Encouraging Harvests

Welcome back to another week of Early Harvest. Sadly, we didn’t have a special guest, however, that didn’t mean it wasn’t fun. This week the editorial board were faced with two key tasks: personalised feedback letters and writing a choose your own adventure (CYOA)! Surprisingly, I thought everyone would rush to design the CYOA, but a handful of editors put their hands up to join Jess and I in writing templates for the acceptance and encouragement letters.Our group consisted of Mary, Chloe, Mervin, Nahwonmiah and Mackenzie. Together we agreed on our template structure then proceeded on with what to write, starting with the encouragement letter. Initially, the editors considered calling it a rejection letter, however, after much debate, we found a more suitable name. I watched as the very enthusiastic group, overflowing with energy and very different to my groups in past weeks, scatter their ideas and waited for them to be reaped. Not all ideas were, but the group created their very own letter with little direct input from Jess, just her crucial guidance. This made it genuinely theirs and their hard work, which is what Early Harvest is all about right?Well, it sounds fairly simple, but it actually isn’t. I remember in primary, considering others’ feelings was rather a big task. Just like the editors, I never liked things sugarcoated although I was conscious of emotions and sympathy… to some degree. I mean, we are kids right? Seeing how the editors tried to construct their feedback letters, I realised that we all have a long way before we really understand people and emotions. But they are definitely on the right path, and for them to be able to compromise and finalise their letters, having considered how others would feel receiving it, they are definitely fantabulous.Enough about this one group though, how about the others? Presuming from the excitement and group feedback they seemed to have a heap of fun! And I hope you guys are ready to choose your own adventure when you pick up our fifth edition.With the session coming to an end, I was lucky enough to interview two editors (which you should also read!) in order to get to know them better. And at the very end, the editors were also faced with a small hurdle, which was to choose a different famous author to commission. Who did they decide on? Stay updated and I’ll drop this beloved author’s name in our following posts!Britney, stout, sprout and rollout.

Britney is a sixteen year old blueberry living the typical fruit salad life. When she’s not busy trying to get her fruity life together or studying fruitology (she means biology), she is busy running in the woods with deers, rabbits and possums or swimming in the ocean with dolphins in her procrastinating mind. If not, you’ll find her doodling and spilling creative lines on paper instead of her homework… productive and healthy.