Congratulations to Cathy!

Cathy is the winner of Angela Stockman's giveaway of WRITING MAGIC by Gail Carson Levine!  Please leave a comment or send a message with your snail mail address so that Angela can send your book!

Thank you again to Angela for your generous post and for giving away this super book.

Readers - if you or one of your students or friends keeps a notebook and is willing to share in this space, please send an e-mail to amy at amylv dot com.  I welcome your contributions and will send you the post specs for this blog!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a peom at The Poem Farm, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Angela Stockman: Space for the Busyness

Thinking about sharing my love of notebooks here, I began to panic just a little.

I’m not sure I have a notebook, I thought to myself, remembering all of the gorgeous notebooks I've become acquainted with on this blog. I don’t have anything worthwhile to share.

I’ll bet I’m not the only writing teacher who feels this way about her writing life.

Things are so busy, and at first I assumed that I was yet another victim: a writing teacher who sacrifices her own writing life to the work that must be done for others each day. Notebooks? Who has time for notebooks?

Well, as it turns out, I do. In fact, I always have. Notebooks are such an integral part of my life that I just wasn't noticing them anymore. Not until now.

When I was young, I made diaries out of folded sheets of construction paper. When we didn't have any, I would sneak a pile of lined paper home from my desk at school. I've kept them in a box in my closet all of these years. My face burns when I read them, but I can’t bear to toss them out. These were my first notebooks, after all.

My diaries had boundaries. I wrote in these books every day then, mostly about the boys I “loved”, the pets that I had, the friends I was arguing with, and why I “hated” my parents on that particular day. I was fourteen then. These were the topics that mattered to me. Writing “bed to bed” stories that captured every mundane detail of my life helped me survive it, in a way. This is how writing nurtured me then.

As I grew older, I kept writing. I also began working, and every once in a while, I would splurge on a new, beautiful notebook. This is the one I was keeping when I met my husband, John. Sometimes, I revisit it when I’m writing him a present. Those memories fuel that kind of writing for me, even now. They are artifacts of some of the most important days of my life. 

And here’s something interesting I've noticed: as I grew older, the notebooks and even many of the entries become less boundaried. My daily writing opened up to make space for the busyness of my life, and I’m still capturing much of it in words, even though it’s often for very different purposes. 

I noticed this first in the notebook above. The back cover features a scribbled set of directions. I used this page to jot down the route to John’s first apartment…the very first time he shared it with me over the phone. At the time, I needed something to write on, and I know this was sitting on my dresser, next to the phone I was speaking into (which had a cord, thank you very much). I grabbed it and wrote quickly. This was the first time the minutia of my daily life wandered into my notebook. It wasn't the last time, though. 

I used to feel guilty about this. Now I’m realizing that I’m glad for that. 

Today, I always have a notebook with me, but it isn't as contained as it looks. This is the one I’m keeping right now:

I’ve become pickier about the features I desire. For instance, my favorite notebooks are exactly this size. They have a ribbon glued into the spine, so that I can find my place easily. They have a pocket at the back, where I can shove important notes, documents, trinkets, and cards. Things I want to remember. Things I don’t want to forget. I always write in blue pen or with a fine point Sharpie marker.

I use my notebook to contain my ideas. I also use it plan. I keep track of my to-do lists right beside the draft of a blog post I’m writing and lessons I’m planning for the writers I teach. And I always maintain a running list of personal writing territories at the very back of each book. You’ll find a list of fun things I want to do with my kids back there too. And movies I want to see. And books I want to read. Cookies I need to bake. Plants I need to find for my garden.

As my life becomes busier and messier, my notebooks have too. They've also become the central hub for all of my thinking, planning, and work—personal and professional. 

“I’m surprised you don’t keep all of that on your phone,” a school administrator commented earlier this year.

“Oh no,” I smiled. “I can’t. There’s something about writing with a pen that helps me brainstorm and plan better.” I need to be able to move words around. This is probably why my grown-up notebooks are littered with Post-Its. 

I do use my phone for something else though: to take pictures of things I don’t want to forget. My photo stream has become a mighty source for writing ideas and inspiration over the years. Anne Lamott brilliantly advises writers to tuck index cards into their pockets. I used to do this. Now I point and shoot. 

