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Real-People Stories

8/20/2014

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It’s been awhile. The lazy days of summer are starting to wane, but I’m still holding on to the sunshine, giggles, and go-where-the-day-takes-you perks of the season. I’m savoring afternoon iced coffees, the late-summer flower appearances, and the unexpected but deliciously crisp evenings August has delivered to eastern Pennsylvania. Most of all, I’m soaking up my kids, because next summer they’ll be three and five instead of two and four, and I am keenly aware of how quickly time moves. I also have a head full of story ideas because those two little people are the best kind of material.

I have been writing all summer, but it’s mostly been the kind of writing that immediately pays the bills. Some of my recent bill-paying assignments have actually been stories – real stories with real characters, real events, and real meaning. Though I’ve been guilt-ridden about not honing my picture book craft as much as I should be (especially after my time at the Barn), I’ve fallen in love with this kind of storytelling, too. And I recently realized that kids might, too.

A lot of my freelance lately has been for Lehigh University. Amazing things often happen at great universities, and Lehigh is no different. The place is rife with remarkable people and fascinating stories.  

Take this one, for example. It features an organic chemistry professor who is working to train the immune system to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This is very cool, potentially game-changing stuff. And I got tell the story.

Here’s the best part: It’s a science story. And I was an English major in college. People who know me are well aware that my working knowledge of science doesn’t often work.

But it’s a story, so I figured it out. I really like stories.  

I also had the pleasure of writing this one, about a Ukrainian economist driven from his home country by corruption, today an expert in not only monetary policy but also bulletproof vests. He’s participating in a worldwide effort to crowdfund the Ukrainian army. I could have listened to his stories all day. And I got to share them.

Write what you know. Writers hear this all the time. It is, of course, easier to write about things with which you’re familiar. But sometimes it’s far more rewarding to write what you don’t know.   

I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t know much about Ukraine until a few weeks ago. I certainly didn’t know anything about organic chemistry. But now I know a little. And I learned by asking questions and writing.

So, anyway, back to kids.

Kids love to write what they know. It’s comfortable. They get to be experts. Sports, video games, favorite books or toys – stuff they know. 

But what if we encouraged them to write stories about what they don’t know as well? What if they wrote about the real people in their lives, people they know, but don’t know a lot about? What if they started to ask questions?

Just think of all the learning and getting-to-know-each-other bonuses that would come from this kind of writing!

Have your child give this a try. Help the littler ones, but try and let the older ones really take ownership.

1.      Choose a person they know – a friend, sibling, parent, grandparent, someone they’d like to learn more about.  

2.      Develop questions to ask that person. They can focus their questions on a particular facet of the subject’s life or make them more general. It doesn’t need to be a biography (though that’s great, too!). For example:

·         How his parents met

·         What a parent does at work

·         How her great-grandparents arrived in the United States from abroad

·         His grandmother’s job when she was young

·         An older sibling’s first day of high school

·         A younger sibling’s favorite thing to do

3.      Interview the subject and write down some answers. If your child wants to be fancy, let them use the voice recorder on your smartphone. They’ll feel very professional.

4.      Write the story and deepen a relationship. Easy peasy!  

I spend a lot of time creating characters and inventing events. But sometimes the real ones are just as exciting.

I love to write. I love a good story. I also love people. And I still like hearing stories about my grandma at National Biscuit in New York City or how my dad met my mom by telling her to get off the pinball machine he wanted to play or how our family’s cocker spaniel ran off to Hollywood (okay, so I don’t really think that one’s true). I am enamored with real-people stories.

I’ll bet your kids will be, too. We’re all material.

Here’s to writing, reading, smiling, and real people, outstanding and ordinary.   


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What if... your dog ran away and changed his name?

2/4/2014

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Hi Moms and Dads!  Every now and then, I’m going to share a story here based on a what-if from the Just for Kids page. In these "What if?" posts I walk through the process of using a what-if question to write a story. I’ll write the story and include some notes about how I kept it going. They're meant to help kids navigate their own writing process, but you can help, too. 

