First of all, I'd like to add my "WELCOME, Laura!" I’m so happy you’re here. Happy, too, about all the poetry you and April and JoAnn have been posting. That has me itching get back to writing more of my own (I was going to say you all were infectious, but that didn’t sound quite right).
Since we’re headed into conference season, I thought I'd post a relevant poem I wrote a few years back. Just before a fall conference, my SCBWI regional advisor called and asked if I’d get up on opening night and give sort of a “what not to do” talk regarding conference etiquette. (We’ve all heard horror stories of writers following visiting editors into bathrooms to talk about their manuscripts, right?) Then she added, “Make it funny. And how about writing it in rhyme?” Ack!
So, using a method very similar to Laura’s when she writes nonfiction poetry, I sat down and jotted a list of do’s and don’ts, then began tweaking and taking everything way over the top. Here’s the final product:
How to Impress an Editor
It’s my first time at a conference.
This? My brand new picture book.
Let me hold your glass of wine so you can take a better look.
See? It’s bound and fully laminated.
Here’s the copyright.
Just look at how the silver glitter sparkles in the light!
My nephew did the illustrations for me.
Aren’t they great?
I’m developing a series. This is number one. Of eight.
Yes, you are a little peaked.
Let’s go over there and sit.
What? You have to do the schmoozy thing and “work the room” a bit?
I’ll come with – and show you photos of Chief Kitchy-coo, my dog.
He’s the hero of my story (written all in dialogue).
See, he flies around Chicago with his mother, solving crimes.
It’s a shoe-in for that Printz Award.
And check this out … it rhymes.
There’s a song at the beginning.
There’s a moral at the end,
and a note reminding children that the story’s just pretend.
I’ve already got endorsements from the ASPCA,
and I’ve sent one to the Oprah show. I wonder … do they pay?
Oh, you have to hit the ladies’ room?
No problem. I’ll come, too.
While you’re taking care of business, I can read aloud to you.
Hon, is everything OK in there?
You need a helping hand?
What? You have a splitting headache?
Sure, of course I understand.
You can take my little story to your room and read it there.
No, it’s quite all right. Yes, I insist. I want you to, I swear.
Let me walk you to your suite.
Oh, it’s no trouble, none at all.
Well, for goodness sake, we lucked out. Look!
My room’s just down the hall!
Here’s an Advil for that headache.
Here’s my card. Know what? Take two.
Now, remind me of your name, hon, and … you edit books for who?
Take a hot bath.
Take it easy.
Don’t you let the bedbugs bite.
Ow, ow, ow! My foot was in there.
We’ll talk soon, then.
Nighty-night!
After I read the poem to the group, one editor took me aside and said that, sadly, the fictional writer of my poem wasn’t far off the mark. Yikes. Jane Yolen, who was one of our speakers, told me to send it to The Writer (which was still in business at the time). I did, and they published it in their April 2008 issue.
If you write rhyming picture books and haven’t yet signed up for Angie Karcher’s brand spankin’ new RhyPiBoMo, head on over and register: http://angiekarcher.wordpress.com
You can sign up until April 16th – and remember to enter the RhyPiBoMo Golden Quill Poetry Contest. Even if you don’t officially join in, you can follow along daily. Angie has lots of rhyming picture book authors lined up to post each day with tidbits of wisdom to help you improve your own rhyming picture books. See all the details on Angie’s site.
Jill Esbaum
P.S. If you haven’t yet entered for a chance to win Laura’s
Water Can Be…, hurry! You only have a little more time!
Happy Poetry Friday!
I first read this poem just last month at Keri Recommends, and I love it! I've been immersed in writing educator materials and creating videos for Water Can Be... the past couple of months, and this celebration of what water does for our world completely enchants me. (The three stanzas I highlighted in blue are my very favorite--in case you don't have time for a longer poem today:>)
Winter Rain
Every valley drinks,
Every dell and hollow:
Where the kind rain sinks and sinks,
Green of Spring will follow.
Yet a lapse of weeks
Buds will burst their edges,
Strip their wool-coats, glue-coats, streaks,
In the woods and hedges;
Weave a bower of love
For birds to meet each other,
Weave a canopy above
Nest and egg and mother.
But for fattening rain
We should have no flowers,
Never a bud or leaf again
But for soaking showers;
Never a mated bird
In the rocking tree-tops,
Never indeed a flock or herd
To graze upon the lea-crops.
Lambs so woolly white,
Sheep the sun-bright leas on,
They could have no grass to bite
But for rain in season.
