Visions In Education 2013 Writing Contest Winners Announced

Visions In Education and The Word Squad are pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 Writing Contest. These students will be honored at our next staff meeting with their certificates, Word Squad t-shirts, and $50 gift cards.  Congratulations to these writers and many thanks to all seventy five students who submitted writing to our contest.

The winning writing and audio recordings of the authors reading their pieces will be published in the Word Squad on May 22.

Nicholas Enders
Grade 2
CT: Carrie Gafni

Isabel Patchin
Grade 5
CT: Olivia Johnston

Marcus Perry
Grade 5
CT: Chris Sotelo

Mary Petrovich
Grade 6
CT: Kathryn Melody

Shelby Pinkston
Grade 6
CT: Jean Anne Walth

Clarice Scott
Grade 8
CT: Brandy Carlenzoli

Magdelen Rath
Grade 9
CT: Elise Hinkey

Radhika O'Conner
Grade 9
CT: Jennifer Russell

Hannah Marshall
Grade 10
CT: Deborah Costello

Laura Cummings
Grade 11
CT: Elva Burlingham

Featured Student Writer: Olivia Rivers

Olivia Rivers, a Visions' student in 11th grade, is already a published author of a young adult novel.  Olivia started writing seriously at the age of thirteen and eventually worked her way into the publishing business. Now, she is the author of Frost Fire, a YA paranormal romance.   Olivia donates some of the proceeds from her book to a charity called Dysautonomia Youth Network of America. Recently, the Word Squad staff had the pleasure of interviewing Olivia Rivers.

Q: What inspired you to start writing and at what age did you begin writing with the intention of publishing?

A: To be honest, I’m not sure what inspired me to start writing. I’ve always been an avid reader, so I suppose writing was the next natural step.  I started writing when I was thirteen, and began pursuing publication at fifteen. I joined writing critique groups, got two internships in the publishing business, and put myself on a strict writing schedule. Eventually, I got to the point where I believed my work was publishable.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your first novel, Frost Fire?

A: Frost Fire is a YA paranormal romance, and it is loosely based around the plot line of
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It tells the story of Allai, a girl who has been raised to hunt
users of magic. Allai soon finds she has magical powers, and that she’s been hunting her own
kind. Frost Fire is my third completed novel and the first I’ve published.

Q: How did you come up with your title and cover design?

A: Originally, the title for Frost Fire was Sky Fall. When I learned there was a James Bond movie releasing with the same title, I knew mine would have to change. At first, Frost Fire was just a random place-holder title, and I had no idea how it tied into the book. Eventually, that title grew on me, to the point where I rewrote a small portion of the book to incorporate it.

The cover design was a little more complex of a process. I had a clear image of what I wanted it to look like—my character Drake, in his Demon form, looking angry and dejected. I took that mental image and did my best to replicate it using about 8 different photos and days of work. At the time of designing it, I was taking a digital art class from Visions. Because of this class, I was able to obtain Adobe Photoshop CS5, the program I used to create my cover.

Q: What can we expect to read next?

A: Currently, I’m working on writing the sequel to Frost Fire (titled Fire Soul) and editing a YA Epic Fantasy trilogy (the first two books are set to release in May.)

Q: What does your writing process involve? Where do you get your ideas for your stories?

A: My writing process involves multiple total-rewrites, many drafts, about a dozen rounds of edits
and line-edits, and quite a few beta readers. By the time I’m finished with a novel, there isn’t
one word that hasn’t been thoroughly scrutinized.  Because I write fantasy, my ideas usually start with world-building. (World-building is the process of creating a fictional world with its own politics, landscapes, religions, species, etc.) By the time I’m finished world-building, I usually have about five to ten characters in mind, all scattered across this fictional world. I then pick one character to focus on. Once I fully understand the character, I create a plot that would most challenge/transform their personality traits.

Q: Many of our students would like to know more about the publication process. Can you tell us about how you become published?

