NOVEMBER 2020 - STA

St Thomas Aquinas Secondary NOVEMBER 2020

Happy November!

In this issue, you’ll find loads of new book recommendations, November
releases, a list of tips to help you write your first novel, plus a literary
calendar and an author spotlight. New this month, I’m featuring some
artwork by your fellow pupils—make sure to check it out! If you’re the
creative type, check out page 7 to see how you could get your work
featured in the next issue!

S1—S3 WRITING COMPETITION

Win prizes by submitting a short
story, poem, or comic strip about

THE FUTURE.

 300 words maximum
 Entries open from Monday 26 October to Monday

16 November
 Winners announced Thursday 19 November
SEE YOUR ENGLISH TEACHER OR LIBRARIAN FOR DETAILS
Email submissions to: [email protected]

Library Open Hours:

Monday, Wednesday, & Thursday
Before school: CLOSED

Interval: CLOSED
Lunch: OPEN from 12:30

After school: CLOSED

THE LIBRARY IS CLOSED ON TUESDAYS & FRIDAYS

BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR:
NOVEMBER 2020

3 November 2020 3 November 2020 3 November 2020 5 November 2020

5 November 2020 5 November 2020 10 November 2020 10 November 2020

10 November 2020 12 November 2020 12 November 2020 17 November 2020

PUPIL SUBMISSIONSPUPILSUBMISSIONS

TAMZYN ALLAN
S1

WANT YOUR WORK
FEATURED IN THE

NEXT ISSUE?
SEE PAGE 7!

RAHMA ISLAM
S4

‘Until the last petal falls’ ‘Aquarelle’

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month

WHAT IS NATIONAL NOVEL
WRITING MONTH?

National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward
challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on
November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write,
determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand new novel. They enter
the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents.
They leave novelists.

1 month. 50,000 words. Are you up for the challenge?

Visit nanowrimo.org for more information on how to sign up.

Interested in writing a novel?

Check out these tips from Stephen
King’s book, On Writing.

1. Use failure as fuel! If an idea doesn’t pan out or you don’t win that
writing competition, DON’T GIVE UP! Use that as a springboard to your
next project. Who knows, you might even find a home for that first idea
that didn’t work.

2. Remove everything that is not part of the story. This is really common
when starting to write. You have an idea for a story and as you write it, you
start to add on all kinds of stuff that sounds good at the time, but doesn’t
have anything to do with what you’d originally planned to write. That’s okay!

3. Don’t dress up your vocabulary. It can be tempting to try to “sound
smart” when writing. Try not to worry about that. Most people, even the
smartest people, don’t go about their day using big, intimidating words.
Keep your vocabulary relatable and you’ll have more success.

4. Paragraphs are maps of intent. You’ve probably heard from your
English teachers how important paragraphs are. They were right! Think
about it—are you more likely to read an article with clear paragraphs and
defined breaks (or even bullet points!), or a massive wall of text?

5. There is a timeless connection between reading and writing. It’s true!
If you want to be a better writer, you MUST become a better reader. Read
all different kinds of things to find which writing styles and plot devices
work for you, and which don’t.

6. Strive to write every day. This is probably the most important tip of all.
You will never become a better writer if you don’t practice! Don’t
discourage yourself by aiming for 10 pages a day at the start. Begin by
journaling every night about your day, and grow from there.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

.

RIN CHUPECO

Rin Chupeco is a non-binary Chinese Filipino
author of multiple young adult novels, most
notably The Bone Witch and The Girl From the
Well series.

They worked as a travel blogger and technical
writer before becoming a full-time author with
the publication of The Girl From the Well in
2014.

They are married, and have three pets—a dog
and two birds.

CHECK OUT SOME OF HER BOOKS BELOW!

CALL OUT FOR PUPIL
SUBMISSIONS!

Are you creative?
Do you like to draw, write, paint, or

photograph? Do you want other
people to see or read the work

you produce?

Then please consider submitting something to be featured
in the library newsletter!

I want to highlight the amazing work you’re all doing. I am looking for
submissions of poetry, short stories, comic strips, photographs, and artwork to
share with your fellow pupils.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, come speak to me, Ms
Sferrazzo, in the library on any Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday. If you’re a bit
nervous, that’s okay! You can also email me any quesƟons you have.

If you would like to submit a piece of work for a future issue of the
newsleƩer, email me at: [email protected]

CHECK OUT OUR LIBRARY APPS!

Free to use with your library card.