Writing, and whether it can be "just learned"
Sandra Dodd
Looking for something, I found something else. This happens to me several times a day. It's the best part of life, the randomizers in effect all around me.
It is a tiny bit of writing by my son Kirby after he was already a grown man. It was the response to an unschooling mom asking to use a photo in public, and the photo happened to include Kirby, but it wasn't going to be *about* Kirby. He wrote:
"Yes, it's perfectly fine for you to use my name and picture. Unless I'm doing something wildly illegal, it's always okay. However, if I'm doing something that is wildly illegal AND awesome, I insist it be posted."
It's a throw-away bit of friendliness. It's probably also honest. :-) And it's clever, and fun.
People with younger kids who "are not writing," think again. Are they joking with you and others? When they ask questions, do they think a bit so they can word the question clearly? Are they starting to choose one word over another, for some dramatic or emotional or humorous or feelings-sparing reason? Writers need to do those things.
When they answer questions about a movie they've seen, do they take their audience into consideration? Who wants the short version, and who wants the long one? Who would rather hear about the characters than the action sequence? Writers need to think of those things.
Marty (at 25) on facebook at the end of the long day when the clutch went out on his Jeep when he was by himself and 300 miles from home:
I left the clean-up before 7am this morning didn't make it home till about 9pm. But thanks to good people in my life, I came home to dinner, love, and dessert. Also my car isn't in Trinidad.
Thanks for all the help.
I only freaked out a little.
(He and a few dozen others had been moving brush and pulling cactus on some private land in Colorado, to get it ready for a week-long campout—voluntarily, for free, paid their own way, used their own tools... but Keith and I paid for the clutch replacement. He's talking about Colorado's Trinidad, not the West Indies, though he is going to Puerto Rico for his honeymoon in November.)
That's not poetry. It's not fancy writing. But it showed safety (to those who wondered if he had ever made it home), gratitude, safety and humor.
Writers need to know how to express those things.
Holly, on Twitter, in her proile, says
Beware: Candor ahead
That is word artistry. Sparse. Rhythmic. Informative.
One tweet was: "Contemplating purpose of and reasons for clothes. #InMyOwnWorld"
She's not going to think those things without calling on what she knows of history, geography, religion and culture. And she used the prepositions well.
The next tweet was grammatically low-brow:
"Picked myself out a tacky Target shirt #swag"
Then there was a photo of just enough of the Jurrasic Park crop top with the rainbowy-reflective dinosaur logo.
"Contemplating the purpose of clothes" got formal grammar.
Tacky swag from Target got "proper" informal grammar.
Writers need to know the difference.
I wanted to bring those things all into one place to remind people that what writing needs is a large range of things that begin and expand outside of and away from "paper" or writing of any sort. A familiarity with the range of the language, of voice and tone (without knowing those words, it's easy), of funny words, scary words, plain and fancy words. That comes from listening to comedy, watching award-winning films, and YouTube videos, reading (or hearing someone read) comics, artsy menus, advertisements, legal notices, warning signs, brass plaques on government buildings. Tweets. Posts on yahoogroups or facebook. Post cards. Business letters and birthday cards.
Writing is thinking clearly. For unschoolers writing will be helped by a kid having the confidence that if someone asks him about a movie or the lyrics of a song, that person will listen to his report, and to his opinion, and if he's misheard the words or misunderstood the plot, that they will help him understand it.
Please feel free to add what I might have forgotten that will help a child become an adult who writes. I'll put this somewhere "out there" (more easily found) when I like it. If you have samples and stories of your kids' writing, please share.
I was going to write more, but Keith wants to take me to dinner. WOOHOO!!!
Sandra
It is a tiny bit of writing by my son Kirby after he was already a grown man. It was the response to an unschooling mom asking to use a photo in public, and the photo happened to include Kirby, but it wasn't going to be *about* Kirby. He wrote:
"Yes, it's perfectly fine for you to use my name and picture. Unless I'm doing something wildly illegal, it's always okay. However, if I'm doing something that is wildly illegal AND awesome, I insist it be posted."
