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!  

More Inspiration from the Olympics

I don't know about you, but I'm becoming more and more inspired by the Olympic athletes I read about or see on TV.

The volley players are jumping beans. The swimmers are fish. The runners are blurs of movement. The divers are sharp knives in motion.  

What motivates a person to become an Olympic athlete? What kind of strength--physical and mental--is required to compete at that level?

Even if we're watching from the couch, we can be inspired by the sheer amount of beautiful energy we see on the screen.

What if we tried to experience--through our writing--what the athletes are going through? 

Close your eyes. Imagine you're an athlete at the starting line, on the diving board, at the edge of the pool, behind the net. What's going through your mind? What are you telling yourself as you prepare for the most important competition of your life? 

Write down your thoughts, and have fun starring in the biggest sports arena in the world! 

Olympic Gold...for Writers!

Have you been watching the summer Olympic games? 

I'm super inspired by the athletes who run, bike, spin, jump, race, swim, twist, sprint, lift, and hurdle. They perform amazing feats with their bodies that don't seem possible. 

What about writers? We perform amazing feats, too. We create fantastic tales from our imaginations. We bring characters to life. We keep going even though we may not be the next J.K. Rowling (or Michael Phelps). 

Don't we deserve a medal, too? I say YES!

Write down 5 reasons why you should win an Olympic Gold Medal in Writing. Here are mine:

1. I show up at practice every day to write.
2. I warm up for the day with a writing exercise. 
3. I struggle through the rough bits and keep my goal in mind.
4. I sprint to the finish when the story end is in sight. 
5. I do the heavy lifting of revising to make my story better. 

What are your 5 reasons? Make your list and take a bow. And don't forget to hum your national anthem! 

Setting a Story on a Cloud

I read on Discover Magazine's blog that a representative from the National Center for Atmospheric Research said that a single, small, white, cotton-ball cloud weighs about the same as 100 (4-ton) elephants.

Wow. 


The weight comes from all the water that's in that cloud. Makes you see clouds differently, doesn't it?


Try this: Set a story on a cloud. It can be a small, white, cotton-ball cloud, but remember, the cloud is actually dense with heavy moisture. 


Who would live on a cloud? Would they wear raincoats and boots? Or would they have special skin that has adapted to all that heavy water weight? 


What would houses be like on a cloud? Would the houses have special roofs? Or would there be no houses at all? 


What would people eat and drink? What would the gardens be like? 


What would your story conflict be? Maybe, despite all that moisture, there's a water war. Or someone on the cloud is allergic to water. Or....use your imagination! 


Setting can be fun to play with in a story, and what's more fun than playing on a cloud?  

Dictionary Fun

What? What's fun about reading the dictionary in the middle of summer???  


Yes, it can be fun. Honest. I'm not kidding. Words and definitions are weird and wonderful. 


Try this: 


Find a dictionary. Maybe it's a beat-up old dictionary you've had around the house for a while. Or an online dictionary. Or a small paperback dictionary you carry around in your backpack.


Pick a letter at random. Let's say "t." 


Find five words under the letter "t" that you don't know the meaning of. I found T-zone, tabard, traduce, tole, and tinea. Read the definitions, just for fun.  


Pick your favorite word and write a story about it.  (Tinea means ringworm--ooh, don't want to write about that.) I picked tole. That means "painted, enameled, or lacquered tinplate used to make decorative domestic objects." (That means "objects around the house.")


What if a boy walks into an antique store and finds an old pot made of tole? And what if the antique store owner warns the boy that anyone who puts water into that pot will cause something bad to happen? What if the boy doesn't believe him? What if he buys the pot, takes it home, and fills it with water?


What could happen next? 


The dictionary is a treasure trove of ideas....even in summer!