Ralph Fletcher has always had a special passion for children's literature. Her is the author of picture books,
nonfiction, and novels for young readers. Poetry Matters is the fourth book in Mr. Fletcher's series of instructional
writing books, which includes A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You, Live Writing: Breathing Life
into Your Words and How Writers Work. Mr. Fletcher lives with his family in New Hampshire.
Summary
This book is based on the simple idea that every writer has a "tool box." Instead of awls and hammers,
a writer's toolbox contains words, imagination, a love of books, a sense of story, and ideas for how to make the
writing live and breathe. I wrote this book to give you some practical strategies to throw into your toolbox. I
hope you'll try them, because these are ideas that can make you a better writer.
This book is titled Live Writing, and you may be wondering what I mean by that. Most of us have read
(and written!) the opposite kind of writing-dull, drab language that sounds about as interesting as a city phone
book. By "live writing" I mean the kind of writing that has a current running through it-energy, electricity,
juice. When we read "live writing", the words seem to lift off the page and burrow deep inside us.
