Writing Game

I make a terrible soccer mom. I forget water bottles, knee pads, and practice start times. I'm also terribly awkward when it comes to socializing with the other parents.

Since we're preparing for another out of state move, I decided to work on my social game at flag football practice the other night. My son had told me one of the boys (Bruce? Wayne?) had been on his soccer team last fall. So I approached his mom, introduced myself, and said, "I think our boys were on the same team last fall." Her response, "It's possible." Hmph.

Volleyball mom has been a little easier, if only because the moms are super friendly: "Hi! I'm Deb," "Good to meet you, I'm Debra." "Oh, are you new? Hi! I'm Debbie." However, my introverted ways got the best of me, and I was soon nose deep in a David Sedaris essay. Thankfully, one of the moms persisted and asked what I was reading. Lo and behold we discovered we both teach writing. This is her first year teaching, and so we were soon discussing rubrics, teacher training, and books about writing.

All this to say... here are three of my go-to books for teaching writing.

The Curious Writer by Bruce Ballenger - Ballenger is my superhero. He includes reader friendly explanations, critical thinking skills, engaging examples, and whole chapters on workshopping and revising.

A long-time fan of McSweeney's, I discovered 826 when we lived in Ann Arbor.  Don't Forget to Write (available in elementary and secondary versions) by 826 National has lessons galore to prompt even the most indifferent student.

Creating Writers by Vicki Spandel offers student examples and practical fixes for common problems. The best part? The companion website.

Go, team.

Sick Days

Having had a cold this week, most evenings saw me in bed earlier than usual. Luckily I had two thick books to see me through. 

The God of the Hive by Laurie R King

Holmes' brother Mycroft, son Damien, and granddaughter Estelle are in trouble in this novel from the Mary Russell series.
 

Mary's latest challenge is not the miffed Scotland Yard detectives nor the nefarious criminals after her, but the small child in her care: "I had much to learn about small children. Such as the ability to ride pickaback, and the inability to whisper. "

Or fall asleep during a Texas thunderstorm.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Weighing in at 720 pages, this novel captures the lives of four college friends as they proceed through graduations, first jobs, crappy apartments, and career breaks. Willem is the actor. JB is an artist. Malcolm is an architect. Jude is the lawyer. With harrowing backstories, insightful flashbacks, adoptive fathers, and peripheral lovers, this novel is fascinating to read. Nodding off from the Sudafed is not a problem since this one is easy to dip in and out of for observations, ruminations, and introspections of friendship.

 

 

"slightly sinister postcards"

Koozies from a third-cousin’s wedding. A shoebox full of novelty pencils with inefficient erasers collected from birthday party treat bags and church carnivals. Yellowed copies of newspaper clippings of University News features articles, circa 1997. The Christmas wreath painting made with a three-year-olds footprints.

These are the possessions that keep me up at night, fueling my fears I am on my way to becoming a hoarder.

Enter the cautionary tale. The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell centers around the home of Lorelei Bird. Lorelei loves Easter, her four children, and every scrap of shiny paper produced by either. As each child moves away, his or her room becomes not only a shrine but a room-sized storage bin for thrift store finds and bulk items bought on sale. Eventually, as she ages, her piles and stacks grow, leaving only a small space for a laptop and an armchair. 

After she dies, her daughter Meg arrives to sort through the mess. Hidden beneath the kindergarten paintings and Easter candy wrappers are the various threads of the story that pulled the family apart. Slowly, through this process of purging, Meg is able to reconnect with the estranged members of her family. Together, they not only clean out the house, but air its dusty corners. 

So will the koozies make the cut in our upcoming move? Ask my daughter in forty years.

"Sympathy butters no parsnips"

As the leaves start to fall on this side of the pond, fans of this show begin counting down the days until January. 

While you're waiting, you might as well read…

Atonement by Ian McEwan after multiple readings never disappoints.  Briony, age 13, misinterprets a brief scene she witnesses in the library and changes lives in ways even the impending war cannot.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton shifts between 1924 and 1999. When a modern filmmaker decides to make a movie about the Hartford sisters, she finds a primary source in former housemaid Grace Bradley. As Grace thinks back to her years in service, she remembers not the glamour of the times, but the craftily concealed deceit.  

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton opens in 1913 with a four-year-old wandering aboard a ship bound for Australia. The little girl grows up with her adopted family and decade after decade discovers another part of her mysterious past. When she dies, she bestows an English cottage to her grieving granddaughter. Tracing her grandmother’s steps back to England, she fits the pieces together for the reader.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters looks at a once stately household now fallen into disrepair. The Ayres family is befriended by a lonely country doctor. He soon discovers that their ailments are hauntingly difficult to diagnose.