Huge thanks to everyone who turned up to the first AYW session of 2016! It was great to see you all there and eight on a first day back after a break, is brilliant!
We got off to a flying start - albeit in the junior library. I asked the Young Writers to just write a little piece about their Christmas break to get the creative juices flowing - and then we tackled the completely new poetry form (for most of them anyway) of Tanka. Like Haiku, Tanka is a syllable-led poetry form consisting of 31 syllables, usually laid out in 5 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7 formation - although its beauty lies in the fact that unlike haiku, the actual pattern is pretty flexible as long as the number of syllables used is 31 - so you could even have a pattern of 1, 5, 5, 10, 10 or whatever you like.
Once the Young Writers got to grips with this, they were churning out Tanka like there was no tomorrow so well done to all of them for giving it a go! The assignment was to produce a Tanka at home and, of course, any that are completed and returned will count towards the next Certificate.
Have decided to always log on this blog who takes Maddie the AYW bear home with them - especially following her period of being AWOL just before Christmas. So on this occasion it was Timothy who was given the pleasure of Maddie's company and her diary to record any adventures (and she seems to have plenty!). So Timothy I hope she behaves herself for you and that you have some fun times between now and the next session. Don't forget to update Maddie's diary! It is always fun to read after one of her little jaunts.
And talking of the next session - that will be on Saturday 30th January so I look forward to seeing you then. Good Writing, everyone.
Monday, 18 January 2016
Sunday, 10 January 2016
PENCILS POISED ...
This is GREAT!!! We are only in the second week of January and I have already had an enquiry about Addiscombe Young Writers! I am so chuffed!
So how is everyone? I hope all the Young Writers are ready for another busy year of writing. Don't forget the next session is this Saturday (16th) - usual place and time. My plan is to have the new issue of AYW - ok ready. That is the plan anyway. And also to have some new and fresh ideas to see us through the coming sessions.
How was your Christmas? Mine was lovely but very busy busy busy. And it didn't stop on 1st January either. Only yesterday I was in Southend with husband Steve to celebrate youngest grandson Oscar's first birthday! Have quite a lot coming up for 2016 with one thing and another - writing-wise, job-wise and family-wise - including a Christening in February and a wedding in April! Sometimes I don't know how I cope! But I always do.
I am planning to concentrate my own writing activities to poetry this year. I rather neglected it last year once My Writer was launched. I am going to be stocking up on copies of my book again soon so please keep me in mind for Spring Fairs or Fetes at your child's school!
That is about it for now - must start on the new newsletter.
See you Saturday!
So how is everyone? I hope all the Young Writers are ready for another busy year of writing. Don't forget the next session is this Saturday (16th) - usual place and time. My plan is to have the new issue of AYW - ok ready. That is the plan anyway. And also to have some new and fresh ideas to see us through the coming sessions.
How was your Christmas? Mine was lovely but very busy busy busy. And it didn't stop on 1st January either. Only yesterday I was in Southend with husband Steve to celebrate youngest grandson Oscar's first birthday! Have quite a lot coming up for 2016 with one thing and another - writing-wise, job-wise and family-wise - including a Christening in February and a wedding in April! Sometimes I don't know how I cope! But I always do.
I am planning to concentrate my own writing activities to poetry this year. I rather neglected it last year once My Writer was launched. I am going to be stocking up on copies of my book again soon so please keep me in mind for Spring Fairs or Fetes at your child's school!
That is about it for now - must start on the new newsletter.
See you Saturday!
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!
Well the Big Day is almost here! How exciting is that (I'm sorry - Christmas is the one thing I have never outgrown and I still feel exactly the same about it now as I did when I was little - and luckily I married a man whose inner child also has extra sparkle at this time of year!)?
Huge thanks to everyone for letting me know if your Young Writer (or Writers) can make our little Christmas Party on Saturday. I will be doing one short exercise with the Young Writers - but nothing too taxing - before the snacks and then the sessions start again on Saturday 16th January when - I hope - the next edition of AYW - ok will be ready for distribution. I won't be setting another assignment until the first session in January. The Young Writers have worked hard all year and I think they deserve a break. But my plan is to come back with all sorts of new ideas and new experiences for 2016 - and one of the things I am looking at, as long as I can get the funding, is a new anthology of their work. If any of you mums, dads or grandparents know of a printer or printing company who would be prepared to give us a discount, please let me know. The first Young Writers book cost almost £250 to produce, almost half of which I put up. I don't begrudge a penny of it but I am never going to recoup that now, so any help with the new one would be very very gratefully received.
