Celebrating Success

For most of the year, my job as a writing teacher is a slow, gradual process with my students… helping them write more clearly and expansively, broaden and deepen their thinking, and discover more joy and freedom in the act of writing. Like training for a marathon, it is a “slow and steady” endeavor. I see their growth, but sometimes it is harder for them to see it.

Then, every so often, there are spectacularly exciting days. Days when I receive their giddy emails and phone calls and I get to celebrate with them. Days when their hard work and hours of time are rewarded.

Just in the past few weeks, I have learned that my students were honored in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards with a whopping 7 Gold Keys, 11 Silver Keys, and 3 Honorable Mentions; Honorable Mention in the national Princeton University High School Poetry Contest; and National Finalist honors in the American High School Poets Just Poetry Competition.

Sometimes the successes are more personal, such as my student who proudly told me that he received a perfect score on an in-class English essay “for the first time ever!!” He said, “I didn’t think I could do that.” I knew he could.

Recently, I received an email from one of my adult students -- who is finally, bravely working on a book that has been bouncing around in her mind for years -- that simply said: "Thank you for helping me break through my inertia." After years of thinking she was not good enough to try her hand at writing, she is now getting her words and ideas down on paper.

I am so grateful for my students, who remind me daily the power of persistence and who fill my life with imagination and enthusiasm. I am so proud of them. It fills my heart to see them gain pride and confidence in themselves.



Would you like to work with me? 

I currently have a select number of spots available in my Guided Mentorship and Online Tutoring programs for young writers, as well as my Writing Coaching programs for adults. Contact me to learn more and book your free 20-minute consultation call with me. I'd love to help you, or your child, gain confidence in your ideas and tell the stories that matter most to you. Let's work together to reframe writing for what it truly is: a tool of connection and empowerment! 

Use Competition to Boost Your Writing

This Saturday is the big rivalry football game for my alma mater, USC, versus UCLA. Amidst the playful trash-talking and revelrous build-up to the big game, I have been thinking about how rivalry and competition are a part of our lives in many ways, not just in the realm of sports.

In writing, for example, contests are forms of competition. Perhaps there is a "big game" of a contest that you enter every year, hoping to win the big prize. Or perhaps there is a writer you admire and consider a rival of sorts. While the green-eyed monster of jealousy is never something to court-- it can be paralyzing to your creativity and toxic to your happiness-- there are ways to use rivalry and competition as good motivators to get your writing in gear and your butt in the writing chair. Here are some ideas:

• Pair up with a writing friend and use each other to make headway on your goals. Perhaps you want to finally hammer out an outline for your novel, or send out more queries, or simply get more words on the page. Pick a goal and turn it into a competition with your friend. Whoever writes more words, sends out more queries, etc., is the winner for the week; the loser buys the winner lunch or coffee at your next get-together.  

• What writers do you admire? Search out their work. Read it; study it; learn from it. What do they do to create such compelling characters? How do they build such intricate and gripping plots? How does their writing build from words to sentences to paragraphs on the line level? 

• Even better, look up the websites of writers you admire and find their contact information. Send them a direct email or an old-fashioned letter in care of their publisher. Tell them what you admire about their work. Strike up a conversation and build a relationship. Get involved in the writing community!

• Annual competitions are great ways to mark your own progress. Perhaps you enter the same big-prize writing competition every year and have not won (yet!) ... You don't need to depend on a panel of judges to get something out of the contest. Use it as a catalyst to reflect on your writing and how your work has grown and changed in the last year. Are you pushing yourself? Are you putting in the time you want to be putting in? What goals can you set for yourself to focus on until the next contest comes around?

Rivalry week is always fun, and you can use competition as a positive source of motivation in your writing life. But when it comes down to it, remember that the only person you should really be in competition with is yourself!

Happy writing -- and, this Saturday, FIGHT ON TROJANS! Beat the Bruins! :)

Opportunities for Young Writers

• The Stories for Children Magazine is in need of poetry and craft submissions for our May, Summer and Back-to-School issues. We are also always looking for submissions from youth authors ages 17 and under. If you have any wonderful ideas you would like to share with us or know of a talented writer who might be interested, please pass this info on. The Stories for Children Magazine guidelines can be found at http://storiesforchildrenmagazine.org/Guidelines.aspx

• Call for Scripts, VSA Playwright Discovery (Washington, D.C.) VSA invites middle and high school students to take a closer look at the world around them, examine how disability affects their lives and the lives of others, and express their views through the art of playwriting. Playwrights may write from their own experience or about an experience in the life of another person or fictional character. Scripts can be comedies, dramas, or even musicals - be creative! Deadline to submit is April 15, 2011. For more information, please visit http://www.vsaarts.org/x244.xml