We should find no moss
In the shadiest places,
Find no waving meadow grass
Pied with broad-eyed daisies:
But miles of barren sand,
With never a son or daughter,
Not a lily on the land,
Or lily on the water. --by Christina Rossetti
Isn't that amazing? And here I am reading this poem aloud:
And this is the final day of our weeklong celebration of
Water Can Be... here on Teaching Authors. Thanks for letting me share so much! If you're interested in book trailers, the teaching guide, reviews (it got starred reviews from
Kirkus and
Publishers Weekly--my first stars ever!), etc., just check out the
Water Can Be... page on my website. And don't forget to
return to Monday's post to enter our giveaway for a personalized copy of my book. Just click on the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of that post. Good luck!
Teacher and poet Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading has
today's Poetry Friday Roundup--enjoy!
--Laura Purdie Salas
Kids (and grown-ups) love to write in rhyme, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. And it gets even tougher if you’re trying to write nonfiction in rhyme! So, here's an exercise for those interested in writing rhyming picture books. This could also be a fun classroom activity where you ask students to synthesize information learned in a particular math or science or history unit. (I wouldn’t even attempt something like this with students younger than 5th grade, though, and even then, working as a group will be a lot more successful.)
1. Pick a topic you want to write a short poem about. I think I’ll do, um, fences. Yup, fences. Pick something you’ve never written about and don’t actually want to write a whole poem or picture book about. That will make this less stressful!
2. Define your topic in a first line. That’s a place to start. m-w.com tells me a fence is “a structure like a wall built outdoors usually of wood or metal that separates two areas or prevents people or animals from entering or leaving.” OK, I’m going to start with:
A fence is like an outside wall
Because it ends in wall (and, yes, I purposely picked a simplish word that I know will have rhyming possibilities to end the line with), I’m going to brainstorm and/or look up on rhymezone.com words that rhyme with wall that might in some way work into this poem: all, ball, crawl, fall, tall,
3. Add detail in rhyming line.
A fence is like an outside wall:
Wood or metal, short or tall.
4. Decide what else you want to tell about your topic. I like the idea that fences sometimes keep people or things or animals IN, and sometimes keep people or things or animals OUT. So that’s what I want my second half of this poem to convey. In and out are the main elements of that concept, so I’ll check out some rhyme possibilities and see where that leads me:
in – bin, grin, skin, twin, win
out – about, doubt, shout, trout
Well, those lead me pretty much nowhere, at least at first glance. Maybe I’ll try inside and outside, instead:
cried, died, tried, wide
Again, a big, fat nothing.
So, I switch gears. WHAT does it keep inside? Kids and dogs is what I’m mainly thinking of. And what does it keep outside? Strangers, people that might get hurt on whatever’s inside the fence...
While, I was thinking about that, the word divide popped into my head, which would rhyme with inside or outside. So I’m going to play with that.
5. Now try another couplet to show your concept.
A fence’s job is to divide.
A fence keeps beagles safe inside.
I don’t like that because it’s not clear. And the two lines don’t really connect. No cause or effect. Each line is true, but there’s no relationship between them. I’ll try again.
I think that second concept is too big for two short lines. I’m going to simplify to the concept that a fence keeps animals safe.
A fenced-in pasture, green and wide,
keeps grazing cattle safe inside.
6. Read over the four lines you wrote. Congratulations!
A fence is like an outside wall:
Wood or metal, short or tall.
A fenced-in pasture, green and wide,
keeps grazing cattle safe inside.
OK, mine is not going to win any prizes, but it’s a start! I have a basic definition, a bit of detail, and then a single example of one kind of fence and its job. In reading it, I see some possibilities for re-ordering and revising lines. So my second draft is:
Wood or metal, short or tall,
a fence becomes an outside wall.
Rolling meadow, green and wide,
cattle safely fenced inside.
Again, this is just very basic. But doing this exercise can help you build some rhyming/meaning muscles, so it's a great practice activity for any would-be rhymers!
Here are a couple of bits from my first draft of A River Can Be…, which eventually turned into Water Can Be…. You can see this process at work here. It’s just a combination of picking a word I KNOW works for the topic, brainstorming rhymes, and then trying out lines with those other rhymes to see which ones work both for rhyme AND for topic.
And when a word didn’t have enough rhymes to play with (like haven), I tried a synonym that was more rhyme-friendly. I hope you have fun trying your hand at a little bit of rhyme today!
I'd love to see what you come up with! Feel free to share your four lines in the Comments!