My photo files are a different kind of notebook. And my life is a very different kind of life now, too. I wonder how my changing life will influence the shape of my notebooks over time. I wonder how my notebooks will continue to support the changing shape of my life.


Angela Stockman found her home inside of a classroom twenty years ago. In many ways, she never left. Each day, she travels to schools throughout Western New York and works beside teachers who are discovering how to help kids fall in love with words. In April of 2008, Angela founded the WNY Young Writers' Studio, a community comprised of children and teachers who are learning how to use their words to make a difference in the world. 

Angela has generously offered to send a copy of Gail Carson Levine's WRITING MAGIC, an inspiring book about writing, to a reader of this post.  Please leave a comment and a way to reach you, and check back on Sunday, March 24 to see if you have won!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Amy Zimmer Merrill: Collage Journals

Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with and drawn towards notebooks and journals of all kinds.  It was a treat to get to receive a blank notebook that was filled with empty pages, just waiting to be filled with possibilities!  A trip to the drugstore might lead to the treat of getting a new notebook, visiting a great aunt who would regularly place a little treasure in her desk drawer for me (maybe a new box of crayons, a card game or a notebook!), or the beginning of a new school year, when we got new school supplies, all of these occasions hold the memory of a new notebook.  Blank notebooks are like new beginnings.    

So, from these early memories of childhood, to my teen years of diary keeping, to my adult years of recording any and every type of memory, event, occasion, musings, ideas for projects and plans, lists of all kinds, and basically anything and everything, one could say that I am a notebook/journal enthusiast.

Like many memory keepers, I do not limit my recollections and collections to only the written word, I also gather memorabilia that are tucked into the pages of a notebook.   Whether it is a greeting card, note,  well-love quote, photograph,  magazine/newspaper clipping,  ticket from an enjoyed event, or any interesting item, all have found their way into my books.  

Many of these loose pieces remain that way, simply nestled into a notebook, but many of them are also fastened to the page.  They are often hodge-podge together into a collage.  After a while, these collages (both complete and incomplete, waiting for the next, just-right treasure to be glued or taped down), travel from being on the inside of my notebooks to becoming the covers of them.  

In addition to loving notebooks, I have also adored books for as long as I can remember.  I became a collector of books, specifically children’s books.  I cannot seem to bear to part with books and find myself gathering those that others discard.  Most often, these discarded treasures become a part of the collection on my bookshelves, but sometimes, they have been so well-loved and read, that they are torn, tattered, and literally falling apart.  These are the books that have found new life inside my journals and on the covers – becoming the collage-design artwork.  I find that images can be another powerful way to gather, collect, and preserve inspirations, thoughts, interests and aspirations.  

If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to make use of all of the little treasures that you keep in a shoebox somewhere and begin to assemble them on  both the inside,  and outside of your journals.  You might wish to create your own collage journals by collecting interesting items/pictures (from magazines, etc) to create the covers of writing notebooks and/or create collages inside of journals (photos, pictures, drawings that may spark writing ideas).  I personally think of my collages (especially the ones on the inside of my journals) as “treasure maps,” sort of along the lines of the “heart maps” that Georgia Heard discusses in her AWAKENING THE HEART – sort of a way for creative visualization.

Make your musings, ideas, dreams, and doodlings, visible by using visual images in and on your notebooks.  Have fun playing!

Amy Zimmer Merrill is a Reading Specialist currently working with kindergarten through second grade. She has also recently obtained a degree in School Library and Information Technology and presents literacy-related workshops with a dear friend and colleague. Amy loves to read, write, and talk about children’s books. She reviews children’s books for LMC Magazine (Library Media Connection) and shares her thoughts, ideas, and love for children’s literature, reading, and literacy at Mrs. Merrill’s Book Breaks.  You can also read Amy's post about Poetry Breaks at The Poem Farm.

Amy Zimmer Merrill will send a mini collage journal to a commenter on this post. Please leave your name and the best way to contact you along with your comment below and check back on Saturday, January 19 to see if you have won.  Many thanks to Amy!  

