Daisy’s Horribly Awesome November (and new classes!)
Marciniak golden retrievers historically have bad luck with dewclaws. I have no explanation for it, but our dogs are always bending, breaking, or tearing off those hooked toenails halfway up their front legs. Daisy injured hers at the beginning of the month and she was the saddest thing any of us had ever seen. There was a bandage. There was a Cone of Shame. There was the Forgetting How To Walk because of the Cone of Shame. She was, in a word, pathetic.
But OH! how the kids spoiled her. She spent most of the last Make Mine a Myth class in the laps of our myth makers (as seen above), and Adian, Parker, and Connor are all unknowingly competing for the title of Daisy’s boyfriend. The classroom is filled with her toys, she boops the kids’ hands for treats, and last night she licked a cupcake, while it was on the table, so the membership kids wouldn’t eat it. I’m going to start charging her for classes.
Other highlights of the month:
Bianca, Avett, and I had the BEST time during November’s Elementary Virtual Book Club. While everyone else was off partying, we stayed home to talk about Roald Dahl’s memoir, Boy: Tales of Childhood. I’ve loved that book since I was their age, and I’ve read it at least 15 times. This was honestly my favorite book club meeting of all time. Bianca’s dog joined us (as seen in the screenshot above), and she and I laughed and laughed while we listened to Avett run around offscreen as he prepared a summary of his favorite chapter. Now listen, summaries are hard, especially for retellers, and Avett comes from a loooooooooong line of retellers. He put his all into that summary (I think there was a poster involved) and he even managed to avoid the temptation of a Rice Krispie treat while doing it. The summary was wonderful, and we all marveled at how disgusting life in the early 1900s was.
The Friday Night Write gang finally got a Lego prompt of their own this month. I have two Lego modular buildings, so those went onto the table, as well as a Coast Guard cutter. The Detective’s Office has a secret “cookie” bakery and hidden passage to get the loot out of the building. Five out of seven stories that night were about meth. Lego Batman and his pet lobster showed up in at least two. This was also the evening that gave us the greatest opening line in Wordshop history: “It was dark and I couldn’t see shit.”
We welcomed a new group of high school writers to the table with November/December’s Fiction Boot Camp. Finding high school writers has been one of the hardest parts of getting The Wordshop up and running, and I’m absolutely delighted that these six suddenly appeared like a superhero force from another planet. I’m pretty sure four of them are terrified of me. I have zero chill.
At our last Thursday Night Write of the semester, nary a murder was put to paper. It was a Thanksgiving miracle.
Wordshop Gift Cards Make Great Stocking Stuffers
Available in $25 denominations, you can give the gift of Mrs. Kristin all year long with Wordshop gift cards. (Pssst, pass the link on to family members near and far.)
Second Semester,
Here We Come!
I’m so excited about our winter/spring line-up of classes. There’s a great mix of brand new offerings, student favorites, and classes that have been expanded for additional age ranges. I’m already working on my summer schedule, so please let me know if you or your writers and readers have any requests. If they want it, I’ll try to make it happen.
Click on the flyer image for the full PDF, which includes a class schedule on page 2. Click here for a direct link to middle school classes. Click here for high school classes.
Thank you so much to everyone who came out for our first annual book swap last weekend. We had such a good time getting to know all of you a little more, and I was so excited to have a chance to brag about your kids to you in person. It was a really special afternoon. We had a bunch of great books left over; I’ll be rotating them through the Free Little Library in our front yard. Be sure to check it out during drop-off and pick-up!
The Wordshop is winding down for the rest of the year. Our last Friday Night Write of 2023 will be on Friday, December 15. We’ll start back up with Thursday and Friday Night Write on January 4 and 5, respectively. Make sure your writer is signed up and ready to roll!