Monthly Archive: September 2017

Saying Good-bye to Ballet (for now)

As I say my blog good-bye to ballet-influenced stories are articles, I want to leave you with one last reflection on dance: Ballet is an intense pursuit. Ballet dancers are truly athletes. They:  * train daily from morning until afternoon from age 12 until they retire. * perform before audiences three to four times a week during their 9-10 month season. * seldom have more than two weeks off at a time during the year. * maintain their bodies through eating protein-filled snacks and meals. * learn precise body placement movements as well as choreography. Professionals dedicate their lives to...

Writing Warm-up Ideas

Like sports, it’s a good idea to warm-up before you begin writing. Here are a few 5-minute suggestions to use to wake up your writing brain. 1. Scribble. Write nonsense ‘words’ to free your mind of thoughts. 2. Write all the words you can think of that begin with “a”. Another time try other letters of the alphabet as well. 3. Think of a favorite character to describe without using color words. 4. Describe: your work space                      the weather outside a favorite food                         your best friend a childhood pet                       the best meal you ever ate a tearful experience               a stranger...

Literature in a Bag

Looking for a fun activity to share with kids, maybe an entire classroom? Look no further. Here’s a great way to support reading which will, in the long run, support student writing since books develop vocabulary and expand student interests. Make literature bags for school with prekindergarten or Kindergarten through grad 3 classrooms. Please make a class set of 30 so all students in an individual classroom will receive a bag. (30 will be ample and provide replacement bags as needed during the year.) PLASTIC BAGS Purchase gallon-sized plastic freezer bags with sturdy zip-lock slides. Leave plain or send to...

Tasman

I’m currently changing writing gears. While I enjoyed writing the ballet-themed trilogy, I have had a story gnawing at me for several years. It all started with a trip to Australia. Our foursome of travelers decided to visit the island of Tasmania. We flew across Bass Strait and stepped back in time to the Pacific Northwest in the early 50s. Life on the island was a slower pace than Melbourne and Sydney, even more laid back than Adelaide. The west side was still wild and remote; the east side filled with small towns and lovely beaches. On the southern end,...