Oh! And don't forget to
enter our book giveaway of Water Can Be...! by clicking on the Rafflecopter widget in last Monday's post.
--Laura Purdie Salas
When I was a kid, I had no thought of being an author OR a teacher! As the youngest of four girls, I was always one of the students when we played school. As I think of my sisters, Miss Trunchbull comes to mind—ha! I never ever got to be the teacher! (On the plus side, this helped me become an early and voracious reader). And while I loved to read, it never occurred to me that real people wrote all those books I devoured.
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With my big sisters, Janet (left), Gail (center),
and Patty (right). I'm the peanut in front. |
When I started college, I planned to be a veterinarian. My first creative writing class killed that plan, and I knew I would do something with books, reading, and writing. That something turned out to be LOTS of things.
First, I became a magazine editor. When the publication was sold, I decided to try teaching (I was certified for Secondary English). I taught 8th-grade English for two years, and it was exhilarating, exhausting, and life-changing. I knew I did not have the stamina to stay in it for the long haul and try to be an amazing teacher while dealing with administration, assessment (even back then!), politics, and parents. But I loved my 8th graders and their wild creativity—and the books we were constantly reading.
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| Our two daughters, ca. 1998 |
A seed was planted.
I wonder what it would be like to write kids’ books?Then my husband and I moved to Minnesota. While doing freelance writing for grown-ups, I held part-time jobs over the years as a copyeditor, a personal care assistant for young adults with disabilities, a teacher in our school-age latchkey program, etc. When we had kids, the thousands of books we read with them nourished that seed and helped it grow:
I want to write books for kids.So, of course, I joined SCBWI and set to work learning how to do that. In October of 1999, I went to a local SCBWI conference, where two editors from educational publishers spoke. Because I was conference volunteer, I got to be one editor’s helper and I got a manuscript critique with the other. I ended up writing books for both companies.
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BookSpeak! Poems About Books
(Clarion, 2011) |
I had been submitting (bad) picture book manuscripts and magazine stories for a couple of years. I had a few children’s credits, but I really wanted to write a book. So when Jill Braithwaite (who was an editor at Lerner at that time) asked if I would be interested in writing an upper-elementary biography, I said, “Sure!”
Even though that was by far NOT my first choice.
And thus began my history of writing children’s books. To date, I have written about 110 nonfiction books for the educational market, 12 poetry collections, and two rhyming nonfiction books. In fact, my newest book,
Water Can Be..., comes out on April Fool's Day, and we're doing a giveaway of it here on TeachingAuthors.com! You can enter using the Rafflecopter widget at the end of the post. Enter through April 1, 2014, the pub date of
Water Can Be...!
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| Water Can Be... comes out on April 1! |
One of my biggest surprises has been how much I get to still teach. I teach adult writers through conferences like SCBWI’s, the 21st-Century Children’s Nonfiction Conference, and the Loft Literary Center’s Children’s and Young Adult Literary Festival. I have taught in-person and online classes on writing for children, finding publishers to submit your work to, and more. A colleague, Lisa Bullard, and I also mentor children’s writers through
Mentors for Rent, an hourly-based critique and coaching service for children’s writers.
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| At a school visit in 2013 |
I also get to present to educators and librarians, which I love! I’m usually spreading poetry joy—in fact, in a couple of weeks, I’m going to present at the UNLV conference. I can’t wait. Presenting through IRA, ALA, and NCTE have been highlights for me.
And I get to connect to kids, too, through elementary author visits and young authors conferences. I have a blast getting kids excited about reading, writing, and poetry. And I don’t have to assess them or do any of the other ongoing tasks teachers have to keep up with.
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| A Leaf Can Be... (Millbrook, 2012) |
Don’t get me wrong, teaching is still hard work! But it’s immensely satisfying, too. I look at how much public speaking I do now and think, Wow. Not bad for someone who was so terrified of public speaking I put it off until I was a senior in college! (Though I was not quite as bad as my best friend, who had to calm her nerves with a glass of wine before our 8 a.m. speech class on presentation days.)
My work as a teacher and an author are entwined in my mind. I can’t imagine one part of my career without the other. If I weren’t a writer, I obviously wouldn’t be invited to speak to teachers and writers and students. But if I didn’t do the teaching, I do think my writing would suffer. Getting out there and being in schools, with kids, helps me stay in touch with kids’ real lives today, especially now that my own two are officially adults—gulp.
And…that’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about my writing journey!
--Laura Purdie Salas
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