  • Ask your child this what-if before reading the story below. Talk about the question and how they (and you!) might answer. 
  • Help your child develop their own questions before they start writing and as they go if needed.
  • Talk with them about all sorts of possibilites - get creative and even outrageous if that helps. Is there anything they've ever wondered about? Something they wished could happen? Imagination is the key to making this fun. 
  • Maybe share some of your own what-ifs - what are some things that you wished could happen? Kids love to see their parents dream, too!

This is an easy what-if for me, because it kind of really happened. But maybe not in this exact same way...

First, I asked this question: What if your dog ran away and changed his name?

Then, I thought about why a dog might run away. What if he was sad about something?

Murphy the Dog was sweet. Loving. Fiercely loyal.

But he wasn’t very smart.

No dog had ever loved a family as much as Murphy loved his.

But today he was sad.

First, he had been happy – wildly, rambunctiously happy. Happier, he thought, than any dog could possibly be.

His family had a new person. A new, tiny, wiggling, noisy little person.

She didn’t do much other than cry. But she didn’t seem to mind his kisses, which made her all right. And he thought she smelled nice, even when his other people didn’t seem to think so.

Murphy was excited to have her around.  Perhaps a little too excited, because he knocked over a table and was sent directly out into the backyard.

Murphy moped a bit. He lay in the shade of a tree, wondering why he wasn’t welcome.

Now I asked myself: Why would he leave the yard? What if he chases a squirrel?

But then he stopped worrying. Instead, he spotted a squirrel leaping off the gate into the front yard.

So, of course, being a dog and also being not-so-smart, Murphy jumped over the gate after that squirrel.

So, now that we know why he ran away, we need to figure out why he changed his name. What if he takes a little walk first?

Over-the-gate was an exciting place. Murphy had never been there without a leash. He felt so free!

He looked all over for that squirrely squirrel, who at this point had already climbed the tallest tree and was chattering at him in a teasing tone.  

Murphy decided instead to do a bit of exploring.

Now – where can he go where his name might get changed? What if he meets a child?

He sniffed trees, fire hydrants, flowers, and bushes. He trotted and stood still like a statue and then trotted some more. He looked and listened and lifted his leg where he probably shouldn’t. And then he heard a voice.

“Come here, boy!”

Murphy, who was, as we’ve said, sweet, loving, and fiercely loyal, saw the boy he’d never seen before and scampered over to him, his tail wagging so quickly it could propel a boat. The boy, who’d just moved to the neighborhood, had always wanted a dog.  

The boy wrapped his arms around Murphy’s neck.

“Mom! Can we keep him?” he called into his house.

“Sam!” the boy’s mother replied. “He has a collar. I’m sure he has an owner. Let’s see what his name is.”

As his mother looked for Murphy’s tags, the boy announced, “I think I’ll call him James.”

“James,” thought Murphy. “That’s a nice name. I like it.”

Now that we know how he changed his name: How does he get home? What if his family finds him?

“Sweetie,” the boy’s mother said, jingling Murphy’s tags. “His name is Murphy. He lives up the street.”

Just then, Murphy heard his other name – his real name. His family ran frantically toward him. His tongue bounced from his slobbery mouth as he watched.  

“There you are!” they cried. Murphy got more hugs. All of this attention was nice. He wasn't feeling so sad anymore.

“Oh, James.” Sam had tears in his eyes. “I mean, Murphy. I’ll miss you.”

“You can come visit,” said Murphy’s person, introducing himself to Sam and his mother. “You're welcome to play with him anytime. Hey, James is a pretty good name. Maybe we can call him Murphy James. Thank you for finding him!”

Sam nodded happily.

“Murphy James,” Murphy thought. “I like the sound of that.”

What a fantastic day! He had two new people to love. And now he had two names! 

Murphy James headed home, proudly carrying his new name with him.  

See! Writing isn’t so hard if you keep asking questions as you go. What if you tried this one on your own? What would happen? Give it a try!

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Outsmarting Mr. Freeze

2/4/2014

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My four-year-old son, quite predictably, loves all things superhero. Lately he’s been crazy about Batman and his battles with Gotham City’s most vile villains. He’s partial right now to the stories in which Batman defeats Mr. Freeze.  

Mr. Freeze’s criminal technique involves – you guessed it – cold and ice. He often freezes his victims with his ice gun, or, far worse, his ice cannon. Because of his not-so-gentle, icy approach, he tends to work alone.

I, too, really like to see Batman win in this particular matchup.

