Mining for Ideas

I could write about why I took these photographs in Hawaii. And I couldn't choose just one image. This is the unedited progression.

My wife was on a run. I was out for a walk. And I was just struck by blue. Layers and layers of clean, pure blue. I can write about it. I just never flipped through my digital notebook--my iPhone--for an idea to write about.

I took this screen shot of this series of images because I like how they work together. I like this image as a personalized writing prompt--a digital scrap of paper.

"This" is going to be an upcoming mini-lesson on mining for ideas to share through writing--and how the digital daybook in our pockets can help us as writers.

Mostly Unfinished

I have started and stopped many stories--from picture books to middle grade, from stories in verse to stories in prose, from historical fiction to memoir. This is part of the practice of becoming--the unseen hours of writing and sketching inside of the cracks of life.

This is a story I roughed-out after attending an SCBWI conference. Obviously, I left the conference inspired. But I am left asking myself why I stopped. Why did I set it aside for several years? Why are some projects set aside in the vault? Partially, my mind gets distracted and I move on to the next idea, the next line, the next sketch...so much of work remains mostly unfinished.

Encouraging Young Writers

Teaching with Writing by Toby Fulwiler ranks high among the seminal writing texts in my professional library. Often, I flip back through my notebook to these sketches as a reminder of the teacher I want to be. Moreover, I can't help but see the parallels between the experiences adolescents and teenagers have online versus encounters with writing in school.

Over the past three years, I have recorded dozens of engaged students in conferences who shared that they frequently ask other adolescents how to improve their digital writing--captions on Instagram, YouTube videos, fan-fiction, and blogging comprise some of the topics in which adolescents support one another online.

Attitude regarding writing weighs heavily on one's growth as a writer.