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The Power of Journaling

By on September 27, 2013   /   For Kids  

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Writers are often asked, “What book made you decide you wanted to be a writer?” For me, the answer is, “The little red diary I started when I was ten years old.”

It’s true. When I was a kid I idolized my oldest sister, Mary, who’s ten years older than I am. She was (and still is) smart, well-loved, funny, and clever with words. From my perspective she was everything any girl would want to be. We were always really close and when she went to college I missed her deeply. One day, when I was digging around in the attic, I found her middle school diary. It was thrilling for me because if I could get it open, not only would I be able to connect with my sister again, but I would have access to the person she was when she was closer to my age. Sadly, it was locked and I could only read the few words at the corners of the pages when I pulled at the sturdy covers. I put it back in the box where I found it and felt tortured by the fact that she was so close and yet so far away.

Days passed, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had so many important life questions for the young Mary in that book. I wanted to know what it’s like being the second-oldest of six kids. Did she like any boys? What if a boy liked her and she didn’t like him back? What did Mom do when Mary lost something important like her retainer? In middle-school it’s so hard to find truthful answers and I was certain Mary had them all.

I went back to the attic and took the diary out of the box and I couldn’t believe it when it came open right in my hands! Okay, yes, there was a paper clip involved. Now, I wouldn’t recommend to anyone that they read another person’s diary.  It is wrong and I knew that at the time as well. I don’t know how I justified it to myself but I was very lucky because when Mary came home for Christmas I told her I read it and she wasn’t mad at all.
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Above is an actual photo of the diary; it’s the one one the left. Later, she let me read the other one too. And in case you’re wondering, yes, those little diaries were chock full of all kinds of tween questions and answers. The Wimpy Kid himself couldn’t have provided a better middle-school guide. Mary’s daily stories were well written, heart-felt, and amusing. She went through a lot of the same kinds of stuff I was going through at that time and it was good to see that she survived it all. I knew I would too.

While she was home during her college break that winter, I asked if she’d help me shop for my own diary, my first one. So we went to the dime store and found little, colorful, bound books with locks on them and the words “My Diary” on the cover. Each page had a date on it, just like Mary’s had, but I didn’t like the idea of being confined to just one page a day and I also didn’t like the idea of leaving pages blank if you missed some days. So Mary came up with a great solution. She suggested a small binder where the rings would open and close and I’d have the freedom to add more pages or rearrange pages the way I wanted. Plus, I could use a hole punch and add small pieces of artwork or special notes from my friends. It was perfect! And to keep it safe from busybodies (Ha! I should talk!) we bought a small lock box that came with two keys.

By the end of fifth grade that little book was overflowing with secrets, drawings, and important lists. I continued diary writing, or journaling as I now call it, all the way through adulthood. I now have a box of about thirty books which are each filled to the last page.

Mary’s diaries were truthful and whenever I sit down to write anything – a letter, a book, a blog post – I do my best to follow Mary’s example, and I know that has made me a better writer. Over the years I created a set of rules that I follow for keeping a truthful journal and it’s these rules that help me stay truthful in all my writing.

1. Be completely honest. Always. Being raw and frank with my thoughts has helped me learn how to write from my heart.

2. Keep your journal locked up someplace safe. How can you write honestly if you fear someone might read it?

3. Don’t share your journal entries with anyone. I know, you’re thinking “Why not share something with a special friend?” Because, once you share, it’s hard to write again without imagining that you have an audience and then you may start writing for that audience. Keep your writing to yourself. If you want someone to read what’s on your mind, write it in a separate notebook that you can use for sharing. Regard your journal as sacred.

4. Don’t get hung up on punctuation and grammar, unless, of course, using proper punctuation and grammar makes writing more fun for you. Some of us like that kind of stuff.

I still feel really bad about reading my sister’s diary when I was ten and I want you to know, I have never even so much as opened another person’s private writing since then. I promise!

 

Jennifer Duddy Gill is the author of The Secret of Ferrell Savage (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, February 2014) and in the acknowledgement of her book she thanks her sister, Mary, for inspiring her to write.

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Three Cheers

By on September 26, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Three new winners today!

First, the lucky winner of a Skype visit with debut MG author Sarah Sullivan, author of All That’s Missing,  is

Sr. Pat Murray

Second (and third), the two winners of Peggy Eddleman‘s exciting Sky Jumpers are

Jill and Julie M.

Thanks to all of you who entered, and congrats to these generous writers on their new books.

