Blog Entries

Just So You Know...

Monique Polak

Just So You Know it isn't only singing in the morning that makes me happy (though today is the perfect day for that old song, "Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day!" -- do remind me to get my Writing for Children class to sing that this coming Monday morning; that'll wake 'em up for sure!). Another thing that makes me happy is BIG IMPORTANT IDEAS.

That is my way of telling you I'm just back from a stimulating conference at McGill called Imaginin [...]

I Have an Awful Voice

Monique Polak

I have an awful voice, but I love to sing! When my daughter still lived at home, she'd beg me to stop... and my husband does the same.

This morning, the students in my Writing for Childrenclass were a little... let's say, blah. So I came up with a new idea: I made them sing. I turned off the lights to reduce the embarrassment factor and I also made them stand up and move around. Alexandra started the singsong when she told us how her dad used to sing the old Doors song, "Wh [...]

Uh Oh, Beautiful Weather in Indiana!

Monique Polak

Now you may be wondering why beautiful weather in Indiana would cause me to go, "Uh oh!"

Well, it's because this afternoon, I was all set up to do a Skype virtual visit with students at Zionsville Library in Zionsville, Indiana. Only the weather was so beautiful that apparently none of the students enrolled in the library book club showed up! But don't worry, all was not lost. (It [...]

March Break Coming to an End... and a Lovely Book

Monique Polak

Hello out there, So if you're like me, your March break is nearly over. I have to be back in my classroom tomorrow morning at 8:15. All I can say is YIKES. Not because I don't want to see mystudents (I LOVE my students!! -- and I'm not just saying so because some of them read this blog), but well, because it's back to a hectic schedule... and I could have used just a few more days of holiday.

I just finished reading a lovely book that I thought I'd tell you about tod [...]

Special Day with Another Gang of Talented Young Authors

Monique Polak

Hello, hello, it's me again (well, who else would it be? It's my blog after all!),

So I'm just back from the final day of this year's Young Authors' Conference in Montreal. Like yesterday, I worked with two groups of students. Today, my morning group had so many good questions that I didn't really get to do the speech I planned! Benjie S (there were two Benjies and they happened to be sitting next to each other) wanted to know, "What does a semi-colon do?&qu [...]

Report from the Young Authors' Conference

Monique Polak

I'm just home from a happy day at the Young Authors' Conference here in Montreal. It';s on again tomorrow, and I'm heading back this evening for a meet the parents event.

So, I've got loads to tell you about the other authors I met and about the kids I worked with, all of whom go to private Jewish day schools here in Montreal. As one of the boys told me this morning, "We [...]

Super-Conference!

Monique Polak

So I'm just back from Toronto, where I attended the Ontario Library Association's annual Super-Conference. That's me with Dayle Sutherland, marketing director at Orca Book Publishers, and Leslie Bootle, Orca's promotions coordinator.

On Thursday night, I had dinner with Dayle, Leslie and Halifax author Vicki Grant (Vicki is the author of several Orca titles including P [...]

Writers Share their Writing Secrets

Monique Polak

Even when I was growing up and getting published was just a dream, I always loved reading what writers had to say about writing. I remember hoping that if I paid careful enough attention, I'd figureout the secrets that would turn me into a writer.

In the end, it was mostly hard work and determination that led to my first book contract. But even so, I still love it when writers write about writing.

That could be why I asked students in my Writing for Children class to choose a [...]

Can You Spell

Monique Polak

"Theriatrics" was the word that won Christopher Scarvelis the Canwest Canspell Regional Spelling Bee here in Montreal yesterday.

Scarvelis, 13, goes to Loyola High School -- and letme tell you, he's not only a good speller, he has nerves of steel! I know because I was one of three judges at the bee, and I'm still recovering from the tension!

There were 48 spellers, and i [...]

A Story That Made My Arms Get Cold

Monique Polak

The way I know if a story feels amazing to me is that my arms get cold when I hear it (or tell it). Just ask my students -- they've been there in class when this has happened to me.

So, listen to this amazing story I heard on CBC radio earlier this week. Young hockey players from Ajax, Ontario escaped just in time last week when the roof of the Pennsylvania arena they were playing in collapsed. The boys, who are seven years old, are on the Ajax Knights Tyke White team. I [...]

