gift.

Your involvement—a serious amount of conversation, sing-songy expressing, complete sentences stated for repetition by your children—created fluent speakers by five years of age.

Did you ever think: “She answered the phone using the script I gave her. Those must not really be her words. She isn’t really speaking. I shouldn’t have said so much”?

Of course not! You were thrilled when she “got it right” and was polite to the incoming caller.

Writing is the same. It’s okay to supply full sentences or new words or ideas. It’s okay to bat around a plot concept, helping your son think through how it will involve all the characters.

You can type papers, or handwrite them. You can give ideas and model full paragraphs. You can supply dialog punctuation that your child hasn’t mastered yet. It’s okay to be enthusiastic and to share an idea that popped into your head after listening to the first draft.

The collaboration of two people on one writing project is not an admission of defeat. It’s not cheating. It’s the way it works in the publishing industry! The author produces the insight and puts it in writing as best he or she can. The editor comes in behind and suggests alternatives—sometimes rewriting whole sections.

You are the more experienced language-user. It stands to reason that your ability to generate thought and language to go with it is superior to your child’s. Your kids deserve to benefit from it! You wouldn’t expect a child to learn to speak English in a crib removed from people.

You can’t expect a child to learn to write banished to a bedroom to “get it done” already, “without any help.”

So go for it, without guilt. You are the right person for the job. Support your young writers with:

Enthusiasm
Your own words
Help with mechanics
Brainstorming ideas
Typing or handwriting, as needed

As we like to say in Brave Writer:

Help helps.

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