It's a throw-away bit of friendliness. It's probably also honest. :-) And it's clever, and fun.
People with younger kids who "are not writing," think again. Are they joking with you and others? When they ask questions, do they think a bit so they can word the question clearly? Are they starting to choose one word over another, for some dramatic or emotional or humorous or feelings-sparing reason? Writers need to do those things.
When they answer questions about a movie they've seen, do they take their audience into consideration? Who wants the short version, and who wants the long one? Who would rather hear about the characters than the action sequence? Writers need to think of those things.
Marty (at 25) on facebook at the end of the long day when the clutch went out on his Jeep when he was by himself and 300 miles from home:
I left the clean-up before 7am this morning didn't make it home till about 9pm. But thanks to good people in my life, I came home to dinner, love, and dessert. Also my car isn't in Trinidad.
Thanks for all the help.
I only freaked out a little.
(He and a few dozen others had been moving brush and pulling cactus on some private land in Colorado, to get it ready for a week-long campout—voluntarily, for free, paid their own way, used their own tools... but Keith and I paid for the clutch replacement. He's talking about Colorado's Trinidad, not the West Indies, though he is going to Puerto Rico for his honeymoon in November.)
That's not poetry. It's not fancy writing. But it showed safety (to those who wondered if he had ever made it home), gratitude, safety and humor.
Writers need to know how to express those things.
Holly, on Twitter, in her proile, says
Beware: Candor ahead
That is word artistry. Sparse. Rhythmic. Informative.
One tweet was: "Contemplating purpose of and reasons for clothes. #InMyOwnWorld"
She's not going to think those things without calling on what she knows of history, geography, religion and culture. And she used the prepositions well.
The next tweet was grammatically low-brow:
"Picked myself out a tacky Target shirt #swag"
Then there was a photo of just enough of the Jurrasic Park crop top with the rainbowy-reflective dinosaur logo.
"Contemplating the purpose of clothes" got formal grammar.
Tacky swag from Target got "proper" informal grammar.
Writers need to know the difference.
I wanted to bring those things all into one place to remind people that what writing needs is a large range of things that begin and expand outside of and away from "paper" or writing of any sort. A familiarity with the range of the language, of voice and tone (without knowing those words, it's easy), of funny words, scary words, plain and fancy words. That comes from listening to comedy, watching award-winning films, and YouTube videos, reading (or hearing someone read) comics, artsy menus, advertisements, legal notices, warning signs, brass plaques on government buildings. Tweets. Posts on yahoogroups or facebook. Post cards. Business letters and birthday cards.
Writing is thinking clearly. For unschoolers writing will be helped by a kid having the confidence that if someone asks him about a movie or the lyrics of a song, that person will listen to his report, and to his opinion, and if he's misheard the words or misunderstood the plot, that they will help him understand it.
Please feel free to add what I might have forgotten that will help a child become an adult who writes. I'll put this somewhere "out there" (more easily found) when I like it. If you have samples and stories of your kids' writing, please share.
I was going to write more, but Keith wants to take me to dinner. WOOHOO!!!
Sandra
Robin Stevenson
Hi. I'm a long-time reader who never posts, but I was struck by Sandra's words about learning to write and wanted to share my thoughts and experience with this. I think it is very important to recognize that learning to write is about so much more than putting words on paper, and that a child who rarely picks up a pen may in fact still be learning to write.
My son went to kindergarten and didn't like it at all. He especially did not like been pushed to read aloud and being pushed to write (mostly repetitive worksheets to practice writing letters). We pulled out of school when he was six. I could see that the pressure had made him resistant to both reading aloud and writing while in school, and I very much did not want to replicate this at home, or have homeschooling negatively effect our relationship.
So I read a lot and when we left school, we eased into unschooling-- and spent the next couple of years doing all kinds of fun things. Lots of science experiments and building projects. I read to him tons. We talked a lot. He very rarely picked up a pen. It was a full year before he started spontaneously reading things aloud to me ("hey, listen to this! Calvin and Hobbes were... etc etc").