A: I chose a route called “self-publishing,” also known as “indie publishing.” Self-publishing is a
publishing route wherein the author handles the publication of the book, instead of a traditional
publishing house or small press. Just five years ago, the literary community frowned upon self-publishing. Now it’s undergone a transformation, and it is widely accepted. I chose this route because I’m a minor, and it’s extremely difficult and legally complicated for a traditional publishing house to sign with a minor. On the other hand, any minor can self-publish.

Q: You donate some of the proceeds from your book towards supporting youth with dysautonomia. Can you tell us more about that?

A: I have a rare medical condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). POTS
is a type of nervous system disorder called dysautonomia. The charity I’m donating proceeds
to—called the Dysautonomia Youth Network of America—is a wonderful organization that
furthers medical research and aids teens with my condition.

Q: Do you have any advice for our student writers?

A: This is totally cliché, but I believe it’s the best advice anyone can give: Read.  Read every day, read in multiple genres, read both indie and traditional books. You wouldn’t expect an architect to design a house if he didn’t know what materials create houses, so you can’t expect yourself to write a book without knowing what good books are made of. And the only way to figure out what makes a good book is by reading.


If you are interested in reading Frost Fire, you can order the Kindle edition on www.amazon.com.  The paperback version will be available within a couple of weeks.

Over the summer of 2013, Olivia Rivers will be mentoring young writers in creative writing. She has
two years of experience interning in the publishing industry, has written four novels, and regularly critiques the work of professional authors. Olivia also has one novel self-published with more to follow.

If you’re interested in being mentored by Olivia, please contact email us at thewordsquad@viedu.org and we will forward your information to Olivia.

Visions In Education Author Featured at Luna's Cafe

Emmanuel Martinez a Featured Reader at Luna's Cafe Poetry Open Mic Night

Students from the Visions' Friday writing workshop, Finding Your Voice, were invited this week to read poetry at the Luna's Cafe Thursday Open Mic Night.  916 Ink, the literacy non-profit organization that co-leads our Friday workshop series was the "featured poet" of the evening.  Six Sacramento students who are published or in the process of being published by 916 Ink read their poems for a very receptive audience.  Our student, Emmanuel Martinez, rocked the house with his poem, "I Got."  

Other Visions' writers and workshop volunteers showed up to support Emmanuel and listen to the poetry of local youth writers. 

Visions' authors Radhika O'Conner and Maribella Smith

From left to right, volunteers Brett Stults and Sean Klein and author Emmanuel Martinez

This was Emmanuel's first poetry reading.  We don't think it will be his last.

Featured Student Writer: Grace Anderson  

Please enjoy the short story, "Of Ribbons and Bouquets" by Visions In Education's student, Grace Anderson.  "Of Ribbons and Bouquets" is published in our student collection of poetry and prose, Paper Wings.

Of Ribbons and Bouquets

Grace Anderson

The first time he can remember is really the fourth. He is helping his mother in the shop when a large woman with orange hair comes in. He’s never seen her before. He is five years old.

     The fifth time he’s a little more daring. When the woman with the orange hair comes in he says hello and she crouches down at eye level. She asks all sorts of questions and when she asks how old he is, he says he’s six because it’s the truth. She smells like apple pie.

     By the sixth time he begins to notice the pattern so he asks the lady that smells like apple pie why she keeps coming in. She responds by opening her wallet and showing him a picture of a little girl. She has the same orange hair but it’s wilder and curlier and pulled back in ribbons. He wonders if she smells like apple pie too.

     Three more times pass without incident. Apple pie lady comes in each year, buys a dozen daffodils, and leaves.

     The twelfth time he’s working because mother has a cold. He gets the flowers himself. The apple pie lady smells a little less like apple pie and has lines under her eyes. He thinks she looks sad.

