Summer Vacation!

School's almost out for the summer! 

Maybe, if you're lucky, you're already free to sleep in, head for the beach, and….write!

We can't all go to the ocean, but we can celebrate summer in our own way. And we can make writing part of that. 

What would you like to work on this summer? Finish that story? Write poems? Explore ideas in your journal? Or write from a prompt each week?

Starting next week, Yellow Pencils will post a writing prompt each week to keep our pencils moving. 

For today, I offer a tribute to the wonders of summer. What are yours? 

Remember to use all five senses. What are the sights, sounds, smells, feels, and tastes of YOUR summer? 

Summer Brings Its Joys

Sun slants through the porch

Books fill the hours 

Shade cools my skin 

Grass tickles my legs

Crows cackle in the trees

Strawberry ice cream lingers on my tongue

Low tide releases its smells

Sunglasses slide down my nose

Summer brings its joys. 

Happy Spring!

Spring arrived this week! 

I can tell it's spring even if I close my eyes and put a clothespin on my nose. That's because I can HEAR the sounds of spring.

Today I heard 

• a duck quacking in the pond 

• a redwing blackbird tweeting (without a smartphone)

• a woodpecker knocking on a tree

• a bee buzzing near my ear 

• a hummingbird fluttering its wings

• a willow rustling its leaves

• a squirrel chattering with itself 

• and a leaf blower causing a ruckus (oh, well)

What sounds can YOU hear?

Go outside and listen. Over and under the sounds of cars, sirens, and leaf blowers, what noises and sounds tell you it's spring? 

In your notebook, make a list as I did above. The list is almost like a poem, isn't it? 

Our 5 senses are an important tool for us writers. Plus listening is fun--you may discover something when you stop and "hear" the roses. 

I haven't heard a peep from them yet, but you never know! Wonderful things happen in spring. 

Writing about Snow

This week it snowed here where I live. How about you?

Whether you get five feet of snow a year or none, you probably have some feelings about snow. When you see, hear, smell, touch (and even taste) snow falling, what emotions do you feel? 

Do you love the first snowfall of the year? Why? Do you hate snow and cold? Why?

Do you wish it would snow where you live? Do you wish it would STOP snowing where you live?

Let's write about snow. We can use our five senses--taste, touch, sight, smell, and hearing--to describe it. We can remember a fun time or a sad time when snow was falling. 

Do you wait at the window for the first snowfall? Do you hope for a blizzard so you'll get a snow day from school? 

However you feel about snow, this phenomenon from the sky is pretty amazing. 

Write about this white, fuzzy stuff that for many of us spells w-i-n-t-e-r. 

Autumn Tastes

We're always looking for ways to use the five senses in our stories, right? 

Taste can be one of the hardest senses to include. We tend to overlook taste in favor of sight, smell, sound, and touch. 

Since so many yummy foods are associated with fall, this seems like a great time of year to let taste be the star of the show. 

Here are some of my favorite fall foods. What are yours? 

• pumpkin pie
• cranberry sauce
• squash
• maple muffins
• Halloween candy (Do you have any left?)

Choose one of your favorite fall foods and describe the taste. Is it spicy? Sweet? Sour? What about the texture? Is it smooth? Chunky? 

Here's my description of baked squash with brown sugar and butter:

The bite of squash melted in my mouth. It was as smooth as the butter it swam in. The brown sugar felt wonderfully sweet and gritty against my teeth. The squash tasted like Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled up in one. 

And that's just about enough. We never want description or our five senses to slow down our story--just a bit to give our readers a burst of flavor.

Now back to that Halloween candy….

Summer Writing Prompt #11

We'll end our summer prompts with a mystery.

Summer Writing Prompt #11

Write about a treasure map and a stolen key. 

Summer Writing Prompt #10

Have you ever gone to your mailbox (I mean the physical one near your house), and it seems to be filled with junk mail? That happens to me a lot!!!

Usually the junk mail goes straight to recycling. But what if there was a very special piece of junk mail? That's our writing prompt for this week.

