Living Life Twice

I know this is some time off, but it presents a wonderful opportunity for young writers and not so young writers to meet authors and illustrators up close and personal. So I invite those of you in proximity to spread the word... Children's Book Festival: Family day Venue: State Library of Victoria   Sunday 3 April 2011, 10:00am - 4:00pm Cost     Free Bring the kids for this special celebration of children’s books, with readings, puppet shows, music and magic! Featuring everyone's favourite authors and illustrators, including Terry Denton, Bob Graham, Leigh Hobbs, Judy Horacek, Elise Hurst and Sally Rippin. The Children's Book Festival, presented by the Wheeler Centre and the State Library, is a first for Melbourne 's City of Literature ! This free family day, held on the front forecourt and lawns, will be followed by two days of programs for primary school groups. This event is presented with support from the Children’s Book Council of Australia, Helen McPherson Sm...

Do your students know you write too? Do they see you write? If you do write, your students deserve to see your writing in action!   It’s something you need to share. Trust me, writing for and with your students will make a huge difference to the writing your students turn out. I commend those of you who already do this. If your students are required to keep a writer’s notebook, then you should have one too, Share with your students some of your entries This will enable you to confidently discuss your writing process. They will have questions for you about where and when the writing idea was sparked. Being a mentor to your students begins right here. Ralph Fletcher in his latest book, ’Pyrotechnics on the Page- Playful Craft That Sparks Writing’ writes,   ‘Keeping a writer’s notebook is like dragging   wide net through the world .’ Your notebook entries show your students one writers ‘catch.’ - the myriad observations, memories and thoughts a life presents. This...

Where have I been? Well, to put it simply, I have been living my writerly life! The summer break has afforded me the time to read, write and live my writing life to it fullest. I was fortunate to be given a small journal by a teacher I worked with last year and I made a decision that this notebook would be used to capture the summer of 2010- 2011. I guess you could call it my Summer Notebook. I still added entries to my other notebook, but I wanted to use my summer notebook to write more exclusively around the essence of the summer season. I started out with the aim of filling every page, but I seriously underestimated the number of pages, and the time at my disposal. Still, I am well pleased with the entries I have, and can see much potential for more extensive writing from my summer ‘catch.’ Entries cover a wide range of summer experiences including,- whooping cough, Christmas, tourists, butterflies, cicadas, beach etiqutte, movies, making Anzac biscuits and so on... I have come to...