 You just heard from Andrew Hacket. Today’s panel discussion also features Ernesto Cisneros, Marcie Flinchum Atkins, Lisa Stringfellow, and Tina Athaide. In addition to their wonderful voices, authors Cindy Jenson-Elliott, Valerie Bolling, and Jody Little also contributed to this heartfelt discussion. The panelists talk about creating safe spaces where mistakes are welcome, writing for authentic audiences, and sharing their writing process with students.
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 I had a blast chatting with Ryan Bani Tahmaseb. We celebrated his debut picture book, Rostam’s Picture-Day Pusteen, and talked about collaborating, connecting with family, and leading with curiosity. Before I tell you about Ryan's recommendations, I want to tell you that Ryan shares a heartwarming moment in this episode that will make your day. Don't miss it! Ryan recommends these five titles: Picture Books: My Strange Shrinking Parents by Zeno Sworder We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang Middle Grade The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulis Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri Young Adult Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Click here for the transcript or listen to the episode below.  I apologize for the delay in getting the fall episodes posted on my website. One of the tricky aspects of my new job is I have to leave my house more than an hour earlier to get to school. As a result, I've lost a lot of morning writing time, which I used to take advantage of to update my website. The other change is in order to be more inclusive I'm committing to including a transcript with each one-on-one interview. The service I use is pretty accurate, but I need to clean up the transcripts before publishing them. This may not sound like a big deal but each transcript is about 30 pages. So, it takes a while to make each transcript fit for public consumption. The awesome aspect is that editing the transcripts makes me smile because it reminds me how much I enjoyed each conversation and that each episode is packed with gems for listeners. On a craft note, editing interview transcripts is also a mini-craft workshop in voice, which Josh talks about so elegantly in the soundbite below. Without further ado, here is the post for Josh's interview. Veracity, Voice, and Vulnerability with Josh GalarzaDebut author and National Book Award finalist, Josh Galarza, talks about the importance of veracity, voice, and vulnerability in this episode, all of which are embedded into his heartfelt, hilarious, and heartbreaking debut, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky. In addition to Josh's amazing book that shines a spotlight on boys and disordered eating, we talked about three other books that also open up this much needed conversation: All of Me by Chris Baron A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner Louder than Hunger by John Schu Josh also recommends Breaking into Sunlight by John Cochran, which is a middle grade novel that shines a light on another tough issue, parental substance abuse and is also an Indies Introduce book. 
After Tina and Jyoti talk about community building books, I talk about bumper sticker books and mention a link to the activity I used with my class. Click here for the activity.
After Janelle speaks, I mention creating a WRITE Bingo card. Click here for a classroom set of 24 different narrative Bingo cards that will get your kids up and moving and provide them with craft moves to jumpstart their drafting or revising.
Welcome back to Chalk + Ink: The Podcast for Teachers Who Write and Writers Who Teach. I’m your host Kate Narita, author of 100 Bugs! A Counting Book, former fourth-grade teacher, and future assistant principal.
Yes, you read that right. On June 14th, I ended my eleven-year career as a fourth-grade teacher, and I start my new job as an assistant principal in July. It was quite an adventure balancing teaching, 550 practicum hours, 18 credit hours, and 4 tasks for the state and podcasting this past school year. But with help from higher power, family, colleagues, and friends I managed to pull it off. Before I sleep for two weeks, I want to help jumpstart everyone’s writing with the top ten writing tips from this season’s guests. Summer is synonymous with adventure. Each tip in this episode celebrates the fact that unstructured time gives us the opportunity to try something new, meet new people, and/or explore new places or aspects of our craft that we’ve never tried before. If you reach the end of this episode and you find yourself wanting more, here’s a cool fact. This is Chalk + Ink’s seventy-seventh episode. If you count the weekends, there are the same number of days of summer fun between the last and first day of school. So, if you want, you could enroll yourself in your own free mini MFA and listen to a different Chalk + Ink episode each day this summer. If you do that, be sure to let me know! Let’s get started with our summer adventure and dive into this season’s top ten tips. 
Alright so you packed up your classroom and you came across your writing binder with all your writing activities and organizers that you asked your students to use. Why not try them yourself like Stacey Mozer? I mean why should the students get to have all the fun.
Maybe you finished packing up long ago, you’re already in summer mode and you’ve had some time to reflect and you remember a question a student asked you and it turns out it just may unlock the answer you’ve been searching for to make that picture book manuscript just right. That's what happened to René Colato Laínez. Or maybe your students challenged you to write something like CK Malone’s students but you just didn’t have the time. Well, now you have the time. So, start writing and get on with your adventure. 
It’s time to get out of the classroom and head to the library and not just because of those overdue books. No matter where you are in your writing journey, your librarians can help you out. Stacey Mozer’s amazing librarians taught her about the writing industry.
Maybe your librarians haven’t participated in ALA award committees, no worries. You still want to develop a relationship with them because they’re awesome, they’re a font of knowledge and if you’re lucky like Hà Dinh, they’ll help you promote your book. 
