Writing Resources

Last weekend we attended the 2008 Pacific Festival of the Book – which, by the way was a great success. This was a great place to take the kiddos and expose them to not only, new and exciting literature, but also to give them an opportunity to meet the authors themselves. There were indeed some great authors and poets to meet and there was a great workshop put on by Robert Priest on youth writing and poetry. The kids enjoyed the experience and we came home with a few new books including The Secret Invasion of Bananas – poetry for children, by Robert Priest, which was one of our favorites. When one hears a story or poem read out-loud by the author her/himself, the word engaging falls short in terms of describing the experience.

In addition to the poetry, I picked up a wonderful little booklet by Naomi Beth Wakan called Getting You Writing! I believe the booklet was written with the purpose of inspiring adult writers, both new and novice, to find creative ways to expand their writing skills. What I noticed immediately, was that this little booklet is a really great resource for teachers and homeschoolers alike and contains a wealth of ideas for inspiring students to think creatively – outside the box. I had to practically wrestle it out of one of my teacher friend’s hands. I highly recommend having a copy on your resource shelf – in fact, it even inspired me to perhaps take a new twist on my own writing skills. I can’t wait to put it to use.

In addition to this wonderful little booklet – I purchased Compositions: Notes on the written word, also by Naomi Beth Wakan. It is a book on the writing process itself, or as quoted in the foreword by the author itself: a gathering of musings on books, writers and writing. Another book which will most likely, take up permanent residence on my resource shelf.

What are your favorite writing resources? Feel free to share and tell us why.