A Red Letter Day

We took a break from all of the snow last week to duck into the bookstore to check out The Write Start. To say that having my kids pluck a book that I wrote off of a shelf at one of our most favorite hangouts was AWESOME is an overwhelming understatement. For me, it was a dream come true.

In honor of our joy and excitement, Jack and Gracie would each like to give away a signed (by me) copy of The Write Start. They will even enclose a custom short story (Jack) or a personalized scribble (Gracie) for the lucky winners!

For a chance to win, please add a comment to this post about one of your favorite early writing memories from your own childhood. Did you have a favorite place to write? A secret diary with a lock? A special person who encouraged or inspired you to write? A particularly pleasing poem that you will never forget? Please share!

This giveaway will be open until midnight Sunday, January 9th. Jack and Gracie will chose the winners at random, and I am so looking forward to shipping a couple of copies of The Write Start off to their new homes!

I can't thank all of you enough for your support and enthusiasm about this blog and this book. I wish everyone a happy, healthy 2011 filled with scribbles, stories, and smiles!

Comments

[mindy tashlik]

Jen I look forward to adding your book to my library, giveaway or not. And if giveaway...then I will buy one for Zoe's teacher! I would like to share with you that I unquestionably became an elementary school teacher because of the wonderfully talented Carol Orobona, who was without question the most inspiring, innovative K and 4th grade teacher to grace the halls of the Fifth Avenue Elementary School. I can still remember writing poetry for Mother's Day, and attaching the poems to a flowering plant. I treasured my "All About Mindy" autobiography, though I would only come to fulfill a third of the prophesied twelve children. I can still picture the cover, tied together with thick yellow yarn, and each page painstakingly mounted on a rainbow of colors with my neatest script handwriting and magnificent nine year old illustrative visions. I have always loved to write and dream of doing so professionally. My girls and I write stories and poetry together often, and it is one of our favorite activities. I know Zoe would love to share hers with you!

[Natalie]

Thank you for this terrific giveaway. I remember struggling a lot with handwriting in elementary school, and my mom would spend hours practicing with me. I resented it then, but I certainly appreciate it now. It looks like my daughter inherited some of the challenges, so anything that will encourage her writing will be appreciated.

[Kelly]

I have always been somewhat of a perfectionist. I remember in kindergarten I would erase my handwriting homework and try again until there were holes in the paper. My mom brought home an old typewriter when I was 8, and I would sit down to type a story with a bottle of white out. Even now, I hesitate to write with anything that can't be erased but we're getting there. Learning that even my mistakes are valuable. Super excited about teaching my daughters to write and hoping that they learn sooner than I did to strive for success but accept their weaknesses.

[Sherry]

My biggest memory of writing was sitting in front of Sesame Steet and carefully copying the letter/number of the day over and over and over throughout the show. :)

[holly]

I had a first grade teacher, Mrs. Maz, that encouraged my story writing and I still love her for it. My most proud story of first grade was called "Vex, The Fly".

I look forward to having your book in my library, giveaway or no. :)

[Lissy]

I used to fill notebook after notebook of stories...I still have some of them...

[Joyfullness]

I had several diaries for a couple of years..with locks..i loved the retreat they provided me..i do not consider myself a writer of any kind now...i use too many ..........dotdotdots!!......i have always said, "I wish i knew more words.." i LOVE to read what others are able to put so clearly...and many times i feel the very same in my heart of hearts...my two boys have Autism and we are encouraging them to write in composition notebooks ..esp our oldest(6yrs)..where words may not be so easy to say, writing is freeing! i have been peeking into your blog for over a year now and enjoy it so. I would LOVE to WIN this treasury of yours!
Joyfully!

[j. jun]

I can't wait to check the book out. Seriously, I don't like to write. My goal is not to pass this on to my daughter! I hope it is possible with your book.

[min]

I never enjoyed writing in elementary school being a perfectionist. Fortunately, an English teacher in junior high recommended me to keep a journal. I am still grateful to her because it allowed me to process my thoughts through some pre-adolescent struggles. I still have the journals locked away.

