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Four tips to set yourself up for summer writing!

Today launches our Independent Writing Blog Series! Join us all week long as we write about writing projects, summer writing, getting published in the real world, multi-genre projects, pulling back to let kids write on their own, and much, much more! Also join us for a Twitter chat on Monday, May 12 at 8:30pm EST with the hashtag #TWTBlog.

In an effort to make sure summer doesn't pass us by, we've decided to take a month off from blogging here at Two Writing Teachers again this summer. Today is the last non-Slice of Life Story Challenge post you'll see until Monday, August 5th. (NOTE: We'll still be hosting the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge during the entire month of July.)

Happy summer vacation to those of you who have already begun!  My college students have finished their semester, but my husband and kids have two weeks to slog through. We are currently in major countdown mode, and my little bookworm has piles of library books all over the house in earnest preparation for lots of reading time. 

I tried to sucker Kate into writing a "guest post" today to give some insight into the mind of an 8-year-old who loves to read (and write), but she was not so inclined. She did tell me, after much consideration, that she reads to "find out what happens next."  While she talks to us primarily about snippets of scenes or dialogue or characters (Allie Finkle's BFF has come up often recently in real-life analogy), it's the plot that gets her to turn the pages.  She added that the chapter titles often entice her to keep reading.  I was somewhat surprised to hear this tidbit, but then I remembered her methodology for writing stories of her own.  She scrawls out chapter titles and then writes content to bear them out in fulfillment of a nebulous plan that she somehow manages to bring to fruition. I suppose this is her personal method of outlining.  [Kate also says that she likes to write stories because "you can write whatever you want instead of having to write what your teacher tells you."]

The topic of outlining reminds me of a graphic I've seen floating around on facebook recently, showing handwritten outlines of famous authors' works:
http://imgur.com/a/cqWsJ

(I'm sure many of you have seen this, yes?)

I outline in narrative form (akin to a screenplay treatment), so I was intrigued by the depth and complexity of this spreadsheet format.  I was particularly interested in JK Rowling's outline, and google helped me find this analysis:

http://www.slashfilm.com/potd-jk-rowlings-plot-spreadsheet-for-harry-potter-and-the-order-of-the-phoenix/

Wow!  She not only relates each main even to each subplot, but she knows the day on the week that it happened.  As well she should.  As well I should!  It seems I have a lot of work cut out for me and, thank goodness, finally some time to do it.

Wishing a happy, relaxing, and productive summer to all!  I am about to dive into a friend's WIP and give myself a major dose of inspiration.  And, in the spirit of "reading is writing," don't forget to enter our latest giveaway contest to win a copy of This Journal Belongs to Ratchet by Nancy J. Cavanaugh. I can't wait to read this one, myself. :)  -- Jeanne Marie

Summer means a slower pace. Summer means longer days to spend with family and friends. Summer means more extra time to fall into a good book and write about the world around us.… Read More →

By the end of next week, most of the schools are out for summer. My stepson has his last day TODAY! One of my best friends and her kids are already on their way to Disney World. So what are you doing this summer?

I’m hoping, especially if you are a teacher/parent reading this blog, that your plans include reading. I was just thinking today about what we are going to get my stepson to read this summer. He is a bit of a reluctant reader, and I may just grab graphic novels at the local library. This way, he can read, and we can still discuss story elements–but it won’t be a battle each time. How many of you are doing a summer reading program? For your kids? For yourself?

One REALLY cool program that actually doesn’t have to do with books, but I think it is super cool AND EDUCATIONAL, so I am sharing it here anyway is. . .Blue Star Museums. From the website about BSM: “What is Blue Star Museums?”

Blue Star Museums is a collaboration among the National Endowment of the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 1,500 museums across America to offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day, May 28, through Labor Day, September 3, 2012.

Yes, you read that correctly–if you are currently active duty, you can go to any of these museums and pay NO ADMISSION for up to 6 people (military and five family members–including grandparents, aunts, uncles). That is amazing and quite a savings. This means children’s museums, fine arts museums, history and science museums, zoos, and more. For more information, go to the website: Blue Star Families. You do need a military ID to take advantage of the discount.Please pass the word on to any military family you know!

Even if you are not military, consider taking your children or summer school class to these types of places a few times this summer. GO ONLINE before you go–to the website or do a Google search–and find discounts. Often, children’s museums, zoos, science centers, etc will have certain days or hours with free admission or even coupons for special exhibits/parking and so on.

I’d love for you to come back and share with us here anything you do, any opportunity you find, and so on–anywhere in the US. I have readers across the country!

So, this summer–happy reading and happy museum-going!

More doing, less blogging. The busy summer days have kept me plenty occupied, and I apologize for the brief break in my blogging. I hope you've been enjoying summer, too, and haven't missed my posts too much!

One of our goals this summer is to spend as much time outside as possible enjoying nature. Did you know that July is National Recreation and Parks Month? At the end of the school year, my daughter's teacher gave her a parks passport, challenging her to visit the local parks over the summer. It has helped motivate us to get outside and do some exploring. During our visits to the parks, we also discovered that many of the parks have hidden treasures called geocaches!

Be warned, geocaching is a rather addictive family pastime! Geocaching, a high-tech outdoor treasure hunt, involves locating hidden caches in parks and other areas using GPS coordinates. To see if there are any caches hidden in your area and learn more, visit http://www.geocaching.com. I imagine that, like us, you'll find the number and proximity of the geocaches near you surprising. Some caches are easier to find than others, and the locations and containers vary as well. We found one cache hidden inside a clever structure that looked like a wooden birdhouse.



