It's NaNoWriMo Time

November has officially started. That means that it is NaNoWriMo time. 

For those who don't know November is National (Na) Novel (No) Writing (Wri) Month (Mo). The challenge is pretty simple. Write 50,000 thousand words in 30 days. That comes to 1,667 words a day if you write 7 days a week.

I have always wanted to complete the challenge. Well, as long as I have known about it, I've wanted to complete the challenge. I think I heard about it the first time maybe three years ago. I intended to participate in NaNoWriMo the last two years, but I never officially signed up, so when complications arose early in those Novembers I quickly forgot about it.

This year I am determined. I signed up Saturday morning and thanks to the officialness of signing up, I have been able to squeak out the required word count every day.

Since this is the first time I am officially participating, I am being kind to myself. I am not worried so much about completing a novel but more about reestablishing my writing routine. I have several smaller projects that I am working on. Those are going to be the focus of my writing, and my word count, this November.

A routine is what I need more than anything.

I kind of collapsed after grad school ended. My family was in town and I deserved a break, so I took most of the summer off from writing. My plan was to get back into a routine when the school year started. Well, it is now November. The school year started twelve weeks ago and I still haven't figured out my writing routine yet.

There are no more excuses. I am the one who decided to be a writer. I need to start acting like one.

Wish me luck people. And check up on me. Accountability is a writer's best friend.

To Write Academically or To Write Creatively, That is the Question

I was searching thought my computer and I came across this essay I wrote a while back about teaching writing. I am not currently working as an English teacher, but as a child development teacher for teen parents. Still, I think this was a good reminder for my teaching practice. I will have to come up with a few writing exercises for my teen paretns. 

Image via WikiMediaCommons Artist: Henriette Browne

As a writer I find myself drawn to the issues and audiences that are a part of my everyday life. Both my career as a high school English teacher and my faith have had a hugh impact on my identity and, in consequence of this, my writing. One way my career has impacted my writing is my tendency to write about characters in their teens. I find myself drawn to the young adult genre. This is most likely a result of the fact that I interact with teens on a daily basis and on the fact that I have intentionally sought out good examples of young adult literature so that I can make reading recommendations to my students. I also have an propensity to write about educational topics and issues. I have to deal with concerns that face the field of education everyday and it only seems natural that these concerns would influence my writing. The influence of my career on my writing becomes even clearer when you consider the fact the I am currently working on a young adult novel about a futuristic world where "Proficiency" is mandatory in the educational system and dark consequences await those who fail to perform at a proficient level. Teaching is a part of my life and it always will be. I am thankful for the knowledge and experiences the last five and half years have had on my identity and my writing. 

My faith has also had a huge impact on my writing. The themes that regularly appear in my writing are connected to topics such as stewardship, faith and the courage one needs as they endure life's trials. Most of the stories I have written are not obviously religious, but I am always aware of the religious undertones as I work on a piece. I do not believe that writers have to write only what they know, but I have found inspiration from my career and my faith and I plan on continuing to use these influences as I write. 

My ultimate goal as a writing teacher is to push my students to experiment with their writing and to use it to learn something about themselves and the topics they are writing about. What this means is different for every class and every student. I break down writing into three types: academic, creative and reflective process writing. The first, academic writing includes the traditional essays and reports that I am expected to teach. These provide a nice foundation for the organization and structure that is needed in writing and are a necessary part of secondary education. The second, creative writing includes stories and poems written by the students. I include creative writing assignments in my curriculum whenever possible because I believe that such opportunities help my students develop the creative and critical thinking skills that they will need throughout their lives. The third type of writing, reflective process writing, is focused on encouraging my students to explore topics and concepts in writing as a way to help them better understand their opinions and assumptions about life. These include activities like journaling or free writing. I find these helpful in the classroom because they force my students to take a break and think about a topic with out the stress that always seems to be inherent in traditional academic writing. I believe that all three types of writing are necessary in the classroom, any classroom. It is my responsibility, as the teacher and mentor to recognize what type of writing my students need to explore at any particular moment in the curriculum. It is my responsibility to be receptive to their needs and their strengths and to encourage them to push their own writing to the next level. 

