From Head to Page:

The Writer's Process

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Brooklyn Public Library

 Brooklyn, NY  

"When I first started talking to kids in schools, teachers, principals and librarians all asked me to talk about the same thing: The Writing Process. But I never wanted to talk about it because I thought, “How boring is that?” You get up in the morning and walk over to your computer and sit down and type. Yawn. In fact, that’s so accurate I installed a treadmill in my office so I could walk while I worked because I realized that my whole life consisted of moving from a laying down position to a sitting down position. With a little bit of arm motion  thrown in while I drink coffee.

" Perhaps most importantly, Mary was willing to open herself up to the students as well as the world of a writer. The kids responded enthusiastically, engaged and interested from beginning to end. And Mary's books are always checked out!"

           -- Deloris McCullough, Assistant Division Manager of  Youth Services, Brooklyn Public Library

Making a Living as a Writer

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Brooklyn Public Library

 Brooklyn, NY  

"Imagine all of you are NBC comedy writers and I have to make you laugh...about my script...on sleeping. Uh oh. You’re staring at me with your arms folded across your chest and an expression on your face that says, "Show me what you've got. Make me laugh." So off I go, pitching wildly for about 20 minutes. My cheeks were burning red. I kept thinking, "Why am I doing this? I'm a writer, not a stand-up." But writing for television means verbally selling your script. Even when nobody laughs. Which is what happened to me. Not one peep..."

" Perhaps most importantly, Mary was willing to open herself up to the students as well as the world of a writer. The kids responded enthusiastically, engaged and interested from beginning to end. And Mary's books are always checked out!"

           -- Deloris McCullough, Assistant Division Manager of  Youth Services, Brooklyn Public Library

Writing Your Life

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Commack High School Commack, NY  

"Who here keeps a journal? How would you feel if your journal was published for the whole world to read? Yikes! In a way, that's what happened to me with my first novel, The Serious Kiss. I never thought I'd be lucky enough to get published, so I just let it all hang out. I wrote about my real life when I was your age. The first line of this novel is, "My father drinks too much and my mother eats too much which pretty much explains why I am the way I am." As you might imagine, my parents were thrilled!

"I do NOT recommend blurting out your family secrets in the first sentence of a story you write. Now that I've published seven novels, I've learned that there are better ways to write your life. You don't have to actually write the facts of your life to tell your truth. Good thing, too, because it can be very uncomfortable at Thanksgiving..."

" Mary's presentations have always been followed with a great deal of praise from both students and staff. Her discussions are both poignant and engaging...she manages to leave students laughing at her experiences and examining their priorities."

    -- Anthony Davidson, Assistant Principal , Commack High School

The Media's Influence on

Body Image

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Virtua Healthcare Campus

 Voorhees, NJ  

"...So, how does media manipulation work? Well, it's a chicken and egg kind of thing. The media will tell you that they are just giving the public what it wants. But I wonder about that. Is there really a need? Or did some company create one?

Anybody here ever wished they had whiter teeth? If I had asked that question several years ago, you (or your parents!) would have looked at me, puzzled. Whitening your teeth wasn’t something you thought about then. Cavities, braces, yeah. But white teeth? Well, you were either born with white teeth or you weren’t. And teeth naturally yellowed with age. That’s the way it was before Procter and Gamble invented Whitestrips. Once they had a product to sell the media blitz began. Everywhere you looked you saw freakishly white teeth. Suddenly, we all began to question the whiteness of our teeth. Yellow teeth became  a sort of moral failing. "OMG! Did you see her teeth?..."

" Mary's topic is fantastic. It was a great evening and I have  had so many callers expressing delight."

          -- Tiffany Bennett

Director of Volunteer Services,        Virtua Health, Voorhees, NJ

Workshop:

3 Simple Secrets to Good Writing

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Academy for Young Writers

 Brooklyn, NY  

"Over the years I have learned that there are three secrets to good writing. We’re going to work on all three elements today.

Number One: Desire. You, as a writer, must always know  what your main character wants. It can be as simple as a serious kiss. Or as complicated as wanting to be normal. In all good stories, the main character wants something. And he’s either going to get it or he’s not going to get it. But, that desire is what pulls a reader through  your story...."

" Mary' had an instant rapport with students and faculty. It's easy to see why she's a young adult author since she clearly relates to teens so well."

          -- Carolyn Yaffe , Principal, Academy for Young Writers , an Institute for Student Achievement School  

Workshop:

Writing Your Senses

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Hounslow Manor School

 Middlesex, England

"First, let's practice. Unwrap these Hershey's Kisses and take a nice, long whiff. Don't eat them. Not yet. Tell me what you smell without using the word, chocolate..."

"Now, I'm going to give you three settings. I want you to pick one and describe it using all five senses: Hearing, touch, taste, smell and sight..."

" Mary has come to my school twice and it's always a special event. The kids love her because she is honest, witty and never talks down to them."
         

                 -- Mrs. Akhtar,  Staff Governor, Hounslow Manor

Workshop:

Breaking the Cliche Habit

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City Honors School

 Buffalo, NY

"...Details make or break every writer. Writers who use cliches are, frankly, lazy. And there are no lazy writer here, right? Right! Writers need cliches like they need a hole in the head, they should avoid them like the plague, and you can take that to the bank. For those of you who don't know what a cliche is, I just gave you three. 

Today, we're going to identify some common cliches and rewrite them so they actually mean something..."

" Mrs. Hogan opened my eyes to my bad writing habits. I'm not a great writer yet, but... one day."

-- Franklin P. 10th Grade, Buffalo, NY

NOTE: I read one of Franklin's stories and he's right! I only hope he invites me to one of his book-signing parties.

                        Mary