Greetings:
On Christmas morning, my daughter, Kellie, presented me with her gift saying, “Next year, I want it back.” Now this daughter is naturally analytical (heads the science department at Cardinal Spellman HS) so my curiosity was aroused. Before I could say anything, she grinned and added, “Open it and you’ll understand.”
Her gift was a book entitled, THE STORY OF A LIFETIME. (Interesting title, but still no clue because I’m about as far from analytical as one can get.) Kellie’s message in the front of the book included, “You are always writing stories for others. Now I’d like you to write one for me about you. Thank you for all you’ve done to make me me.”
The pages are empty, except for titles like Family Background, Childhood, Teen Years, and on through Love, Marriage, and Parenthood. Then the unique chapter titles commence: Regrets, Mistakes, Milestones, Turning Points, Beliefs, Values, Lessons, and Advice, and how about, Have you become more spiritual as you’ve gotten older? Do you believe in angels, miracles, a soul, and afterlife? Who is the wisest person you ever met? Have you ever been involved in a destructive relationship? What act or person has been a source of great inspiration in your life?
The Middle Years, that period when widowhood, divorce, and other crucial transitions intervene in our everyday lives, has its own chapter. During that period, one must learn to adapt, sometimes making mistakes along the way that could make the sufferer become stronger. It ends, as baby books do, with family tree information. The book’s pages are gold-lined with a beautiful green cover. It was compiled by Pamela and Stephen Pavuk. If fortunate enough to have a parent or two living or a dear elderly friend, whom you’d love to remember, perhaps you could work on such a book together. It can be ordered through TriAngel Publishers, Inc by calling 1-877-313-1444. (I receive no financial gain. It’s a good book, and I believe good books should be shared.)
As for me, I will work to rise to the occasion and have it ready for return next Christmas. There’ll be time-taking memory searching, but it is a labor of love. At the end of our days, the true worth of a gift isn’t financial, but the thought given. Too often, our old family stories are lost because no one took time to write them down. Recently, inattention to our own family history became a personal loss when Aunt Lorraine died. She was my dad’s sister, but because of family squabbles and such, Dad seldom spoke of his first family. After my aunt died, her son called me saying, “I have Mom’s grandmother’s picture, (no mention that she was his great-grandmother) which hung in our stairway for years, and because you were kind to her, I thought you might like to have it.” (His only sister had died last year.) I happily accepted the picture of my great-grandmother, taken when she was fairly young, and added, “I asked your mom for her grandmother’s name, but she only remembered her as Grammy Greene.”
“That’s more than I ever heard,” he replied.
Her picture hangs in my office and I frequently wonder about her life, which was responsible in part for my own life, my children’s, grandchildren, and even our great-granddaughter. Now, there is nobody left to ask about Grammy Greene. (I don’t even know if it is Greene or Green) Our daughter, Kathleen, went on line, but so far no luck because there’s so little information. Please don’t let that happen to your family’s heritage. Ask questions while family members can still answer.
Finally, the New Year will arrive in three days, and there will be opportunities for us as writers to let a loved one know how much he or she means. Could you set aside some special time to resurrect a warm memory for someone dear? Consider writing a children’s short story for a grandchild about an episode in your own young life. (Mine was easy because I was raised on a farm.) Perhaps, a love letter for your spouse or grown child? Slip it into a drawer or such to be discovered at a later time. That’s fun.
A New Year’s resolution to make some person smile at least once a week (not so difficult) spreads joy even when there seems to be none. A warm hug is even better.
Until next Wednesday, be well. Linda

Greetings:
Years ago, I was asked to visit and speak about creative writing with a class of second graders. Because I had begun writing at seven, I accepted the challenge. What ensued was a fun hour of give and take:
The teacher introduces me as a children’s storywriter, and to begin I ask the twenty-two students to sit back in their seats and close their eyes. Of course, there are a couple who don’t trust the stranger enough to do so. I smile and say, “It’s okay to close your eyes for just a minute.” They grin at being “caught” and slowly close their eyes.
When I add, “Now, imagine a big table in your mind,” a boy asks, “What room is it in?” (Good. Someone’s listening.) “Any room you would like because you are the boss of your mind. Now, imagine your tabletop is covered with alphabet letters. (pause) Now, imagine the letters are slowly beginning to move around the tabletop.”
A freckle-faced boy asks, “Why are they moving?” and I reply, “They’re searching for friends.” He shakes his head up and down. Trust is settling in along with creativity. (I glance at the teacher and her eyes are closed.)