All that remains for me to say is a big BIG thank you to the library staff for their continued support, to Ciaran for his enlightening chat the other week, to the Young Writers for their amazing enthusiasm and, of course, to all the grown-ups who hold the group is such high esteem. You are the real nuts and bolts of Addiscombe Young Writers and saying thanks doesn't seem to really convey how very grateful I am to everyone.
Have a brilliant Christmas and a happy, healthy, successful and peaceful New Year.
Big Hugs.
Huge thanks to everyone for letting me know if your Young Writer (or Writers) can make our little Christmas Party on Saturday. I will be doing one short exercise with the Young Writers - but nothing too taxing - before the snacks and then the sessions start again on Saturday 16th January when - I hope - the next edition of AYW - ok will be ready for distribution. I won't be setting another assignment until the first session in January. The Young Writers have worked hard all year and I think they deserve a break. But my plan is to come back with all sorts of new ideas and new experiences for 2016 - and one of the things I am looking at, as long as I can get the funding, is a new anthology of their work. If any of you mums, dads or grandparents know of a printer or printing company who would be prepared to give us a discount, please let me know. The first Young Writers book cost almost £250 to produce, almost half of which I put up. I don't begrudge a penny of it but I am never going to recoup that now, so any help with the new one would be very very gratefully received.
All that remains for me to say is a big BIG thank you to the library staff for their continued support, to Ciaran for his enlightening chat the other week, to the Young Writers for their amazing enthusiasm and, of course, to all the grown-ups who hold the group is such high esteem. You are the real nuts and bolts of Addiscombe Young Writers and saying thanks doesn't seem to really convey how very grateful I am to everyone.
Have a brilliant Christmas and a happy, healthy, successful and peaceful New Year.
Big Hugs.
Monday, 7 December 2015
Ciaran's Visit!
It was absolutely brilliant to welcome local writer Ciaran Murtagh to last Saturday's Young Writer session at Ashburton Library. He was friendly, informal, informative and the Young Writers clung to his every word! Some had brought questions, most settled with a notebook so they could write down any ideas he shared and he had them eating out of his hand within seconds. He kicked off with a little bit of history about his career, then showed a number of his books to everyone. Then he read a snippet from one of his latest books, showed how easily random words picked from a dictionary can form the basis to any story, then took questions, all of which he answered at exactly their level! I will be putting a pointer sheet together highlighting his advice for all the members. Huge thanks to Ciaran and to the library staff for hosting the event.
We now have just one more session (I know - it only seems like yesterday we were coming back after the summer break) between now and Christmas and the library has given us express permission to host a tea party on Saturday 19th December. Please please let me know, if you haven't already, if your budding author can come along. I have a limited number of Christmas presents to dish out (yes I had a quiet word with Father Christmas about this and he said he'd do anything to further encourage these young wordsmiths - even if it meant them getting one present ahead of the Big Day), so it is really important I have a rough idea how many to expect that day. Please text or phone me (07909 518147) to confirm or leave a comment right here on the Blog.
No assignment was set on Saturday but the session before I asked for a couple of haiku (5-7-5) so it would be good if they could hand them in on 19th if possible. And finally a quick word about Notebooks. I issue one of these to every new member and it is for the Young Writers to use to get ideas down, write their assignments in if they so choose and to just play with words. They are not a formal school book because I am not a teacher. They are the sort of note books I used to go out and buy myself at their age and they are for them to use as they wish. I hope that clarifies the situation and huge apologies if I haven't explained this better before.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the 19th!
We now have just one more session (I know - it only seems like yesterday we were coming back after the summer break) between now and Christmas and the library has given us express permission to host a tea party on Saturday 19th December. Please please let me know, if you haven't already, if your budding author can come along. I have a limited number of Christmas presents to dish out (yes I had a quiet word with Father Christmas about this and he said he'd do anything to further encourage these young wordsmiths - even if it meant them getting one present ahead of the Big Day), so it is really important I have a rough idea how many to expect that day. Please text or phone me (07909 518147) to confirm or leave a comment right here on the Blog.
