Monique Polak

Hello, hello, blog readers! I'm back from GritLit -- a literary festival in Hamilton, Ont. The bed sheets are out on the clothesline and I'm having the tires on my car changed (Goodbye, Winter Tires! See you in November!). Can you tell we Montrealers are eager for spring?

So, let me tell you a little more about GritLit. On Friday, Don Aker (Don, if you're reading this, Mike whois generally not much of a fiction reader has been trying to steal your book The Space Between from me since he heard you read from it on Saturday!)... okay, back to business... so on Friday, Don and I read from our work to about 150 students at Westdale High School in Hamilton. Saturday at noon, we did a presentation at Terryberry Library (now who could make up a name like that with such a swell rhyme?) Only when we turned up, there was a smattering of adults and only one teenager, 13-year-old David Pacheco. Way to go, David! I decided to take matters into my own hands -- so I headed upstairs with GritLit co-chair Jennifer Gillies and we rounded up students. So, in today's entry, I want to say a special hello to Lianna Baguio, Krizza Ballitoc, Marvin Lacea and Diayeh Kuwabong who took a break from working on their religion project to come to our reading. You guys are my heroes!! It even turns out Diayeh writes short stories and poetry and he told me he just might try to write a poem about cutting, inspired a little by my novel Scarred. 

A funny thing happened when Jennifer and I were trying to round up more kids for our audience. We spoke with a woman and her daughter. The woman told us, "We can't come because we're just in town for a hockey tournament and my daughter has a lot of homework to do." Because of the way the Terryberry Library is designed, Jennifer and I could see the woman and her daughter when we went up to the next floor -- and guess what? That girl WAS NOT DOING HOMEWORK. SHE WAS WRITING ON HER ARM!! (Unless, that is a new study method I have not yet encountered in my many years of teaching!!) Stories, stories everywhere! Isn't life grand? Diayeh, write that poem! Maybe I'll be at YOUR reading one day! Special thanks to the organizers of GritLit. It was a great weekend -- stimulating and fun. We authors generally spend a lot of quiet time at our desks, so this was a great treat! 

... will check back in later this week. Tomorrow, I'm doing a workshop on "setting" with the kids from Hebrew Academy. Will try to fill you in on how that goes....  

Well you've got to meet Don Aker -- my speaking partner this weekend at GritLit, a literary festival in Hamilton, Ontario (or "The Hammer" as the locals call it). Don and I just did a reading and talk together at the local high school. The kids, who were in grades 9 to 12, were great. They were attentive listeners and they asked smart questions. I took notes on some of the thingsDon had to say, and so in today's blog entry, I get to share them with you. First of all, like me, Don works full-time -- he's now doing teacher training programs in Nova Scotia, but usually he teaches math and language arts. So when does he find time to write? I asked him and it turns out Don is an early -- a very early -- riser. He gets up at 4 a.m. so that he can be at his computer by 4:30 and he writes for about an hour-and-a-half. I was surprised to hear Don tell the students he doesn't think he has much of an imagination. But like many of the other writers you've "met" on this blog, Don gets inspiration from real life. "Everything I've ever written," he told the kids this afternoon, "has always grown out of something that bothered me." Interesting, no?

Don's new book, The Space Between, isn't just about a teenager who wants to lose his virginity in a hurry! It's also about the impact of a suicide. Don told us how he personally knew three people who committed suicide, including his uncle and a student at his school. "They all taught me the narrative of suicide is the narrative of those who are left behind." So The Space Between focuses on the story of one of those people who's been left behind.

One student askedus if we ever find it difficult to find the right ending for our books. I loved what Don answered. He said that when he's working on an ending, he asks himself, "What do I want my reader to feel and understand at the end of this book?"

And I'll end today's blog entry with one more of Don's tips. This one's more about the emotional life of a writer: "Surround yourself with people who believe in what you're doing!"

We're doing another joint event tomorrow. And tonight, there's a dinner for the writers in town for the festival. Who knows what other useful and inspiring advice I'll glean for you, dear blog reader?!

So we had another cool visitor at Marianopolis today. This time, it was Lori Weber, author of Klepto, Split, Strange Beauty and Tattoo Heaven. Lori did a general presentation that was open to all students, and later a special workshop on setting for my "Writing for Children" class. So I'll devote today's blog entry to sharing some of her wisdom. During her general presentation, Lori surprised us by pulling a stack of rejection papers out of her bag. "I always bring my rejection letters to presentations," she told us. Like most successful writers, Lori found the strength to keep writing despite those early rejections. Her message was clear: Don't give up!