Imagine your letters have found a friend or friends to sit beside. Now, there is something new on the tabletop. What is it?”(pause)
“Words,” echo the quicker students.
“Right!”
One small girl sadly voices, “I can’t see anything.”
“That’s okay. Sometimes it takes practice at home, and sometimes, there is no table. The letters simply float around in the air. (Her shoulders lift up and down in acknowledgement.) If your letters are all floating in the air, imagine a breeze passes by causing each letter to float toward the other letters. Then they float along together. Because you are using your own brain, you get to decide which letters will go together.
Now, open your eyes,” which they do with a few sighs of relief wafting through the schoolroom. (They have survived the dark.) I turn to the board and begin with each child to list the word or words they “saw”, printing each student’s name beside the word. I print words like bike, toy, bat, doll, pig, (hmm) baby, video game (hmm again) etc… One boy notes, “My word didn’t find a friend. It’s just A.” (At this point, my child psychology education perks up, but today is about creative writing so I move on.) Another boy pipes up, “My word is I.”
“That’s okay.  A  or I is still a word and that’s special.” He cocks his head to one side and says nothing more. Twenty-two words later, I set the chalk down saying, “Each of you has chosen a word you know, and that is a very important part of writing, for you and I should only write about what we know.” (Granted, it’s a concept that might be beyond most of the students at seven, but if only one or two understands it, I’m doing my job.)
One student’s word is “horse” and I ask, “Brittany, what do you know about horses?”
“We have one.”
I further, “What’s it like?” and she adds, “He’s big and brown and loves to run.”
I turn to the class. “What do you think about when you think of a horse?”
For the next few minutes, the horse in question became a racehorse, a farm animal (from the same boy who thought of pig), a police officer’s horse, and even Cinderella’s horse-drawn carriage. To return the students to the reason for the class, I show how each student, when given the same topic, has created many different ideas. I stress once again, “When you write a story, you can use your own ideas because you are the boss of your story.”
The student, who has the “I”, asks, “How can I make a story with only an I?”
“It can be a thought that begins, “one day, I …, and then tell me what you did or saw that made you happy or sad on that day.”
“Oh.” (Hopefully, the scene is set.)
“When you finish, I’d like to read it, because I love reading new ideas. Remember, the fun about writing is that you are the boss of your story. (child psychology slips in a bit because there are few positive instances at their age when they can be boss of anything.)

Creatively speaking, I discovered my feeling of self-worth when I was seven and began to write. How about you?
Until Next Wednesday, have a joyful week. I hope it is filled with friends, family, and creativity. Be well. Linda

Greetings;
This week, I’d like to offer a gift suggestion that doesn’t involve money, transportation, shopping, or crowds. All it will take is your time and memory. There are good people out there in everyday land, who would love to receive a written keepsake from you thanking them for whatever it was they did that made your life a little or a lot better. Anyone come to mind? It could be a childhood friend’s parent or a teacher, who imparted words of common sense that even today guides your path. How about a grandparent? Do you have a grown child or other family member, who grew up amidst family frustrations and survived to become a good person? Perhaps now is a good season (while they are still breathing) to spare a bit of your valuable time. Write and thank them for good memories.
As one memory surfaces, others will follow. We hear about using writing as a cathartic for sorrow, but it also works the other way. In remembering good times, heavy hearts lighten and a smile can brighten the day.
Because this is a season for sharing, call on your writing skills and set aside some time, as others did for you. Clear your mind of current needs. I understand it can be difficult when young children are pulling at your heartstrings (or your leg), but having been there, I also know it’s possible. Make a list of those kind people, now residing in your good memories, and list a memory or two beside each name. Then draw on those memories and simply begin with, “Dear…
One year, I asked my children not to buy a gift for me for Mother’s Day, but to take some time and write me a note including fun memories. What a thrill to receive their thoughts. John’s dry humor shone through with, “…when I was really little, I remember standing at the back door and looking out the screen, watching for scary things like my sisters.”
Kathleen, our first child, who was seven when Daddy died, included gentle thoughts with, “My mother kept a garden; a garden of the heart. She planted all the good things that gave my life its start. She turned me to the sunshine, encouraged me to dream, fostering and nurturing the seeds of self-esteem…with gentle reassuring words to ease a troubled mind…the vote of confidence she gives in face of doubt and fears, the way she has of turning thoughts to laughter instead of tears. I am my mother’s garden. I am her legacy. I hope today, she feels the love reflected back from me.” A priceless gift of love. Isn’t there someone special, who would love to hear from you?