No assignment was set on Saturday but the session before I asked for a couple of haiku (5-7-5) so it would be good if they could hand them in on 19th if possible. And finally a quick word about Notebooks. I issue one of these to every new member and it is for the Young Writers to use to get ideas down, write their assignments in if they so choose and to just play with words. They are not a formal school book because I am not a teacher. They are the sort of note books I used to go out and buy myself at their age and they are for them to use as they wish. I hope that clarifies the situation and huge apologies if I haven't explained this better before.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the 19th!
Monday, 30 November 2015
Don't Forget Ciaran's Visit ...
Local Writer Ciaran Murtagh is coming along to meet the Young Writers this Saturday, 5th December. I know it is unusual to have week-on-week sessions but as I said before, this was the only way I could schedule in two December sessions and Ciaran so pray excuse. After this week, it will be two weeks before the next on 19th December and we will be having a little party that day - with drinks and crisps and fruit so it would really help me out if you could confirm your Young Writer will be present on that day so I can make sure I have enough for everyone. Could you all be angels and either comment on here, email or call my mobile? At least then I can get some preparation in place!
Last week we were looking at haiku again. This remarkable little poetry form is always a huge favourite and I get so much pleasure out of it when the Young Writers actually grasp the whole syllable concept of 5-7-5 - especially when tackling it for the first time like most of those present last Saturday! I knew it made sense when new member Shaan proudly told his mum his name has just one syllable when at the beginning of the session he hadn't even known what a syllable was let alone a haiku. It made sense to him to call the format of 5-7-5 the code. Since that clearly helped him to understand who was I to argue? I congratulated him on his clever idea and called it a code for the rest of the session!
Don't forget their assignment last Saturday was to create two haiku of their own and I gave them all worksheets to refer to but if they do get stuck, don't hesitate to help them; this isn't like homework; it is just to help them progress through the Certificate Trail. And they are all doing incredibly well, I promise you!
Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday - don't forget to PLEASE let me know who will be there on 19th December.
Good writing everyone!
Last week we were looking at haiku again. This remarkable little poetry form is always a huge favourite and I get so much pleasure out of it when the Young Writers actually grasp the whole syllable concept of 5-7-5 - especially when tackling it for the first time like most of those present last Saturday! I knew it made sense when new member Shaan proudly told his mum his name has just one syllable when at the beginning of the session he hadn't even known what a syllable was let alone a haiku. It made sense to him to call the format of 5-7-5 the code. Since that clearly helped him to understand who was I to argue? I congratulated him on his clever idea and called it a code for the rest of the session!
Don't forget their assignment last Saturday was to create two haiku of their own and I gave them all worksheets to refer to but if they do get stuck, don't hesitate to help them; this isn't like homework; it is just to help them progress through the Certificate Trail. And they are all doing incredibly well, I promise you!
Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday - don't forget to PLEASE let me know who will be there on 19th December.
Good writing everyone!
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Amaaaazing!!!!
It was astonishing last Saturday when twelve children attended the AYW session at Ashburton Library! It was a bit of a squeeze, but we managed round three tables and the library staff later said maybe they should allocate us four from now on! The thing is of course that I don't know from one session to the next how many young writers will turn up! Sometimes I only have six or seven - in which case four tables taken out of library use would be a bit of a waste. Anyway, I think it is one of those things that has to be played by ear. If I start getting twelve children regularly, session on session, then I might take up the library's offer.
On the subject of poetry, we are looking at Acrostic poems at the moment. I passed round copies of a worksheet featuring the words FIREWORKS and BUNNY all set down the left hand side of the page and - as usual - the Young Writers delivered. Their different perceptions of a single theme never cease to surprise me and it is so rewarding to see so many unique pieces of work coming from one or two trigger words! The assignment set was to invent their own poem using the word BATHROOM so it'll be great to see what they come up with by next session!
After some collaboration with Sarah and Timothy, the new leaflet was finally handed round for the members to take along to their schools. One lad optimistically asked for a copy for everyone in his class so if any further copies are needed, please drop me a line and let me know and I will print off another batch.
