CABE 2009

CABE 2009: 34th Annual Conference

Releasing Multilingual Dreams Today,
Creating New Worlds Tomorrow

February 25, 2009 through February 28, 2009.
Long Beach Convention Center
Long Beach, California

CABE HIGHLIGHTS

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Children's Writing Conference

Want to Stand out as a Writer?
Find Your Voice

When you write for children, as we do, it's critical to step back into the skin of the kid you used to be. Only by truly remembering what you were like as a child can you write from your experiences and about your truths. When you do that, you're writing from your voice.

Try this exercise to take you back, back, back to the days when you were a tiara-topped princess or a scruffy pirate captured and confined within four walls at the end of every blissful summer.

Close your eyes. You're sitting at a desk in a classroom. What does it feel like? Is the chair hard? Is it plastic or wooden? Does it swivel? Does the desktop open? Open it. What's inside? Are your classroom things neat or orderly? What treasures have you hidden there? Pick up the crayons. Sniff them. Can you sniff out your favorite color?

Now the teacher approaches. How big is she/he in relation to you? How does your teacher's size make you feel? What expression is on your teacher's face? Why has he/she come to your desk? Did you raise your hand? Do you ever?

Continue to explore this classroom scene until you're immersed in the feelings it evokes. Write from those feelings.

It often takes years for a writer to find his or her authentic voice. Excursions to the past, such as the one above, can help. If you're ready to find your voice, I would love to work with you. Join me this spring (April 1-5, 2009) for Finding Your Voice, a Highlights Foundation Founders Workshop to be held near Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

This intensive activity- and writing-based workshop will help you break through to your authentic voice. Through a series of activities and writing exercises (like the one included in this e-mail), one-on-one critiques and group feedback sessions, you will learn how to discover and write your own stories as only you can write them.

For more information, visit www.highlightsfoundation.org or contact Jo Lloyd, toll free, at 877-512-8365.


ABOUT KIM T. GRISWELL

Currently acting managing editor at Boyds Mills Press, Kim spent six years as coordinating editor of Highlights for Children and four years as a senior editor for The Education Center, Inc. She has taught workshops across the country and held positions as senior editor, book development manager, university instructor, and teacher with the Institute of Children's Literature. Her published works include more than two hundred short stories, articles, and columns; a number of educational books; and a children's book, Carnivorous Plants. Last spring, she spent two months as writer-in-residence at the Sitka Center for Arts and Ecology in Oregon. Find out more about Kim at www.highlightsfoundation.org and www.kimgriswell.com.