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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Writer's Notebook

Ralph Fletcher is one of my favorite authors. He has published children' s novels, poetry books, short stories and books on the writing process for teachers. One of my most treasured books he has written, besides Fig Pudding, is a very small compact book called A Writer's Notebook Unlocking The Writer Within You. He notes in this book that keeping a writer's notebook is one of the best ways he knows to live a writing kind of life. He does emphasize that it is not a diary, but a place where you can jot down the important little details you notice or hear in daily life. Mr. Fletcher suggests that having a writer's notebook provides a good place to include personal entries, poems, lists of books you have read, favorite words, interesting quotes, goals, artifacts and photographs. He feels a writer's notebook is like a scrapbook to be a gathering place for your writing and at a later date provide you with inspiration. It is quite possible you might even have several notebooks/journals on going at the same time.
Over the years, I have kept many notebooks/journals. My current one is a fairy journal in which I have collected lots of fairy information, documented some observations, listed fairy books and valuable internet sources. So all of this brings me up to the Fairy Handbook, which I would like to put in the beginning of my sock fairy manuscript as an introduction, or at the end as a glossary. This would give the reader some information and answers to any questions they might be thinking about. Some ideas planned are definitions for the following words: fairies, fairy circles, meeting places, fairy gifts, fairy wands, fairy lights, fairy wings and information on how fairy messages are sent and some creatures they fear. What I would like is some input on placement. Would it be better placed in the beginning of my story as an introduction or at end as a glossary. If you have any thoughts on this please send to me by way of the comment box.
This is one of my favorite Ralph Fletcher quotes..."I have often been asked how to become a better writer. I always say, go out and live the most exciting life you can, and never quit writing about it. Don't mix up the order."
If you have any special requests for recipes you would like to see included in this blog please let me know.

1 comment:

  1. I like the idea of having a glossary at the end of the book, like those old grade school readers had. Your idea of a collection of fairy facts and fiction got me to thinking...Wouldn't it be fun to have a pocket-sized book ("Fairy Facts & Fiction") packaged in a sock?
    A question for the fairy expert: Do fairies collect Christmas stockings? I was wondering, since by nature, Christmas stockings are singles, not partners in a pair.
    As winter comes upon us, would you be able to share any favorite soup or crockpot recipes?

    ReplyDelete

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