How to use this Page

I've been dipping in and out of Teachers Write! for the past few weeks, using the prompts and taking the challenges as my schedule would allow.

Now that I've got a clear stretch of time to dig back into my own reading and writing life, I'm looking forward to getting more involved with the community of writers that have gathered at Kate's virtual summer camp.

And how lucky was I, that the day I got back to being more scheduled with my writing and more dedicated to my participation in Teachers Write!, the mini-lesson was given by Ruth McNally Barshaw, author/illustrator of the Ellie McDoodle books! I LOVE Ellie McDoodle!

Ruth's mini-lesson? Sketch before writing. Sketch during writing. Sketch to understand your writing (character, setting, plot -- with storyboarding).

Down to the basement I went, and look what I found waiting for me in one of the tubs stacked on the bonus desk down there:

I knew my colored pencils were there, but I forgot about the virtually unused sketch book (it's been almost 10 years since I sketched and wrote in it!!), the water colors, and the water color colored pencils that can be brushed and blended with water.

I used my camera as my digital "sketch book" when I took my walk this morning, then sat on the front porch in the shade of the oak tree,


writing and sketching from the shots I took...and from the meanderings of my brain.


There are bits and pieces of a poem-to-be about our big front yard oak tree on this page of doodling in words and images.

It made me unbelievably happy to reconnect to my artistic self in my writing process. Thank you, Kate. And thank you, Ruth!

Display Comments Add a Comment

“Making art… is a way to find meaning and order in life’s chaos, one means of keeping the wilderness at bay. Wilderness, whatever its forms—whether sorrow, alcoholism, sickness, Mother Nature—takes over if you let it.”

                                                --Clay Carmichael

 

 

…continuing our talk with author Clay Carmichael on art, life and how a stray cat influenced a novel…

 

art by Clay Carmichael

 

Q: C’mere, the wild cat, has a voice in this tale. And in fact, it’s the cat’s story that eventually sheds light on one of the central mysteries in the book. What inspired you to weave C’mere’s story in as part of the novel?

 

            “He did. The real Mr. C’mere, a neighborhood feral, was the true inspiration for Wild Things, where this story began. It’s hard for me to convey what an extraordinary soul he was, a once-in-a-lifetime animal. I was a confirmed dog person before he lumbered into my life. The quality of his devotion and love was remarkable—and I’ve only put part of his miraculous story in Wild Things.”

 

Q: You’re an author and illustrator, and your art walks through Wild Things with a life of its own. You’ve noted in the afterward that this story first came to you from a wild cat. Can you talk about the weave of art and prose and how it affected the writing of Wild Things? Was it a given that you wou

Add a Comment