Last month at Dream Keepers, I worked with nine-year-old boy who wanted to write his autobiography. He titled it, “The Challenges of My Life.” I immediately fell in love with his idea—what a brilliant structure for a memoir. When my writing feels stale or I get stuck in the middle of a narrative, sometimes an...Read More

In September, I wrote about my work with Dream Keepers and the six-word memoir. This month, we’ve been back at the library writing six-word scary stories. Here’s how it works. We began by creating a chart with three columns: setting, character, situation. The students brainstorm ideas for the chart, which I fill in. Here’s what...Read More

In 2006, I started Dream Keepers, a writing group for at-risk tweens and teens in the city of Milwaukee. Here’s what my website says about the group: The Dream Keepers Creative Writing Workshop unites parents, teachers, and professional writers-in-residence to teach youth how they can transform their lives and their communities through writing. Dream Keepers...Read More