Session 19 - Feedback

Hello everyone.  Wow!  What a thumper of a session we had at PMT today!  I was over the moon to see so many Young Writers there - fifteen in all - including our newest member Isabelle.  There was a real buzz in the air and the children worked their socks off!

Today's topic was creating Characters.  I used H C Andersen's Thumbelina and my own Yucketypoo characters to help the Young Writers get to grips with the subject.  I gave out some new Session worksheets which featured the following character names - Mr Quackers, Miss Clever, Billy Band and Debby Donut.  I suggested they think carefully about what - and who - these characters might be, including in appearance, habits, any family or pets, whether they were animal, vegetable or mineral - or indeed human.  In fact I gave the children completely free reign and then suggested they pass them to the person next to them to look at. Finally I told them to keep the Session sheets today so they could take them home and, for the assignment,  write a story featuring at least one of the characters plus a character of their own imagination.

In looking through the records, I am so pleased to see that, almost one year to the day since our first meeting (2 May 2012), we have covered the following subjects and topics - Story Ideas, Working With And Developing Those Ideas, Poems That Don't Rhyme, Book Reviews, Letter Writing, Holiday Diaries, Stories - length, the three key rules (beginning, middle and end) and subject matter, Self Awareness, Using Our Imaginations To Invent Recipes and Monsters, Character Identification, Limericks, Description, Fairy Tales, Stories For Boys/ Stories For Girls and Character Creation.  That is an amazing amount of info for these youngsters to absorb but absorb it they have - in abundance.  And I am so so SO proud of them.  Plus they have seen their work published, had some Local Paper Coverage - and even got a back-stage theatre tour out of it.  And virtually all of them have worked their way right through the Certificate Trail so a huge well done to each and every one of them.

Over the next few months - as long as the Sunday Sessions prove successful - I am hoping to cover some - if not all - of the following: Nature Poetry, Haiku, Dialogue, Sports Writing, Titles, Historic Fiction, Food Reviews, Plays, Story Poems and Science Fiction - so we have a bumper summer coming up.  I am also hoping to firm up at least one guest speaker, I just need to confirm some dates.

Finally - I was thrilled to be able to present two out of the three Prize-winner Certificates for the Mother's Day Poetry competition, and a whole bunch of Runner Up Certificates as well.  Actual prizes will be awarded over the next couple of sessions.  I will also be awarding the next bunch of Achievement Certitifcates the RED BAND ONE certificates, to those youngsters who have completed the last four assignments - so I have my work cut out for me.

Thanks are due to those of you today who asked how my new job is going, I really appreciate your support.

And thanks are due to EVERY one for helping to make the Addiscombe Young Writers' first year such a massive, MASSIVE success.

Good writing everyone - and here's to the next year.

Gentle Reminder

Don't forget we have our next session this Sunday between 3 and 4 at PMT.  Can't wait to see you all - and see how the animal stories have gone.  I do have the certificates for all those able to enter the Mother's Day competition - I just need to finalise production of the Cream Tea Voucher with Amanda; everything else is pretty much ready.

Will away now so this is only a short-short.

See you Sunday xx

Session 18 - Feedback

Well - we had our first trial Sunday session last weekend and I was relieved that it was so well attended with eleven Young Writers in attendance, out of an average of twenty, so that wan't bad at all.  And big thank yous to all those who were able to come along.  As I said before, I know it isn't ideal for everyone but it is all I can do for the time being so we will have to keep an eye on it and see how it goes - and I appreciate your efforts, I really do.

The session itself went very well.  I wanted to try something a little different so I split them into two groups - girls and boys - then asked the boys to write a story for girls and vice versa.  This really tested them and several of them found it quite hard to get going - but at least they all eventually gave it a go.  I will be looking at their Session Sheets over the next few days and see how they fared.  The important thing is that they tried.  As I have said before, sometimes, as writers, we are dropped outside our comfort zones so it is always an idea to experiment with different themes and genres.  They worked so hard that I felt obliged to set a relatively simple Assignment which was to write an animal story so if your youngsters couldn't make it, but they want to have a go at that, it is fine.  If it could be brought in by the next session - which should be on 28th April, that would be fab.

I announced the Mother's Day Poetry Competition Winners on Sunday and they are as follows:
3rd Place goes to Caitlin for her poem "The Things My Mum Does Best".  2nd Place goes to Hannah for her poem "Mother" and 1st Place goes to Alessandro for his entry "A Lovely Place".  So well done you three.  I  explained to all the children that everyone else is a Runner Up and everyone  who entered will receive a Certificate of Achievement.  I will do my dead level best to get these ready for the next session but if I don't for some reason then they will definitely be ready for the one after that - date to be confirmed.

Think that is it for now but don't forget to come back to me with any comments or queries as all feedback is very welcome.  Good Writing everyone!

Sunday Session ...

Hello again everyone.  Just a little reminder that we have our first Sunday session this Sunday at 3pm at Amanda's.  As I said before, I can appreciate that not everyone will be able to come along to every session held on a Sunday, but if the Young Writers can manage to get to at least one in two each month, at least they can still be involved - and I am trying to firm up at least one surprise guest, so if nothing else, keep an eye on the Blog.

I have almost finished judging the poetry competition.  It has been much harder than I expected because all the entries are astonishing in their honesty and the overall standard has been incredibly high.  I will announce the winners on Sunday but the presentation of prizes will have to wait until at least the next session.  The prizes are as follows:  1st Prize - a free Cream Tea for the winner and his/her family at PMT (two adults and however many siblings), plus a whole batch of my published work, signed personally to the winner and, of course, the all important Gold Standard Certificate.  And I would, at this point,  like to thank Amanda for providing said Cream Tea, which will be presented as a Voucher.  2nd Prize - Signed copies of the two Yucketypoo books plus  the Silver Standard Certificate and finally, 3rd Prize - Signed  copy of the first Yucketypoo book, plus the Bronze Standard Certificate.  All other entrants will also receive a Certificate for taking part.   I will also speak to Amanda about all entries being exhibited at PMT at some point for everyone to see.  Big thank you to everyone who took part.  All will be revealed on Sunday.

Okay - better go - lots to do before Sunday!  Good writing everyone.