No matter where you go on your summer adventures, remember to write from a personal place. Veera Hiranandani and Ruth Behar talk about how the characters in their books reflect the broad range of people who have inhabited their lives.
Meanwhile, Janelle Harper talks about how if you don’t see mirrors of yourself and your neighborhood in books, it’s up to you to create those mirrors. 
So how do you write from a personal place? Mine your memory moments. Listen to Hà Dinh talk about how she worked hard to unveil layers of complex feelings in Where the Wildflowers Grow.
Maybe you feel like you don’t have more moments to mine. If that’s the case, look at the everyday objects around you and observe your loved ones. An idea just might appear right before your eyes. That’s what happened to Chloe Ito Ward. 
Travel somewhere new. If you’re like Tina M. Cho or Jyoti Rajan Gopal, you may just meet someone new to write about.
Or take a page out of MK Smith Despres' book and go on a writing retreat. 
The truth is you don’t have to travel to go somewhere new. Sometimes, you just need to dive deep inside a book or deep inside your character to uncover novel places. H.M. Bouwman talks about tuning into her characters’ interiority while revising.
So, how do you know where to start? Listen to Kristy Acevedo talk about how she decides which scenes to write. Sometimes less is more. Jen Gennari cites two revision books she thinks all authors should have and then she talks about how she had to cut in order to dive deeper into her main character’s interiority. 
Still feeling stuck? Take a walk outside to clear your mind. That’s what MK Smith Despres does.
But don’t wait till you’re stuck to get outside. Listen to Susan Edwards Richmond explain how nature is a treasure hunt. 
Maybe you have little kids at home, and you’re going to have less time to write in the summer than you did during the school year when your kids were in school. If that’s the case, remember to write in the nooks and crannies like Brooke Hartman and Andrew Hacket. Brooke uses the time for marketing.
Meanwhile, Andrew uses the time to peruse manuscripts to figure out why they’re not selling. This is a genius idea, and I can’t wait to try it. Put copies of all your finished manuscripts in a bag and keep it in your car. That way whenever you have an extra ten minutes here or there, you might just find a solution you didn’t know you were looking for. 
When Tom Bober and Gita Varadarajan take advantage of residencies and classes, they make sure to look for collaborative partners as well.
Listen to Tom Bober for tips about collaborating during the editing process. Then, Gita Varadarajan talks about collaborating while creating. 
So you’ve traveled, walked outside, read books, visited art museums, written in the nooks and crannies of the day, and you’re still stuck. What to do?
Do what Andrew Hacket does and celebrate others. Be patient and remember Kristy Acevedo's observation that writing is like painting and requires multiple layers. Finally, never forget CK Malone's wise words that you will succeed. 
I’m signing off for the summer to focus on revising. I know this episode has me ready to write, and I hope it’s done the same for you, too. If it has, please be sure to share this episode with someone who could use it, and remember to write a review. If you want an amazing giveaway from one of these authors like a critique, classroom visit, or a book. Leave a comment below.
Thanks everyone! I'll be back at the end of August. Until then, take care. Bye.  Patrick Clarke Cumming It's Memorial Day, and Andrew and I are honoring Sergeant Patrick Clarke Cumming. Andrew is an incredibly generous, kind hearted, hardworking human being who always tries to make a positive difference in our writing and teaching community. He and I would like to dedicate this episode to Sergeant Patrick Clarke Cumming who was also an incredibly generous, kindhearted human being who worked hard to make a positive difference in our town, state and in our nation. During the episode, we talked about how Andrew’s wife, Kerry, is also a teacher. Kerry taught Patrick first grade. Like Andrew, Kerry is also an incredibly kindhearted, hardworking human being. Even though Patrick was only in first grade, Patrick sensed he could trust Kerry, and he confided in her that he couldn’t read and only seemed like he knew how to read because he memorized pages in books. Kerry knew just how to get him help and set him up for reading services with Annette Markel. By the time second grade rolled around, Annette told Patrick’s parents she could no longer work with him because Patrick had become an advanced reader. Patrick’s parents, Bob and Melissa, are incredibly grateful to Kerry and Annette because they ignited Patrick’s passion for reading. As an adult, Patrick read voraciously, studying world conflict and military history. To celebrate Patrick, Bob, Melissa, and Patrick’s siblings, Jack and Megan, are reading Patrick’s book collection. Back when Andrew and Kerry knew Patrick, Patrick had a mop of gorgeous golden curls that would have made Curlilocks proud. Even though Andrew taught Patrick’s twin brother Jack, and not Patrick, Andrew made sure to take Patrick underneath his wing at recess because Andrew, like Patrick, is someone who always goes above and beyond. I first met Patrick when he was six-years-old, and had the honor of watching him grow up and begin to serve our community in amazing ways. He accomplished more in his twenty-three years than many of us accomplish in a lifetime. I’ll share a few of his accomplishments here. He received the following military decorations: Army Achievement Medal for