In response to a question about finding inspiration, Lori advised students to "look inside. Shut off the technology. Turn the lights out. Sit on your bed. Think about: What gives me a rush? Or do I have a really strong memory of something that once happened to me and that's still with me?" Those kinds of things can be good jumping-off points for a new project.

In her workshop on setting, Lori read excerpts from some of her books and showed us how setting can be used to reveal important information about your characters. "Make use of your setting," Lori told my class. Lori added that if you've ever been in a strange place you could include it in your story: "If you're going to be a writer, remember the weird places you stumble on."

It's nearly dinner time -- and I've got to pack for GritLit, the Hamilton literary festival where I'll be reading this weekend. Hopefully I'll get to chat a bit with Don Aker (a YA writer who'll be at the same events as me)  -- and perhaps be able to report back with some of HIS writing tips next week.  Have a happy safe weekend!

What is GritLit, you ask? It's a literary festival in Hamilton, Ontario -- and I get to participate this weekend. Friday, I'll be reading at Westdale High School in Hamilton; on Saturday, I read at Terryberry Library. I'm partnered up with Nova Scotia YA author, Don Aker.

So, to gear up for my visit, I'm reading Don's latest book, The Space Between. It's about a 17-year-old guy who goes on vacation to a resort in Mexico's Mayan Riviera. He's got a plan for while he's there -- and let's just say it involves having a room to himself at the resort and well, er, finding a certain someone to share it! I read the first two chapters last night -- and now I'm looking forward to reading more of the book and to meeting its creator. 

Okay, off I go now to do an interview for a Gazette story. This one's about a woman who makes draperies out of linens that were used by French soldiers in the early 1900s. Talk to you tomorrow -- hopefully! 

This morning, I worked with a group of grades five and six students at Hebrew Academy here in Montreal. (It's part of a project organized by the Quebec Writers' Federation. The students have been specially picked and they get to work with a poet, a journalist, and a children's writer. As you may have surmised, I'm the children's writer!)

Anyway, they were a very keen group, and I HARDLY EVER had to tell them to keep it down. This morning, we worked on ways to develop a fictional character. I'm going to do two more workshops with them -- next week, we'll work on setting; then in the final session, we'll handle dialogue.

Anyway, though they only had ten minutes for actual writing, the students came up with some pretty amazing stuff. Here are some of my favourite examples: A student named Charlie wants to write a story about a boy who has to pass a vocabulary test before he gets to play in the next big hockey game. The problem is Charlie's character cares a lot more about hockey than he does about vocabulary! A student named Shira came up with the idea of writing about a girl named Penelope Prune who gives away the secret that there's a surprise party for her teacher. Poor Penelope! I like her already! And a student named Joelle came up with an intriguing first line for her story: "I walk down the hallway and everyone runs away." 

Pretty impressive, no? Watch this blog on the next two Tuesdays to find out how these young writers are doing. Hope you're having a great day. Feels like spring here in Montreal. Bye for now!! 

Just now, as I was tidying up (you may know that tidying up the house is part of my writing ritual!), I noticed an envelope peeping out of the basket where we keep mittens. When I checked to see what was inside, I found some notes I took last spring when I was in Holland doing research for What World Is Left. I took these notes at the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation in Amsterdam. There, I came across an article written by Czech author Ivan Klima, a survivor of Theresienstadt, the same concentration camp my mother was in. In the article, called "A Childood in Terezin" and published in Granta Magazine, Klima writes: "Writing enables you to enter places inaccessible in real life, even in the most forbidden spaces. More than that, it invites you to take guests along." 

What beautiful, powerful words! Yesterday, at the Marianopolis Women's Day celebration, I read a small section from What World Is Left, a novel based on my mother's experience in Theresienstadt. Klima's words really capture what I have tried to do in that novel: go somewhere inaccessible and forbidden. It was one thing to know my mother was in a concentration camp, but quite another to put myself in a character based on your her, and try to go to the terrible places she went to. And Klima's right, of course, writers "invite... guests along." Those guests are all the people who read our work.  Like you, dear blog reader -- and like me, if you're one of my students and I'm reading your work this semester. 

Yesterday, Joel Yanofsky, author of the novel Jacob's Ladder, as well as a non-fiction book called Mordecai and Me (about among other things, Mordecai Richler), visited my Journalism class at Marianopolis. In addition to being an author, Joel is a busy journalist, who does book reviews and author profiles for publications like The Gazette, the National Post, and a publishing industry magazinecalled Quill & Quire. 

