sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Guest Blogger: Kathryn Apel

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Thanks to all who dropped in yesterday to share the excitement of Pearl’s release. The excitement continues today, with day 2 of my blog tour rolling on to This Writing Life.

But, right here right now, I am delighted to welcome my first guest blogger for the month. Kathryn Apel is not only a fellow writer and friend, but also shares a special day with me – because yesterday, whist I was busy celebrating the release of Pearl Verses the World, Kathryn was celebrating the release of her first picture book, This is the Mud. So, it was fitting that I invite Kathryn to be my first guest blogger in this month of guests and celebrations. Over to Kathryn:

Firstly, a huge thankyou to Sally, who is not only sharing the excitement of a of a May book release, but has also invited me to share the experiences on her blog during this merry month of May. And I’m really looking forward to some poetic justice in our combined Verse Off, starting on Sunday. Check into either of our blogs for details then – because this one’s for you!

Secondly, congratulations Sally, on the release of Pearl Verses the World!!! It looks like a beautiful ‘heart’ story and I am really looking forward to adding it to my collection and savouring the story, richly told in poetic verse. I know I’ve said it before, but I have to say it here again… I love that title!! So very cryptically, cleverly done. It’s a pearl.

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I love writing poetry! The discipline that comes from good poetry enhances all forms of writing. After all, poetry develops the art of saying less, best.

Cinquains are beaut to start young poets off. But they hone the skills of adult writers too.

Cinquains have a few, simple rules that teach you to make every word count! Cut out needless words like ‘a’, ‘the’ and… ‘and’! Don’t repeat a word.

There are a couple of different formats for a cinquain, but this is one I like.

Line One: One noun
Line Two: Two adjectives
Line Three: Three verbs
Line Four: Four-word phrase
Line Five: A different noun

That’s right – just 11 words. But those few words create vivid pictures – often with sound effects too!

train
segmented, long
tilts, glides, toots
snaking across the country
locomotive

lorikeets
vibrant, colourful
screech, dance, quarrel
raucous, rainbow nectar collectors
parrots

(Commended in Yellow Moon, 2005)

Choose a subject and write to sharpen the reader’s perception. Play around with abstract connections then tie them together with a twist. It’s amazing how far 11 words can go.

S-Bend
sleek, white
gapes, swills, consumes
fatal fish roller coaster
pelican

(Winner in Yellow Moon, 2006)

The following cinquain planning and draft sheet is one I’ve developed for classroom use. It makes students think about the subject before they start to compose the cinquain – so they have a bank of images and words to play with when it comes time to craft the poem.


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I can’t write about poetry without talking about rhyme – especially since May is my month for Mud!

Sometimes writing rhyming poetry ties my head in knots and I feel like my skull will crack with the effort of finding the ‘perfect word’. Other times words spill out so fast that my fingers fly across the keys in a euphoric rush, and the poem literally writes itself.

This is the Mud! was one of those effortless efforts. It was written in about an hour, with very little to edit afterwards. Everything just seemed to fall into place – so much so, I was too embarrassed to show any of my usual writing buddies, because there was no skill in it.

It’s just as well I shared it with my boys, because a year later, my then six year-old chose This is the Mud! as my entry to the inaugural CYA preschool picture book manuscript competition, which it won, and from there, went on to publication. It was my first book contract. The breakthrough – at last!

Richly illustrated by Warren Crossett, This is the Mud! will be on sale in bookstores around Australia from 7th May. It is a gorgeous picture book for our Aussie kids, featuring a beautiful, beefy red cow, and loads of mud, muck, mess and mayhem!

That’s the dirt on This is the Mud! – just add water.

For a short form poetry discipline with a rhyming base, I have a lot of fun with the solage, developed by Australian poet, Cameron M. Semmens. Once again, this is great for classroom use – especially upper primary or secondary, where kids are sharp and witty.

The solage has three lines in an AAB rhyme scheme. The third line is a humorous twist on lines 1&2 – usually only one word. The solage is so short and simple, it’s a joke!

I haven’t met
the teacher’s pet…
dragon

Boys niggle.
Girls giggle –
Detention!

The recorder band
broke – then fanned;
wind

I don’t understand cricket,
with bails on the wicket –
Stumped!

The Big Cat Show
pranced in a row…
lion-dance

I hope you have some fun with these. Sharpen your pencil and your wits so you can pare back your poetry and reveal – a pearl!

Thanks Sally!

Kathryn Apel (All poems used © Kathryn Apel)

Thanks for coming, Kathryn. Follow these links to learn more about Kat.

This is the Mud is available from Booktopia.

Writing Kids’ Poems: Five Exercises

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April is poetry month. In the USofA it;s called National Poetry Month, but here in Australia I’m just calling it Poetry Month, since I’ve been unable to figure out if the month is officially recognised as such here.

Anyway, whether it’s only a US thing or not, how wonderful to have a month which celebrates poetry! And, because it’s poetry month, I’ve been digging around looking for some inspiration for children’s writers who might want to have a try at poetry.

So, here it is. Five wonderful writing exercises to get you writing your own poetry. Some of these exercises are aimed at kids, but since all children’s writers are kids at heart, you’ll find plenty there.

So, get reading, and get writing. Poetry is good for the soul.

The List:
1. Write an exaggeration poem – exercise on the Poetry 4 Kids website.

2. Write a simple list poem, from poet Bruce Lanksy on the Giggle Poetry website.

3, How to write a Funny Poem – chapter three of How to write Poetry, by Roger Stevens, the whole text of which has been reprinted online.

