On Writing & Teaching Writing...
Plus: It's Snow Struck Season!
I taught my final Writing Youth Literature class of the semester last week (the same week I visited my first elementary/middle school since 2020!) and I’m working through a lot of thoughts about teaching and writing and teaching writing… but first:
It’s almost Christmas, so I’m contractually obligated to shout-out Snow Struck!
The events of Snow Struck lead up to December 25th and it’s very much my version of a big Christmas book… so this is the perfect time to pick up or gift a copy if you haven’t already (if you’re looking online, you can find some pretty deep discounts right now)!
If you’d rather be read-to than read-aloud, the audiobook for Snow Struck is really great and you can listen to a free sample on my publisher’s site or on audiobook apps.
There’s a lot more information about Snow Struck on my website—I’ve got free teacher resources, downloadable coloring pages, YouTube read-alouds, NPR interviews and more! Did you know that Snow Struck and Storm Blown are both Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections? They give you a little gold pin for that and everything!
For all the new subscribers here, I also have a Cooking with Courage channel on YouTube where I post all my baking videos—or at least, I did before we got a puppy!
Shouting that out now because I have some fun seasonal videos on there:
I want to (finally) thank New Moon Girls—a magazine for girls—for recommending Snow Struck as a Holiday Book for Girls. I have so many conversations with parents about whether or not my books are “for boys” (I even wrote a letter to The New York Times about it last year!) so it’s kind of refreshing to see my books recommended for girls. For the record: I always say my books are for kids!
This past week was the last week of my Writing Youth Literature class at the University of Pittsburgh and I’m feeling pretty proud of the course I put together!
Over the summer, Pitt contacted me about filling in for a Writing Youth Literature class that had suddenly lost its teacher… and to be honest, I wasn’t so sure about it. I’d never had a good experience with university writing classes or workshops and my class was going to be long: two and a half hours every Wednesday.
That’s basically, like, a Lord of the Rings long.
Or a Sound of Music.
Times fourteen or so classes. I was a little worried I wouldn’t have the steam to make it through one session, let alone the entire semester—or that I was going to catch a bug teaching in person, or that college kids were going to be too cool for school.
But I said, sure, I’ll give it a shot!
I only had a couple of weeks to come up with a syllabus, but I knew what I wish I’d learned about writing (and publishing!) in college and I used that as my guide. In the era of student loans, I think it’s really important that creative writing programs offer some practical value proposition to their degrees: how can you actually get a book published, how can you make a life out of stories?
These are the big questions.
So my goal was to give students all the tools they needed to write a kid’s book with the intent to sign with an agent and traditionally publish. We focused on craft—but also on the business of publishing. I had three literary agents visit the class (thanks to Rachel Ekstrom Courage, Danielle Chiotti, and Andrea Somberg!) and also my favorite YA author, Jeff Garvin, who spoke so passionately about the writer’s life that I honestly think it was life-changing for some of the kids in my class.
The main theme of the course was relentless positivity.
During workshops, we offered “affirmations and suggestions” instead of critiques.
I’ve never liked the word critique (origin: “kritikē, meaning ‘the faculty of judging’”) or traditional workshops. Critiques always end up skewing towards criticism while workshops feel like a weirdly combative vestige of the 1950s. I actually think they model the exact opposite skills you need as a working author. The point of traditional workshops is to break down writing into its component parts in the name of helping an author “hone their craft”—like craft is some kind of weapon they’ll be protecting themselves with in future workshops. Anyone who’s been in a writing workshop knows that it’s a little too easy for students to choose violence.
But writing a book is about building something, not tearing it down.
And publishing is a collaborative act!
During school visits I always say that my name might be on the front cover of the book, but so many people work on a book that they should have credit sequences like movies. And everyone’s working together to try to publish the best possible version of a book… so instead of having authors stay silent (like in traditional workshops), we centered their voices and asked about their goals and intentions. Because every writer has different skills, we tried to identify strengths and build everyone up so the workshops generated excitement instead of the usual dread and resentment.
Which meant that everyone in class was pretty pumped about their projects. Some students even told me they were looking forward to presenting in workshop (that felt like a first!) or that the workshop inspired them to finish and revise their books…
That still makes me super happy—even just thinking about it—because I’ve never had a writing class or workshop that’s made me feel that way!
In fact, I sometimes tell kids the story about how I stopped writing for a long time because of a mean workshop comment in high school. So I definitely had a mission with this class, and it was a lot more work than I expected (I don’t know how anybody teaches full time!) but being able to teach the course I always wish I’d had… it’s been such a cool experience, and I’m happy to report that I’m finishing out the semester feeling a very little bit like Julia Roberts at the end of Mona Lisa Smile.
All I need now is some swelling credit music and a nap.
Final projects are due this week: a full submission packet including a logline, a query letter, 2+ chapters, character sketches, an expanded synopsis, and a full chapter breakdown… and I honestly think all of my students have a pretty good chance of getting published if they keep working on their revisions and finish their books!
One of my favorite things about the course I taught this semester is something I don’t think I ever mentioned to my students at Pitt, but I’ve made sure to tell every elementary and middle school writer I’ve met these past few months.
It’s that the stuff I’m teaching in college is basically the same stuff I teach in the writing workshops and presentations I do for 3rd-7th graders!
My school visits are all about inspiring kids to write and tell their own stories... and if they take away just one thing from them, it’s that anyone can write a book.
And I’m not just saying that!
It doesn’t matter how old you are—you could be eight years old or in college, or the professor or MFA grad who audited my class: all it takes is some creativity, some positivity, some planning (or pre-writing) and a lot of perseverance.
That’s how I write my books, anyway… and now I just need to take some time off from teaching to finish the next one! I can’t wait to tell you all about it :)
Until then, happy holidays!
Your friend,
