IWSG: Wednesday, February 1, 2017 ~ Two Sides of the Same Coin

It's the first Wednesday 
of the month ~ 
the day when members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and offer their encouragement
and support to other members.

To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are stepping up to help IWSG founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are:
Misha Gericke,  L.K. Hill  Juneta Key,  Christy, and Joylene Butler. 

I hope you have a chance to visit them and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate an encouraging comment!

This month's IWSG featured question is:
How has being a writer changed your experience as a reader?

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I've thought about the relationship between writing and reading throughout my life,
especially since I began teaching children to write and to read in the late 1980s.

I don't think you can be a good writer without reading widely,
and once you start writing, I think it changes your reading experience forever.

Reading and Writing:  Two Parts of One Whole

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Reading and writing are so intimately related that participating in the two
over time deepens, enriches, and improves the experience of both.
I have come to view them as two sides of the same coin.

Back in 1990 or 1991, early in my teaching career,
I had the good fortune to attend a writing conference in Denver.
The keynote presenter was the incomparable Shelley Harwayne.

Shelley Harwayne

harlem village academies

For those of you who aren't familiar with Shelley Harwayne,
she was involved with the public schools in New York City for over thirty years.

During this time she worked as a teacher, staff developer, and superintendent
and was the founding principal of the New Manhattan School (P.S. 290, NYC).

As co-director of Columbia University's Teacher College Writing Project,
Shelley mentored and inspired a generation of writing and 
reading teachers around the country and the world.

At that Denver conference Shelley said something I have never forgotten.
She said that if you wanted your students to become good writers
you had to marinate them in good literature.

As a result, my classroom and many others were stuffed
with the best children's literature we teachers could buy.

My Teammates and I on a School Field Trip

These colleagues were amazing and generous teachers

who inspired their students to read and to write

across their wide curriculum.

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

IMHO, one result of the focus on obtaining the best children's literature by teachers
was an explosion in the publication and availability of wonderful,
at times profound, children's books in an array of genres.

             

     

                

Some of My Personal Favorites

See Notes Below

However my students, and others in classrooms around the world,

didn't just read excellent children's literature.
They examined that literature to learn how authors wrote and structured books,
and they applied that knowledge to their own writing to improve it.

As the reading and writing processes spiraled around 
throughout the year and in following grades,
students became better readers and writers,
and their awareness of how authors wrote good books deepened.
Students began to enjoy the books they read,
not only for the story or the information in them,
but also for the craft and beauty of the writing found in those books.

I have walked that spiraling path throughout my life,
and I have long passed the point where I value and enjoy
a book simply for its story or information.
I learn and derive pleasure from understanding
an author's skill in the craft of writing
and in his or her choice of words.

If a book is not well written, its impression on me
lasts as long as a bite of cotton candy on my tongue.

If a fiction book is skillfully and beautifully written,
I find myself reading and rereading passages to savor the actual writing,
even as I long to gallop ahead to learn the ending.

As for non-fiction, when a book is well-structured
and written in cogent, fresh language,
I understand the content better,
I acquire insight into improving my writing,
and I enjoy observing the craft of the writer.

        

Three of my Personal Favorites

See Notes Below

Some books I will reread entirely to better understand how
the author created an unforgettable reading experience for me.

These reading and writing experiences accumulate in my mind,
and the spiraling continues, both enriching my life immeasurably
and deepening my pleasure in both processes.

J.R.R. Tolkien was a giant among writers and readers,
certainly among those I admire most.

One of his many well-known quotes is about the process of writing,
and it is the one that resonates most with me as a writer and a reader.

He said of writing The Lord of the Rings that the story
“...grows like a seed in the dark out of the leaf-mould of the mind:
out of all that has been seen or thought or read,
that has long ago been forgotten, descending into the deeps.”

Personally, I expand the meaning of Tolkien's quote
to include my understanding of story as a reader.
My understanding of story as a writer
has added to my subconscious "leaf-mould,"
and it has enriched my reading experience
in ways that are hard to articulate or measure.

My treasured books are my treasured friends.
I hope my pleasure in writing and reading
continues to deepen the rest of my life.


IWSG Reads:
Since I joined the IWSG, I have read a number of books
by fellow Insecure Writer's Support Group members,
notably books by Alex J. Cavanaugh and Pat Hatt
that I have thoroughly enjoyed and reread.

Alex J. Cavanaugh Books

I Have Enjoyed and Reread

Google   Blog

                 

Pat Hats Books

I Have Enjoyed  and Reread

Amazon   Blog

I've made it a goal this year to read at least five books
published by Insecure Writer's Support Group writers.

I just finished reading my first for the year,
Matowak: Woman Who Cries
by Joylene Nowell Butler

If this book is any indication,
I will have a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience
ahead of me as I achieve my goal.   

Amazon   Blog







This book is a fabulous read!  
It's a murder mystery set in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.
The book is grounded in reality all the way through.
The RCMP police work is engrossing and realistic,
and the details of the Canadian setting ring true throughout.
The two memorable main characters, RCMP Corporal Danny Killian
and suspect Sally Warner, lead readers on an intriguing chase
which kept this reader double guessing herself to the end.

And yes, I appreciated Joylene's effective use of foreshadowing which she does exceptionally well in her skillfully written book!

I'm looking forward to reading your posts to hear
how writing has changed your reading experience.

Have you read any good books by IWSG authors
that you can recommend?

Happy writing in February!



Notes:
1.  Shelley Harwayne  Bio

2.  P.S. 290, NYC:   Public School #290, New York City

3.  IMHO:  In my humble opinion

4.  In Flanders Fields:  The Story of the Poem by John McRae
     by Linda Granfield   (WW1 History and Poetry)   Thriftbooks

5.  Oscar the Herring Gull
     by Roberta Heembrock  (Fiction with Non-Fiction Notes)   Amazon

6.  If You Are a Hunter of Fossils
     by Byrd Baylor   (Poetry ~ Science:  Geology)   Goodreads  

5.  The Prince of the Pond
     by Donna Jo Napoli   (Fiction ~ Fantasy)   Goodreads

6.  Howling Hill
      by Will Hobbs   (Fiction)  Amazon

7.  The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
       by Chris Van Allsburg   (Fantasy)   Amazon

8.  The Hidden Reality:  Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
     by Brian Greene   (Physics and Cosmology)   Wikipedia

9.  The Trojan Horse
     by Warwick Hutton   (Mythology)   Thriftbooks

10.  Alone Against the North:  An Expedition into the Unknown
       by Adam Shoalts   (Exploration)   Amazon

11.  Tolkien Quote:
       J. R. R. Tolkien:  A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter, p. 131  Google