Welcome to my writing workshop for budding young authors. Learn how to create your characters and "show don't tell" their feelings. Write beginnings that "hook" your readers. Learn to use a "writing camera" to freeze a scene, and more! Download free worksheets. Click LESSON 1 on the left sidebar to begin.
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I usually post Reach for the Stars graduates one at a time, but today the graduates came in "batches." We just completed our 12 weeks of home school co-op and here are the proud recipients of their Reach for the Stars certificates. I had 2 classes: grades 3 - 5 and grades 6 - 8. We had a lot of fun and even the students who began the semester a bit reluctantly soon began to enjoy themselves (and learned a lot, too!)
Here is the Older Class . . .
. . . and the younger class.
Congratulations, excellent students, and I sure wish I could have all of you on-line students in class, too!
It's been awhile, but I'm happy to announce another Reach for the Stars writing workshop graduate. Pip is another creative writer whose lessons I'm going to miss reading. Like many former graduates, Pip has a flair for writing in the fantasy genre, and I'm posting the link to her blog right here: INKSTAINS. Pip plans to post ongoing stories (like her fantasy adventure) as well as poems and contests she plans to put up. (Ooooh! Contests!). She also has an ongoing "comment story" where bloggers can add to the story by commenting. Sounds like crazy fun.
Check it all out on her blog. Congratulations, Pip, for a job well done!
Below are a few answers Pip was willing to give me to my infamous "Reach for the Stars" survey.
1) What was the main reason you decided to participate in the Writing Workshop? To improve my writing skills and get constructive feedback.
2) Which lesson did you find to be the most helpful to the kind of writing you do, and why? Probably the one about proper Point of View (POV) because I get quite mixed up sometimes.
3) Which lesson was the most FUN and why? I loved the lesson where I created a character sketch and the one on Peaks and Valleys, because the character sketch inspired me for a third novel and doing peaks and valleys gives a good bird's eye view of the whole work you're examining.
4) Is there anything you learned from the writing workshop that you feel will "stick" with you the longest, and that you will really use when writing your stories? If so, what is it? Proper POV usage and the creation hooks, plus all the little details to help my writing sound clear, concise and coherent. I have also had several brainstorms doing these helpful lessons!
5) Where do you plan to go from here, writing-wise? (future plans for completing a story, etc. A title? A nutshell?) :-) I would love to get a Ph.D. from Oxford in English, and I have written one novel already that I hope to self-publish. I also feel that God has called me to be a writer, so I will continue to pray for His inspiration that I may write God-glorifying short stories and books to bless others. In the meantime, Reach for the Stars has helped me organize several ideas that I hope to pursue, and I will be posting my progress with those ideas on my writing blog, Inkstains.
Congratulations, Pip, for a job well done! 