Joel brought along an author profile he wrote for Quill & Quire -- and he took us through the piece, explaining how he did the interviewing and how he constructed the story. I am a great fan of Joel's writing, which is often humorous, often touching, and somehow always seems as if it came easily to him. One of the great parts of Joel's visit was that he explained how he goes over and over his work until he gets it right. So that effortless quality I've noticed in his work comes as the result of a lot of effort!

Joel also talked about the importance of having a strong lead. He advised students in my class to begin their feature stories in "media res" -- which is Latin for "in the middle of things." The same applies to fiction writing, of course.  Joel had a great way of putting this advice. He said: "No throat clearing!" (You know how some people clear their throats before they make a speech? Well, he was saying writers shouldn't do that!)

I'm heading to school. Today, there's a celebration in honour of International Women's Day, and I'm going to participate by reading a small section from What World Is Left. (I'll be careful not to clear my throat before I start!!) Will let you know in tomorrow's entry how thing go.  

Yesterday, in my "Writing for Children" class at Marianopolis College, another one of my students said something deep about writing. Today's quote comes from Kelly G., who is thinking of doing her next assignment (the first chapter of a YA novel) on an Indian girl living in Canada who is hooked on Bollywood movies. Great idea, Kelly! Well, yesterday, Kelly and I were reviewing herwork after class, and she said, "I'm not that good a writer -- YET."

As you can see by my use of capital letters, my favourite part of Kelly's sentence was her use of the word YET. You see, what Kelly understands is something very deep about writing: it's a never-ending process. We writers, and this includes professionals as well as college students and anyone else who writes for that matter, are constantly working on our writing. Frankly, I'm not sure we'll ever arrive at a point where we'll be able to say, "Wow, I'm good!" In fact, perhaps it's this constant striving to move forward and to more effectively communicate what's in our heads and hearts -- that has hooked on writing in the first place. 

Another thing I love about what Kelly said is that she has confidence in her own abilities. She knows that the harder and the longer she works at her writing, the better it's going to get.  

Do wish I could do a little writing of my own today -- but I've got another batch of correcting on the dining room table. Off I go to attack it! Hearing students like Kelly say wise, hopeful things about writing helps keep me going when my correcting arm gets tired. Hope Kelly's words help inspire readers of this blog, too. 

Last night, I went to the Saidye Bronfman Centre in Montreal to see the play, "No More Raisins, No More Almonds." Performed by local teens, the play is set in a Jewish ghetto during the Holocaust. One of the actors was my former student Tamar Eliashiv -- who was just great (and when I caught her eye, she didn't even smile! Very professional, Tamar!!) 

The play was basedon a series of Yiddish songs, written by Jews during the Holocaust. A screen provided translations of the lyrics, which were just beautiful. Again, I noted how the use of detail brings literature to life. In one of the play's scenes, a young smuggler shares tips for smuggling goods into the ghetto. Bandages, he tells the others, are a great place for hiding things -- since guards seldom look at what's under a bandage. It's the DETAILS that stay with an audience. This is just as true of books as it is of theatrical productions. 

Okay, then, it's back to school today after a lovely long weekend. "No More Raisins, No More Almonds" is on again tonight and tomorrow night. Catch it if you can. The number at the box office is 514-739-7944.  

I'm preparing for a talk I'm doing about a book called Happier by Harvard psychology professor Tal Ben-Shahar. In this inspiring book, Ben-Shahar points out that most of us tend to focus on the achievement of goals, rather than the process involved in achieving them. A former Israeli squash champion, Ben-Shahar says he felt "empty" after winning at squash. In this book, he writes, "Happiness is the experience of climbing toward the peak."

Of course, any time I read something inspiring, I think about writing -- and the writing process. It's wonderful to hold a finished book in your hands, but the real satisfaction comes from hammering out the story (or whatever else you're working on). Anyway, there's another quote in the book that really spoke to me. It comes from a researcher named Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who says: "the best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile." I love that part about stretching. Csikszentmihalyi seems to be saying that we enjoy challenges, especially when they're of our own choice ("voluntary effort") or when we really believe in what they represent ("worthwhile"). I know I love stretching when I do yoga -- but until I read this quote, I never thought about stretching in brainier ways! 

Isn't it nice to have a long weekend? Hope yours doesn't go too quickly!!