When the late Doris Buchanan Smith, Brunswick, Georgia, author of 15 juvenile books, was 11 years old, she discovered that people, not machines, wrote books. From that moment on, she began to put the stories mulling around in her head on paper.
Whether she was telling the story of her great enlightenment to writers she mentored or to students she visited in schools, she was always animated. The first time that I heard Doris tell this story, I realized the joy of that turning point had stayed with her throughout her entire career. Perhaps for that very reason, she chose to write for tweens to help them make remarkable discoveries of their own.
Her son, Randy Smith, who oversees the Doris Buchanan Smith website, expounds on the day she became a “professional” writer. “Mother was in her office with the door closed, which meant she was not to be disturbed. You needn't hear her typewriter to know she was hard at work. Writing also involved thinking. She had one rule for us to follow; don't knock on her office door between 9 a.m. and noon, except in an emergency! But we did it anyway. We'd bang on the door asking Mom for milk money, or, if we needed her help in resolving a dispute, or had something terribly funny we just had to tell her. None of these things constituted an emergency. If anyone telephoned asking for Mom, we were to say she was not at home.
“On a particular morning, my dad answered the phone; and realizing this call was special, he gently knocked Mom's office door. At first there was silence. And then Dad knocked a second time, saying, ‘Honey, it’s not life and death, but you can take my word for it, you’re home, you’re home.’
“An editor was calling from New York to tell Mom that her life’s ambition had come true, a big publisher had accepted Mom's first book. That book received wide acclaim in 1973, and continues to engage readers of all ages today. Have you read A Taste of Blackberries?"
Although only a few children may grow up to be professional writers like Doris, the ability to write well organized, coherent thoughts serves everyone well. Some will eventually discover that many companies seek good writers. Equally important, adults who write well, find that they utilize the craft in everyday life.
In the April issue of Real Simple Magazine, Catherine Newnan, requests that we return to civility in her article “Old Fashioned Niceties of the Modern World.” Of the dozen niceties that she thinks would make us more civil one to another, five require the ability to write. Newnan says, “Pick up a pen. Research suggests that writing by hand activates the brain to remember more.” Then she suggests, “Write a letter for no reason. Improve penmanship. Bring back personalized stationery. Be a promiscuous thanker.”
Newnan also quotes Joanna Goddard of Cupofjo.com who writes about the condolence notes her twin sister received at the death of her husband. “When a person loses someone they love, they’re often hungry for specific stories and memories. It makes them feel connected and comforted. In a condolence note share what you loved about the person, tell funny anecdotes, mention things you admired.”
National Writing Project states, “Writing is essential to communication, learning, and citizenship. It is the currency of the new workplace and global economy. Writing helps us convey ideas, solve problems, and understand our changing world. Writing is a bridge to the future.”
Haven’t all of us been called upon to write to state and federal agencies, state and federal legislators, and several companies to express our concerns about different issues like the one here at home on the proposed dumping of coal ash at the Broadhurst Landfill? The more who write, the better the chance that our concerns are heeded.
In this age when youngsters think that a cellphone is a natural growth in their hand, urge them to put aside the phone for awhile. Starting with the very young, make sure there is always an abundance of paper, crayons, pencils and pens around for them to scribble, draw, and write stories. It’s amazing how the mere access to materials entices the young to express thought.
Scholastic Magazine suggests that parents and teachers offer children many visits to the library; provide quality time to write; urge them to keep journals in which to jot down ideas; allow them to explore the great outdoors, then write about it; and support every effort.
However, according to the magazine and every writer I know, the most important tool for learning to write well is to read often and to read everything at hand. Scholastic says, “Reading the work of others, by yourself or aloud to someone else, can be inspirational and can help form ideas.”
And I add that long before any child can read on his own, the ability to read well begins early in life when parents cuddle their children while reading to them frequently. The seeds for reading and writing well, like so many life skills, often germinate in the first years of life.
2016
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