Writer's Workshop

 This past Thursday we had the pleasure of meeting and listening to acclaimed author and poet Janet S Wong. Janet's presentation focused on writing, specifically poetry.  She explained to the students that poems and stories often come from stories of family history, family traditions or personal life events.  She entertained the students with the stories 'behind' her poems and encouraged them to write, write, write! She suggested that each student find a small notebook and spend only 5 minutes a day filling that notebook with words, thoughts, and small sentences or stories about things that they are interested in.

Janet insisted that poems and stories are right under our noses waiting to be discovered. All we need to do is speak to people to uncover them.  She suggested the students:...

"Find the oldest person they know and ask them to tell a story from their childhood"
"Ask someone...what's the weirdest thing they've eaten?"
"Ask someone...Where is the greatest place you've been?"
"Ask someone...What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you?"

Her point was that once you hear these stories you might be inspired to retell the story in the form of a poem.

if you would like to see more of Janet Wong's poetry please visit her website @
www.poetrysuitcase.com