[Robyn]

I'd love to win a copy of your book! I did have a diary (with a lock) for the longest time. I actually still have them all. I have diaries dating as far back as the 6th grade. (I'm almost 30). It's fun sometimes to go back and read over my thoughts from when I was little. I used to like to write in bed at night with a little flash light, away from everyone when my family was sleeping.

[Erin L.]

I spent hours as a child at my grandmother's kitchen counter writing and drawing. Now my 4yo daughter does the same thing. She made a comic book for her 2 month old brother this morning. So cute!

[Stacey]

The first books I ever made were stories about Inky and her dog Doto (yeah I know) that I dictated to my Mother which I drew the pictures, I still have a copy of Inky in outer space somewhere. Ever since then I have been making up stories, many decades later.

[Elizabeth]

I remember a story my best friend and I coauthored in the second grade, modeled after "If You Give a Mouse A Cookie." We drew all the pictures too. My friend's name was Jocelyn. It began "If you go to the planet Jocebeth, you are sure to meet an Elizalyn!" So silly! But I still remember it clearly because we had so much fun together.

[Bethany]

I loved all things "olden days" as a girl. I received a fabric covered writing station that's lid came up to reveal pretty paper, stickers and matching pencils. I loved that desk! Thanks for all of your great information and ideas!

[Camille]

I remember a writer coming into our class at school and helping us to write our own stories and create a magazine out of them. I took my story quite seriously . . .

[Jen]

What a great give away! I have always loved writing and though my personal writing has remained just that I am starting to find an audience for professional pieces.

[carrie]

I'm so excited about this book, whether I win it or not! My favorite writing memory is making "real books" with cardboard and contact paper in 1st grade. We had a little class library of all of our publications, and it would be so exciting to have other kids check out your book.

[Jess]

One of my favorite early writing memories is a poem about peace that I wrote in the fourth grade. I loved the feeling of satisfaction that came in writing it and reading it over and over. I still experience that same feeling when I write, and I hope to help my children experience it too. I would love to win your book.

[Jen]

I had a small yellow Care Bears diary with a lock that I began writing in during elementary school. My early writing career highlight included winning a contest held by a local toy store. I can't remember the exact words, but I wrote a poem about the toy store and it was published in the local paper. I write non-fiction now but that first poem is laminated and resting someplace in my parent's attic.

[Gypsy]

When I was in second grade, I started my first novel. It was called "The Little Mermaid," (I was an avid reader of fairy tales) and it was a very thinly disguised story of my contentious relationship with my two sisters. I lost the precious black book with its unlined pages when I was two chapters in. I've since taken up writing again, but I've never made another attempt at a novel :)

[Karen]

My best writing memory is watching my sister learn how to write in calligraphy and deciding that my messy disastrous handwriting was more interesting because it was a code of sorts, like a secret spy weapon.

If only...

[Kayte]

I was slow to want to write anything I didn't have to write. One day I started getting letters in the mail from Trumpetina the elf. I began writing him back, answering his questions and eventually elaborating about all sorts of things. I was probably in the third grade when one day it dawned on me that his handwriting was quite similar to my dad's ( and that he played the trumpet). But I think it wasn't until about the fifth grade that we stopped sending letters to each other. My daughter who is four writes all the time without without prompting... Stories, songs, letters, lists for the day( thanks to Lobel's Frog and Toad). I think she is just about old enough to meet an old pen pal friend of mine.

[Kelley]

I loved learning new vocabulary. In sixth grade, I loved filling up my notebook with the definitions of vocabulary words. I loved that I was lerning all of the words and I loved the way it looked to fill up the notebook with ink. I still do!

[JJ]

I kept a diary as a young girl and it's been quite funny to read through it now as an adult. I also use it as inspiration in my classroom; I'm a teacher. My students laugh at some of the funny things I wrote when I was their age!

[Meg]

As a girl I had pen-pals on the other side of the world and it was one of my greatest pleasures to write and receive letters from them. It's kinda sad that email is so convenient.