Writing Time: Day Four

Visiting us from the News and Record, reporter Jeri Rowe began the day with a free writing exercise and asked a few students to share what they wrote.  He wanted to demonstrate that writing is not just about jotting down boring facts and figures but an art with a voice.  That is the life of a reporter, to get the inside scoop and to hear the words of the people so others can know what truly occurred and felt.  Writing is an important part of everyday life, whether in newspaper articles, movie scripts, college essays or a quick short story, you will be using writing for the rest of your life.  Rowe advised EVERYONE to be focused, use time wisely, get organized, be sociable, READ EVERYTHING from books to menus, be curious, explore the world around you and always carry a notebook to write whatever comes to mind.  It is important to remember when you are done putting down words on a page, be sure to read aloud your work, re-edit, read it again, repeat, and after typing and printing it out, read again and edit until it is the perfect document for the reader and yourself to understand.  In the end of his lecture he said, “Don’t get discouraged or be afraid of writing.  Read everything and practice will help you get close to what you believe in.”  For the rest of the day, the students continued to work on their writing and they have doing a terrific job.  So far, the camp is becoming an unforgettable experience, a place for young minds to learn, improve and enjoy creative writing.

---