Week 2 Day 3

Today was another exciting day in the world of literature! Patty and I were finally able to attend Deb’s famous WORDS IN PLAY WORKSHOP!! It was spectacular! The group was so eclectic, and dynamic that while I was there, I was completely reminded of the book Patty and I are writing. This special group of people was so different and unique, yet so uniformed with their enthusiasm for writing, as this is the underlying message of our book. The family of turtles is so opposite from one another, but that’s what makes the group a community and so special as a whole. I picked up Patty a little before 9 today and we headed through New London, and up to Deb’s cottage for the workshop. As people filed into the cottage, Deb rang her bell, which is a symbol for the start of class. We filled the class time with a free write, and a creative story write. The free write was a warm up exercise to get our creative “juices” flowing.” This write is for five minutes, and one is not allowed to lift their pen/pencil off of the paper. This is to stop the “editor” inside oneself, and to just let the “creator” take over. We then discussed the importance of a free write, and went onto talk about Scene vs. Summary. The main point of this discussion was to understand that a scene is the action of the writing, and a summary is the rest. In a scene a reader in involved and wants more, as with a summary the reader is in “rest position.” Summaries are where most detail and elaborations occur. After this discussion we played a writing game in which Deb had us pick three different pieces of paper out of three different boxes, and we would have to write a short story in 15 minutes based on the three things on the papers. The three pieces of paper included a subject, a scenario, and a setting. This task was more difficult than the free write as one had guidelines to follow. One had to write about these three things, and could not change their mind about the story objects because they did not like them. The class was given 15 minutes for this to be completed, and these stories were then shared. We discussed the importance of scene vs. summary in each short story shared, and were asked to recognize the difference between the two at each stories end. I was able to completely comprehend the difference between scene vs. summary at the end of the class. I was very meek in the beginning of the class period, as I do not feel I hold the best creative writing skills. At the end of class I was able to be a little bit more comfortable and confident in the words that I write down on my paper. I was thrilled to have been able to finally go to a workshop hosted by Deb! It was an awesome experience, and I can’t wait until next week where we will be able to go back again for one last time! Tomorrow Patty, Deb and I are traveling to Charlesbridge Publishing House, which is right near Boston! We have a morning appointment, and I can’t wait to see the inner workings of a publishing house!

Until next time muggles.