By Sandra Smith
INKY TRAIL NEWS is looking for articles from aspiring junior writers – (oh, boy, what I wouldn’t have given for an opportunity like this when I was a child! I think my first scribbled story, in longhand, of course, was submitted to “My Weekly Reader” when I was in the third grade—and resulted in my first rejection slip). No, it didn’t discourage me—and when I was eleven or twelve, my parents bought a used standard Royal typewriter, on which I learned to type with two fingers. It took two years of typing classes in high school to undo the damage of two-finger typing. Most of what I wrote in those days were short stories or novels, typed single-spaced. I still have a stack of those stories buried in a closet somewhere.
What ITN would like to see, though, are not stories—but opinions, thoughts from kids – what they are thinking about, what difficulties they encounter in school or in sports.
Kids, we’d like to hear about your summer vacation memories, or trips you have taken. We’re interested in learning how your family celebrates holidays, such as Christmas, Halloween, Easter, or Valentine’s day. Perhaps you have a hobby that you love, or would like to write about a book or a movie that you especially liked. If you are a young person searching for a penpal – you can write your first letter to a prospective penpal in the pages of Inky Trail News…and perhaps write back to us a second time to let ITN readers know what kind of response you received.
Not interested in writing, but feel you are a pretty good budding artist? We’d like to see your funny handwritings or tiny drawings on the letters.
As someone with a bunch of nephews and nieces—as well as grandchildren—who are school age, I know that kids deal with a lot of adversity every single day. I also know this from raising my own children too. Inky Trail News would like to provide a forum for kids who want to write and express their feelings about their lives, where and how they live, what they would like to accomplish or what they would like to be ‘when-they-grow-up’ (I always knew I wanted to be a writer).
It’s a far more difficult world to live in, now, than it was even twenty years ago. How do your children/grandchildren or other children in your life feel about the world they live in? Mothers (or grandmotbers) who subscribe to ITN may want to help or encourage their children to write an article, or an essay.
If your article is published in Inky Trail News, you will receive a free issue when it’s published.
Articles/essays may be on any non-fictional topic that is of interest to any aspiring writer under the age of 18. You may write about your life, or your school, your ambitions, things in life that you consider to be unfair—or what you think could be done to make the world a better place. Articles or essays should not be more than 600 words in length. (If you are typing in WORD, “tools” provides a word count).
Kids, send your article by postal mail to :
Inky Trail News,
50416 Schoenherr Rd, #111,
Shelby Twp., Mi 48315.
OR
Send us your article below! Thanks!
Be sure to include your own name, address, in case we need to get in touch with you. Good luck!