     The fourteenth time is different. It’s earlier and it’s raining outside and when the apple pie lady comes in the little girl from the picture is with her. She’s not very little anymore. He almost doesn’t recognize her because now her curls are tamed and she has two white ribbons in her hair and he doesn’t say it, but he thinks she’s just about the prettiest person he’s ever seen.

     Apple pie lady comes alone the fifteenth time.  She has glasses now.

     The sixteenth time the girl with the ribbons comes alone, except now she only has one ribbon in her hair. He tells her this and she smiles a big toothy grin that shows her gums and makes his stomach do flip-flops. She smells like daffodils.

     The seventeenth and eighteenth time it’s just him and her, and he couldn’t be happier. She smiles easily and sometimes her hair is curly and sometimes it’s not but it’s always orange and there’s always a ribbon there.

     The nineteenth time she doesn’t come.

     The twentieth there’s no sign of her.

     The twenty-first he’s alone.

     He’s surprised to see her on the twenty-first-and-three-fourths time. Her hair is up and she’s not wearing a ribbon, and this time she doesn’t get daffodils, she gets roses instead. She keeps rubbing her face like she hasn’t slept in days.

     The twenty-second time her eyes are red and she’s wearing black. There’s still no ribbon in her hair. He asks her what’s wrong and she says she’s going to a funeral. She says that apple pie lady was sick and that’s why she bought the roses. She looks like she’s going to cry so he offers to come with her and she hugs him. She still smells like daffodils. 

     The twenty-third time he takes the day off and brings her a dozen daffodils. She gives him that same toothy grin.

     The twenty-fourth time he brings her the flowers and they go to a park. She kisses him about a thousand times and he feels like his cheeks are going to fall off from smiling.

     The twenty-fifth time he brings her a diamond ring instead. She has two ribbons in her hair and cries when he gives it to her.

     The twenty-sixth time they’re moving boxes into their new apartment. She tries to scold him when he brings the flowers but she kisses him instead.

     The twenty-seventh time he almost forgets and she looks a little sad when he brings the flowers, but she smiles anyway. There are no ribbons in her hair.

     The twenty-eighth time she tells him and they both cry.

     The twenty-ninth time her hair is all gone and she can’t wear her ribbons anymore. She still smiles that same grin when he brings the flowers. She tells him not to forget and he says “never.”

     The thirtieth time it’s dark and he’s been putting it off, but he gets in his car and goes to the cemetery anyway. He leaves a dozen daffodils at a fresh grave.

     The fortieth time he brings three bouquets. One for Her, one for the Apple Pie Lady, and one for his mother.

     The fiftieth time he takes the day off work and looks at pictures at a young woman with orange hair.

     The sixtieth time he goes early because he has a backache.

     The seventieth time he tells the nurses a story about a girl with ribbons in her hair and a dozen daffodils. They say it’s a miracle he still remembers, but he doesn’t listen.

     The seventy-second, and last, time the nurses take him to her grave and he smiles. That night he welcomes sleep.

     When he opens his eyes there’s a girl with orange hair and ribbons. She smiles her toothy grin, gives him a dozen daffodils, and says “thank you.”

Grace Anderson is an overemotional sixteen-year-old who is not overly fond of writing autobiographies and does not know whether or not "tall" is an accurate descriptor for her anymore.  She spends a copious amount of time on the Internet thinking about fictional relationships because she can’t be bothered to make one of her own, and she fancies herself a writer on occasion. She wrote “Of Ribbons and Bouquets” because she thought of the sentence, “The first time he can remember is actually the fourth” once while she was in the bath and decided to write something that would make her mother cry. She succeeded in this endeavor, so the piece has very much lived up to its potential. If she has any piece of advice for young writers it is, “Make sure to write about your science teacher with the bushy mustache in a less than flattering way because there is no better way to work out your unresolved anger.”

