Happy Labor Day weekend! Since my oldest daughter, Zoe, was born on Labor Day, I have a special fondness for the holiday. In celebration of her and the release of Wright on Time: Wyoming, Book 3, we’re having a special sale starting today (offer ends at midnight Arizona time on Monday, September 6, 2010). All book packages to be shipped on Tuesday, September 7, 2010.
CAMP 1: Beginning Creative Writing, ages 7+ or with permission of instructor
Dates: June 21-24, Monday-Thursday OR July 19-22, Monday-Thursday
Time: 11:00AM-2:00PM, Bring your own snack/lunch and drink
This camp includes how to spot elements of good storytelling, finding voice, dynamics of critiquing, editing basics, deciding on illustrations (and creating some), and much more! This class is geared toward children.
CAMP 2: Intermediate Creative Writing, ages 9+ or with permission of instructor
Dates: June 28-July 1, Monday-Thursday
Time: 11:00AM-2:00PM, Bring your own snack/lunch and drink
This camp includes further in-depth storytelling techniques, playing with overall story arc, adding in secondary story arcs, additional editing techniques, briefly discussing how to submit to publishers/agents, and much more! At the end of this camp, campers will have the chance to turn their writing into a physical book! This class is geared toward children who have either taken the first class, or already have written a lot of fiction.
CAMP 3: Advanced Creative Writing, 11+ (including adults) or with permission of instructor
Dates: July 6-July 8 (Tuesday-Thursday) AND July 12-13 (Monday-Tuesday)
Time: 11:00AM-2:00PM, Bring your own snack/lunch and drink
This camp includes even further in-depth storytelling and editing techniques, learning how to give and take critique advice, how to make a tagline and synopsis, a professional critique of manuscript after the class (valued at $60/hour), and much more! Those in this class will be able to e-mail Lisa for the rest of the summer with their writing questions at no additional cost. This class is geared toward those serious about writing as a career.
DATES:
Dates are listed above for Summer 2010 camps.
Please contact Lisa stating your interest for additional private or group classes this fall.
COST:
$150 per person ($125 for Sahuarita Dance students, $110 for second person in the same family)
Payments of cash, check, or credit card (through PayPal) accepted. All due in full one week before class.
No refunds for missed classes.
ABOUT LISA:
Lisa is a published author who has lived in Sahuarita, AZ for 5.5 years. Her Wright on Time series of children’s chapter books have been a big hit with children, parents, and teachers all over the world. Wright on Time: Wyoming, Book 3 is coming out this summer. Lisa is the mother of two always homeschooled daughters, has been a Girl Scout leader for 9 years, and has been winning writing awards since she was nine.
Can’t make the summer sessions? Stay tuned for Lisa’s once a week fall classes. Please fill out the contact form to show your interest.
I’m often asked why the kid characters, Aidan and Nadia, in the Wright on Time books are homeschooled. The biggest reason for this is that my own children are homeschooled and so are most of their friends. Many of them have told me many many times how they’ve always wished that there were books about kids like them in the fiction sections of their libraries and bookstores. This is a hugely lacking area for the 2.2 million homeschooling families in the United States of America!
The following books are books that are “Do Life Right Approved“. This means that homeschooled children who I know have read these books and have declared the homeschooled characters to be a realistic interpretation of homeschoolers by today’s homeschooling standards.
If you know of another book that is not on this list, please let us know! We’d love to read it. The book needs to (1) have been written within the past 10-15 (ideally a lot less) years (anything older than that does not accurately portray how homeschoolers today actually live); (2) contain at least one main character who is an actual full-time homeschooler (not a neglected child left on their own or a child who attends an “alternative” school on or off stage); (3) the main homeschooled character needs to be a homeschooler at the beginning, middle and end of the book; and (4) school in any form cannot be a primary focus of the book, nor the background environment of the story. If you are the author of such a book that isn’t listed, we accept copies for our review (we guarantee at least four homeschoolers will review it and collectively write a review). Contact us here for mailing address, etc. We review within a month or less of receiving.
Have a manuscript that fits this that you’ve been trying to get published? Submit it to Do Life Right, Inc.!
Skellig by David Almond (not one we actually liked, but there is a realistic homeschooler in it)
Stargirl and Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (these aren’t very realistic according to the homeschoolers I know, as they are full of “school girl angst” that just doesn’t exist in homeschooolers, but we were desperate to list something more here…)
The Seer by Krisula Gosdis Moyer (we haven’t read this one yet; review to come soon)
Why didn’t we list older books? We didn’t list books older than 15 years because they do not accurately portray homeschoolers of today. If you are wanting an historical novel, there are many to choose from with kid characters who didn’t go to school (those lists can be found on many other sites and show a completely different way of life than what homeschooling is today). Lack of school does not equal homeschooled! As far as we know, this is the only list of fictional books today where homeschoolers can read and identify themselves in them. How fun for them!
In celebration of her and the release of Wright on Time: Wyoming, Book 3, we’re having a special sale starting today (offer ends at midnight Arizona time on Monday, September 6, 2010). All book packages to be shipped on Tuesday, September 7, 2010.