Summer Writing Prompt #10

Write about a piece of junk mail that changes someone's life.

Summer Writing Prompt #9

Writing about food is always fun…especially when the food is cupcakes! 

What about those hardworking people who make these fantastic creations for us to eat---the cupcake decorators. What if one of them enters the "Ultimate Cupcake Contest," but things don't turn out quite as planned? 

Summer Writing Prompt #9

A cupcake decorator enters the Ultimate Cupcake Contest

Summer Writing Prompt #8

Have you ever been in a place where you don't speak the language?

Whether your answer is yes or no, imagine eating in a cafe where you can't read the menu! After you order, will you be served raw octopus or a yummy chocolate dessert?

Summer Writing Prompt #8

Write about a cafe with a menu in an unfamiliar language. 

Summer Writing Prompt #7

Every time I hear a police siren, I wonder what's happening. How about you? 

Use your imagination to "hear" the siren and write a story to go with it. Is there a robbery in progress? Has there been an accident? Is a cat stuck in a tree?

Summer Writing Prompt #7

A police siren

Summer Writing Prompt #6

Maybe you love dogs, or maybe not so much--but have you ever tried sitting in the back seat of a car with three of them???

Write about just that for our prompt this week:

Summer Writing Prompt #6

Riding in the back seat of a car with three dogs

Summer Writing Prompt #5

If you love to read (like me), you'll probably read anything…even cereal boxes! Doesn't it seem like a waste to toss that colorful cardboard box into the recycling bin?

Imagine if something else happened to the empty box that held your yummy morning cereal. 

Summer Writing Prompt #5

A museum that displays cereal boxes 

Summer Writing Prompt #4

Shoes are one of those things that can bring up a lot of emotion….your favorite beat-up sneakers, the shoes you wore on the first day of kindergarten, or the flip-flops you live in all summer. 

For this week's prompt, we'll write about a traveling pair of shoes:

Summer Writing Prompt #4

A pair of shoes found in an empty suitcase

Summer Writing Prompt #3

This week, our writing prompt has to do with…garbage?

Summer Writing Prompt #3

A garbage bag that holds a treasure

Summer Writing Prompt #2

I hope you had fun with the magical sand pail last week. Did you go on an adventure or capture pirates? 

This week, we're heading to space:

Summer Writing Prompt #2

A space station run by dogs

5 Ways to Keep Writing This Summer

This Saturday is the official start of summer! 

Maybe you're out of school already. Maybe today is your last day. Congratulations! 

Many of us like to keep writing during the summer. How do we do that? Let me count the ways….at least up to 5. 

1. Carry a notebook and a pencil with you everywhere. A small notebook that fits into your pocket is perfect. Write down  your thoughts, funny lines you overhear, and anything else that strikes you as odd or interesting. Yes, this counts as "real" writing.

2. Summer spelled backwards is Remmus. Write a story with a character with this name. Tie in the name with summer.

3. Have you played the cloud game? What shapes and characters can you see in the clouds? Don't just let them drift by…create a story for them. 

4. Most dogs and cats love summer. Write a story from their point of view. Maybe your dog or cat wins a vacation to the Doggie or Kitty Spa across town. What happens? (Can you say disaster?)

5. Finally, write about your favorite summer foods. There are so many! Popsicles, ice cream, corn on the cob…you make your list. Then turn your list into a yummy, delicious poem.

Have fun. Enjoy the sun. And keep your pocket notebook handy. 

Writing a Spring Story!

Winter ends this Thursday, March 20th. Happy Spring!

Nature's waiting to burst out with new sounds and smells. Grass is growing. Buds are budding. Leaves are leafing. 

All sorts of living creatures are happy spring has finally arrived. 

I think this caterpillar is.

And so is this tree frog. 

To celebrate spring, write a story about these two friends. Or maybe they're not friends. 

Stories need conflict, right? What could be the problem between these two? How will they solve their problem or conflict? 