A few years before my dad died, I wrote a long letter to him for his birthday. He was not a demonstrative man (ex-marine and woodsman) and I have no memories of him hugging us six children, but he provided a good home and taught me so much about the realities of life. We lived on a farm where life and death were everyday experiences. When I wrote my letter for him, the farm was long gone and he and Mom had retired to the woods of Maine. Mom told me that when he received his letter of memories, his eyes misted and he grinned a lot when reading it. Dad kept the letter. After he died, Mom returned it to me saying, “It meant a lot to him.”
Is there someone you might thank?
Until next Wednesday, think about the good people who have helped you. While there is still time, let them know you are thankful they touched your life and left a good memory.
Be well. Linda

Greetings;
I grew up in the midst of three rowdy brothers, a young sister and a baby brother. Consequently, I seldom had a doll with a head on it. It wasn’t unusual to find broken toys, and if it weren’t for my “world of writing”, beginning at seven years old to ease my stress, I could have grown up an angry person. Instead, I was able to set into words my anger, disappointments, and even positive dreams for growing up to “be” my own person. During the good times, my writing took on a positive note and I began writing stories for enjoyment. Then I’d share them with my younger brothers to settle them in bed at night. Some evolved into chapter stories with each bedtime story becoming another chapter.
Even before a child can write, imagination is there. Have you ever recorded what a child says that is unique? When our son John was two, Daddy died, and when he could no longer be there, John asked me, “Daddy go through roof to heaven?” He had been watching Casper, The Friendly Ghost, on television. Life provides much fodder for what I term “survival writing.” Once our children were asleep at night, I often wrote about what they had said or done that was sad, wise, and innocent. Journaling is a wonderful catharsis for sorrow.
I was lucky for I’d discovered at a young age that emotional stress could be eased with the printed word. Many years later, I wrote a two-hundred and thirty page memoir for my children because they were too young—two, five, and seven–to understand much of what occurred after Daddy died. THROUGH THE WIDOW’S WINDOW encompassed ten years including widowhood and the beginnings of a new life for us. I made copies for each child and grandchild–a testimony to our children’s survival skills.
Many people have said, “I always wanted to write, but never knew how to start.” My answer to that yearning is, “Sit down, open the computer, or take up pen and paper, and begin writing words. Just words about anything. They don’t need to make sense. It’s like priming a water pump. Just keep pumping out words like “anger, fun, memories, loss, laughter, and the like until a certain word triggers an emotion. Then write it down. It’s surprising how much emotion is lying just beneath the surface waiting, waiting to be released. Understand, those words don’t have to be shared with anybody unless you want. That’s the joy of writing. You are the boss.
In today’s literary world for children, there is a plethora of material that is fierce and fast-paced. James Paterson’s MAXIMUM RIDE fits into that category and commands a vast audience as does the high adventure and fantasy of Harry Potter. But young parents no longer have a wide range of “gentle” stories to choose, and I believe there is still a place for books like Robert Louis Stevenson’s gentle portrayal of life in A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSE. Young children love listening to stories in rhyme where innocence reigns.
One problem is that today’s publishers’ bottom line is financial; they accept what they believe is sure to sell. Only if the writer is famous or notorious does a “gentle” story survive the cuts. When you think about it, how many of our younger editors have ever even climbed a tree or went skating on a woodland pond, or walked alone in the woods? Structured play can’t compare to that sense of freedom and opportunity to dream and create.
So what is a writer to do in order to publish? Self-publishing has finally come into its own and no longer carries a negative connotation. Local bookstores are now accepting those books that are written well and have a good message to share. For years, small publishers closed or were swallowed by the giants, but small publishers are making a comeback. There is now a place on bookstore selves for the new and creative writer.
We need to understand that childhood has become a complicated world of organized play with competition stresses. Involved gymnastics has replaced tree-climbing and in-door swim sessions have replaced pond and lake swimming. When playing outside, a child can observe cloud pictures and those cobalt skies. There is also little time for children to dream of faraway places when instructors rule their immediate world and computers can spit out information about the outer world. A child climbing a tree to see “his world” invokes dreams of what could be, while a child sitting at a computer for hours obtains dry facts.
So when can a young child or young writer dream and create? One way is for parents, teachers, and family members to guide children into writing stories and/or illustrating them on their own. Our seven-year old granddaughter, Molly, presented our son with a hand-made journal entitled, DIARY OF A TURTLE. Each page shows a picture of Turtle and the last sentence reads, “I love New Year’s Day. Yesterday was 2010.”(a creative, concise version of “the old has passed and the New Year is here.”) Nepotism reigns!
