If you want to write, read!

"When I was really little I asked my dad if he had read every book in the world yet. I also asked him if he knew the answer to everything. He let me know that the best you can do is know a little about many things and know enough about those things to find out more about them if you want. He made me become a librarian!" Melanie Wood, librarian in Charlotte, NC


"Fiction is as essential as milk. I believe that in literature, in poetry, that we learn what we need to know." Elizabeth Strout

"Put a good book into the hands of a skilled and passionate teacher and those ideas come alive in the classroom; not longer is reading simply a laborious and necessary evil...Suddenly. reading has purpose." Steve Wolk. (2009) Reading for a Better World: Teaching for Social Responsibility with Young Adult Literature, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, (52:8), p. 664.

"Narrative is an 'existential necessity.' Through dialogue we 'mediate the world, in order to name the world,' and that by narrating our worlds, we transform them and thus gain significance as human beings." G. Wesley Houp, (2009), Lana's Story:Re-Storying Literacy Education, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (52:8), p. 701, quoting Friere, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Let the Writing Begin!

When friend and fellow author (and soon-to-be partner in a crazy writing adventure) Joyce Hostetter asked me to join her at NaNoWriMo when other out of their mind writers attempt to write 50,000 words during November...I thought, I can't do that. I have a presentation for the NCAIS coming up and a week of teaching at NCCAT with Joyce. And Thanksgiving and kids home from college and a trip to Wilmington and how could I ever write a book in one month?

Then I visited the NaNo website, saw that it was built for people like me, who keep saying they're going to write a novel (in my case the YA historical novel to take place here in Charlotte in 1950) but seem to never get around to writing it, and I signed up.

So, tomorrow the non-editing, gush-it-out-and-don't-look back-writing whirl commences. I'm wondering if my family can abide dust balls, dirty dishes, wrinkled clothes, and peanut butter for lunch and spaghetti for dinner. I'm wondering if my eyes will grow weary from being glued to the computer and I'm scared that nothing will come out of these fingers.

But next time you hear from me I should be several thousand words into this adventure. Hey, I may not make it to 50K--but I'll sure get a lot more pages written than I have right now! I'll keep you posted and...let the writing begin!Technorati Tags:
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