By Kari Lucin, staff writer

Aspiring writers from Albert Lea’s elementary schools had the chance to go to Rochester for the annual Young Writers’ Conference.

&8220;We chose them according to an interest in writing or a high ability in writing, or both,&8221; said fourth-grade Hawthorne Elementary School teacher Jill Petersen. &8220;It’s a real challenge for the kids that need it, and it’s also a reward for the kids that have put in the effort.&8221;

One child from each class, from fourth to sixth grade, attended.

The Albert Lea School District pays for most of the program via its gifted and talented funds. Hawthorne’s parent-teacher organization paid the remaining $5 per family at their school.

At the conference, kids played games designed to expand their writing horizons. For one game, they picked random items out of a box and then had to write a story about the items they chose. They chose random words and then knit the words together into a story.

They also learned three main tips for writing.

&8220;Live, pay attention, and apply the seat of the pants to the chair,&8221; said sixth-grader Amanda Tripp, recalling the importance of just sitting down to write on a regular basis.

Fourth-grader William Mendez remembered his class a little differently, but it had the same general theme.

&8220;Shut up and sit down and write,&8221; Mendez said.

Tripp enjoyed the seminar about making stories emotionally balanced, where kids learned to underline the happy or upbeat parts of their stories with red pencils and the sad parts with blue ones. The point was that stories should appear purple, and that even the saddest stories have happy or upbeat parts.

Some kids who went to the conference left intending to become writers someday. Others liked learning to illustrate or make books better.

All of them seemed to get something out of the conference.

&8220;I’d do it again, I’d do it 100 times if possible,&8221; said fourth-grader Annabel Lenze. &8220;I’d do it for regular school.&8221;

(Contact Kari Lucin at kari.lucin@albertleatribune.com or 379-3444.)