I was going to draft a post on Sunday night describing hunting for hours through mounds of old mailing labels, birthday cards, and bank statements (in vain) for a deed that it turned out could be easily found at Town Hall in a matter of moments. It's what we do out of respect for those we love, even if the work is fruitless.
I started to draft a post last night before I headed to bed. One of my students plopped himself down in his seat yesterday and announced with great pride that his teacher had ALL the Frog and Toad books in his classroom HE was going to read them all before the end of the year. His excitement and commitment made me smile all day. He may have been a struggling reader at one time; however, now he was an excited reader!
Yet, when I sat down to write last night, my mind raced to all the posts above (and a few others) that were circling in my head waiting to be written. How could I decide what to write? Which post was most worthy? As I tried to write about one subject, the others scurried about like dust bunnies on the floor.
SO, this post is partially my "planning" notebook page so that I can go back and provide due diligence to my stories waiting to be written.
BUT, this post is mostly where I reflect on WHY we write every Tuesday and WHY we need to have our students write EVERY SINGLE DAY. Back in March, I did not have this problem. Every day I wrote slices of my life. I looked at my life through a writerly lens - every day. Now that it's May and my SOL posts are fewer and far between; thus, the slices pile up like laundry waiting to be put away. When the baskets are filled and the piles are so high, you can't even figure out where to start and so (if you are like me) you might not do anything for days and days hoping the disorder will somehow correct itself!
The central message of my post is clear to me as I bare my piled-high thoughts and the discord in my writerly life. Writing, like exercise, reading, and even doing laundry, is easiest when it is a regular, anticipated and expected part of our daily routine. When we put it off....or when the piles are too high, it's hard to get started!
6 comments:
This is so true. I find myself in the same boat. I am on my way out for a walk (trying to rebuild that habit) and then back home to write my SOL. Thank you for the reminder about the importance of routine.
Anita, so true! Writing requires regular practice. I try to write my slices earlier in the week or I get up really early in the morning. Still, there are weeks that it just does not work.Then we get our writing utensils out and try again the next time! Happy writing!
Love "the slices pile up like laundry waiting to be put away". It does help to write a lot, but that takes time too, Anita, & sometimes there isn't enough. Choice is hard, and BTW, I loved hearing about all of yours!
Yes, writing every day, even a little bit, is just habit one needs to get into. Like Linda, I loved your slices and laundry comparison.
I seem like an echo - this is so true! I was certainly living a more writerly life in March. Now, I also have a pile and yes, it is hard to get started!
This is a great post. You have communicated such truth! I found the month of March to be so great in that it really made me put my writer's hat on each day. Now that it is May and I don't feel like I "have to" write every day, I sometimes feel a bit out of practice when I go to slice on Tuesdays. Such a good reminder of the importance of practice, practice, practice!
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