4. Write a descriptive poem with Karla Krusky on Scholastic online.

5. Write a stretchy metaphor poem at the ReadWritePoem blog, which is posting a new poetry prompt every day this month.

If you know of a great poetry writing exercise that I’ve missed, let me know and I’ll start a new list for another post.

March Update

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It’s the last day of March, and so time for another of my monthly updates.

Lots has happened in my writing life in March, with things moving along on three of my forthcoming books. I feel more and more like a ‘real’ author every day.

At the start of the month I was featured in Susan Stephenson’s column at Muselings, an ezine for writers. Susan is an Australian based reviewer of books and passionate advocate for reading to and with children. I really appreciate her taking the time to interview me.

My picture book with Koala Books, which was previously known as Constantine and Aristotle, has now been retitled The Head Hog, after discussions with the publisher. I am quite delighted by this new title as it was, in fact, the earliest title I gave the manuscript before settling on Constantine and Aristotle. It now seems my earlier instinct was a good one. As well as being retitled, I spent some time this month on the editing. A good tidy up of the manuscript was needed, ready for the final illustrations. It’s amazing how a manuscript which you feel you’ve already got perfect, can be made so much more perfect after an editor or two cast their eyes over it and point things out to you. I’m really happy with the edited text and can’t wait to see the illustrations, which are being produced by Ben Wood.

My other forthcoming picture book, Snowy’s Christmas, is also progressing. This month the illustrator, David Murphy, finished the final colour illustrations, which I have now seen (and love). I also got my first look at the cover which has a nice teally kind of background and, of course, the delightful Snowy. I also worked on, and finalised the blurb for this one,which will be released by Random House in November.

And, of course, Pearl Verses the World. the release date for my verse novel-baby is only a month away and I am getting really excited about this one. The rest of my author copies arrived mid month. Although I’d already had one copy for a while, it felt exciting all over again to open the parcel and see my name on that beautiful cover. Walker Books have truly done an outstanding job of putting it all together.
With the release date getting closer, I have spent a lot of time planning promotional activities. I am planning a blog tour for the first ten days of the book’s life, and will be visiting the blogs of ten fellow Aussie bloggers who have kindly agreed to host me. Although I’ve done a blog tour before, and hosted plenty, I’ve never been on one that lasted ten days, so that’s both exciting and a little daunting. I have also decided to invite other authors and poets to visit this blog during my month long celebration, and share some advice and exercises about writing poetry for children. I have had some great names sign up for this, so am really looking forward to having them here. I’ve also got some interviews lined up, and have contributed to teaching notes for Pearl, so there’s lots happening.

Aside from my three forthcoming books, I have been chipping away at a new project for upper primary aged readers, and also started researching for a nonfiction project for adults. For the latter, I am keen to talk to as many country-dwelling Aussies as possible. So, if you are an Australian living in the country, or who has previously lived int he country, and are willing to talk tome about via email about your experiences, drop me a line at my special email address for this project – ruralaussies AT gmail.com (remove the spaces and use the ‘at’ symbol).

I’ve also been writing and editing children’s poetry. inspired by the poetry workshops I attended at Apropos last month, I have started revisiting some of my older poems and tidying them up, and have also written several new poems. I am trying to shape them into a collection – culling some, fine tuning others and seeing where the gaps are. Very challenging but I’m having lots of fun. I love playing with poetry.

What else? Partly to promote Pearl (but also for the love of it), I started a new blog which focuses just on the verse novel, called Versing. It’s still in its infancy, but I’m hoping to create a useful resource both for lovers of the form, and for those who perhaps don’t know much about verse novels. My most recent posts is a list of verse novels for children and young adults.
I also started blogging on an occasional basis for a website called Ourpatch, discussing living and writing in rural Australia. You can see my blog posts here.

Aussiereviews continues to keep me busy, with sixteen new reviews added in March. As always, there’s a real range,from children’s picture books to adult nonfiction. A favourite this month was A Beginner’s Guide to Living. I was fascinated by how the author managed to make her prose just so poetic – and then discovered, when I read her bio, that she is in fact a poet. The influence of her poetic craft on her prose is really apparent.
So, that was my March. The year is marching on, and for once I’m glad of it – as each day brings the release of Pearl one day closer.
See you next month.

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It’s 15 words or less day at Laura Salas’ blog. Here’s my effort for this week:

Sometimes
life takes
directions
unplanned
and you must sail
uncharted waters
hoping for smooth seas.

To see the photo which inspired this effort, visit Laura’s blog. WHile you’re there, why not write a poem of your own? It’s a great exercise.

http://sallymurphy.com.au/2009/03/299/

Hot Writing Link: poetry Writing with Jack Prelutsky

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If you have ever tried writing poetry for kids you’ll know that it isn’t as easy as it looks. Actually that’s not completely true – it is easy to write a poem – but it isn’t easy to write a GOOD poem, one likely to get published. Today’s link is a to an online poetry workshop which is aimed at kids, but which is a lot of a fun and a great way to get inspired. Jack Prelutsky is the US Children’s Poet Laureate and you’ll find his workshop here.
Enjoy!

Assembly Samples

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Ready Ed, who publish several of my educational books, have added a new feature on their website – free sample pages from their books of printables. If you’re interested, for example, in my book Assembly, you can click on a link on the book’s information page and see several pages, including two of the poems – Elephant and Rhyme Time.
A cool function.

I’m happy to see that Assembly is still selling well – it’s currently the top selling Language/English title on the website.

Yay.