| The Art and Craft of Writing Viable Writing vs. "Published" Writing We're going to answer these questions and a whole lot more. What is publishable writing? What is creative writing versus informative writing? What are fiction and non-fiction? What about scripts and poetry? Am I a writer? Are others interested in what I write? Does writing a blog make me a writer? Does it make me a potential e-book author? We'll determine what is writing that is publishable and worthy of being read by the public and what is tripe. Much of this discussion wouldn't even be necessary if not for writing in the digital age, the internet, web sites, web forums, blogs, and so forth. More to come soon and you don't want to miss it! 
Developing Writers Developing Writers Video Series (8x60") Developing Writers Web Site Developing Writers: A Workshop for High School Teachers presents practical and philosophical advice for teaching writing, while examining issues every teacher faces—such as high-stakes assessments and dealing with differently abled students. Eight video programs feature teachers in diverse classrooms around the country who are helping their students grow as skilled and effective writers. Participants will observe how the teachers and their students work together to create writing communities. Professional writers will share their processes as they move from initial concepts to publication, and comments from researchers, theorists, students, and teachers add context. A workshop guide and Web site provide activities and additional information to help participants develop effective instructional strategies to bring back to the classroom. Produced by Maryland Public Television. 2004. Workshop 1. First Steps
This session provides an overview of the first steps teachers should take when working with student writers. The educators, researchers, and writers featured in the video programs talk about specific goals they share with their students, recognizing the local, state, and national standards that serve as a floor, not a ceiling, for their work. They also express the benefits and value student writers find as they grow as writers, communicators, and thinkers. Visits to classrooms throughout the country underscore their thoughts. Noted author Judith Ortiz Cofer leads the featured teachers in a writer’s workshop activity focused on word triggers and their place in the processes of writing. Workshop 2. A Shared Path
What kind of atmosphere do students need to grow as writers? This session concentrates on the “hows” and “whys” that answer that question. The featured teachers talk about the physical set-up of a writing community, the importance of reading in a writing classroom, and their own roles as co-writers in the community, showing how these practicalities and philosophies actually work in setting up communities where trust and mutual respect are the hallmarks. In a writer’s workshop, the teachers react in writing to Judith Ortiz Cofer’s assignment: hiding and revealing through language. Workshop 3. Different Audiences
This session begins by examining the “self” most writers address, showing how the concept of writing for an audience is threaded throughout the dynamic and nonlinear processes of writing. From there, the session looks to a wider range of audiences, examining the demands the student writer encounters in addressing audiences in language arts and other disciplines, and audiences on other levels, such as those encountered in college and the job world. Classroom experiences show how writing community members think about, plan around, and address audience expectations. The teachers tackle the same theme for different audiences in a writer’s workshop led by Judith Ortiz Cofer. Workshop 4. Different Purposes
Purpose directly relates to the form or genre selected to express writers’ ideas. In this session, the teachers examine this relationship, presenting classroom examples of students working in many genres, including persuasive writing, memoir, and poetry. Their subsequent analysis underscores what students can learn by examining commonalities and differences among genres and the value of multigenre projects. In the writer’s workshop, the teachers tackle this question as well, selecting a genre or a combination of genres to share vivid events from their lives. Workshop 5. Usage and Mechanics
This session focuses directly on key questions of grammar and mechanics: When should student writers and reviewers of student work pay attention to usage and mechanics? Does teaching grammar in context really work? Why should these things matter? Grammar experts add to the conversation, analyzing its role in communication and providing ways to bridge the connection between message and mechanics. In the writer’s workshop, Judith Ortiz Cofer challenges the teachers to use only one sentence form to tell a story. Workshop 6. Providing Feedback on Student Writing
Student writing demands reaction—from both teachers and other members of the writing community. But what kind of interaction is most powerful and rewarding? The teachers, researchers, and authors tackle this issue in this session, talking about and demonstrating effective ways to conference and comment on student work and direct other members of the writing community to do the same. While offering great tips on structuring peer review, Judith Ortiz Cofer directs the teachers as they comment on each others’ work during this session. Workshop 7. Learning from Professional Writers
What can young writers learn from those who make their living through writing? Educators, researchers, and noted authors consider this question, offering innovative ways to bring the voice of the professional into the classroom. Teachers show how professional works by favorite writers can be the seeds for engaging classroom activities, while authors talk about their own writing processes and writing heroes. Maxine Hong Kingston, Patrick Jennings, Margo Jefferson, Christopher Meyers, Amy Tan, Ruthanne Lum McCunn, and Tracy Mack appear in this session’s video. Another noted author, Judith Ortiz Cofer, guides the teachers through an exercise triggered by a line from one of her favorite poets, Richard Hugo. Workshop 8. Writing in the 21st Century