The next session is on 28th of November and then - unusually - there is also a session one week later on 5th December with the final session of the year being held on 19th December. The dates immediately after Christmas are:
16th January
30th January
13th February
27th February
12th March and
19th March (to accommodate Easter)
But all dates will appear in the next edition of our new newsletter AYW ok which is out in January.
And speaking of Christmas - as one simply must at this time of year - presents this year will be designed to help with their writing aspirations - enough said; I don't want to spoil the surprise!
Think that's about it for now. Congratulations to those who were presented with certificates last week by the way! Good Writing all!
On the subject of poetry, we are looking at Acrostic poems at the moment. I passed round copies of a worksheet featuring the words FIREWORKS and BUNNY all set down the left hand side of the page and - as usual - the Young Writers delivered. Their different perceptions of a single theme never cease to surprise me and it is so rewarding to see so many unique pieces of work coming from one or two trigger words! The assignment set was to invent their own poem using the word BATHROOM so it'll be great to see what they come up with by next session!
After some collaboration with Sarah and Timothy, the new leaflet was finally handed round for the members to take along to their schools. One lad optimistically asked for a copy for everyone in his class so if any further copies are needed, please drop me a line and let me know and I will print off another batch.
The next session is on 28th of November and then - unusually - there is also a session one week later on 5th December with the final session of the year being held on 19th December. The dates immediately after Christmas are:
16th January
30th January
13th February
27th February
12th March and
19th March (to accommodate Easter)
But all dates will appear in the next edition of our new newsletter AYW ok which is out in January.
And speaking of Christmas - as one simply must at this time of year - presents this year will be designed to help with their writing aspirations - enough said; I don't want to spoil the surprise!
Think that's about it for now. Congratulations to those who were presented with certificates last week by the way! Good Writing all!
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Excellent ...!
Had a very good session with the Young Writers on 31st October. Three possible new members! And a brilliant atmosphere! A couple of days after that session, hubby & I went to Scarborough for a midweek break. Lovely! Very lucky with the weather. Felt surprisingly refreshed when we got back - specially since I came home with a brand new book idea fresh in my head!
Returned to the Day Job on Monday and spent two lunch breaks walking up and down the High Street looking for someone who sells multi-packs of exercise books (I am down to my last one out of the batch from The Works so huge thanks to them for keeping the group in notebooks for best part of a year!). Could not find anyone at first but then found Wilkos do pack of three for a pound. I bought three packs plus some new colouring pencils and graphite pencils for writing and went home feeling very pleased. Then guess what? Found Morrisons now stock packs of three so bought some more this morning. Should keep the Young Writers going for a couple of months at least! Fifteen notebooks, two lots of colouring pencils and one pack of writing pencils came to just under a tenner so felt extremely pleased!
PLEASE let me know ASAP if your child's school is planning a Christmas Fayre or Bazaar anytime soon. I have fifty copies of My Writer to sell! Or maybe your local church?
Don't forget - we have our next session this Saturday (14th), same time, same place. Look forward to seeing everyone there. Oh yes - the assignment for the Hallowe'en session was to write a poem about Hallowe'en - any kind of poem!
Good Writing everyone!
Returned to the Day Job on Monday and spent two lunch breaks walking up and down the High Street looking for someone who sells multi-packs of exercise books (I am down to my last one out of the batch from The Works so huge thanks to them for keeping the group in notebooks for best part of a year!). Could not find anyone at first but then found Wilkos do pack of three for a pound. I bought three packs plus some new colouring pencils and graphite pencils for writing and went home feeling very pleased. Then guess what? Found Morrisons now stock packs of three so bought some more this morning. Should keep the Young Writers going for a couple of months at least! Fifteen notebooks, two lots of colouring pencils and one pack of writing pencils came to just under a tenner so felt extremely pleased!
PLEASE let me know ASAP if your child's school is planning a Christmas Fayre or Bazaar anytime soon. I have fifty copies of My Writer to sell! Or maybe your local church?
Don't forget - we have our next session this Saturday (14th), same time, same place. Look forward to seeing everyone there. Oh yes - the assignment for the Hallowe'en session was to write a poem about Hallowe'en - any kind of poem!
Good Writing everyone!
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