March Madness for Readers & Writers

Reading has always been
my favorite sport!

I'm not much for sports. I was the kid in elementary school who would volunteer to bang the erasers (yes, I am THAT old) just so I wouldn't have to suffer the humiliation of the recess dodge ball game.

In high school I made a deal with my coach: I would write his bus schedules if he would let me skip out of P.E. I gotta tell you, it was a pretty beautiful arrangement.

And even though I live in Alabama where college football is THE event of the year, I can take it or leave it.

As for basketball? Forget about it. I've got a zillion things I'd rather do!

Which is why I found myself Googling how to somehow bring March Madness to my life as a reader and writer. Here are some things I discovered:

You can use brackets to help decide which writing project should take priority.

You can extend the fervor of March Madness to "reboot" your writing life.

Teachers can use a March Madness format to encourage kids to write opinion pieces about the books they love... leading to an eventual #1 book.

You can use March as an alternate (or another!) NaNo month.

You can go back and read all the poems from the March Madness poetry contests at ThinkKidThink.

However you experience March Madness, I hope you enjoy it!

Irene Latham is a poet and novelist from Birmingham, Alabama. Her books include Leaving Gee's Bend, Don't Feed the Boy, Dear Wandering Wildebeest, and two new poetry collections When the Sun Shines on Antarctica and Fresh Delicious: Poems from the Farmers' Market. Reading has always been her favorite sport. www.irenelatham.com