I could see that he was happy and confident and curious and learning all the time, and so I didn't really doubt that we were doing the right thing for him and our family- but writing was the one thing I felt twitchy about. I'd find myself worrying about the fact that he never wrote at all- probably because I had taken on some of the messages from the school about him needing to practice it. I hadn't really understood that writing well is largely about thinking clearly (some irony here, in that I am a writer and teach creative writing courses for adults!) But I had seen the damage done by the school pushing him, so when I got twitchy I bit my tongue a lot, and read more, and I talked to unschoolers with older kids-- which helped enormously.
A couple of years ago, when he was eight, my son got into gaming and Minecraft-- which meant he started typing. And almost immediately he began writing- made a website, commented on people's YouTube videos and forums, started his own YouTube channel, began writing backstory for Minecraft adventure maps he was making, etc etc. He has always had an organized and logical way of thinking, a love for words and huge vocabulary, and this all showed in his writing. And- perhaps because of all the reading and conversation- he already had a great understanding of tone, voice, and of writing for a particular purpose and a particular audience.
Accurate spelling followed quickly, because he wanted to present himself well online and it mattered to him to spell correctly. More recently, he focused on punctuation and started paying attention to commas, capitalization etc. Now, at ten, he writes very well indeed. (He still never picks up a pen-- but I no longer worry about that.) When we read novels together, his observations and comments about the books (author's style, use of description,character development, strengths and weaknesses etc) show me very clearly that he is noticing and learning things that will further inform any writing he chooses to do.
I was amazed by how much of the process of learning to write, in our experience, had very little to do with actually putting words on paper. Like reading, it just seemed to happen spontaneously and almost magically- but of course, the learning had been happening for a long time and just wasn't visible. Or rather, it probably was- I was just not seeing it because it didn't look how I expected it to.
Anyway, thanks for that thought-provoking post Sandra. I look forward to reading other people's observations.
ps. I LOVE Holly's words: "Beware: Candor Ahead". Very nicely put, and it made me laugh.
Sandra Dodd
Victoria wrote something but the post had problems.
Here was the text, and the image has at the bottom, at the link below.
_____________
Sharing a little sample of writing from my 10 year old daughter. This was done in the middle of playing with her younger sister! What matters to me is that it looks like she relished every drop of ink and every letter formed doing this. I know that because there was a reason for her writing it out. It was part of the game, it meant something to them at the time :-D
Some words may not be spelled correctly but that does not matter to me, we talk about how words are spelled comparing them to how they sound and that there are many contradictions. That's fun. I like that we enjoy the occasional chat and dissect the English language. We unearth old language fashions from history and this leads onto so many other subjects.
_______________
http://sandradodd.com/writing/seeing
Robin Stevenson, would it be okay with you if I quote your post on that page too?
Sandra
Here was the text, and the image has at the bottom, at the link below.
_____________
Sharing a little sample of writing from my 10 year old daughter. This was done in the middle of playing with her younger sister! What matters to me is that it looks like she relished every drop of ink and every letter formed doing this. I know that because there was a reason for her writing it out. It was part of the game, it meant something to them at the time :-D
Some words may not be spelled correctly but that does not matter to me, we talk about how words are spelled comparing them to how they sound and that there are many contradictions. That's fun. I like that we enjoy the occasional chat and dissect the English language. We unearth old language fashions from history and this leads onto so many other subjects.
_______________
http://sandradodd.com/writing/seeing
Robin Stevenson, would it be okay with you if I quote your post on that page too?
Sandra
Sandra Dodd
-=-When we read novels together, his observations and comments about the books (author's style, use of description,character development, strengths and weaknesses etc) show me very clearly that he is noticing and learning things that will further inform any writing he chooses to do. -=-
Holly read at 11. By "read" I mean fluidly, real writing. Not sounding things out painstakingly, but seeing a word and knowing what it represented.