Trouble -- in a Story -- is a Fine Thing

Monique Polak

If you've read my books or been in one of my classes, you'll know by now that I have an unnatural interest in trouble. Not in my own life, of course, but in my stories! (And for those of uswho've had a little or a lot of life troubles, well, that's ready-made material, isn't it?!)

This weekend, I came across a great quote from author John Le Carré (the quote was passed on by children's author Val Coulman who's on the same writers' listserv as me). [...]

Thinking About Reviews

Monique Polak

You write a book and if you're lucky enough, like me, to find a publisher, you send it off into the world... and then, people read it and respond.

I know of one author -- short-listed forthis year's Giller Prize -- who makes a habit of never reading reviews of his work. I couldn't do it; I care too much, I guess, about what other people think.

A little over a year ago, my novel What World Is Left got a really awful review in the Montreal Gazette. I took it hard ( [...]

Meet Neale McDevitt

Monique Polak

Yesterday, Montreal journalist and short story writer Neale McDevitt came to do a talk at Marianopolis College and also to speak to my Print Journalism students. Neale is editor of The Reporter, a McGill University publication that comes out every two weeks. He is also the author of One Day Even Trevi Will Crumble, a collection of short stories set in NDG, here in Montreal.

During his talk for the entire school, Neale focused on his work as a fiction writer. He said, "I write a l [...]

Work and Play... and an Upcoming Conference

Monique Polak

This morning, in my "Writing for Children" class at Marianopolis College, I was trying to explain a tricky concept. The students are beginning work on the texts for their own picture books(probably the hardest assignment they'll get from me all term since though most people don't know it, writing a picture book is killer hard!)... and suggested they do two things: work and play.

By work, I mean they need to consider all the things we've been discussing about pictur [...]

A Visit with our Friends at Tukisiniarvik School

Monique Polak

Photographer Thomas Kneubuhler and I spent this morning with our friends at Tukisiniarvik School in Akulivik, Nunavik. Now how did we manage to do that and yet be back at our respective desks in Montreal this afternoon?

The magic of technology made our visit possible. We were doing a teleconference. And I must say we had fun -- and hopefully the students we worked with got some ideas and inspiration, too. Teacher Quinn Carter is working with his students and Thomas and me on a project [...]

Courage

Monique Polak

I've been thinking a lot lately about courage. Maybe because the man in the room next to my mom's at the rehab centre has had an arm and a leg amputated on account of his cancer, yet he stillmanages to smile and wave every time I pass. Then there's his wife, Jane, who's almost always at his bedside, but still has the energy to ask how my mum is doing. When I think about how courageous this couple has to be, I feel almost ashamed that I've had to call on my own courage thes [...]

Proud Teacher Checks In

Monique Polak

One of the courses I'm teaching this semester at Marianopolis College is Print Journalism. This week, students had to write a letter to the editor. We've been studying what makes a letter to the editor work -- a letter needs to be concise, well written, and it helps if it makes an unusual or controversial point.

To give my students a little extra incentive, I told them if their letters to the editor were published in the Montreal Gazette, I would give one bonus mark to the writ [...]

Laying An Egg

Monique Polak

Since my mum got sick before Christmas, I am spending more time chatting with my dad. (Quick report: my mum is doing much better, but is still not well enough to return to her own house.) Well, thismorning on the phone my father used a funny expression to describe his work -- at 79 years old, he still sits as a federal court judge. Today he was home writing a judgment. He said that for him, writing a judgment feels like "laying an egg"!

I love the expession, partly because it& [...]

12:19 P.M. on January 28, 2010

Monique Polak

I record the time and date, because I'm about to jump into a new project. I've spent the last little while on the floor in my office, reviewing notes. And now, I'm going to do it -- writejust a wee bit of my new story before I leave for school. Starting a new project is always a little scary, but exciting, too. This time, I'm planning to do another historical novel. The story came to me as a gift -- inspired by a wonderful older woman I met last spring and with whom I have bec [...]

The Air Is Thick With Stories

Monique Polak

Lately, I've been telling students how to me, the air feels thick with stories. What I mean is thereare stories everywhere; the trick for us writers is to find the ones we most need to tell.

I spent this morning working with about 75 adult education students at Pius X Adult Centre. I talked a little about how I do the work I do, where I get ideas for my books... but my favourite part of the sessio [...]