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| (L to R): Kekla Magoon, Laurie Calkhoven, Nicole Valentine |
Instructors: Kekla Magoon, Laurie Calkhoven, Nicole Valentine
Driving to the Highlights Foundation barn felt like driving
home. It is now a familiar place. One where I know the magic and love of books resides.
It’s a safe place where strangers transform into friends, where everyone receives
encouragement and knowledge.
Writing Off the Page was my third workshop at the barn.
Though each experience is different, all have been beneficial to my writing
journey. And oh, the food. It’s both nutritious and delicious, much like the
knowledge gained.
The description of the workshop is what caught my attention.
I wanted to learn creative techniques to carve out my characters, to breathe
more life into them, to make them real. I wanted to learn how to pump more
heart into my stories. To push my creativity to new limits. I was not
disappointed.
And to make this memory even more heart-warming, several
writers in the group made major breakthroughs during our stay. If you’ve never
been to a Highlights Foundation workshop, check out their offerings. They’re an
investment in your children’s book writing and/or illustrating career.
Previous Highlights Foundation workshops I've attended are: Picture Books & All that Jazz and Perfecting the Picture Book Text.
From
the Highlights Foundation web site:
Writing
Off the Page
In
this workshop, you will develop new creative strategies to help bring your
stories to life:
*Think
about your writing from different angles, drawing inspiration from other
disciplines (theater, graphic design, visual art) to deepen your characters and
create more vibrant landscapes in which to immerse them.
*Practice
new ways to get into your characters’ heads. Through meditation, journaling,
arts and crafts, and creative projects, you will be pulled out from behind the keyboard
to immerse yourself more fully in the worlds of your stories.
*Consider
story structure and explore visual and tactile tools for outlining, organizing,
and reorganizing your story.