It happened over just a few weeks, from frustratedly sounding out words in the first half Are you there, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, to sliding through the second half of it and asking me about the original writing on which the movie Stand By Me (her favorite since she was three or four) was based. That's a novella called "The Body," I said, so we went and bought a used copy right then, and she read it. So even though she was "a late reader," the second thing she read was Stephen King. And that story is about a kid who becomes an author—the narration is him talking about a childhood adventure, and within that story are a couple of stories written (not as well) when the fictional main character was a kid. :-) In the voice of a kid-writer who will grow up to be better. And Holly, at 11 (fifth or sixth grade age, in U.S. school terms) was discussing the contrast of styles as well as anyone could. It was cool
Her vocabulary was already big, before she could read. She was already writing before she could read, by narrating things I would type and print, and she would copy. But that wasn't writing I got excited about. That was experimentation. What I was excited about were her analyses of video game stories, and her reports of what her friends had said or done, and what Holly said, and how she felt about it later. I was excited about puns and rhymes and jokes. She was rolling and frolicking in words and phrases and sounds and meanings.
Sandra
*
P.S. Holly was not "a late reader." She was not on the assembly line created by schools with "graded readers" which give the appearance of reading in children who are recognizing and guessing at a limited number of words with one or two syllables, and no tricky spellings. I taught Jr. High (kids 12-15) and few of them could have read Stephe King, and few of those who could have would've been very analytical.
Holly figured reading out, without being held back from learning thousands of words that elementary curriculum would have said were "too hard" for her. There are sentences that go on for several lines, and "bad words." Sad parts. Scary parts. Gross parts. Funny parts. It wasn't the bland say-nothing stories in elementary school reading books. And as she read, Holly pictured the movie, talked about the changes that were made and speculated about why. She thought it should've stayed in New England, and not Oregon. Some things she explained to me wouldn't have been easy to film, or wouldn't have helped the story.
I could go on. I have. :-)
http://sandradodd.com/writing
http://sandradodd.com/reading
http://sandradodd.com/language/ (Fun and Games with "Language Arts")
http://sandradodd.com/language/shortbursts (Little Gems of Language Use)
Holly read at 11. By "read" I mean fluidly, real writing. Not sounding things out painstakingly, but seeing a word and knowing what it represented.
It happened over just a few weeks, from frustratedly sounding out words in the first half Are you there, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, to sliding through the second half of it and asking me about the original writing on which the movie Stand By Me (her favorite since she was three or four) was based. That's a novella called "The Body," I said, so we went and bought a used copy right then, and she read it. So even though she was "a late reader," the second thing she read was Stephen King. And that story is about a kid who becomes an author—the narration is him talking about a childhood adventure, and within that story are a couple of stories written (not as well) when the fictional main character was a kid. :-) In the voice of a kid-writer who will grow up to be better. And Holly, at 11 (fifth or sixth grade age, in U.S. school terms) was discussing the contrast of styles as well as anyone could. It was cool
Her vocabulary was already big, before she could read. She was already writing before she could read, by narrating things I would type and print, and she would copy. But that wasn't writing I got excited about. That was experimentation. What I was excited about were her analyses of video game stories, and her reports of what her friends had said or done, and what Holly said, and how she felt about it later. I was excited about puns and rhymes and jokes. She was rolling and frolicking in words and phrases and sounds and meanings.
Sandra
*
P.S. Holly was not "a late reader." She was not on the assembly line created by schools with "graded readers" which give the appearance of reading in children who are recognizing and guessing at a limited number of words with one or two syllables, and no tricky spellings. I taught Jr. High (kids 12-15) and few of them could have read Stephe King, and few of those who could have would've been very analytical.
Holly figured reading out, without being held back from learning thousands of words that elementary curriculum would have said were "too hard" for her. There are sentences that go on for several lines, and "bad words." Sad parts. Scary parts. Gross parts. Funny parts. It wasn't the bland say-nothing stories in elementary school reading books. And as she read, Holly pictured the movie, talked about the changes that were made and speculated about why. She thought it should've stayed in New England, and not Oregon. Some things she explained to me wouldn't have been easy to film, or wouldn't have helped the story.