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Mary Lee Hahn: Following an Idea

I’ve been keeping journals or writer’s notebooks since I was in high school. In this picture is a stack from recent years. The rest are in a box somewhere in the basement!

My first notebooks were journals where I wrote about the trials and tribulations of being a teenager.  Later, when I became a teacher and learned about writing workshop, my notebooks were partly a model of what I wanted my students' notebooks to be, and partly a place where I took notes at conferences and meetings  It's embarrassing to admit, but my notebooks seldom did what they were supposed to do -- few pieces of writing were ever born in my notebook.

Fast forward to Poetry Month 2010.  I challenged myself to write a poem every day that April, and post it on our blog, A Year of Reading.  In honor of this project, I bought a new red notebook - my first poetry notebook.

That red volume lasted for two years worth of April Poetry Month poems.

This past March, I took part in Ed DeCaria's Madness! 2012 and the four poems I wrote for that competition were all born in that red notebook.

Here's a peek (below) at the early drafts of the poem that became Saffron Harvest.  My early notes were about how the stigmas of crocus flowers are used to make saffron, but then I spent several pages trying to write a poem about pigs and several more pages trying to write a poem about dandelions! Five pages later, I got back to saffron, and the final poem started to take shape.

Click image to enlarge and read

This year, something happened after Poetry Month was over:  I KEPT WRITING POETRY!  Now my poetry notebook is the pink one in the picture above.

Last weekend, I decided (at the eleventh hour) to take part in Jama Rattigan's month-long celebration of peanut butter.  Below, you can see the entire process for the poem I wrote.

Click image to enlarge and read

I won't need to start from scratch for my next poem.  I have notes in my notebook about this week's full moon, about the frost on the grass a couple of weeks ago, and about truth, lies, facts, honesty , and self-discipline.  The hardest thing about writing poetry isn't finding the ideas; it's making the time to follow an idea around and around, page after page, and for hour after hour until the poem is just right!

Poet, blogger, and fifth grade teacher Mary Lee Hahn blogs at A Year of Reading where you can explore her poems, musings, wisdom, photographs, and book recommendations.  She toasts writers' notebooks here!

In honor of Mary Lee's notebook keeping, I would like to offer a giveaway of an ecosystem notebook, just like the pink one above (your choice of color).  Please just leave a comment and a way to reach you, or check back at here on Saturday, December 15 to see if you have won.  

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

What's in Mary Lee's Notebook?

What fun to find a peek inside of a friend's notebook.  Head on over to A Year of Reading to see Mary Lee's huuuge tomato!  You will also find a wonderful poem about notebooks and journals by William Stafford.

There is nothing like a peek into another's notebook.  What do you have in yours?

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Visit The Poem Farm for hundreds of poems, mini lessons, and ideas!

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Nina Crittenden: Kinda Sketchy

I feel super honored that Amy asked me to share my notebooks. It took me a little while to figure out my notebook system, and then I came to the realization that I don't really have a system... I have a variety of different notebooks going filled with sketches and thoughts and ideas, here are the ones I use the most:

The Comic Book Layout Pages Sketchbook is fun when I am trying to work out really rough storyboards, I have a few little Field Notes books going, and the small Rhodia notebook goes with me everywhere I go. Drawing on graph paper is nice because I don't have the pressure of a big, blank, white sheet of paper staring at me (but I must admit that I draw all over plain white paper, too). My phone works in a pinch for writing down ideas that I end up emailing to myself, and I even have a little note section where I keep jokes that I make up. Scraps of paper get scribbled on and then end up in an "idea drawer" in my desk. There is also a notebook on my nightstand in case I wake up with ideas in the middle of the night. Keep track of all of your thoughts any way that works for you,

because you never know when a little idea like this...

could turn into something like this...

and end up looking like this.

I try to do something creative every day; whether I draw, or write, or even knit. Some days are super productive, and some days aren't, but I really think it all evens out. The most important thing is to do your own thing, be open to learning and growing, and just be your own quirky self. 

Nina Crittenden an illustrator who loves pancakes, silly jokes, and is currently obsessed with ferns.  You can visit her here at her website or here at her blog.