Because I write for a living.

When you’re writing, Mr. Freeze can come along at any time. Not knowing what to write about – either at the beginning, middle, or end of the process – can be a lot like getting stuck in a torrent of ice from Mr. Freeze’s ice cannon.

And man, is it cold.

And when you’re a kid, it’s even worse – even colder – because you’re often sitting in a classroom full of distractions, doubt, and deadlines dictated by a bell hanging in the hall.  

As a teacher, I often tried to make writing easier for my students by giving them a lot of choice in their topic. Sometimes I’d leave it completely open-ended within a genre of writing, sometimes I’d narrow it down a bit more, but I always wanted them to have some say in what they wrote about.

Because we do our best writing when we really love what we’re writing about.

Most people do, anyway.

Kind of like reading, we’re only really invested if we actually enjoy the words and the subject. We have to care.

But I realize that even tons of choice doesn’t always help, because sometimes too much can be overwhelming. Mr. Freeze can still cause his chilly chaos.

But we can practice.

We can write about lots of different things.

And that can be fun, no matter how much you like or don’t like or absolutely hate to write.

And maybe then imagination and fancy can take over, thawing away the icicles of doubt and uncertainly and not knowing that occupy our brains.

Practice. Imagine. What if?  

The section of this website that’s Just for Kids is meant to help kids figure out something to write about when Mr. Freeze pays a visit. It’s also meant to help kids practice their writing, sharpening their skills, looking at things from a different angle. Because all it really takes is a good what-if.

Young (and not-so-young) writers don’t need Batman.

They just need to ask some questions.

Take that, Mr. Freeze!

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How We Got Here

2/4/2014

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So here we are. My first official, not-directed-only-at-my-students-for-poetry-homework-purposes blog. Thanks for reading, even if you don't get past this part. 

Sometimes I wonder how I got here, how I became Kelly Hochbein, Writer. I'd always dreamed of this, but other dreams came first. 

I was a classroom teacher for thirteen years. I lived, breathed, and (barely) slept teaching. When I wasn't a classroom teacher, I was working at a university with classroom teachers. So, up until recently, I was three things: mother, wife, teacher. I was these things all the time, and "teacher" was the one I'd been the longest. I loved teaching, but I'd also always wanted to be a writer. I'd read children's books day and night and think, "I'd love to do that. I think I could do that." But there was never enough time to do it right. 

So when my family relocated and the teacher part didn't really fit into place in our new place, I suddenly had time. More time with my kids, more time to write. So I became mother, wife, writer. And I am writing. A lot. And I love it.  

Writing, though, is scarier than I thought it would be. As a teacher, I tried new things all the time - new lesson plans, new approaches, new corny jokes. Some succeeded, some didn't, but as a teacher, you learn to brush that stuff off and try again. It seems a bit harder as a writer. Even though you spend a lot of time by yourself, sitting at a computer or with a notebook, you put your words - yourself - out there to be judged and accepted or rejected by others. It was somehow easier to have a fifth grader roll his eyes at me than it is to wait, like a teenage girl waiting for that boy to call and invite her to prom, for an answer about the words that I've released through the internet or the US Postal Service. 

Some days are really hard. Waiting is really hard. And the life of a writer can be really, really hard. 

But, thankfully, I've taught some incredible kids over the years, and those kids have taught me some pretty big life lessons. Like this one, written right before my move by a very loving and hardworking child:

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First of all, this makes me think of all the things those kids wrote for me. They, too sent their writing out into the world for me to judge. Sometimes it was really hard for them to do that. I hope I was always kind. 

Secondly, this sentence stops me in my tracks every time I read it: "I will not give up, and I know you won't either!"

The hard stuff doesn't seem so hard when I think of this child never giving up and believing that I, too, will follow my dreams. 

This letter hangs right above my desk, a constant reminder to keep writing, keep growing, keep trying. It makes me smile every single day. 

This blog is a place for me to write about the things that keep me writing. It's about sharing stories and sharing myself and sharing ideas. It's about helping kids love to write and writing things that kids and parents will love to read.   

Because we all want to make someone else smile. 

Here's to writing and reading and smiling. And waiting. Lots of waiting.

Kelly
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    Thoughts on writing, life, and a smattering of stories.

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