I could go on. I have. :-)
http://sandradodd.com/writing
http://sandradodd.com/reading
http://sandradodd.com/language/ (Fun and Games with "Language Arts")
http://sandradodd.com/language/shortbursts (Little Gems of Language Use)
BRIAN POLIKOWSKY
Gigi learned to read last year at 7 years old. I mean read fluently pretty much anything. In the beginning of May she was not reading. She could read some words and it was adding up but she was not reading. By the end of June she was reading pretty much anything apart for some names.
Just a month of so ago she entered a contest on Youtube on one of her favorite Youtubers video that they were supposed to write/create a character. She won.
Here is what she wrote ( she is 8 now)
<<<Name: Blood (female)
Appearance: Black fur with dark red dots, wears a spiked collar, On her paw she wears a glove reinforced with dog claws, With a sword on her back, On her head she has horns
Fighting: Her horns are for badly wounding animals, Well her swords she barely uses is only for killing, Her spike collar is for only fighting and she takes it off to throw Personality: Wild, Annoying sometimes , Not forgiving, And most of all Very mean and and not nice TO EVEN HER ALLIES
User: Hersheybarcutie
But in my experience with my son that now is better than I am ( I know I am not great at it) she will learn more I am sure. My son now helps ME!
She has really fallen in love with the Warrior series by Erin Hunter and has been reading them non stop! some 600 pages books in about less than a week !!
She takes them everywhere to read.
Now all the writing she does in online but the other day she wrote her dad a reminder note and left in the coffee table next to him.
Something like: " Dad don't forget to check on ....name of the cow here"
My son has been writing in some wiki pages and some discussions online since he was that age too. He makes clear statements and explains his ideas well and succinctly.
I would say my kids , the ones that do not practice writing, are pretty good writers!
Alex Polikowsky
Just a month of so ago she entered a contest on Youtube on one of her favorite Youtubers video that they were supposed to write/create a character. She won.
Here is what she wrote ( she is 8 now)
<<<Name: Blood (female)
Appearance: Black fur with dark red dots, wears a spiked collar, On her paw she wears a glove reinforced with dog claws, With a sword on her back, On her head she has horns
Fighting: Her horns are for badly wounding animals, Well her swords she barely uses is only for killing, Her spike collar is for only fighting and she takes it off to throw Personality: Wild, Annoying sometimes , Not forgiving, And most of all Very mean and and not nice TO EVEN HER ALLIES
User: Hersheybarcutie
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I think that is pretty good for an 8 year old. Sure there are mistakes, specially punctuation.
But in my experience with my son that now is better than I am ( I know I am not great at it) she will learn more I am sure. My son now helps ME!
She has really fallen in love with the Warrior series by Erin Hunter and has been reading them non stop! some 600 pages books in about less than a week !!
She takes them everywhere to read.
Now all the writing she does in online but the other day she wrote her dad a reminder note and left in the coffee table next to him.
Something like: " Dad don't forget to check on ....name of the cow here"
My son has been writing in some wiki pages and some discussions online since he was that age too. He makes clear statements and explains his ideas well and succinctly.
I would say my kids , the ones that do not practice writing, are pretty good writers!
Alex Polikowsky
Alex Polikowsky
On Friday, August 15, 2014 11:01 PM, "Sandra Dodd Sandra@...
[AlwaysLearning]" <[email protected]> wrote:
-=-When we read novels together, his observations and comments about the books (author's style, use of description,character development, strengths and weaknesses etc) show me very clearly that he is noticing and learning things that will further inform any writing he chooses to do. -=-
Holly read at 11. By "read" I mean fluidly, real writing. Not sounding things out painstakingly, but seeing a word and knowing what it represented.