So far in our searches we've found various trinkets and toys inside the caches, along with the logbooks that you sign upon discovery. My kids like to trade treasures and swap out the items in the cache. We also made a great find this weekend -- a travel bug!
Travel bugs are items stamped with a special trackable code. You can log into the Geocaching tracking website to log the code and view the travel map of the item. The travel bug we discovered started out its journey in Hawaii.

Most of the geocaches are kid friendly, though some are more so than others. The Dinosaur Train Themed Geocaching Challenge is one specifically designed with kids in mind, especially fans of this popular PBS children's show. Each Dinosaur Train geocache features a dinosaur from the online Dinosaur Train Field Guide and includes educational materials about the dinosaur.


Dr. Scott from Dinosaur Train always encour

My son's favorite summer activity: building tunnels in the sandbox for his cars. The best part? Watching the tunnel collapse. Great way to learn some basic engineering skills.

Find more of this week's Wordless Wednesday (or Wordful) posts at 5 Minutes for Mom.

photo by nodomain1 www.flickr.com

We’re loading up our 2007 HHR on Friday and heading to Cleveland for my sister-in-law’s wedding. We’re all very excited, and this is Katie’s first big car trip (10 hours). I’m not sure how excited she actually is. . .:) We are traveling in the late afternoon and evening to hopefully make it easier for her. I’m sure Logan (10 years old) hopes that this makes it easier for him, too, as he is usually the baby-entertainer in the back seat. Anyway, I’ll be gone for a while and part of it without Internet access, so Read These Books and Use Them is going on hiatus until August 1. Starting August 1, I’ll be back with the winner of the contest I am about to announce as well as new posts about books and how to use them! So. . .

While I was thinking about going on vacation and getting ready to move (hopefully we are leasing our home) by August 1, I was thinking, What can I do on my blog? , and I decided to talk about the books I’m reading and to hold a little contest. Currently, I am reading Miss Scarlet’s School of Patternless Sewing, which I am enjoying immensely. It’s definitely geared toward women–whether it’s women’s fiction, chic lit, or romance–I’m not far enough along to tell you yet. But I have been captivated since page one, so check out what people have to say about it by clicking below:

Also, I am listening to Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin, which is a YA book with some fantasy mixed in. I am also enjoying this book and the mystery that is playing throughout. I will be blogging about it here in August, so stay tuned for that.

Yes, yes, there is a contest. . .here’s what you do. Simply respond to this post and tell me 1. what books you or your children are reading this summer 2. if you would recommend these books to us 3. your email address

What you can win. . .
I am giving away a free 10-page critique from my Editor 911 business. You can either use it for the first 10 pages of a novel or a short story that is up to 10 pages. If you are not a writer yourself, you can give it away to anyone!–your sister, your children, your spouse–anyone!

Also, if you ever do write anything or need an editor and mention that you saw this post (you don’t have to enter the contest to take advantage of this), then you can get a 10% discount on your overall bill.

Contest ends on July 31 at 8:00 p.m. CST. You can enter as many times as you like–so if you start reading a new book, please leave another comment and enter again. I will critique/edit/proofread anyone’s story from age 3 to 103 (or older) that is the winner of this contest. The winner will be chosen by using random.org (love this site!)

Happy reading!
See you all on August 1.

If you have any questions about my editing business, Editor 911, please feel free to email me at margodll (at) aol.com at anytime before or after August 1. I will have access to email periodically while I’m gone.

School is out, and my daughter is feeling a little sad about the end of kindergarten. While she enjoys her time at home, I think she is missing the structure of school. Things are a little more laid back and haphazard here. While I think it is important for kids to have plenty of unstructured play time, I do think that it is also just as important to keep some things predictable and familiar.

One of the changes we're making this summer is in our reading. So far, for the most part, we've neglected the audio book world. In an effort to shake up our routine this summer, we're incorporating audio books into our reading rotation. I'm not really interested in introducing my kids to the fancy, interactive book apps yet, but audio books we can manage. My daughter is already familiar with listening to audio versions -- she listened to plenty of stories at school. Audio books are great tools to use to help beginning readers become proficient readers.

Last night we sat down as a family and listened to our first audio choice: Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel. We checked out the HarperChildren's "An I Can Read Book and CD" set from our library. Honestly, I wasn't sure what kind of reaction to expect, especially from my three-year-old. After all, this beginning reader isn't exactly a short selection and the illustrations are small with muted colors. But, both kids listened to the narration and followed along, sometimes commenting on the pictures and laughing at all the funny parts of the story. To sum it up, the experience was perfectly delightful and one we'll most certainly repeat!

The narrator of this particular recording is Arnold Lobel himself. His expressive narrating skills are marvelously entertaining and the reading is accompanied by a nice, jaunty melody. If you're not already familiar with the book, the two main characters, Frog and Toad, reside near each other and spend their days together, living simply and supporting each other through various trials. Lobel's gentle humor is prevalent throughout the book. Frog and Toad's different personalities really shine through in his writing. The book is divided into 5 different stories about the friends' adventures: "Spring" - "The Story" - "A Lost Button" - "A Swim" - "The Letter." The reading level is just about right for my recently graduated kindergartener -- she can read the book with very minimal assistance.

My daughter loved the button story best of all. Poor Toad gets quite frustrated as he searches for his missing button. In "The Story" there's a picture that shows Toad dumping water on his head, and it baffled my son. He's still convinced the liquid in Toad's cup looks like milk, not water. And my favorite exchange: "One day in summer Frog was not feeling well. Toad said, "Frog, you are looking quit