Wisdom of the Week (June 20, 2024)

I still have one creative writing class for teens that is continuing until the end of June. So, there will be a few more quotes-of-the-week to come. This week’s words come from C.S. Lewis: 

“We do not write to be understood. We write to understand.” 

These last few weeks, I’ve been encouraging my teen writers to examine their own approaches, tendencies, and reasons for creating. In particular, I’ve been asking them to check their desire to bow at the altar of the almighty “product” and to also consider that the act of writing, the act of creating, gifts something to an important audience of one—themselves.

I do feel hypocritical about this sometimes. I feel the impulse to generate product myself—it’s been a while since I’ve had a book out. But I can assure the world that I’ve been creating a lot! Some of this is writing, some of this is doodling, some of this is prop-building . . . some of this is just trying to figure out how to make my son’s Halloween costume (hey, we start on Halloween early in our household)!

Wisdom of the Week (June 13, 2024)

The quote of the week for the teens in my creative writing class comes from Jacqueline Kelly’s middle-grade novel, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate:

“It’s amazing what you can see when you just sit quietly and look.” 

One of my teen classes is coming to an end this week, which is always a bittersweet moment. I know I will see many of them next term, but I still wanted to do something different, and meaningful, as we wrapped up this season. So, last class, I asked them to explore the campus and take photos. It wasn’t exactly sitting quietly like Calpurnia Tate, but it was certainly a quiet and contemplative exploration.

I really loved what they captured: patterns, fragments, textures, colors, and intriguing perspectives. Writing is often about zooming in, finding details, and that’s what they did here. While many of these were indeed captured on the campus where are classes are held, many of the students continued the process by taking additional photos or exploring past photos in their library to submit as part of the project.

The second part of this exercise was to write an artist’s statement that expressed their feelings about being a writer and creative in general. I’m looking forward to sharing these this week during our wrap-up celebration.

Funding for author visits!

As member of The Writers Union of Canada, I can apply for funding to allow me to visit schools in Ontario, either virtually or in person. Teacher and librarians, if you’re interested in having me visit your school, contact me for more details.

The school visit page on my website showcases the workshops and presentations I offer. Many of them are easily delivered via Zoom (plus Zoom visits offer a glimpse of my studio!).

The applications are now open for visits taking place between September 1, 2024, to March 28, 2025. The deadline is July 15, and the program runs on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Wisdom of the Week (June 6, 2024)

The quote of the week for the teens in my creative writing class comes from Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson (I’ve included the artwork panel, too!):

“As my artist’s statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance.”

My teens and I are wrapping up the term and I thought an interesting way to finish up would be to get them out of their seats, explore the campus where our classes are held, and discover some new or fresh perspectives through their cameras. In other words, I wanted them to transform an “ordinary” environment into fragments of curiosity or beauty. Creative writing means being creative, after all, and sometimes we need to get away from the screen and investigate other approaches to creativity. 

I haven’t received everyone’s submissions yet, but I did wander around with them and take photos of my own.

There were a few I was happy with . . . and, yes, I found a broken egg. A pair of students in my colleague’s creative writing class were making movies with eggs as characters (with some predictable results!).

The next step to our photo project is for the students to write their own artists’ statements, to mark this moment in their creative journey. When my teens talk about their work, they often either want to take it very seriously or, as more likely the case, significantly downplay it—and their talent. I thought encouraging them to consider it in a more formal way could be an interesting exercise.