It happened over just a few weeks, from frustratedly sounding out words in the first half Are you there, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, to sliding through the second half of it and asking me about the original writing on which the movie Stand By Me (her favorite since she was three or four) was based. That's a novella called "The Body," I said, so we went and bought a used copy right then, and she read it. So even though she was "a late reader," the second thing she read was Stephen King. And that story is about a kid who becomes an author—the narration is him talking about a childhood adventure, and within that story are a couple of stories written (not as well) when the fictional main character was a kid. :-) In the voice of a kid-writer who will grow up to be better. And Holly, at 11 (fifth or sixth grade age, in U.S. school terms) was discussing the contrast of styles as well as anyone could. It was cool
Her vocabulary was already big, before she could read. She was already writing before she could read, by narrating things I would type and print, and she would copy. But that wasn't writing I got excited about. That was experimentation. What I was excited about were her analyses of video game stories, and her reports of what her friends had said or done, and what Holly said, and how she felt about it later. I was excited about puns and rhymes and jokes. She was rolling and frolicking in words and phrases and sounds and meanings.
Sandra
*
P.S. Holly was not "a late reader." She was not on the assembly line created by schools with "graded readers" which give the appearance of reading in children who are recognizing and guessing at a limited number of words with one or two syllables, and no tricky spellings. I taught Jr. High (kids 12-15) and few of them could have read Stephe King, and few of those who could have would've been very analytical.
Holly figured reading out, without being held back from learning thousands of words that elementary curriculum would have said were "too hard" for her. There are sentences that go on for several lines, and "bad words." Sad parts. Scary parts. Gross parts. Funny parts. It wasn't the bland say-nothing stories in elementary school reading books. And as she read, Holly pictured the movie, talked about the changes that were made and speculated about why. She thought it should've stayed in New England, and not Oregon. Some things she explained to me wouldn't have been easy to film, or wouldn't have helped the story.
I could go on. I have. :-)
http://sandradodd.com/writing
http://sandradodd.com/reading
http://sandradodd.com/language/ (Fun and Games with "Language Arts")
http://sandradodd.com/language/shortbursts (Little Gems of Language Use)
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Holly read at 11. By "read" I mean fluidly, real writing. Not sounding things out painstakingly, but seeing a word and knowing what it represented.
It happened over just a few weeks, from frustratedly sounding out words in the first half Are you there, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, to sliding through the second half of it and asking me about the original writing on which the movie Stand By Me (her favorite since she was three or four) was based. That's a novella called "The Body," I said, so we went and bought a used copy right then, and she read it. So even though she was "a late reader," the second thing she read was Stephen King. And that story is about a kid who becomes an author—the narration is him talking about a childhood adventure, and within that story are a couple of stories written (not as well) when the fictional main character was a kid. :-) In the voice of a kid-writer who will grow up to be better. And Holly, at 11 (fifth or sixth grade age, in U.S. school terms) was discussing the contrast of styles as well as anyone could. It was cool
Her vocabulary was already big, before she could read. She was already writing before she could read, by narrating things I would type and print, and she would copy. But that wasn't writing I got excited about. That was experimentation. What I was excited about were her analyses of video game stories, and her reports of what her friends had said or done, and what Holly said, and how she felt about it later. I was excited about puns and rhymes and jokes. She was rolling and frolicking in words and phrases and sounds and meanings.
Sandra
*
P.S. Holly was not "a late reader." She was not on the assembly line created by schools with "graded readers" which give the appearance of reading in children who are recognizing and guessing at a limited number of words with one or two syllables, and no tricky spellings. I taught Jr. High (kids 12-15) and few of them could have read Stephe King, and few of those who could have would've been very analytical.
Holly figured reading out, without being held back from learning thousands of words that elementary curriculum would have said were "too hard" for her. There are sentences that go on for several lines, and "bad words." Sad parts. Scary parts. Gross parts. Funny parts. It wasn't the bland say-nothing stories in elementary school reading books. And as she read, Holly pictured the movie, talked about the changes that were made and speculated about why. She thought it should've stayed in New England, and not Oregon. Some things she explained to me wouldn't have been easy to film, or wouldn't have helped the story.
