Write Where You Are: How to Use Writing to Make Sense of Your Life: A Guide for Teens [Paperback]

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999

Not just another writing skills book, this handy guide helps teens articulate and understand their hopes and fears, lives and possibilities through writing--and tells them how. Recommended for young writers, English teachers and writing instructors.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-This creative writing guide is also billed as self-help for teens. It begins by laying the groundwork with essential vocabulary and basic techniques, follows with exercises intended to get young people to know and like themselves while learning the craft of writing, and finishes up with sections on the necessity of revision and on publication or sharing. Quotes from classic and young adult authors on the writing life appear in the margins. Sample "answers" to exercises written by real teens are liberally sprinkled throughout the text, and nearly every important subsection lists a book or two for further reading. A couple of the author's metaphors for getting around writing blocks or problems are vague and thus less helpful than they might be. However, with its conversational tone and well-constructed exercises sure to get even reluctant writers excited about writing, this is an excellent guide for any YA collection.
Timothy Capehart, Leominster Public Library, MA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing; illustrated edition edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575420600
• ISBN-13: 978-1575420608
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #470,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is the Poet Laureate of Kansas and the author or editor of 11 books. She founded Transformative Language Arts at Goddard College (where she teaches), a master's degree in using writing, storytelling, performance, singing and other words of language aloud or on the page for community building, personal transformation, culture shift and more. A long-time community writing workshop facilitator for many populations, she also leads Brave Voice (http://BraveVoice.com) writing and singing retreats with rhythm and blues singer Kelley Hunt, co-writes songs and performs collaboratively with Hunt. Her books encompass many genres: four collections of poetry, several anthologies of poetry and prose, an ecological memoir on cancer and community, a beloved writing guide for teens, and other works. Caryn makes her home just south of Lawrence, Kansas where the deer and no antelope (but many turkey) roam. http://CarynMirriamGoldberg.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend this book highly., July 29, 2004

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Write Where You Are: How to Use Writing to Make Sense of Your Life: A Guide for Teens (Paperback)

This guide to writing is as meaty as a textbook and as fun as a Disneyland theme park --- it's like a guided journey into yourself. The author has learned firsthand the therapeutic value of writing and she offers an excellent guidebook to help you understand yourself better and become a healthier person through your own writing.

Whether you write in your journal to express your emotions, fears, and goals, or whether you branch out into poems, stories, or essays, writing can help you learn that you are okay. It can be your place of refuge and illumination, your comfort from the stresses and confusions of your life. You can learn who you are and what you want to do with your life through writing. As the author says of herself, "Most of all, writing brought me home. As I filled up journals, I felt my life had meaning. I felt I belonged and was welcome on the page. No one could ever take this away from me." This may well be the greatest value of writing.

In the book the author discusses how to find your favorite place to write. It may be a space in your closet, a spot under a weeping willow tree, a table in a deli, or a quiet corner at school. Writing is one of the most portable occupations --- all you really need is paper and something with which to write. Along with suggesting how to find your ideal journal and even your favorite pen, pencil, or marker, she suggests things you can write and lots of fun exercises to get you started. You can freewrite your way into ideas, brainstorm your freewriting into new ideas, cluster your brainstorming, and sort your clustering, each time going deeper into your thinking until you've developed and organized an idea. While she explains how to write stories, poems, and essays, she includes definitions of all those terms you learn in English class, like the difference between tone and voice. Not only are her explanations easy to understand, but she also pumps you up to dive into her exercises and start writing yourself.

You want something interesting to get your thinking started? Try imagining the story of Cinderella from the stepmother's point of view. What was Cinderella really like? Maybe everything wasn't all roses for her family, you know. Or try imagining yourself when you're 25. What will you look like? What will your job be? Move in your imagination to when you're 50! How will your thinking and attitudes be different? What will you know then that you wish you knew now?

I recommend this book highly. An inviting format, lots of writing examples from teens, and tons of quotes and "Did You Know?" notes in the margins make it interesting to read. And writing really is better than just thinking about a problem, because thinking keeps everything in your head but writing it down empties it out of you and onto the page, so you're free from it. You also won't forget anything because you can reread what you've written. When you see the patterns of your thinking, you might be surprised to see some solutions to your problems as well.

--- Reviewed by Tamara Penny

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very helpful book for young writers, March 7, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Write Where You Are: How to Use Writing to Make Sense of Your Life: A Guide for Teens (Paperback)

I found this book very helpful for my writing. It gave awesome tips and pointers on how to write well and how to keep up on your writing. Before I read this book, I didn't write on a regular basis. Sometimes I would get writers block and just put it off, and I was horrible at journals. Then I read this book, and I started writing every day, even if they were random ramblings.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great, well-rounded book!, October 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Write Where You Are: How to Use Writing to Make Sense of Your Life: A Guide for Teens (Paperback)

This book will be a good resource for any writer, from beginners to the experienced. It contains ideas to help you to start writing along with help for revision and information about being published. Anyone interested in writing will enjoy this book.