• The Etheridge Knight Poetry Contest for Young People was established in conjunction with the annual Etheridge Knight Festival that honors the work of the acclaimed African American poet Etheridge Knight and to further as established to honor the work of acclaimed African American poet Etheridge Knight and to encourage understanding of the things in life that troubled him and that he held dear. Deadline: March 18, 2011. For guidelines and writing exercises visit http://www.indianawriters.org/knight.html

• Night of Vonnegut Writing Contest: The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library is holding our second writing contest. We are asking you to tell us why you think that Kurt Vonnegut's writing is just as relevant today as it was 40 years ago. The first place winner will receive two tickets to "Night of Vonnegut" on April 16. First, second, and third place winners will have their essays posted on the KVML blog. Please keep your entries under 1000 words and include a cover sheet with your contact information. Winners will be contacted April 8. Thank you for your participation and continued support. We look forward to reading your entries!
• Send your essay by March 25th to Rebeccah Glass Lowe, Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, The Emelie Building, 340 N. Senate Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46204 or to Corey Dalton at corey.dalton@vonnegutlibrary.org

• Norman Mailer High School Writing Awards: Free contest for currently enrolled high school students; offers $5,000 and a trip to NYC for the award ceremony. 2011 genre is creative nonfiction. Submit one or more essays, maximum 10 single-spaced pages total, through their online form. http://www.ncte.org/awards/student/nmwa

• Sylvia Burack Writing Award: Recommended free contest for personal essays by 11th and 12th grade students in the US or Canada. Prize is $500 and publication in The Writer, a monthly magazine with advice and markets for creative writers. Submit a 600- to 800-word personal essay in English on the theme of a "work of fiction, poem or play that has influenced you. Discuss the work and explain how it affected you." www.writermag.com

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Young Poets! This post is for you!

The Jacklyn Potter Young Poets Competition

Highly recommended free contest for high school students in the Washington, DC region offers two winners an honorarium plus reading at Rock Creek Park with an established poet. Send 5-6 poems, published or unpublished. Sponsored by The Word Works, which also runs a prestigious manuscript prize for adults. http://www.wordworksdc.com/young_poets.html


Leonard Milberg '53 Secondary School Poetry Prize

Deadline March 29th! Free contest sponsored by the Princeton University creative writing program offers prizes up to $500 for unpublished poems by 11th-graders (high school juniors). Submit 1-3 poems, any length. Contest is judged by the Princeton University creative writing faculty, which includes such acclaimed authors as Jeffrey Eugenides and Joyce Carol Oates. http://www.princeton.edu/arts/lewis_center/high-school-contests/leonard-milberg-53/


Sarah Mook Memorial Poetry Prize for Students

Offers prizes up to $100 in four age categories for unpublished poems by students in grades K-12. Submit 1-3 poems, any length. Optional $5 entry fee will be donated to St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, SD, which serves the Lakota (Sioux) population. This contest is sponsored by David Mook in memory of his daughter, a young writer who died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm when she was in third grade. http://www.a2pwebdesign.com/poetrywits/poetrycontest/sarahmook.htm


Sunken Garden Poetry Festival's Young Poets Competition

Free poetry contest for Connecticut high school students. Four to six winners will be published in a special-edition chapbook and be invited to read their poems during the "Night of Fresh Voices" in August at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival at the Hill-Stead Museum. Send 1-5 pages of unpublished poetry and completed entry form by mail or email. http://www.hillstead.org/activities/poetry_youngpoets.html

Great Website for Young Writers!

I just came across this wonderful website: http://www.thebluepencil.net/

I often receive e-mails and letters from young writers asking where they can publish their work. The Blue Pencil is a great resource! They are actively looking for submissions from young people. Plus, the website is a treasure trove of inspiration -- you can read fiction, poetry, even plays written by kids and teens. They also hold a writing contest called The Bishop Prizes.

Good luck and have fun submitting!

Two Great Resources for Writers

I came across Shannon Buck's blog, How to Live the Freelance Life, mentioned in the recent Writer Gazette newsletter. Shannon is chronicling her first year carving out a career as a freelance writer. Her site is a wonderful resource for writers of all ages and experience levels! You will find a treasure trove of inspiration and information on the writing life.

http://howtolivethefreelancelife.com/

I also highly recommend Krista Barrett's free weekly e-newsletter, Writer Gazette, which you can sign up for at her website. It is chock-full of writing tips, call for submissions, paying markets, contests, and more! A fantastic resource -- no wonder it's been voted the Best Site in Writer's Digest magazine seven of the past eight years!

http://www.writergazette.com/