I feel that human beings always have the potential for growth. Yes, I expect my students to grow and develop, but I also expect myself to grow and develop. I am always trying to push myself as a writer and as a teacher. That is one of the reasons that I applied to Cal State San Bernardino's Masters in Fine Arts program. In the fall I entered the program as a fiction writer and I have loved the dedicated time I have been able to spend developing my craft. Teaching, however, is still an important part of my life and something that I will continue to develop. I am constantly reflecting on my practice as a teacher, particularly this year because I have transferred to the continuation high school in my district. As I have worked with my students this year I have encountered many who fight against the rigid structure required by the academic essay, and many who shut down academically when required to write an essay. Where possible I have included creative assignments in my curriculum and these assignments have engaged my students much more than essays. 

One of the questions I would like to consider is the possibility that creative writing exercises could make my students better essay writers. I believe that the "rules" of writing, the organizational and logical requirements, are necessary in all types of writing. I believe that if my students can recognize the need to provide enough characterization to develop their character then they can recognize the need to provide enough concrete details to prove their thesis. If they can recognize the value of word choice when describing a setting in their story they can recognize the value of formal word choice in an essay. I want my students to spend time actively exploring writing and developing their written voice so that they can honor themselves with every piece of writing they create, be it academic or creative.

A Mini Lesson about Dialogue and Action Tags

I am currenty leading a workshop called "Talent is Overrated." It is being held in the Pfau Library at CSUSB and is co-sponsored by Inlandia. At our last meeting one of the participants asked me to send out a mini lesson about dialogue in the next group email. This is a pretty basic lesson about dialogue and action tags, but I thought this would be a good place to share it.

One of my goals for NaNoWriMo, is to write a series of lessons about writing and surviving an MFA, so I will have a more expansive lesson about this later. In the mean time, here is a mini lesson about dialogue and action tags. 

(1) Most dialogue tags appear at the end of a sentence.

“Don’t say anything,” I whispered, continuing down the hallway. 

Remember to be careful about what verbs you use. The purpose of a dialogue tag is basic clarification about who is talking. You need to keep things clear for your reader, but the tag shouldn’t distract from the actual dialogue. Sometimes you can get away with he retorted, or she exclaimed. But these verbs can distract the reader. They take the attention away from the dialogue. And to be perfectly honest, the dialogue itself (or an action tag) should SHOW the reader that the character is giving an annoyed retort instead of TELLING them.

In the example above a verb like whispered is more acceptable because it is clarifying the volume. But even whispering can be overused. Once you have established that the dialogue is being whispered, you can return to the basic he said/ she said dialogue tag. 

* Remember, you do not need, nor should you use a dialogue tag at the end of every piece of dialogue. That is when “said” gets so annoying. 

(2) I hinted above that the most common dialogue tag is a simple - I said. 

“It’s fine,” I said.

Again, use them when needed to clarify who is talking. 

Such dialogue tags do not have to be delegated to the end of the paragraph. They can be placed in the middle of two pieces of dialogue as long as the dialogue is from the same person.

“It’s fine,” I said. “Don’t worry.” 

Remember, the larger the number of people talking in the scene, the more dialogue tags you need. If the conversation is between two people, you probably only need a dialogue tag every 4 lines or so. If three/four people are talking you will need them much more regularly. 

(3) Actions tags are a good way of breaking up the repetitive rhythm of too many of the basic he said/ she said/ I said dialogue tags. 

“We knew this might happen, Jenny.” Mr. Thompson’s head fell. “I told you to prepare yourself.” 

An action tag is exactly that. A short description of an action that the character is taking. 

In addition to clarifying who is talking, the action tag has the added benefit of setting the scene and/or developing a character. This is a fairly basic example, but we still learn a little something from the fact that Mr. Thompson’s head falls when he speaks. The dialogue would come across differently if he was running away, or holding someone back. 

