To Write and Publish in 8 Weeks

Have you ever thought about writing a book? One of my bucket-list items is to write and publish children's books.

I teach English Language Arts and often share great stories with my 4th and 5th graders. As a writing teacher, I have found that teaching this skill has improved my abilities and increased my interest in the publishing process.

Imagine being able to merge a love of reading, writing, and an interest in publishing.That's my goal here.

Inspiration

I'm using the 4th grade class I taught last year as my inspiration for this project. There was a child who was so in love with peanut butter, that after the first few weeks of class, he was nick-named "Peanut Butter" by classmates. I noticed that he would write about it in his journal, discuss it whenever he had the chance, and finally each time I opened my teacher closet door he'd ask, "Ms. Lipscomb, do you have any peanut butter in there?"

I'd smile and respond, "No, I do not."

One weekend I was home, clearing out my kitchen cabinets and found two brand new jars of peanut butter and instantly thought of him. In order to maintain privacy, we'll call him "A.G." when he's referred to in this blog. I put one of the jars in my backpack and took it to school the next day. I wanted to open my closet and hear him ask his recurring question. "Ms. Lipscomb, do you have any peanut butter in there?" As fate would have it, he was absent that day. It was Friday, so I had to wait until the next week to surprise him. When I did, his eyes lit up like magic.

There are many peanut butter stories that I'll share in the next 7 weeks. It's better to share them in snippets than tell you everything at once.

*Note*- There were no children with known peanut allergies in my class or in my school last year. Before peanut butter was brought to school to share, this information was verified. 

Starting Point

My next step is to use the peanut butter experience my class shared as a starting point for writing a high-interest story that can be published and shared with my current classes and if you like it enough, possibly a child or two that you know.

I will start by brainstorming, then writing a draft based on the ideas I read from Jeff Goins, who is a published author and blogger.

In the blog post, "How to Write a Book: The 5-Draft Method" Jeff Goins outlines his drafting process for writing books. I will share a final copy of my "Peanut Butter" story next week.