The names of things make for interesting writing. A noun can contain masses of information. A noun conjures up the detail. A noun can take you precisely to the thing it names. A noun often brings with it associations that are yours alone. ‘Westridge Road’ conjures for me a house, a street, a time in … Continue reading Knowing the names
Here’s another way to make a word collection -and perhaps even to make a found poem. When you are out and about -or even just inside – look out for letters and words that are not in books or magazines. Look for street signs, hand written messages, names pressed into metal manhole covers, messages sprayed … Continue reading Word Hunt
There is no colour palette like nature's colour palette. The colours of nature provide us with the perfect opportunity to fine-tune our observational skills and create our own colour charts. You could explore your local area and make colour charts using photographs or real specimens. What about a colour chart for the school field or … Continue reading Colours of Nature
Many of us walk the same route every day, it might be the walk to school and back, a trip to the corner shop or the regular dog walk. We may not always take the same route, but we may always go to the same place. The Dutch artist, herman de vries walks in a … Continue reading Walk maps
Pleasure in words, a curiosity about them and an awareness, these seem important to us. Paying attention to individual words when we are reading, writing or moving about in the world is an important and interesting part of becoming a writer. Taking care over the words we choose makes a difference to what we say … Continue reading Word sorting
Today I’m feeling lazy and just can’t seem to conjure up any words to write. There’s only one solution on days like this – become a word thief. This is a brilliant way to really look at individual words and the different meanings they can carry. And don’t worry, it may be stealing but I’m … Continue reading Word thief
Today I'm working from Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones (1986) and thinking about the power of individual words. There's a lot of chatter in primary education about 'wow words' and 'powerful words', but what on earth does that actually mean? It's easy to make your writing sound like it's swallowed a thesaurus; what's more … Continue reading The power of words
Wall chart ready for word collecting What do you collect? I collect buttons, books, all manner of things. But I love to collect words most of all. Words that I hear people say, words I read in books, words I see at the shop or hear on TV or radio. Why not make yourself a … Continue reading Collecting Words
Words sludge Westminster hugger mugger flop feverfew dumpy We love to begin a workshop with lists of words. The activity breaks into the white space of the page and then into the air and ears of the workshop. This is how it works: make a list of words, five or six, that simply come to mind. They may be words … Continue reading Words
Writing Box 