Again and again, I tell kids their writing can make a difference in the world. My daughter’s schoolmate, 11 year old Tymofii Ladnyi, needs to believe it. A refugee from Ukraine, he is adapting resiliantly to life in England, but longs for a hug with his mother and little brother, back in Kyiv, and his […]
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Sharing the Joy of the Animals
How a Picture Book Enriches the World of Fisherwood Farm This year, I was honoured to serve as Nicki Fisher’s writing coach (a.k.a. book midwife), on her first picture book, “Take a Look in the Nook”. What particularly struck me about the process was the impact that the book has had on her farm – […]
Smart Writers Use Dummies . . . And Other Lessons my Mentee Taught Me
You never really know something until you teach it to someone else. I always thought this adage meant that you prove your mastery by teaching. Now I know that you groove your mastery by teaching – learning in real time, as you go. I owe the discovery to Nicki Fisher, a local alpaca farmer with […]
Student showcase – Write a fairy tale from an alternative point of view
In my March workshops, I asked participants to write a fairy tale from an alternative point of view — an exercise inspired by Mini Grey’s delightful The Pea and the Princess, narrated from the PoV of a helpful legume. They took up the challenge with spirit, and samples of their writing are now posted at this […]