Finally, I pray our young children never lose their sense of originality and creativity. Praise at a job well done and “…thank you so much for thinking of me,” makes a child feel that what he or she is accomplishing is important. What you say could be the only literary praise they will receive. Encouragement is key. I think that’s true for each of us writers. Until next Wednesday, please praise a child.
Be well. Linda

Greetings;
I listened to a professor one evening and wondered did this man give any thought to why his audience came to listen to him? During the first half-hour, he verbally extolled his own virtues, but we, who had come to learn about his writing and what had inspired him, never got that chance because he seldom moved beyond his ego. There was no hook.
I’ve also listened while educated companions bantered multi-syllable words back and forth as if participating in a ping pong game, and for them it was a fun evening. In the world of writing, however, we don’t have an audience with us so it’s important that we understand for whom we are writing BEFORE we begin.
Age-appropriate language is essential to hook one’s intended audience. A child conversing with friends doesn’t use the same words when speaking with his parent. There are different emotions in play when conveying fear, anger, love, and the like. While a young child might “say it like it is,” older children have learned through experience what to say, and how to use words for their own purpose. We need to capture those differences so the reader can understand our main character’s actions and reactions.
When dealing with conflict in a story, it’s important to understand a child’s emotions. One learns in child psychology that when a child isn’t receiving attention he needs, negative attention will emerge; being yelled at or even hit, in a child’s reasoning, is better than no attention at all. The worst thing one can do to a child is ignore him for it makes him feel like he isn’t even there. One ten-year old boy told me, “I feel invisible.”
A writer’s prime responsibility is to make the reader believe in the main character and that the story could actually happen. Once emotions and their resulting reactions are explained in words readers can understand, they can accept the whys of a child, who is being “bad”, and the possibility for that child to become “good” by the end of the story.
How often have you read words which are used or spelled incorrectly? A sentence like, “The children where going to ware matching clothes…” pulls the reader (editor) from the story. (never a good move) Because of incorrect spellings, readers will stop wondering why the children wanted to wear matching clothes. The story will be considered unreadable and the author an unreliable writer.
Does a word like “mischievious” jump out of print because the standard spelling is “mischievous”? There’s only one letter difference and yet it does look different. The same applies to the words, “to, two, and too.” English isn’t a fun language to learn because of such words. Robert Lawrence Trask, who died in 2004 at the age of fifty-nine, was a linguist and had authored THE PENQUIN GUIDE TO PUNCTUATION and THE PENQUIN GUIDE OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. He frequently wrote about the differences between British and American varieties of Standard English, and I wonder what he would say about today’s youth and the way they connect with one another. Because of texting and e-mails, young people have entered into a cyber space of abbreviated words. I fear correct spelling is becoming obsolete. OMG, it doesn’t leave me LOL.
In order to reach them today, must our stories become a mass of abbreviations? And yet, look at our current generation’s accepted abbreviations. Telephone has become phone and television has become TV. Everybody knows what 24/7 means now. There are also words being used now that didn’t exist when I was a child like “handi-wrap”, “aluminum foil” and the “internet.” Note: Keep newer happenings out of one’s story when writing about an earlier time. When my grandson and I were wrapping baked banana breads in aluminum foil, I remarked it didn’t exist in our house when I was eight. I answered his question of “What did you use?” with “Waxed paper.” He added, “What’s that?” Point made.
What was normal speech and the written word in Shakespeare’s time seems archaic now, yet some abbreviations are still being used. Will our emerging abbreviated words blend into tomorrow’s language? How many people even consider that A.M. actually means “ante meridian”? (Latin for before mid-day)
Shakespeare was a brilliant writer; his use of people’s names to denote who they were still makes me smile. However, I don’t use his words to write children’s stories, but I do use his form of imagination to make characters come alive. Some critics insist he gleamed many of his thoughts from Francis Bacon, but I don’t feel it de-tracks from his genius. We as writers need to read what is selling in the bookstores today to sell our stories. Read every child’s story you can in the age group you want to attract. In doing so, your “voice” (your own combination of words) will begin to emerge. When an author’s words gives birth to your own original thoughts, perhaps gleamed from childhood memories, an original story is begun by you.
Finally, we must keep up with the times. It’s difficult to trust a writer when the words (showing emotion) in a story are out-dated or simply incorrectly used. For me that means continuing to LISTEN to how children speak to other children and adults, how they react to what is said, and how they’re saying it. I hope you’re listening too.
Until next Wednesday, please smile at a child to let him know he is not invisible.
Be well. Linda