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Howdy, Campers--and happy Poetry Friday!
(See below for a poem about being a writer by Richard Wilbur and for today's PF host.)

We're in the middle of TeachingAuthors' series on Summer Learning Opportunities.

So far we've heard from JoAnn--who, through her own fascinating Summer Science Experiments, is learning more about hatching monarchs in her backyard; Esther--who's learning about authors from her own fair city (Chicago), discovered four "eye-openingly insightful" blogs, learned about the "3-paragraph query," and how to "attend" the National SCBWI conference if you can't be there in person. Carla shares what she's learned about the unexpected benefits from attending an SCBWI conference, and Mary Ann inspires us with her summer Young Writer's Camp.

As for me, I'm looking forward to being on the faculty of the National SCBWI Conference from July 31 through August 2nd (with intensive workshops available for an additional fee on Monday, August 3rd). Once again I'll be critiquing manuscripts submitted by conference attendees who've paid extra for written and face-to-face critiques.

My very smart friend, author and poet Greg Pincus (who blogs at GottaBook) posted the link to this fabulous blog post on attending an SCBWI conference by art director Giuseppe Castellano...and our own Esther has written what is by now a classic essay on attending an SCBWI conference.

Esther and I come at conferences from two very different perspectives. Basically, She jumps into the fray carrying a bunch of balloons; I get overwhelmed by more than 10 people at a party.

So, here are three things I've learned about conferences (how they affect me and how I cope) in the 24 years I've attended SCBWI in Los Angeles:

1) Be kind to yourself.  This conference can be overwhelming. No--I take that back: this conference is overwhelming. This summer 1000 people are attending from around the world.

We crowd into a posh hotel over a long summer weekend. The excited, anxious, ecstatic, frightened, enthusiastic, vibrating energy of 1000 friendly/shy/talkative/mute children's book professionals and pre-professionals (thanks for that term, Carla!) can be paralyzing.  The air in any hotel over that many days with that many people gets used up. And so do I.

2) Take breaks. I usually stand in the back because there's simply TOO MUCH SITTING!  That's one way I've learned to give my body a break. I've also learned (to my astonishment) that it's okay not to attend every single session. I can actually go outside and gulp fresh air...sit on the grass with my eyes closed for a few minutes. It's amazing how so simple an action as breathing can change my body chemistry.  Ahhhhhh....


3) And I've learned that some years I just need to be VELCRO®.

Although there have been many years I couldn't wait to sign up for the conference, couldn't wait to bond with new peeps, couldn't wait to find out what everyone was doing and share what I was up to, there have been other years, too.

Years when I couldn't figure out how to write that book--the one that was going to put me on the map, years when no one had invited me to submit a poem since the Ice Age, years when I was raw, raw, raw from rejection, Those are the years when I did NOT want to attend that stupid conference.  Nope.  Not gonna do it. And you can't make me.

It's about the shame, of course. I'm judging my insides against everyone else's outsides. It's like that false fog which hovers over FaceBook where I see those sparkling photos and know that every one of my FB friends are completely fulfilled, are always at goal weight, and have (just yesterday) signed a three-book deal.  (It's true--they have, you know.)

That's when I've learned I need to VELCRO® myself to real-life friends at the conference.  Hang with them. Go into the hall with them. Choose whatever breakout session they choose--it doesn't matter. They're my peeps. My buds. The ones who believe in me...and I believe in them. They save me from the darkness every time.

So, if you're coming to the SCBWI conference, please come up and say hello!We can VELCRO® together for awhile.

And Campers--if you are going to any gathering this summer that makes you a teensy bit uneasy, a little bit insecure, maybe the following quote will help. It's helped me.

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.
click here for the rest of this poem

posted live from the floor of SCBWI's National Conference in living color and with love by April Halprin Wayland

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Howdy, Campers and happy 

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As Mary Ann mentioned on Monday, today we're sharing part 2 of our answer to an Ask the TeachingAuthors question posted by Sandra Stiles regarding resources for teaching young writers. But first, I'd like to congratulate all the writers who tackled NaNoWriMo in November. Whether or not you managed to produce 50,000 words, I commend you for attempting the Herculean feat. I'm still in the midst of the pseudo-NaNoWriMo project that I blogged about last month. So far, I've added about 23,000 words to my work-in-progress. That's 3,000 words short of where I'd hoped to be by now, but I still have a couple of weeks until my December 15 deadline. Wish me luck!

Now, back to answering Sandra Stiles's Ask the TeachingAuthors question. She asked for help in planning her after-school writing class. On Monday, Mary Ann mentioned some books with activities to inspire young writers. Today I'd like to share websites with lesson plans and other resources. Here are six, in no particular order:

• ReadWriteThink contains lots of classroom resources, including lesson plans by grade level and interactive activities. 
• National Writing Project has a list of 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing  as well as writing prompts and other resources on their site. 
• TeachPoetryK12 has its own lesson plans for teaching poetry and also links to other sites with poetry lesson plans. 
• EducationWorld offers free lesson plans, including these specifically for language arts. 
• Discovery Education provides free lesson plans as well as puzzle making tools. Their site also includes Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators, which has additional lesson plans and tools. 
• Teachers.net features teacher-submitted lesson plans along with other resources.

Many children's book publishers also provide teacher resources and lesson plans on their sites, including:
Candlewick Press, Scholastic, and Sleeping Bear Press.

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Hurrah! Hurrah!
Fellow TeachingAuthor Mary Ann Rodman's picture book A Tree for Emmy received a CYBILS nomination in the fiction picture book category!
Congratulations, Mary Ann!

And, Hurrah! Hurrah!
Award-winning Author, Teacher and University of Illinois M.S.L. candidate Esme Codell has gifted our world with yet another Life-changing blog – Hit the Ground Running, the Educating Esme Teacher Blog (for new and high-spirited pedagogues)!

Her first blog, The Planet Esme Book-A-Day-Blog, is a Must Read for anyone working with and writing for children today.
Each of Esme’s themed posts is a “Three-fer.” First, she recommends a current trade children’s book title and clearly tells you why. Next, she lists other current titles that might accompany the selection. Finally, she compares and contrasts all choices to relevant titles from the existing body of children’s literature.
The Book-A-Day Blog is a veritable Children’s Literature course in Virtual Space, bringing the Best of the Best to our attention weekly.
The blog also supports her sister site PlanetEsme.com where visitors can find additional reviews, thematic lists, links and “everything you need to become an expert in children’s literature.”

Esme’s newest blog, Hit the Ground Running, shines a much needed (and especially bright) light on Teachers as Writers.
Esme’s posts get - and keep - classroom teachers writing – with their students, for their students, and best of all, for themselves.
In fact, it’s safe to say, the posts get and keep any writer writing.
Like her Children’s Literature posts, each post’s value increases exponentially; her October 14, 2009 post “Write Your Own Teaching Journal” is nothing short of a Five-Fer.

I've always sung praise of Esme’s Book-a-Day Blog to all in my writing classes and teacher workshops.
But now I sing a new song, here, there and everywhere, as I heartily recommend Esme’s Hit the Ground Running.
Esme’s two blogs put the Energizer Bunny to shame.
Both are gifts that keep giving all year long.

Enjoy! Enjoy!

Esther Hershenhorn

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