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No Such Thing As a Lost Cause: Interview (and book giveaway!) with Stephanie Guerra

By on September 25, 2013   /   Author Interviews, Giveaways  

BillyBeing a kid is like having two permanent police officers watching you all the time – even when you’re going to the bathroom.  At least that’s how it feels to Billy March.  He’s been grounded for 63% of the past month.  Every time Billy almost gets his parents’ trust back, his mind wanders off, and he causes another disaster!  Now Mom and Dad are threatening to send Billy to a psychologist.  They may even make him take brain drugs!  But deep down, Billy worries that Dad wishes he had a different son.  Maybe he doesn’t belong in this family at all.  But maybe, just maybe, talking to a “shrink” won’t be as terrible as Billy thinks.

stephanieguerraIn Billy March, Stephanie Guerra hands us one energetic, impulsive, frustrating, and endearing 10-year-old who is doing the best he can even though it sure doesn’t seem like it.  Guerra’s text tells Billy’s funny and poignant story, enriched by  illustrator James Davies’ whimsical graphics that plunge us straight into Billy’s wild imagination.  Billy the Kid is Not Crazy is coming to book shelves in October.

Where does Billy come from?

Billy’s a product of my life-long love of characters with wild imaginations and frequent misbehavior. Anne of Green Gables, Pippi Longstocking, Toad from Wind in the Willows, and more recently Joey Pigza are among my favorites. I love how porous reality and fantasy can be in childhood, and I think some children have a special gift for slipping past that boundary and creating endless diversion for themselves. Billy came about because I wanted to write a child who was so enmeshed in his fantasies that the world became a stage for his imagination—resulting in lots of trouble, of course.

What influences from your life found their way into Billy’s story?

Billy gets in trouble so frequently that his parents take him to see a child psychiatrist. I kept those scenes brief—I didn’t want them to take over the story—but they’re important. My mother is a child psychologist, and I grew up with lots of dinner-table talk about the therapy process. My mother sometimes shared the struggles that young clients were going through (without revealing their names, of course). She had tremendous sympathy and love for the kids she worked with, and she didn’t believe in such a thing as a lost cause. She is a strong supporter of therapy without drugs when possible, and that certainly worked its way into Billy’s story.

One of the most important things I learned from my mother is that therapy is not for “bad” kids. Lots of children have to visit a psychologist or psychiatrist at some point, whether for testing, help with a temporary problem, or support with something long-term. And there are times in all of our lives when we could use someone to talk to.

James Davies’ illustrations add both humor and poignancy as they take us deep into Billy’s psyche. Tell us about your process for blending the text and graphics.

I’m delighted with how Davies’ illustrations turned out. He’s a very talented artist, and he intuited and added to the whimsical spirit of my characters with style and humor. Our process was simple: I described the basic content of each cartoon strip, including action and dialogue. Davies then translated the scene into cartoon strip form.  I love the funny details in his settings and the way he brought Billy and Keenan alive with dynamic body language.

Our readers will be interested in your teaching with young women incarcerated at the King County Juvenile Detention Center.  Please describe what you’ve learned about your own writing through that work.

Working with the teens at the correctional facility has impacted my own writing tremendously. I pick up rhythms of language, characters, and culture in a way that I’d never do otherwise. The girls have brought home to me the power of writing to heal, vent, and connect. They’ve showed me what writing in a community looks and feels like. I’m moved by how they support each other and listen respectfully and lovingly to sometimes very painful memoir pieces. Writing as community has been an important lesson for me; I’ve always written in a vacuum.

Can you give us a hint about what’s on your middle grade horizon?

I’m revising the final draft of a middle-grade/YA crossover about a fourteen-year-old Italian American boy navigating life in Mob-infested Brooklyn of the eighties. The working title is BROOKLYN SOLDIERS. I think older middle-grade readers will love that one. I also have two young adult novels coming out in 2015 (OUT OF ACES and sequel) which are keeping me busy.

After that . . . I have a weakness for Pilkey-style potty humor. I’m not sure I could pull it off, but I may try just for fun. During my MFA, I wrote a middle-grade novella about farts coming to life on Halloween. I never showed it to anyone, least of all my professors, who were literary novelists for adults. But the story has lingered in the back of my mind all these years.

What’s something about you that we wouldn’t guess if we met you in person?

My sister and I are planning to film a series of videos for YouTube in which we reenact some famous Groucho and Harpo Marx scenes (and invent some new ones). I’m Harpo. I really want to do this, although it may seriously embarrass my husband.

Stay tuned for more great stories from Stephanie Guerra (and keep your eye on YouTube!).  In addition to writing for middle grade and YA readers, Guerra teaches courses in writing and children’s literature at Seattle University, which is where our paths first crossed.  Read more about her writing instruction with teens in detention — it’s an amazing story!  And visit Stephanie at her website stephanieguerra.com.

A chance to win an autographed copy of
Billy the Kid is Not Crazy!
Simply post a comment describing what intrigues you about this book or
(if you’re a teacher), how you think it would grab your students.
Winner to be announced on Saturday, September 28!

 

Katherine Schlick Noe teaches beginning and experienced teachers at Seattle University. Her debut novel, Something to Hold (Clarion, 2011) won the 2012 Washington State Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Award for middle grade/young adult and was named a 2012 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People.  Visit her at http://katherineschlicknoe.com.

 

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