writing without a teacher
Some basic tips
Submitted by aanderson on July 24, 2007 - 12:14.By Geoffrey Gevalt
YWP Editor
Here are a few ideas and tips to keep in mind while writing:
Noodle. What do you want to say? What do you want to write? What’s your opening line? Know those things before you begin; it’s like traveling with a road map.
Audience. You are not writing for the world; even on this blog. Pick one person you trust and love and respect. Imagine her; or him. Imagine that you are writing to that person, talking to that person. Forget about everyone else.
Travel Writing
Submitted by aanderson on July 18, 2007 - 12:13.By Amanda Anderson
Travel -— whether to a far-off, exotic location or your grandparents’ house in Massachusetts -— is full of adventure, excitement and the unexpected. Travel writing is a way to record these experiences and craft a vivid memory. This is not just a series of journal entries recording every minute detail of your trip or a dry report of the exact events. Instead, try to capture a specific memory, event, or feeling from the trip and make it come alive. Your piece can take the form of a narrative, a guidebook, a poem or your own creation.
The power of keeping a journal
Submitted by aanderson on June 26, 2007 - 13:39.Excerpted and edited from a 2005 YWP article
By Newton Baker
Grade 4 teacher
Union Elementary School, Montpelier
- Carry a notebook or journal with you everywhere. Use it to capture important thoughts and observations.
- Develop the habit of writing daily.
- Good stories are based on real-life observation and detail, so use your notebook to record anything that interests you.
Philip Baruth on Blogging
Submitted by ggevalt on March 29, 2007 - 11:01.By Philip Baruth
If you like blogs — like reading them, sharing them, maybe writing them — then you and I have something fairly important in common, because the 21st century is rapidly separating the world into Those Who Blog and Those Who’d Really Rather Not.