Ok, that is my quick little mini lesson about dialogue and action tags. There are tons of articles on the subject all over the internet. Please feel free to research. I encourage it.  Just remember to take it slow. You don’t want, or need, to interrupt your process by worrying too much about the nit picky rules. Mistakes can always be corrected when you start editing. 

Those Who Can Do. Those Who Can't Teach

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit one of my fellow teachers in her classroom. I was pleasently surprised when I came across this picture. 

Everyone has heard the cliched insult that "Those who can do. Those who can't teach." The above picture was a refreshing twist on that saying and, in my opinion, worthly of being shared. 

The Wolves are in the Classroom

During the first year of my MFA, I enrolled in a class focused on creative writing in the secondary classroom. (I just can't get away from the field of education.) 

My English 621 class was taught by Jim (James) Brown, the author of The Los Angeles Diaries. 

Images via this book review by Silver Birch Press

As an educator I have been asked to write teaching philosophy essays countless times. While the exercise can be helpful (taking time to reflect always is), it had become tedious. Instead of writing a tradition essay, I decided to have a little fun. This is what I came up with. Professor Brown was kind enough to accept this instead of a traditional essay. 

Happy Reading.

Creative Writing in the Secondary Classroom "Essay"

Image via Deviantart. By dnfan2016

The Wolves are in the Classroom

Standing before a crowd of twenty two, the teacher waited. Her breath was held in as she prepared to speak. She felt alone in the cold expanse of her classroom which, on essay writing days, felt like a cave invaded by angry wolves instead of the sanctuary of learning it was intended to be.

She cradled the pile of crisp white papers in her hand, protecting them against the ravages of the angry wolves her students occasionally transformed into.  

The papers stood out against her self imposed uniform, a deep black knee length dress and a long dark olive green sweater, like a flaming torch in an isolated cavern. Their light could not go unnoticed and soon her students would become aware of their scent, hungry not for the nourishment they could discover in the written word but for it's destruction.

After a pause, a quick moment in which she allowed herself to collect her thoughts, the teacher exhaled her breath. The constant rise and fall of her chest became the only obvious indicator of her need for peace. She was determined to meet the day’s challenge. Once again, and despite the lack of enthusiasm of her class of wolves, she would teach them how to write an essay.

The teenaged students before her were squeezed into chairs with their backpacks at their feet. Writing implements and electronic devices were in hand as they hunched over their desks eager for conversations with their friends, musical oblivion or an hour of shut eye, but not for the coming writing assignment. 

When the teacher cleared her throat for attention, almost every eye in the room met hers, silently acknowledging her right to speak. She tried not to imagine them as wolves circling a flame of light, prepared to turn rabid at the first hint of an essay.

The teacher forced herself to smile and prayed for the ability to keep the unlikely predators at bay. She clung to her torch of papers, waving it about in an attempt to distract them and hoped to somehow be able to inspire her students, to be able to explain the assignment in just the right way so that the twenty two teenagers would pause their wolverine inclinations for a moment and make a sincere attempt to write ... something, anything. 

After the directions left her mouth, the prompt followed by words of encouragement and support, the teacher sucked in her breath and began passing out the crisp pages that held the prompt in written form. Immediately, twenty two heads slumped in defeat and dejection, calling out complaints against the teacher for daring to assign an essay and assurances that now they would fail and it would be all her fault.

But the teacher stood her ground. She had to, it was her job. She would rather be teaching her students how to write a poem or a short story, but that was not why she was placed in this cavern of teenagers. 

She was hired to tame the wolves enough that they could produce a sufficiently organized 5 paragraph essay. A literary composition native to the middle and secondary classroom that was rarely seen in the rest of the natural world, but which remained the foundational genre upon which her wolves's writing ability was assessed. 

So, the teacher began frantically searching the depths of her mind for ways to make writing as exciting to twenty two teenagers as it was to the poor teacher who faced them every day. 

