Author Coming to Borders

Just wanted to let you know about an upcoming event at our store with the local author, Carol Plum-Ucci on Sat., 4/24 from 3-6PM. She will be here to autograph copies of her new book, Fire Will Fall, which is her 7th book and a sequel to her popular Streams of Babel. Carol will be giving away 2 copies of Streams of Babel as prizes for a trivia contest about her books.

For the last hour, Carol will review teen author writings (prose or poetry), and offer professional advice. If you know any budding teen authors, please let them know about this opportunity to meet and consult with a local author who knows the ropes of professional publishing.

This would be an excellent idea for anyone who is an aspiring writer to attend. Hope to see you there!

Writing Club

We hope everyone can stay for writing club today!

Writing Prompt 3/17

Write about an argument you had with someone but do not have it exceed 100 words.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Wear your green and have a great day!

Writing Prompt

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/index.html

The above link is to "This Day in History".

I want you to take one of the dates or events that you are not familiar with and write about what you THINK happened. Compare it to what really happened.

Check this out!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/books/review/Schuessler-t.html?ref=books

Click on the above link to read an article about writing as a job!

Writing Prompt 3/12

With Pi Day actually falling on Sunday, Oakcrest is celebrating it today. Take your favorite food and write a short story about how you first discovered it.

Writings?

As you know, we were not able to meet for writing project yesterday and are unable to meet next week. That said, one of the requirements of writing project is to submit your writing for peer and teacher evaluation.Please take the time we are not meeting to submit your writing at least once a week. You may also come to the library during your study hall to discuss your writing with Ms. Platt and Ms. Dorrell. Thank you for keeping up with the project!!

Meetings!

Hi all!

I hope that you are planning on coming to the meeting tomorrow after school in the library at our regular table! We are going to go over character sketches, talk about your progress, and get you out there!

See you tomorrow!

Note: We will NOT be having a meeting Thursday March 18. There aren't going to be 3:30 buses.

Writing Prompt 3/10

Write a few sentences that tells a story. Break those sentences into stanzas. Don't end a stanza with punctuation. Now you have a poem!

New Blog

Because the writing club blog has been successful, Ms. Dorrell and I are starting a new blog for the library!

OakcrestLibrary.blogspot.com

On the library blog, we are going to share articles, reviews, and thoughts on the library. If you have anything to contribute or have ideas for the library, please stop in and share them! We would love to hear what you have to say!

Writing Prompt

Take an old cliche and write the opposite. Make it fresh!

National School Library Month

A note from the library:

April is National School Library Month. The theme for this year is Communities Thrive @ Your Library. Ms. Dorrell and I have been thinking a while about this and we are going to incorporate our Zen Garden and our courtyard into the project. We are cleaning it up and giving it a make over! If you have any scrap metal, wheel barrels or anything recylable that you would like to donate, we would love to add it. Also, any ideas about how to improve either the courtyard or our Zen Garden would be greatly appreciated.

See you Thursday with ideas!! Think think think!

Writing Prompt 3/8

Read a poem you like. Take the last line of that poem and make it the first line of your new poem.

OR

Take a poem you don't like and re-arrange the lines. Cut and Paste parts of lines together to create a unique new poem.

Gorgeous Sunday

Hope everyone is enjoying their wonderful Sunday! We couldn't ask for better weather for early March. It sure beats everything we had in January and February. Try writing something outside today but don't make it about nature. Ah, always a twist.

Check back in throughout the week. We will post more prompts and fun articles.

See you Thursday!

From Ms. D and Ms. Platt to You

As you know, over the midterms Ms. Dorrell and I shifted the library. We moved out some reference books, shifted the fiction up the front of the library, and cleaned up. In that process, we also got rid of or "weeded" a lot of books. We had books such as How To Prepare for the Metric System and Encyclopedia of UFO's. Clearly we did not need these titles anymore. We aren't the only ones that weed through our collection. Other libraries do the same thing and come up with some interesting results. The site below is to a site dedicated to the art of weeding.

http://awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com/

Next Meeting

Hi everyone!
I hope that your testing went fabulously! I'm sure you all knocked it out of the park (cliche, don't use it EVER) and passed with flying colors (I couldn't help myself...). With testing this week, obviously we didn't have a meeting. We haven't had meetings the past few weeks and the last meeting we had only ONE person showed up. What's up with that? So, please come to the library on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 2:35 and we will do what we do best. I hope that you can make it! We miss you!

For your interest

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/weekinreview/28kennedy.html?ref=books

What Happens Next?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/books/26book.html?ref=books

This book asks the question, what happens to American when we reach 400 million people by 2050? It seems like an interesting read.

Writing Prompt 3/3

Pick out 10 words from a dictionary but don't look at the definition. Create your own definition!

How to Get a Literary Agent?

http://www.scenariowritingstudio.com/complete-guide-hiring-literary-agent/

This site shares tips and frequently asked questions on how to get a literary agent.

Writing Prompt 3/2

What is the best moment of the day? Write your response as someone of a different culture.

Publishing and the E-Book

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/business/media/01ebooks.html

Here is an interesting article on the cost of publishing and how much money is generated with a book vs. an e-book.

On that note, what do you think about the Kindle, Sony E-Reader and Apple's iPad? Do you think that all are equal? Do you think one is better than another? Does price play a factor in your opinion? Let me know what you think on Thursday!

Top Ten Books to Read as an English Major

http://www.amazon.com/Books-Every-English-Major-Should/lm/RIRD63KI4UNAD

Here is a link to the "Top Ten Books Every English Major Should Read". To get a jump start on college, I would definitely suggest looking at the grammar and MLA books. This is going to be very important to you in the future!

-Ms. Platt

Writing Prompt for 3/1/10

Focus on an object in the room. Close your eyes for 3 minutes and recall as much detail as you can about it. Open your eyes to see if it's like how you remembered.

Welcome to Oakcreat Writing Project!

Hi everybody!
Miss Platt and Miss Dorrell here! We would like to welcome you to the official blog of the Oakcrest Writing Project! The writing project is designed to get student's work published. Each meeting, which takes place on Thursdays during tutorial period in the library, we do a writing prompt to get our brains flowing, talk about how to develop our stories, and we workshop. On this site, we are going to give updates to the project and publish some of our members work. If you ever have any questions, feel free to comment on the blog or visit us in the library!

Our meetings (unless noted otherwise)
Thursday, 2:40-3:30.