Meigs-Kahlenberg - The authors apprentice: developing writing fluency, stamina, and motivation through authentic publication

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THE AUTHORS APPRENTICE

Copyright 2016 by Vicki Meigs-Kahlenberg

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Meigs-Kahlenberg, Vicki

The authors apprentice : developing writing fluency, stamina, and motivation through authentic publication

ISBN : 9781571109415 (pbk. : alk. paper) 9781625311016 (ebook)

Cover and interior design by Lucian Burg, Lu Design Studios, Portland, ME www.ludesignstudios.com

For all of my young writers...

May your voices continue to soar and
your words continue to inspire.

by Jeff Anderson

I m jaded.

When I read a new professional book about writing I ask myself, Whats new? Is there anything I want to know more about? Is this book about quick fixes or is it about the true, long path of the writing process, messy and imperfect and glorious? Does it have some practicality and a breath of fresh air to keep me trudging down the road to writing success?

I flipped open The Authors Apprentice and saw what was tried and true and bold and new. Id heard about NaNoWriMoNational Novel Writing Monthbeing applied in classrooms, and I was curious, both as a novelist and as a teacher of writing. But it was these words that made me continue reading:

This is the one opportunity in their school career for your students to write unapologetically, to write fiercely about whatever they want without the fear of their words being imperfect. They suddenly look forward to our language arts period and beg me for writing time. Really. How awesome is that?

I felt a friend in the voice of Vicki Meigs. I felt the strength of someone who knows what shes talking abouta real writing teacher, probably with a messy desk (I picture everyone I like with a messy desk). I felt the strength and depth of an educator who acknowledges those whose shoulders she stands upon.

As a writing teacher, I follow the research base that points us to the writing process, to let students do what professional writers do: Face a blank page at the beginning of a project with a mixture of excitement, fear, and wonder. Play with words and ideas and organization. Look closely at favorite novels and discover craft and style, and try successfully and unsuccessfully to apply this craft to their work. And when they want to give up, they dont. Instead they write through to the end. Writing through is the way to transform.

As a middle grades novelist, I also have an idea of what writers do, and I know that what Meigs suggests works on both fronts. We get better by diving in and doing the work. I wrote six novels before Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth (Sterling, 2015) was published. Writing those six novels was not wasted time. I learned through writing and feedback and struggling and attempting and, finally, succeeding. That is the work of a writer. What a gift Meigs gives her students (and now perhaps yours) to experiment and grow. To find the joy of honest, long-term work.

Not convinced your students can write novels? Not convinced the work outlined in this book is true to curriculum standards, Common Core or otherwise? Then youve got to read this book, try it out in your classroom, and see what happens. Meigs gives you the tools that the novelist and the writing teacher in me adoresits dripping with hard-won truths and the grit it takes to be a writer and reviser.

I started writing novels, off and on, when I was twenty-six. I was first published as a teacher who wrote about teaching. Now, by doing much of the work described in The Authors Apprentice, Im also a published fiction writer. Give your students the gift of the real writing processthat ever-evolving, upward-spiraling path of discovery.

Jeff Anderson: Author of
Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth (Sterling, 2015)
Zack Delacruz: Just My Luck (Sterling, 2016)
And a few books about teaching writing and grammar for Stenhouse Publishers

I t takes a village to raise a writer. It takes mentorsauthors who inspire us as readers with their stories and awaken us as writers to possibilities with their advice. It takes wordsin books and poems, in newspapers and songsto stimulate us to refine our writing style. It takes teachers, colleagues, students, friends, and an entire community of writers to motivate, encourage, and support us through every step in the writing process. Without any one of these, this publication would not have been possible. I have so many people to thank for helping me to bring this work to the world.

Although I know that many of you will never see this, I must acknowledge all of those who have come before meall of those extraordinary writing teachers who have paved the way for quality teaching and learning and have influenced writing instruction across the country and in my own classroom. Nancie Atwell, Kelly Gallagher, Ralph Fletcher, Katie Ray, Georgia Heard, Jeff Anderson, Lynne Dorfman, Rose Cappelli, and so many others: I proudly stand on your shoulders. With your passion, you continue to inspire, challenge, and deepen my understanding of writing and what it takes to rise above the tide. To all of those YA and middle-level writers who have touched my world with your words: Your fingerprints remain on all of the writing work that I do.

Sincerest gratitude to my first real writing teachers, all of the remarkable educators, mentors, and colleagues at the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project (PAWLP) in West Chester, PA, especially former director Dr. Andrea Fishman for taking me under your wing and helping me to get this project off the ground, and to current director Dr. Mary Buckelew for being my cheerleader from day one. The work that all of you do to keep reading and writing alive in our schools and communities through PAWLP institutes, courses, staff development, and youth programs is immeasurable.