On Writing: The Art of Story Blog

Dear Hawaii Ohana,

Deep South Publishing Company is producing a book of personal stories about special places in Hawaii, written by people who live in and love Hawai’i.   I am looking for stories, and by “story” I mean: the transformation of a character (you) as a result of events in the plot.  The setting you choose should be a place that changed you on a profound level.  The book is not meant  to be a travel guide, but rather a personal journey of Hawai’i and what our islands offer on a spiritual level.  Or, it could be just plain funny.   2,000 word limit.  All profits will benefit children’s programs at our beloved Palama Settlement. Deadline: June 30, 2012.  Email submissions to margaretsouth@kidstalkstory.com; please make sure to type “Hawaii Story” into the subject line.

As you work on your story, feel free to browse the website for help with story structure.

Mahalo for your kokua. (See I haven’t forgotten!)

Warmest Aloha from the Peach State,

Margaret South

Frank and I assembled materials today.  We put together samples and all the supplies so 100 children could write thank you notes as part of their original book projects.  They each get a sheet of sky blue paper, an envelope, and a pretend stamp with the picture of a cat.  (They’ve already done their “Heroes” page and their “My Favorite Foods” page and most important, the “About the Author” page. )

It reminded me of Kids Talk Story in the very beginning when all the supplies would come in and each teacher would make up their packet for the semester.  Pens, bags, folders, white-out, templates, markers, colored pencils, even glitter pens.  What fun!  Really, if I started my company over today I would apply for a job in the warehouse.

When my sister was diagnosed with ALS, she asked me to go with her to The Emory Clinic, one of the top research facilities in the world. We met brilliant doctors and nurses and therapists and caregivers.  They inspired me and they made me wonder why I didn’t go into medicine.

A few days before Christmas, Dr. William Grist, also at Emory, removed a mass from my neck.  I’d had this dumb thing for 10 years and other doctors said it was too dangerous to operate because one wrong move could paralyze my facial nerve.  I would be maimed for life.  So there it stayed while I resorted to drug therapy which kept it from growing too much, and scared the heck out of Frank because it was depressing my immune system.  But Dr. Grist said he was up for it and since he was stoked, I figured, “What the heck?  Let’s go for it!”

He had the bloody thing out in an hour-and-a-half and I partied through Christmas on Oxycodone and Vodka (for the unfortunate result of this bad combination check out my FB post here known as “Socks on Drugs.”) Again, I marvel at the medical profession.  Wow, why didn’t I go into medicine?

Just the other day, I took Mom to the eye doctor where she’s getting these shots in one of her eyes because of mascular degeneration.  She’s been going by herself because on school days I’m in the classroom with my sister.  But she can’t tell me anything about what goes on there.

“Mom.  What do they say?  Are the shots working?”

“I can’t tell.  First  I can’t hear, and now I’m blind, too.”

“How long do you have to keep going?”

“I don’t know, they didn’t say.”

So I take matters in hand.  Determined to get some answers, I drive Mom into Macon and she gets her shot.  I ask the nurse to explain things.  She goes into detail about the whole procedure and how it works and why we don’t know for sure yet.

“So the next shot will be in six weeks,” she says.”

I nod my head as though I understand and I think there might be a glimmer?  But no.  I realize I have no idea what she’s talking about and I remember why I didn’t go into the medical profession in the first place.

It’s Thursday on the last week of the semester and I have the eighth graders to myself today as Liz is taking a personal day.  I’ve been going from “Word of the Day” right into “Sentence Structure” and I’ve got them diagramming sentences which has fallen out of favor and I don’t know why because it’s really the best way to see how a good sentence works and also what the parts of speech are all about.  I start the kids off with some simple sentences like “I washed my dog,” and “Pete went to Walmart” and then we can add on compound sentences and complex sentences from there.  Also, I like to have the students make up their own sentences.  It’s more fun and they get more invested in the game.  The main thing is to keep the violence out of the game.  When I diagram a sentence, no weapons are allowed.

So Thursday I got started with my precept that all heroes care about others, so Melanie, the subject of my sentence, was followed by the word “gave,” because I figure Melanie’s a pretty nice girl and she might give to those less fortunate and that’s when I heard someone (and I know it was Octavius) shout out “blow job.”

Really?  Oh man, really?  I turn around and face Octavius and for all his bravado he knows he could really get in trouble for this.  But I decide the best thing to do is keep going.  Melanie ended up giving a book instead of a sexual favor and I continued on with the class and nobody got in trouble.   I was mad for the rest of the day and I was mad all the way home in the car.  I mean, I used to have a real job.  I was treated with respect.  I went out to fancy lunches.

But I have to admit, these kids crack me up.