Operation Boston Hope, Army Commendation Medal for Operation Capitol Response, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal COVID, Army Service Ribbon, DCNG Presidential Inauguration Support Ribbon, Massachusetts Service Medal, and Massachusetts Emergency Service Ribbon. Patrick always gave back to his community. In addition to serving in the military, he was a trained EMT and a firefighter. A few weeks before he died, Patrick rescued a stranded hiker from Leominster State Forest. As you go about your day, please keep Patrick in your mind and think about how you can help others. Perhaps you can be more vulnerable on the page or reach out to a newbie writer. Maybe you can dig deep and give a student who you know needs it a little extra tlc. If you're feeling extra generous, please consider helping me raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I'll be walking 16 miles overnight on June 22nd. Click here to help stop the spread of this disease. But most of all, please be kind and gentle to yourselves and those around you. In the soundbite above, Andrew talks about his amazing blog Backstory. Check it out!  Andrew Hacket talks about stealing moments to write, giving back to the community and being true to ourselves. As I mentioned above, Andrew is incredibly kind and generous. So, if you leave a comment below you will be entered to choose between a virtual classroom visit, a picture book critique, or a free book. That's hard to beat. This is our last interview for the 2023-2024 season. I hope to have the top ten writing tips to launch us into a creative summer ready for you by June 14th, which is the end of my school year. Until then, take care. Podcasting by Threes: Podcast Number Seven Chalk + Ink: Episode 73; Sit Down and Do It with C.K. MaloneOn today’s show with author and educator, C.K. Malone, we talk about sitting down and getting to work, that tomorrow is a new day, and that anyone can succeed. Have you reviewed the show? If not, please review the show on your preferred podcast app and help me turn 24 in 2024 from a dream into a reality. By doing so, you’ll be entered to win a copy of CK Malone’s A Costume for Charly. Or, if you're reading this post on my website, leave a comment below. Thanks in advance for helping me out. Podcasting by Threes: Podcast Number Eight Chalk + Ink: Episode 74; Making History 3D with Tom BoberTom Bober, and I talk about making history 3-D, the power of collaboration, and taking things off of our plates. If you would like to win a free copy of Tom Bober and Rebecca Newland's book, Literature and Primary Sources, please leave a comment below or review the show on your favorite podcast app. Podcasting by Threes: Podcast Number Nine  Chalk + Ink: Episode 75; Mining Memory Moments with Chloe Ito WardChloe Ito Ward talks about mining memory moments, authenticity, and celebrating the present. If you haven't yet celebrated Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in your classroom, be sure to check out Chloe's Love Grows Here it's a heartwarming story that doesn't shy away from difficult conversations. Be sure to leave a comment below or review the show on your favorite podcast app to be entered to win a copy of Chloe's gorgeous book. Podcasting By Threes: Podcast Number Four Chalk + Ink: Episode 70; Praise Then Raise with Jen Gennari It was an absolute pleasure speaking with Jen Gennari. Jen is as insightful as her books Muffled and My Mixed Up Berry-Blue Summer, which a lucky listener can be eligible to win simply by leaving a comment below. In this episode we talk about flagging filter words, personifying drafts and cultivating artistic vision. Podcasting By Threes: Podcast Number Five Chalk + Ink: Episode 71; Narwhals, Puppeteers, and Bush Planes with Brooke HartmanTotally enjoyed speaking with Brooke Hartman. I had the pleasure of meeting Brooke at Highlights Foundation at a retreat hosted by our amazing agent, Sera Rivers. Brooke is as humorous as her picture books Klyde the Kraken Wants a Friend and Watch Out for the Lion, which a lucky listener can be eligible to win simply by commenting below. In this episode we talk about the power of social media, breaking through the fourth wall, and staying true to the original story. Podcasting By Threes: Podcast Number Six Chalk + Ink: Episode 72; Reclaiming Our Narrative with Janelle HarperTalking with Janelle Harper was an absolute joy. Sometimes I forget how good it feels to laugh. She’s honest, reflective, and positive, which means she’s the perfect person to critique your picture book manuscript. So, be sure to leave a comment below. In this episode we talk about reclaiming narratives, positive phrasing, and creating safe spaces. Be sure to check back at the end of April to read about our last four interviews of the season. Chalk + Ink will feature interventionist C.K. Malone, elementary librarian Tom Bober, substitute teacher Chloe Ito Ward, and Anders' and Corbin's second grade teacher, Andrew Hacket!
Although I've been keeping up with the podcasting, it's been more than a minute since I've updated this page. This school year has been a constant balancing act between teaching fulltime, my fulltime administration certification program, and my writing/podcasting career. Phew! I'm honestly tired just writing that all! Anyway, it's not feasible for me to post every time I publish a podcast episode. So, for the remainder of the season, I'm going to post about multiple podcasts at once. So without further ado, here's a taste of the past three episodes. Podcasting By Threes: Podcast Number One Chalk + Ink: Episode 67; All Things Preschool with |
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