Color

It's fall, and that means fall leaves! 

To me, the best thing about leaves in the fall is their color. (But I also love the crunchy sound they make when you kick your legs through them.) 

Red, yellow, orange, brown. Yawn.

How about a more exciting way to describe autumn leaves? When we add specific colors to our writing, our descriptions become more concrete and vivid.

A yellow leaf? Try ocher, mustard-yellow, saffron, flaxen.

Red? Wine, scarlet, crimson, blood-colored. 

Orange? Tangerine, coral, salmon, reddish-yellow.

For those of you with fall leaves outside your door, check out the incredible range of colors. Try describing a leaf in a poem: 

Falling

The crimson maple leaf

twirls toward the ground

like a glass of wine 

spilling ruby drops. 

A Hedgehog Story

Yellow Pencils is back from England! I had a great time walking through the countryside, eating mushy peas and brown sauce (not as bad as they sound), and listening to the bleating of thousands of sheep. 

I did have one disappointment, though. As I was walking on footpaths along the hedgerows, I really, really wanted to see a hedgehog. Sadly, I never did. 

I love hedgehogs. Maybe it's their shyness, or their cute snouts, or the way they look like pincushions with eyes. Whatever it is, they really capture my imagination.

So I'm dedicating this Yellow Pencils post to hedgehogs and invite you to write a story about one. What's a good hedgehog name? Harry? Bob? Gertrude? 

What does a hedgehog want more than anything in the world? To be brave? To sail across the ocean? To open a world-famous restaurant under the hedge?

Have fun writing a hedgehog story, and don't forget the mushy peas! 

Yellow Pencils Goes to England!

Yellow Pencils is taking a vacation--or should I say holiday--to England! I'll be doing a 125-mile hike through the English countryside. 

While I walk, I'll be inspired by the country that produced William Shakespeare, Roald Dahl, E. Nesbit, Lewis Carroll, Philip Pullman, Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, and so many more writers. 

Of course, I'll keep my notebook tucked inside my backpack. Each day, I plan to write down and describe one unusual thing I see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. From stone fences and bleating sheep, to Treacle Tart and Bubble 'n Squeak, England will be a blast to my senses! 

At the end of my walk, I'll have 15 descriptions. I plan to match each description with a photo for my own personal writer's journal of my journey. 

Even if you're not traveling, try describing one unusual thing each day for the next two weeks. Can you discover things close to home that open your senses to new experiences? That's what travel does--and sometimes you don't even have to leave home. 

Yellow Pencils returns October 2nd. Cheerio!  

Back to School!

Good luck to all of you heading back to school this week. I hope you have a fun, fabulous, and fantastic year!  

With sports, homework, and friends, it can be hard to find time to write during the school year. If you want to keep up your personal creative writing, try writing for 15 minutes a day. I wrote about that here. 

What to write about when you start school? Try these ideas for a 15-Minute Story: 

• The Cafeteria Lady Who Was an Alien
• The Teacher Who Vanished
• The Principal Who Turned into a Woolly Mammoth
• The Librarian Who Got Swallowed Up by a Book

Remember, 15 minutes a day. That's less time than it takes to watch a TV show, walk the dog, or find your homework in your backpack.

Happy school year and happy writing!  

An End of Summer Poem

Do you feel sad when summer comes to an end? I do. Right now I'm sitting in our yard swing on a gorgeous sunny day. The sun and breeze feel good on my skin, the air smells like the cedar trees around me, and I'm drinking grape juice with fizzy water. I swear I can also smell the blackberries ripening on the bushes down the road.

Because I love summer so much, it's always hard to say good-bye. I'm in the mood to tell summer why I love it so much, using metaphors (similes without "like" or "as") to fill in the lines. 

Scroll down to read my Summer Poem. Feel free to join in and write your own! 

Summer Poem

Summer, your sun is ____________________________________.

Your trees are _________________________________________.

Your shade is _________________________________________.

Summer, your sidewalks are _____________________________.

And your sky is _______________________________________.

Summer, why do I love you? 

Because your days are __________________________________

and your nights are ____________________________________.

Summer, you're the best! You're a ________________________.

Summer Poem

Summer, your sun is an exploding firework. 

Your trees are lime-green popsicles. 

Your shade is a dark, deep pool.  

Summer, your sidewalks are sizzling pancake griddles. 

And your sky is a big, blue umbrella.

Why do I love you? 

Because your days are a long, lazy bike ride  

and your nights are a cool, soft blanket.

Summer, you're the best! 

You're a jewel in my year. 

Magic Pen Story Starters Part II

This is my second week of teaching summer writing workshops, and what a great group of writers! Some of the stories by the young authors involve a decathlete, a secret room, a fire-station dalmatian, a journey through a garden, a fight for plunder, a gift involving a very special dog, a banana with a mind of its own, an adventure for Goldilocks, and some dragons with attitude. 

Here's a sample of more Magic Pen Story Starters using first and last lines: 

Write a story with this first line: 

• All my life I wanted to be a rock.
• The notebook sighed, wondering why it was destined to be written in and thrown out. 
• The worst thing about living in a desk drawer is the paper clip that won't stop talking.
• "No."

Write a story with this last line:

• "Got you," she said, skipping away.
• At the end, Dad told me to clean up the atomic waste in my room.
• The spaghetti-eating contest was the most fun a mouse and a lizard could have.
• And that's why I always wear orange tennis shoes.

Happy writing!  

Magic Pen Story Starters

I'm teaching summer writing camps over the next two weeks--for ages 8 to 11 and ages 12 to 14. Super fun! I'm inspired by every single writer who walks through the door. Anyone who spends part of their summer vacation at a writing workshop is my kind of person! 


A lot of the young writers have story ideas, but some are looking for a prompt to get them going. For those writers I have "Magic Pen Story Starters." 

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll give you a sample. 

Write a story about:

• an elephant that wants to win a skateboard competition
• a boy who wants to be the broccoli-eating champ in his school
• a tree that wants to live in the desert
• a girl who wants to work in a shoelace factory

Write a story with one of these titles:

• "Goldilocks Moves to Hollywood"
• "The Barnyard Blog"
• "The Big Yellow Sky Falls Down"
• "The Diary of a Paper Clip"

Maybe you'll be inspired by one of the "Magic Pen Story Starters." If so, get out your pen--magic or otherwise--and start writing!