February 7, 2011

Skype Hype!

Wow!  What a day!  The author of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (Tom Angleberger) visited with us on Skype today! The session was open to all kids who read the book and all aspiring authors.  Tom showed us all how to fold an "Emergency Yoda" with only 5 folds.  I greatly appreciate this, because I am not good at origami!  I did fold 12 of these little babies today, though!  


Besides answering questions about Star Wars, Tom talked to us about writing.  He told us lots of good stuff, let's see if I can sum it up here:
1.  The things that happen to you now are the things you will write about when you grow up.  All of the embarrassing, bad, horrifying things that you go through will inspire you to write your stories.  The great part about this is that you get to "change history".  You can rewrite your experiences so they always come out in your favor. 
2.  If you are having writer's block- or starting a bunch of stories that you just can't finish, hold on to them.  Keep writing your beginnings, because the beginnings are the hardest part.  Come back to the stories you have started, and give each one a chance.  If you have something that really takes off, you will know.  But keep everything- just in case! 
3.  Read.  And don't just read the shiny new releases that everyone else is reading.  "Poke around the library" and find the hidden jewels that are out there.  You will find a jewel and it will "light your brain on fire". 
4.  Having someone edit your work is hard.  If you write a story, it is very personal and when you give it to your editor (or teacher) to edit and the story comes back with tons of red marks on it, you get upset.  But, you have to trust the person editing your story- trust that they want to help you make the story the best it can be.

Thank you to Tom for allowing my students to have this opportunity!  This was our first ever Skype visit, and I thought it went very well! Did I miss anything?  Leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of today!  


Will and his Emergency Yoda

He added a dew personal touches!

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