Revisiting Summer Favorites - Teacher's Write!

Last summer I discovered Teacher's Write! with Kate Messner, Jo Knowles, Gae Polisner, and Jen Vincent. It's a free, mini writing workshop with exercises and feedback, hosted on blogs and Facebook (or check out #TeachersWrite). I really enjoyed participating in the workshop last year. It helped motivate me to keep working on the novel I was drafting and I really liked the interesting writing challenges and perspective I got on my work. 

This Monday, it started again, and it runs for the month of July. I had fun with the first writing warm up, posted on author Jo Knowles' blog. She called it White Page Day. Even if you don't want to participate in the workshop, it's worth checking out this exercise for the new perspective it gives you on your work. It would also be great for getting back into a work you've set aside.  

Here's something quick I wrote about the novel I'm revising:

The Dog Cure

Voices crashing together, 
laughing.
At her? 
She's scared. 
Not normal scared of a sound in the dark or spiders or that moment when you realize the house is quiet and you're alone, but
the heart-racing, chest-squeezing panic of
saying the wrong thing or
making a mistake or
not being good enough. 
Until the dog comes. 
Is this the cure? 
The miracle that will help her
make a new friend, 
plan a lizard-themed birthday party, 
talk to the cute lizard-owner, and
finally get over her mom's accident. 
Maybe. 
Or maybe the miracle is already inside,
just waiting for 
the right lines on the page, 
the right words, 
the right time, 
to be brave.

And just for fun, here's a peek at my recent visit to Brickfete in Toronto, a Lego fan festival. I'm always impressed by the amazing structures people create (kind of like the time and effort that goes into creating a book).

Lots of inspiration here for writers, if you think about these creations as possible story settings. It shows you how effective interesting details can be.