Join Young Willamette Writers...
Why?

  • It's Free!
  • You'll meet and join other students like yourself who have an interest and love in writing.
  • Share your work with your peers, and help each other grow as writers.
  • Meet and learn from writing experts.
  • See your best work published on this Web site and in an annual anthology.
  • You'll have fun, make new frieds and learn how to improve your writing!

Meetings . . .

are held at the same time and place as the adult Willamette Writers.

  • Day: The first Tuesday of each month (YWWs meet only during the school year).
  • Time: From 7 to 8 p.m.
  • Place: "The Old Church" on SW 11th and Clay in Portland, Oregon.
  • Price: Free! (Unless you want the Newsletter and other benefits of regular WW Membership.) Parents can attend the adult meeting for free while you are in the group.
  • Who: Students from 5th through 10th grades who love to write. Our meetings are divided between mini-workshops led by the co-chairs of the group, and special presentations by writers, editors, publishers and other writing professionals. Students usually get a chance to read their work at the end of meetings.

Our next meeting...

will be February 3rd, 2009.

Joni Heyman

At the last meeting of YWW, our guest speaker, George Mason, engaged the students in writing a six word novel. What seemed difficult at first proved more than possible once they tried. In parting he remarked, "This is one talented group."

The new year will begin with an emphasis on the individual novels the students are writing. We will discuss titles and write the ending for the novel which George suggested from his years of teaching gifted students. When they shared what they were writing no one had an ending yet, he said that they are too young to know a lot about endings so at this age they tend to keep the novel going. There's value in knowing the ending and working backwards to support the climax and final scene. Students are to bring a copy of the first six pages of their story to share with the class.

Sharing your work with other writers is something writers do for many reasons. We want to know how the words we write are heard by other people. Do they get the same mental image as you did when you wrote it? The most important rule is constructive suggestions are welcome.

If time permits we will do fun exercises or a short mystery play in which the students put their heads together and solve the crime of murder or mayhem.

We will meet on Tuesday, February 3rd from 7-8 pm in the Victorian room of the Old Church at SW 11th and Clay.

Wishing both past and present members of YWW a wonderful new year.

**************

During one of our classes, one student wrote the first line of a poem then passed their paper to the next person who wrote the second line, and so forth around the room. The students wrote the poems quickly, drawing on their instincts. Their poems are presented to honor their way with words.
Joni, YWW Chairperson, joni-h@comcast.net.

Play
We play outside and
Never stand doing nothing
Trust me, I’m not bluffing
It’s fun to swing
Entertaining just to run around
I cook "food" with dirt and petals
Pretend play. . .that's the thing
That makes me happy
It’s fun to cook
Even without a kettle.

Flower Magic
The roses had dew on their petals
Like sprinkles on a cake
This is what only nature can do,
That man could never make
Whenever I could, I stole a glance at them
No matter how many times
My Mom told me to wait
They are true magic
That makes these roses beautiful,
As though they have wing
But they can not fly in the air
To share the clouds with birds

The Wind
Swiftly, swiftly blew the wind
As it flew across the pond
Green grass blades swayed with the wind
And they shimmered as always
But this time there were no swans
Just frogs and muskrats
And with them jumps and dives
The pond was not lonely.

************************

The Willamette Writers Kay Snow Writing Contest is free for students in grades 1-12. The purpose of this annual writing contest, named in honor of Willamette Writer's founder, Kay Snow, is to help writers reach professional goals in writing in a broad array of categories. The deadline for entries for the 2009 contest is April 23, 2009.

The C Whitcomb Scholarship for High School Teachers and Students offers students and teachers a free day at the Willamette Writers Conference in August 2009. Enter the C. Whitcomb Conference Scholarship Contest by nominating your best writing student(s). If your student wins, so do you. You'll both be awarded a day at the Willamette Writers Conference, August 7-9, 2009 at the Airport Sheraton in Portland, OR.

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