Neil Gaiman

One of my fellow MFA students at CSUSB, Tracey Dover, recently shared an article/interview about Neil Gaiman on Facebook. 

Click to read the full article

One of the major questions behind the interview, which was published by "Fast Company," was how Neil Gaiman stays creative in a world full of distractions. I loved this response from him.


“It doesn’t matter what social media you’re plugged into, or what’s going on. At the end of the day, it’s still always going to be you and a blank sheet of paper, or you and a blank screen. My process as a creator is always the same. You write the thing you want to read. And you go on from there.”

The modern world is full of distractions. It is easy to fill your day until there is no time left for writing. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You have to decide that you are a writer, or an artist, or an athlete. A vital part of making that decision is devoting time to your craft. 

According to Neil Gaiman, his "2 million followers are not going to do anything to get [his] stories written for [him]." He went on to say, however, that when he faces writer's block, "I talk to Twitter, retweet and comment on a couple of interesting things, answer a question, and then feel not as lonely as I did 10 minutes earlier...and I cheerfully go back to work.”

Consider the distractions that fill up the free time in your day. Some of them, particularly the people, deserve your time and attention. Just don't forget to devote time to your craft as well. 

IF you have the time, read the full article. I have included a link below the picture. Then, tell me what you think of Gailman's words and the article's message?

Happy reading. 

A Few Writing Tips

Writing is a job. It requires passion and dedication. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise I suggest you start questioning any other pieces of "wisdom" they've given you.

Unfortunately I am not at the point where I can make writing my full time job. Don't misunderstand, I love teaching and I will always want it to be part of my life, but I wouldn't mind focusing my teaching hours on creative writing classes. In the mean time, I am having fun working with teen parents.

While I would love to pursue my writing career with the dedicaton of full time hours, that isn't possible at the moment. Because of this reality (we all have something that makes writing complicated), my writing routinees are vital to my success.

To be perfectly honest, I constantly struggle to maintain a writing routinee. Work, family, and a variety of other obligations make demands on my time. Not to mention all the time wasters that are just so tempting. (Check out my post about Writing Serial Killers). Here are a few things that have helped me stay focused when I need to finish a project.

(1) Taking Classes

Early on, I realized that I just work better with deadlines, especially deadlines that have consequences behind them. That's the reason I started taking classes at the UCR and UCLA Extension Centers. It's also the reason I enrolled in an MFA program. I know myself. I know that without the pressure of a deadline, my other responsibilites and my favorite time wasters (television and reading) get in the way of a finished draft.

(2) Personal Writing Retreats

When I have the time, and the money, I pack up my car, check into a cabin or hotel, and hide away for a few days on my own personal writing retreat. I did this for the first time over spring break during the first year of my MFA program. I was exhausted and I needed a few days to myself. I needed to unwind and then I needed to get to work. I had a lot of writing to do.

It was the first time I'd ever gone on a "vacation" by myself and it was fantastic. I spent the first day reading, watching tv and going on walks. Then I got to work. I think I got fifty pages written during those four and a half days and I became even more committed to my thesis project.

I can't recommend this practice enough. Sometimes you just need to get away and spend some time with yourself.

(3) Finding a Productive Work Place

Writing is a choice, and for me that means making a choice about where to work. It's not possible to hide away on a writing retreat all the time. I also don't have a dedicated office for writing, and that's ok. Instead, I try to make appointments with myself to get writing done. Lately I've had success when I go sit in my local frozen yogurt shop. Sometimes a writing friend joins me. The point is that I am away from all of the distractions at home and I am focuing my attention on my writing.

If you haven't noticed already, all of these routinees have something in common. They all depended on my choices. I had to decide that I wanted to be a writer. I had to decide that I would dedicate my time and attention to my craft.

You can do the same thing. Experiment with your own routinees. When and where can you fit in time to work on your art form.

I would love to hear about your process. Leave a comment below and let me know how you fit writing (or whatever your passion is) into your day.