February 2013

My head is still spinning with your ideas, characters, and story worlds – and as a writer, that’s a good thing. It’s called “inspiration”!

I had an amazing time during my one-week residency at R. F. Morrison School. Over the week I spent time with six classes that included students from grades 2 to 6 – it was a record number of groups for me. (Also, I’ve never worked with grade 2 students before, and was thrilled with their creative ideas and sophisticated work.) I am so glad I had the chance to meet so many of you!

And it wasn’t just about numbers. The diversity of writing projects Morrison students were working on was dazzling. From folktales to special memories, from humour to fantasy, from book series to describing a single poignant moment in time, I heard and read it all!

What stands out the most for me about this school was students’ desire to share what they were working on with each other. This says a few things about you – first, you are energized, inspired and proud of your work. That’s great! Remember that feeling whenever you face a challenge and let it be your fuel to do a wonderful job, like you did during our time together! Second, you respect one another and make each other comfortable. It’s not always easy to share creative work with others. It can be very intimidating! But when you know that you are in a welcoming place, with friends who will listen, and that the zest you bring to your writing will be respected – well, it creates a circle of inspiration where author and listeners (or readers) inspire one another! I was proud of you all and excited to think that you get to work in this environment every day – keep it up!

I was also impressed by the great work you all did with descriptive language – after a few short sessions, the poetic language that was flowing so naturally from your pens and pencils was unbelievable. I could see, smell, touch, taste and hear your stories. Fantastic work! And those hooks – wow! The only problem with working with you on hooks for your stories and creating all that suspense is that now I want to read all the finished stories!!! Maybe I will have a chance one day…

Last of all, I must say that it was incredibly special visiting two classes who had read or who were reading “Lights! Curtains! Cows!”. We were able to talk about Becky Kowalski like she was a mutual friend of all of ours – that was cool! In one class, I heard that they had produced a drama, board game, and other creative projects based on my book – what an honour. I was also able to share some “behind the story” information about earlier drafts of my book, even characters and scenes who I decided to cut from the final version but who were so much fun to revisit with you. This was a very unique opportunity as an author – thank you!

I wish you all very well in your writing and anything you decide to do. Thank you for a wonderful week!

Till we meet again,
Karin 🙂