Ellen Schwartz

Readings

For me, the writing process is a messy affair. It’s stop-start, get stuck, throw out the idea, start all over. I want children to understand that even professional writers find writing difficult and sometimes struggle with their stories. So the focus of my author readings is on my writing process.

I usually start with a short reading from the book we’re focusing on. Then I discuss how I got the idea and how I developed it, the research I did, the notes I made before starting, and how the idea developed and changed as I wrote the story. I show the children my research materials, my messy first draft, the visual aids I used, and my writing materials. Finally I answer questions.

My author readings run 45 minutes for primary grades and one hour for intermediate grades and higher.

Preferred grade levels:
For my picture books (Mr. Belinksy’s Bagels, Abby’s Birds): Grades 2 - 3
For my early chapter books (Jesse’s Star, Yossi’s Goal): Grades 3 - 5
For my middle-grades novels (the Starshine series, Stealing Home): Grades 4 - 7
For my non-fiction books (I’m a Vegetarian, I Love Yoga): Grades 5 - 7
For my YA novels (Cellular, Avalanche Dance): Grades 6 - 8

Special Equipment:

Chalkboard or white board.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to the readings for students to purchase and have autographed.

Workshops

To get the children started, I briefly discuss my own writing process, which usually begins with a character and develops as I think about the character and imagine what kinds of situations or problems that person could get into.

Sometimes I give the children story starters like the following and have them continue from the opening line:

____ picked up the knife and lunged forward.
The dog’s paw was bleeding. It raised big brown eyes toward ___ and its tail wagged.

With more mature children, I walk them through the steps of writing a short scene. I have them think of a character and make some notes about the character. Next I have them imagine a problem that character could have. Then I have them imagine the setting the character is in and make some notes about the setting: Who’s there? What’s happening? What are the characters doing and saying? What’s the feeling?

The children write a few possible first lines, share them with a partner, choose the best one and then continue to write a short scene. This may vary from a paragraph to a few pages.

I walk the children through some simple self-editing and have them read their piece to a partner and give each other structured feedback. Volunteers read their pieces to the entire group if there’s time.

My writing workshops take up to one and a half hours.

Special Equipment:

Chalkboard or white board.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to the readings for students to purchase and have autographed.

Other Presentations

I am available for keynote addresses on the writing process and on other aspects of writing, as determined by the organization.

I am available for professional development sessions on using my books and other works of fiction in the classroom and on how to foster creative writing in children.

Biography

I was born in Washington, DC, grew up in New Jersey, and now live in Burnaby, British Columbia.

I never wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be dancer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t talented enough to dance professionally, although I did have a brief but glorious career as an amateur dancer with the Question of Balance Dance Company in Nelson, BC.

I became a special education teacher and began my writing career in my early 30s by writing educational stories for children about the environment and energy conservation. I loved writing the educational stories and decided to try writing a “regular” story. My first book, Dusty, was published in 1983, and I’ve continued writing since then. I’ve published 14 books for children and one adult non-fiction book, and I have enough ideas in my head to keep my going for another ten years.

In addition to writing books, I write school materials, reports, magazine articles, booklets, speeches and all kinds of publications. I also teach creative writing classes at Simon Fraser University and Douglas College.

Looking back, I can see that it was my love of reading that filled my head with stories and led to my becoming a writer. Somehow I was able to take the creativity that I loved in dancing and channel it into writing. I still love to dance and take a jazz class once a week!