"Why Tell Stories?"

Storytellers are the direct medium between the story and the audience, able to change pace, alter or explain a difficult point, dramatize or play down an event, according to the needs of those listening.

Why tell stories?

To help children learn to listen

To enlarge the listener's vocabulary

To extend a child's knowledge of the worlds of fact and fantasy

To stimulate the listener's imagination

To create an appetite for words

To introduce the shared activity of storytelling from author or teller to audience.

Storytelling has always been a means of passing on traditions and codes of behavior and of maintaining social harmony. Through his or her skill, the storyteller can convey the mysteries of the natural world, reinforce the codes of behavior of a particular community, or transport the listener into an inner world of fantasy. (Children's Books)

Sharing a story with a child gives great rewards for the heart.

Happy Storytelling,

Sherry/treehugger-peninhand.blogspot.com

My Smudge. Thirteen and still my baby boy.

As I read, write, blog, tweet or knit, he sits by my side.

Today, I'm reading, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. The man from Mars (Michael Smith) is truly a masterpiece for all to read who love science-fiction.

Smith is an intelligent creature with the ancestry of a man, but he is more Martian than man. Until we came along he had never laid eyes on a man. He thinks like a Marian, and feels like a Martian. He's been brought up by a race which has nothing in common with us. They don't even have sex. He's a man by ancestry. A Martian by environment.

Have a great day!

Best,
Sherry

"Writing Thoughts"

"The function of the writer is to comment upon life as he/she sees it." (F. Norris)

A successful creative endeavor, shouldn't be measured by a product, but by the change it stirs in the creator. The creative process is not just putting pen to paper or brush to canvas, often it's during the downtime that the best ideas float to the surface. (Barringer)


Relax, take a walk, or just be.

Sherry

Rejection Trivia

When your down and blue over all those rejection letters remember some of the more famous books that were passed up many times by otherwise savvy agents and editors. Keep in mind that this is a very short list of authors and their books.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig, was rejected 121 time. The book went on to sell over three million copies.

A Time to Kill, by John Grisham's first book.

Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean M. Auel's first book.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carre'

The First Wives Club, by Olivia Goldsmith

Keep writing. Never give up. Keep your spirits high.

Sherry/treehugger-peninhand.blogspot.com

The Refusal

With each NO that arrives in the mail, comes the human experience of doubt in the writer's soul.
I read the following words from James and Dubus the other day. I found it to be worth sharing.

I am in full possession of accumulated resources. I have only to use them, to insist, to persist, to do something more. To do much more than I have done. The way to do it . . . is to strike as many notes, deep, full, and rapid as one can. Go on, my boy, and strike hard. Try everything, do everything, render everything. Be an artist, be distinguished, to the last. (Henry James)

All these truths and quasi-truths . . . about publishing are finally ephemeral. What is demanding and fulfilling is writing a single word, trying to write le mot juste, as Flaubert said; writing several of them, which become a sentence. When a writer does that, day after day, working alone with little encouragement, and with discouragement flowing in the writer's own blood, and with an occasional rush of excitement . . . the treasure is on the desk. If the manuscript itself, mailed out to the world, where other truths prevail, is never published, the writer will suffer bitterness, sorrow, anger, and more despair. But the writer who endures and keeps working will finally know that writing the book was something hard and glorious, for at the desk a writer must try to be a better human being than the writer normally is, and to do this through concentration on a single word, and then another, and another. This is splendid work, as worthy and demanding as any and the will and resilience to do it are good for the writer's soul.



Have faith in yourself and your writing.

Sherry/treehugger-peninhand.blogspot.com

"Move Quickly"

When writing for children, remember, this is an audience not known for patience. To keep their interest, your story should move along quickly. When your story lags, you'll lose that young reader to a faster medium like games, movies, or watching T.V.
Make each word count with strong verbs. Less is better

Sherry/treehugger-peninhand.blogspot.com

"Defending"

Food for thought on having others review your work.

The inclination to defend your writing is natural. Some writers, want to tell the person making a negative comment why he or she is wrong about their writing. But defending your work will not help you to become a better writer. Toughen-up. Become a better listener. (G.W.S.)

Happy Writing,

Magdalena