Write "The Caterpillar and the Tree Frog," or give your story its own, unique title. Don't forget to include sounds, smells, and "feels." 

Spring is about being alive, so bring your story to life!

Olympics for Writers

I love the winter Olympics. 

It's exciting to watch the athletes go for the gold. Whether they're skiing, skating, snowboarding, bobsledding, curling, running the luge, or doing the half-pipe, the winter Olympians inspire. 

These amazing athletes give it their all, and then find the strength to give even more. 

Strength. Endurance. Perseverance. Wouldn't an Olympic athlete make a great character to write about? 

Try doing just that. Create a fictional character who competes at the Winter Olympics. Which sport does he or she participate in? What motivates this character to practice a sport at the very highest level?

Write a paragraph using a first person "I" point of view. Let your athlete tell us what it's like to win a gold, silver, or bronze medal. 

Or let your character speak about coming so close, but not earning a medal. After all, most athletes at the Olympics don't. But they still keep going. 

I find that inspiring for us writers. We may not win a gold medal, but we keep going, too. Go, writers! 

The Sounds of January

I just came back from a walk. There was so much to see, and as usual, it's easy to focus only on our sense of sight.

This time I tried to pay attention to sound. 

On my walk I heard

• a robin
• a leaf blower
• cars whooshing by
• a boat horn
• an airplane
• small brown birds hopping on some branches
• my shoes squeaking on the pavement
• a dog barking  

Before January is over, take a walk and listen. What sounds do you hear? Yours might include the hiss of snow or the brakes on a bus. 

When you're home, make a list of your sounds. Try to include at least one of them in a story you're working on.

When we include the 5 senses in our writing, we draw readers in. We invite them to experience our story in a new way. 

So be bold. Go for sound! 

Smells and Similes Part 2

Last week I wrote about fall, and I still have this beautiful season on the brain--especially the smells of fall or autumn, or whatever you like to call it. 

As I wrote about before, smell can be one of the hardest things to describe in our writing. It can help to use a simile--a comparison with "like" or "as." 

For example.

• The squash soup smelled like a sunny day at the end of October. 

• The crisp air smelled like a newly ironed shirt. 

Try using a simile to describe the smell, scent, aroma, or odor of the following things:

• Dog breath
• The inside of your refrigerator
• A banana peel on the sidewalk
• An old pizza box
• Your cat's fur
• Chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven
• A baby's hair
• A rubber band found in the back of a drawer
• A bag of Halloween candy

Smell adds texture to our stories. Similes add new layers of meaning. Combine the two, and you'll give your readers a double dose of reading pleasure--no matter what the season. 

Writing about Fall

I love fall! 

Call it autumn, fall, or just plain beautiful, this season makes me want to run outside and jump into a pile of leaves.

One of my favorite picture books about fall is Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, by Julia Rawlinson, with pictures by Tiphanie Beeke. 

Fletcher, a young fox, worries when the leaves on his favorite tree change color. Is the tree sick? 

Here's how the story starts:

The world was changing. Each morning, when Fletcher bounded out of the den, everything seemed just a little bit different. The rich green of the forest was turning to a dusty gold, and the soft, swishing sound of summer was fading to a crinkly whisper. Fletcher's favorite tree looked dull, dry, and brown.

Fletcher was beginning to get worried. 

Gorgeous writing! 

Julia Rawlinson took a risk by starting a story with description. Don't some of us skip over that part of a story? But her description is so detailed, she paints a picture of Fletcher's world.

Notice the alliteration--the soft, swishing sound of summer. She contrasts that with--dull, dry, and brown. 

Try writing your own description about fall. 

Describe one leaf that you find on the sidewalk. Or start a story with your character catching leaves as they dance through the air. 

Go outside and smell the crisp air. Each neighborhood has different scents in the fall. Write down yours, from the wood smoke rising from a chimney, to the rotting stick on the side of the road. 

Happy fall. Happy descriptions. And check out Fletcher and the Falling Leaves to find out what happens to Fletcher's tree.