Every Friday evening, I teach a writing class at the Creative Hub in Waterdown, Ontario. The goal of the course was to support the students as they developed a children's book or novel. The idea that the students would possibly have a printed copy of their stories excited them, and it didn't take long for the young authors to dig deep into developing their characters and plots. However, as the weeks past, I couldn't help but notice the level of passion decline.
I didn't understand.
I spent hours reading their work and providing them with new ideas while editing their grammar, punctuation and spelling.
But the energy simply wasn't there anymore.
What was the reason?
Finally, after the fifth week, I began providing the students with 'sentence starters' - where the students were given an opening sentence and had seven minutes to create a paragraph, short-story...anything.
Upon completing their short 'works', I took turns reading their creative texts in front of the class - with energy and excitement.
The students instantly wanted more.
"Can we play that again?" a girl suggested. She never spoke in class - at least not until then.
By the seventh week, I was doing three sentence starters a session, along with other writing activities where their 'works' would ultimately be read in front of the small audience of peers.
It was at that time I realised where my course needed to shift gears. Writers want to be 'heard' - they want their 'voice' to be shared - they crave feedback and praise.
Don't we all?
So, why am I sharing this? Why do I want you to follow my brainwave all the way down your digital screen?
Because I want to 'play' with you!
If you have seven minutes in your day this week, can you please share a creative text that starts with the following sentence:
"I rubbed my eyes and glanced up at myself in the mirror--only the reflection staring back wasn’t me."

When finished, please post - I'd love to read and comment