Evolving technology has expanded the tools available to all writers. It has also opened new venues—with new requirements—for their work. How can teachers make the best use of these new resources? The teachers show some beginning steps they have taken to integrate technology into their instruction and their professional lives, and talk about the benefits and challenges evolving media present to them and their students. In the writer’s workshop, Judith Ortiz Cofer leads the teachers as they reflect on the effect of technology in their lives. Also view programs on demand at the Annenberg Web site (www.learner.org) or on the Annenberg Channel or call 1-800-LEARNER When on the Annenberg web site,  If you want to enter the world of writing and publishing in the digital age download a free trial of DeskTop Author and go to Publish and Sell Your E-book. The following videos, also available for viewing online free on the Annenberg site, should be of interest to writers of fiction, scripts, poetry who use multicultural, ethnic, or regional themes. Multicultural Literature 1 Multicultural Literature 1 Video Series (8x60") Multicultural Literature 1 Web Site This professional development workshop for high school teachers is an exploration of the richness of multicultural literature shown through four pedagogical approaches to teaching it: reader response, inquiry, cultural studies, and critical pedagogy. Eight one-hour video programs feature classroom footage illustrating these approaches, augmented by background information on featured authors and analysis of their works by leading scholars, educators, and the authors themselves. Rounding out the workshop experience are the print guide, which includes discussion questions and activities, and the Web site, which includes resources about literature and teaching strategies. Produced by Thirteen/WNET. 2003. Workshop 1. Reader Response: Pat Mora and James Welch
In Part I, Alfredo Lujan and his students at the Monte del Sol school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, explore My Own True Name, Pat Mora’s collection of poetry for teens and young adults. Pat Mora visits the classroom and shares her poetry with students. In Part II, Greg Hirst’s Wolf Point High School students on the Fort Peck reservation in Wolf Point, Montana, respond to the literature of Native American writer James Welch. Workshop 2. Reader Response: Keith Gilyard and Mourning Dove
In Part I, Alfredo Lujan’s students discuss poems in Keith Gilyard’s Poemographies. Gilyard reads his poem, “The Hatmaker” to the students and leads them in a response-based writing activity. In Part II, Greg Hirst’s students learn about and enact the oral tradition through the Salish coyote stories as written by Mourning Dove. Workshop 3. Inquiry: Rudolfo Anaya and James Baldwin
In Part I, Jorge Arredondo’s students at Charles H. Milby High School in Houston, Texas, begin an inquiry-based exploration of Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima. In Part II, Bo Wu and her students at Murry Bergtraum High School in New York City explore three works by James Baldwin and begin to create their own Web sites about Baldwin. Workshop 4. Inquiry: Tomás Rivera and Esmeralda Santiago
In Part I, Jorge Arredondo’s students begin an inquiry unit based on Tomás Rivera’s And the Earth Did Not Devour Him by visiting with Rivera translator and poet, Evangelina Vigil-Piñón. In Part II, Bo Wu and her students discuss Esmeralda Santiago’s memoir When I Was Puerto Rican and begin creating their own memoirs. Workshop 5. Cultural Studies: Ishmael Reed and Graciela Limón
In Part I, Betty Tillman Samb and her students at Raoul Wallenberg High School in San Francisco, California, explore Ishmael Reed’s poem “Railroad Bill, A Conjure Man” and related texts. Reed visits the class and reads excerpts of the poem. In Part II, Bobbi Houtchens and her students at Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino, California, discuss excerpts from Graciela Limón’s novel about Chiapas entitled Erased Faces. Limón reads passages from her novel and shares stories of growing up in East Los Angeles and visiting the Zapatistas in Mexico. Workshop 6. Cultural Studies: N. Scott Momaday and Russell Leong
In Part I, Betty Tillman Samb’s students study the mythological themes and historical shifts of Kiowa culture through N. Scott Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain. In Part II, Bobbi Houtchens and her students tour LA’s Chinatown with poet Russell Leong and explore the relationship between poetry and Tai Chi. Leong reads excerpts of his poem “Aerogrammes” and leads the class in creating Japanese Renga poems. Workshop 7. Critical Pedagogy: Octavia E. Butler and Ruthanne Lum McCunn
In Part I, Cathie Wright-Lewis’s students at Benjamin Banneker Academy in Brooklyn, New York, investigate the political, social, technological, and environmental issues in Octavia E. Butler’s novel, Parable of the Sower. In Part II, Sandra Childs’s students at Franklin High School in Portland, Oregon, discuss cultural and political issues as they relate to Ruthanne Lum McCunn’s novel, Thousand Pieces of Gold. Lum McCunn reads from her novel and discusses it with students. Workshop 8. Critical Pedagogy: Abiodun Oyewole and Lawson Fusao Inada
In Part I, Cathie Wright-Lewis and her class explore the tradition of spoken word and the works of poet Abiodun Oyewole. In Part II, Sandra Childs’s class studies the history of Japanese-American internment in the United States through the works of Lawson Fusao Inada. Inada reads his poetry to the students and addresses their questions. Learning from the Masters All writers read. Good writers read and re-read and read some more. You've read the classics both old and new written by the masters of fiction and non-fiction. But you probably read most of them for pleasure. One of the most important things you can do to develop your craft as a writer is to examine the examples of great fiction writing and non-fiction masterpieces again as a writer more than a reader. Look at the way the literary masters structure the elements of writing--plot, setting, character, dialog, and so forth. Pay attention to language and style, not to imitate but to emulate and to be motivated and inspired. Visit or re-visit the classic masters of writing at your favorite bookstore or on-line merchant such as amazon.com. Don't forget the contemporary writing masterpieces such as Harry Potter books or those of Stephen King, to name but two examples. If you enjoy audio books or e-books you may want to check out these free e-books and audio books. Pick your favorite genre from those below and browse the titles (they're cheap!) from Alibris Books, a trusted source for new and used books. Literary Classics Library Books Pulp Fiction Classic Horror Novels Children's Classics Harry Potter Store Children's Nature & Ecology Books Reading for Inspiration and Motivation Books You Can Use   The Little Brown Compact Handbook helps writers find what they need and then use what they find. One of the best-selling tabbed handbooks on the market, it provides complete, authoritative coverage of writing, research and grammar, with detailed discussions of critical thinking and argument, using computers and the internet for writing and research, the latest guidelines for citing sources correctly, and writing in the disciplines. Accompanied by the CompSolutions Plus Interactive Ebook of the text. This is an excellent reference for researching and writing.
If you want to enter the world of writing and publishing in the digital age download a free trial of DeskTop Author and go to Publish and Sell Your E-book. | 
