Catch Those Ideas!

If you've been reading my blog for long, you know by now that we're a homeschooling family. One of my pet peeves when it comes to curriculum is the writing instruction. I've seen too many books and curriculums that tell kids that there are certain steps you have to follow. I've also known a lot of authors and written a few novels myself, so I know for a fact that there's no absolute combination of brainstorming and outlining  and writing ideas on index cards that's the "right way" to write something.

I'm loving Fireflies by Coleen Murtagh Paratore.  Her premise is that ideas are like fireflies and if you don't capture them, they'll flitter away.

The book itself is gorgeous. It's listed as a paperback, but feels more like a hardback to me. The pages are stitched, so I can believe that it'll hold together for years (and the author encourages you to date your entries so that you can look back on them later.) Most of the pages are blank, or nearly blank except for writing prompts. Some are lined, some aren't, and they're a variety of different colors, all light enough that they won't distract from your writing.

 

Although the book is meant for kids, the prompts aren't age specific. They don't ask you to write about things that you write about something you might not have any interest in. Teenage Daughter has called dibs on it as soon as I'm done writing this post.  I could see it being a good choice for an adult who wants to write but doesn't know where to start.

Disclosure - the publisher provided me with a copy of the book.