Many thanks to Nina for offering her wisdom and also a giveaway on today's post!  If you leave a comment on this post, you will be eligible to receive the Nina-illustrated book, CEDRIC AND THE DRAGON, as well as a pocket-sized Rhodia notebook.  Please simply leave a comment, and check back here or at The Poem Farm Facebook page on October 26 to see if you have won!  Thank you, Nina!

Available through Amazon

Kate Messner: A Road Map in my Head

Confession: When Amy asked if I’d be willing to share my writer’s notebook, and write a little about some pages, it sounded like an overwhelming job. How come?  Well…I don’t have one writer’s notebook. I have a dozen going at any given time. 

They’re not all urgent, full-of-ideas-I-can’t-stand-to-lose notebooks.  I don’t even know where some of them are. But they live around the house and my car and my  various backpacks and tote bags, and there’s always at least one around for when I need to scribble down an idea.

But always, I have two that are the most important notebooks, and I’m going to talk about those.   One is a tiny (fits in my pocket!) black spiral notebook that I use as a holding pen for book ideas.  Shiny new projects are always trying to distract me from my works in progress that are under deadline, so that little black notebook is my solution. When I have an idea for a new book – one that I think I’d like to explore later on – it gets one page in the black notebook.  That’s it – one page. Sometimes, I fill that one page with a title and a tag line – what the book might be about. Sometimes, I write the first two sentence of the book.  Every idea-page is different, but they serve the same purpose – to pull that idea from the air (and from my otherwise occupied brain!) for safe keeping so that I can return to it later on. This is the other important notebook…

I always have a work-in-progress notebook going for the project I’m working on at any given time. This is my notebook for HIDE AND SEEK, which comes out in April 2013 and is the sequel to my Scholastic mystery, CAPTURE THE FLAG.

In that first mystery, three kids whose families are part of a secret society to protect the world’s artifacts are in Washington, DC when news breaks. The Star-Spangled Banner – the huge flag that inspired our National Anthem – has been stolen from the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  Snowed in at the DC Airport on their way out of town, the kids meet up and decide to try and learn more about the theft – only to discover that the prime suspects are there at the airport, too. They prowl all over the snowed-in airport (They even get to ride those cool conveyer belts down into the belly of the airport luggage area!) trying to track down the bad guys and save the flag. 

The second mystery, HIDE AND SEEK, explores the origins of the Silver Jaguar Society in Latin America, and when a sacred society artifact goes missing, the kids and their families board a plane to Costa Rica to try and recover it.  So I started my notebook for HIDE AND SEEK with some brainstorming, exploring the big plot lines of the book, figuring them out for myself so that I could have a clear picture of what might have happened before I started writing.

From there, I fill the notebook with questions, my reflections on those questions, research notes, and one of my favorite things in the world – lists.I think brainstorming lists is a great way to develop themes in writing, among other things. The idea of hiding – and all the different reasons we might hide something or someone, or hide ourselves – is central to both the plot and theme of HIDE AND SEEK, so I spent several pages of this notebook brainstorming, noodling on that idea and generally playing around with it.

When this notebook was maybe halfway full, I had enough of a road map in my head to begin writing, but I’d return to it over and over as I wrote my first draft and throughout the revision process. While I write all my books on my laptop, they begin in scribbled notebook pages. I know that if I lose my way while I’m writing, I can always come back to this notebook to find the heart of the story…waiting for me to rediscover it.

Kate Messner is an award-winning author whose books for kids have appeared on numerous state award lists and have been Junior Library Guild, New York Times Notable, ALSC Notable, IndieBound, and Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections. THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. won the 2010 E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers, and OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW won an E.B. White Read Aloud Honor as well as SCBWI’s Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Test.   A middle school English teacher for fifteen years, Kate now spends her time writing and speaking to writers and readers of all ages at conferences, schools, and libraries. She lives on Lake Champlain with her family and loves being outside, whether it’s kayaking in the summer or skating on the frozen lake when the temperatures drop. 

You can read about Kate's newest book, CAPTURE THE FLAG (July 2012), here.

Learn more at Kate’s website:

http://www.katemessner.com

Follow on Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/KateMessner

Friend her on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/KateMessner

Or catch up on the latest news on her blog:

http://www.katemessner.com/blog