This morning, when I came into the office, there was a stack of envelopes piled up on my chair. Loads of submissions are rolling in for our annual writing contest. Bryon had many envelopes to slice open too. One of them was a poem written by a teen survivor of Hurricane Katrina. (It was beautiful and may get published in a future issue of READ magazine, if space permits.)

A few hours later, I got an e-mail link to a feature story about how writing is helping many young Katrina surivors heal: 

"In Baton Rouge, faculty and students at Louisiana State University quickly organized the Katrina Writing Project, offering evacuees of all ages a notebook to write down their thoughts or compose poetry - whatever they wanted. Before long, people were seeking out volunteers to ask for a notebook." Read the full article and some survivor stories.

The article reminded me of Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg's book Write Where You Are: How to Use Writing to Make Sense of Your Life. In it, Goldberg writes:

"Writing heals your hurts and sings your songs ... it gives you a place to save and savor your memories and insights, your thoughts and wishes, your feelings and goals. Writing can help you create and re-create ... Writing can also help you express your true feelings and understand yourself better. Most of all, it can make you feel more alive."

I so agree with Goldberg.

Some people sing to let off the steam in their lives. Others dance. Still others run. For me, writing is the best therapy.

I've been keeping a journal since I was 11 years old. Each and every one of my diaries is stacked in a huge wooden chest. Whenever I crack the lid open to thumb through the pages of my notebooks, I wonder: what would I have done without writing?

My journals still keep me afloat. Whenever I am going through a rough spot, or if I've had an irritating day, I just pull out a pen and start writing.

Even if I do nothing but make a long list of:
"I'm angry/upset/irritated/annoyed/hurt because _____________"
on a blank piece of paper, I instantly start to feel better.

It sounds so simple, but it always does the trick. I start to breathe easier, I stop frowning, and I wipe away the frustration. 

Try it. It really works.

At long last, READ magazine has finally got all the kinks out of our time machine and we are now prepared to offer you something that no one else can--an exclusive interview with famous dead dudes.

We thought long and hard about who we should contact first, and in the end, we decided to go with the single most recognizable name in the history of the printed word. Enough buildup? Fine. It's William Shakespeare. 

Oh, stop moaning, you know there's something about him that intrigues you. In most literary circles, Shakespeare is considered to be one of the greatest, in fact, THE greatest writer of all time! So just what is it about him that's got the whole world going ga-ga?

I recently took a trip to the year 1600 and sat down with Mr. Shakespeare and asked him about his fame.

Is it too soon to be talking about November? I think not.

First, I would like to welcome Anastasia to WORD. We are very excited to have her and we anticipate great literary insights from her in the future. In fact, she's the person who brought this super cool web site to our attention. They call themselves NaNoWriMo. And yes, at first glance it appears that they are some kind of newly discovered dinosaur, but no! Quite the contrary! Can a dinosaur write a novel in 30 days? I'd like to see him try!

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's brilliant! It's crazy! It's... well, I can't really say what it is exactly because I haven't tried it yet. But from my early surfing of their web site, it promises to be an awesome time.

WORD is pleased to introduce our new guest blogger, Anastasia. Check back here every Tuesday to try out one of her writing prompts.

The National Book Award nominees were announced last week! Bestselling author John Grisham made the announcements at Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner in Oxford, Mississippi.

One of the books in my writing prompts blog, Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles was nominated in the Young People's Literature Category.

In Each Little Bird That Sings, Comfort Snowberger's family owns a funeral home, so she has attended 247 funerals. When her Great-Uncle Edisto dies, she writes a poetic obituary for him and submits it to a local newspaper, calling it a "Life Notice." When her Great-great-aunt Florentine dies too, she writes another Life Notice for her. Comfort also compose a list of "Top Ten Tips for First-rate Funeral Behavior." Read an excerpt from the book, and then, try this writing prompt:

What would you write about someone you loved after they died?

In our September issue of Writing, we invited you to send us your writing-related questions and promised to send them to some our guest authors to answer.

Question No. 1 was for Ralph Fletcher, author of The Writer's Notebook and Marshfield Dreams. It comes from Chelsea Groyohann:

Dear Ralph,

I'm responding to your letter. For one thing I always can't think of anything to write about. It takes me a while to think of what to write about. Usually when I do finally think of something to write about I can't stop writing. I LOVE Dunkin Donuts. It's like the best place to go in the morning. My favorite drink there is iced lattes. Well, anyway I have a few questions:

   1. How was China?
   2. Was it very different from where you live now?
   3. Did you get any good ideas for something to write about?

Well, I liked your article, and I hope you do great in your future writing.

Sincerely,

Chelsea

This is what Ralph Fletcher had to say:

Dear Chelsea,

Nice to hear from you. You and I share a love of writing and iced lattes at DD. Yes, China was great. So wonderful to get into a completely different culture. And the shopping was great (lots of inexpensive cool stuff!). I didn't get any ideas to write about but I'm sure China will somehow figure in my future writing.
   Hard to come up with ideas, huh? I wish I had an easy answer. You might try making a map of a special neighborhood (where you visited, or where you grew up). 
   On the map, mark: 1) a place where something happened 2) a favorite place 3) a secret place.
   A "story map" like this will generate lots of ideas. Good luck!

Your friendly author,

Ralph Fletcher

More writing tips for young writers from Ralph Fletcher.

Question No. 2 was for Amy Krouse Rosenthal, author of Encylopedia of an Ordinary Life. It comes from Maryellen Carrigan.