2024 Fearless Writers

Welcome to the 2024 Fearless Writers Substack.

I confess: I don’t know what I’m doing. . . . I’m flying by the seat of my pants here. But here goes!

I see this space as our online classroom of sorts. You know, I taught high school and middle school English for over 40 years. When the pandemic hit us and closed schools, I had to learn a new trick—how to “teach” and direct learning online. I used Google Classroom as a platform to make assignments and collect work from my students. So, this Substack is our “Google Classroom.”

I will post the “assignments” here where everyone can find them as well as any other fun, interesting, and helpful resources. You can share your responses to the writing prompts and writing exercises in the comments.

This should be a “fear-free zone.” That is, feel free to share your writing and know that whatever you share, stays here. If you want someone to critique your writing, be sure to ask for critique; otherwise, we will simply share and celebrate and encourage each other.

One practice I used with my young writers was “Three plusses and a wish”: they had to say three things they liked or thought were especially good about the writing. The '“wish” was something they wished the writer had included or wrote more about. For example, a writer might have used some really great imagery to describe a scene in a story and the plot was really intense. The story left the reader wanting to know more about the characters. The wish might be “tell me more about __________.” It’s not a criticism, but a request for more.

So, let’s get started. In the comments, introduce yourself!