Writing Contest Tips

The Visions In Education Writing Contest deadline, April 15, is around the corner.  For the 2013 contest, we invite students to participate in the This I Believe ® essay contest.  Students are encouraged to write a 500-word statement about a personal belief.  This contest is open to all Visions students in grades K-12.  Younger students may write using any genre they would like to express their belief.  To read more about our contest guidelines and view curriculum resources, visit our Writing Contest page in The Word Squad.

If you would like to read some wonderful student models of This I Believe essays, click the following links.  The first essay is written by eleventh grader, Josh Stein.  Josh's essay, "A Triumph of Kindness," explores how an incident on the Little League field taught him about human kindness.  The second essay is titled "Find a Good Frog," by Delia Montavalli, a ninth grader.  In this essay, the author examines the impact of childhood fairy tales and eventually arrives at her own definition of "happily ever after."

Please submit all writing contest entries to thewordsquad@viedu.org by midnight of April 15, 2013.  We look forward to reading all submitted writing contest entries!

The Word Squad Staff

Featured Student Author: Olivia Mohning

Olivia Mohning Offers Advice for Aspiring Writers

Quite Simply, How To Be a Writer

Olivia Mohning

Open your eyes and Listen. If you turn in a circle, you will notice that there is something to be seen from every angle. Above and below you. There is an entire world around you, and an entire universe around that. So open your eyes and Listen—watch how it works. Pay attention and learn. Notice that cobblestone road and the hooves and carriage crunching on a grey English morning. The old woman in a pink sweater with large blue eyes and a sweet disposition. The sexy barista with her hair in a bun and glossy lips and the Hollywood smile. How that couple in the apartment above you argues constantly, always about the same menial things.

You don’t need to record everything, just observe. Don’t lose yourself in your observations. Remember to be at that 5 o’clock meeting, and to pick up the kids, and do your homework, and call a friend; but be open to the world around you as well. Don’t get caught up in your own affairs so much so that you become oblivious to the massive oceanic universe that surrounds you—the little ant on the hill.

Read books. Your favorite books, the ones you like, not the ones most critically acclaimed. Get inspired. Because when you read, your subconscious absorbs more than you know. Instead of learning facts like in history class, you’re learning how prose works. Think about it—the more time you spend observing paintings, the more likely you are to pick up techniques and notice the different styles. Writing is similar; it’s an art. You’re painting a story with words. So, yes, read books, so that you may understand this art.

IMAGINE! A writer’s best tool certainly isn’t the pen he uses, or thesaurus, or degree, or ability to mimic someone else. It’s to let their imagination roam freely, to fantasize. About food or phone calls or snowball fights or tea or pain or the sun or a person they made up using their glorious imagination.

Learn to write in a grammatically-appealing manner, free of errors, crisp, clean-cut way. Don’t limit yourself. Everyone has a unique style. Some of the most famous poems and prose pieces are just flat-out weird. And lastly, when the urge strikes (be it at three a.m. or otherwise) put your thoughts onto the paper.

Olivia Mohning is seventeen and a junior in the EDGE program at Visions. She is passionate about everything creative and artistic. Olivia writes song lyrics, prose, and poetry. In her free time, she sings and plays the guitar, piano, and the cello. Olivia wrote "Quite Simply, How to be a Writer" with the idea that she could guide aspiring writers in the right direction. She wanted to show how simple writing is and that the biggest obstacle is our own self-doubt that we make for ourselves.  She says to always remember, "You are the only person in the world who can tell your stories, and no one can do it better." "Quite Simply, How to be a Writer" is published in Paper Wings, a collection of prose and poetry by students from Visions in Education.

Book Release Party a Huge Success

On Monday February 4th, over 200 people gathered at the B Street Theatre to celebrate the release of Visions In Education students' first published book of prose and poetry, Paper Wings. Family, friends, and teachers gathered for light refreshments, author signings, and a formal reading inside the theater. Paper Wings is a collection of writing from students who took part in a creative writing workshop taught in conjunction with 916 Ink during the fall semester. Another creative writing workshop is currently underway. Watch for information about the publication of our second book which will be released in late June.