I could go on. I have. :-)
http://sandradodd.com/writing
http://sandradodd.com/reading
http://sandradodd.com/language/ (Fun and Games with "Language Arts")
http://sandradodd.com/language/shortbursts (Little Gems of Language Use)
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
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<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlwaysLearning/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlwaysLearning/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
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Deb Lewis
***Writing is thinking clearly.
***
This simple truth is confirmed in this excerpt
from Steven Pinker’s new book The Sense of Style: the Thinking Person’s Guide to
Writing in the 21st Century.
It’s long but it may help worried grammar Nazi
parents relax.
Deb Lewis
Sandra Dodd
Perhaps he should have used "that" rather than "which," but this is writing that took Marty up and above a frustrating in-class situation two years ago. I never saw it until today. So he was in a class at the community college, October 2012, and posted at facebook, as a note and not an update. Writing as escapism.
___________________________
My pen is a direct extension of my mind, the ink that it spills transfers my thoughts to paper, or flesh, or what ever it will stick to if only for a moment. No matter the beauty of the image or wisdom of the thought.
In writing, my pen is my focal point, it allows my mind to transcend the woman with too many questions, or the young man who is sitting too close and seems to be getting ill. My pen flows through all the distractions and continues to produce a clear thick stream of blue, that can take me to the farthest reaches of my… My mind stumbles as the thick blue creativity slows to an indentation, the empty mold of my consciousness lacking the material to fill it.
The woman continues her interrogation of the professor with the same three questions as she has for the last month, and my pen produces lighter and thinner scribbles in the corner of my page. The clamoring plague to my left attempts to swallow his tonsils, presumably to remove any mucus which may linger there. My fruitless attempts to resuscitate my fallen companion grow more frantic. He offers me the use of his pen. A brief moment of consideration leads me to reject both his pen, and his infectious plague blood as a substitute for my lack of ink.
My pen is my focal point, stupid pen.
_______________________
Martin Dodd 2012
________________________
Sandra Dodd
From Bernadette Lynn (I deleted it mistakenly):
________________________
On 15 August 2014 00:23, Sandra Dodd Sandra@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:
People with younger kids who "are not writing," think again. Are they joking with you and others? When they ask questions, do they think a bit so they can word the question clearly? Are they starting to choose one word over another, for some dramatic or emotional or humorous or feelings-sparing reason? Writers need to do those things.
=============================================When my second daughter was four she was trying to tell me something. She started several times but kept stopping, getting more and more frustrated, until eventually she heaved a big sigh and said "I'm trying to say it without using the same word several times in one sentence because that sounds bad, but I don't know enough words".
She was nearly five and would have been in school for six months or so if we'd not decided to home educate. Our families were very worried that she hadn't yet started to learn to read and write: although she had a vast vocabulary, excellent grammar and could work out that repeating words didn't sound good, they were afraid that by not sending her to school she'd 'fall behind'.
She didn't read until just before she was seven. She wrote a lot, asking me how to spell each word, but didn't learn to write on her own until she was reading.
Here's something she wrote last year, when she was 12, for fun:Bernadette
Sandra Dodd
This is a visual, in part—something Holly wrote at 19.
We used to go to medieval campouts and sing until late, around a campfire. She's describing one of those.
The first line is in the handwriting the whole writing was in. It was at a workshop.
Her writing is a better now, but the point is that she can write well, and if she had had a keyboard, you wouldn't know she didn't have "penmanship."
http://sandradodd.com/holly/sleepstory.html
Sandra
We used to go to medieval campouts and sing until late, around a campfire. She's describing one of those.
The first line is in the handwriting the whole writing was in. It was at a workshop.
Her writing is a better now, but the point is that she can write well, and if she had had a keyboard, you wouldn't know she didn't have "penmanship."
http://sandradodd.com/holly/sleepstory.html
Sandra