March Warm Up Year #5 #sol21

March Warm Up Year 5 #sol21

During the month of March I will be writing every day in the company of my fellow slicers in our writing community annual Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. This is Day #1.

Dear Readers,

And so it begins again… and continues. I began writing with this community of writers in March of 2017, a mere five years ago. As I write my 326th post of this blog, I cannot think of a time when all the things associated with it weren’t not as essential to me as my conferring notebook. I write about the work of a literacy coach in an elementary building. I write about my struggles and my triumphs. I write with my friends and I read and celebrate their writing. I write in a strong, supportive company of writers.

Some years I start out writing in March with a template. Monday, coaching, Tuesday, practice Wednesday, books, etc. Those pre-plans kept me going and reduced the struggle day after day. This year I don’t have that plan. I have learned to use my blog journal to keep me going. Scraps of paper, post-it notes, and photos remind me of the slices I want to write and share out. The world is full of things to write about when you begin to look at it as a writer. So here’s to year five. Blog post #1 of the March Challenge.

How it all started…

I had been a literacy coach for years and an avid readers of the Two Writing Teachers blog. Their writing teacher advice resonated with me and I often discussed it with other educators. They were amazing writers! Did I see myself as a writer? Absolutely not! It actually pains me to write those sentence now for I know that if you don’t see yourself as a writer, you definitely aren’t a writing teacher… But then, I was a pretty good reading teacher who sometimes taught writing. However, I was beginning to see that the key to comprehension, to deep understanding, was not in the reading, but in the writing. How would I understand the process of literary essay, of how to use a mentor text to improve your writing, if I wasn’t practicing the craft daily myself? I had to get writing.

With some encouragement from others that I did, in fact, have a writing voice and somethings to share, I dove right into the deep end. I didn’t start with Tuesday writing, which is the weekly challenge in this writing group. I started with March 1 and the daily writing challenge. As a writing teacher, I now know that writing every day is a wonderful way to improve your writing. As we see in countless writing workshops, the more time we can give students to write, the more they improve their writing. The other thing about writing every day is truthfully, you don’t have to hit out of the park every time you come to bat. Just write what is in you that day. I’ve found over the years that someone responds to nearly every post I write. The writing resonates with someone. Sometimes it is because these readers know me and sometimes it is because it struck a chord within them as well.

Another thing I’ve learned over the years. I do not worry over readership. My friend out in Iowa is going to read my blog come rain or shine. My posse in CT,.. my close friends. I love that, but I don’t write for them. I write for me. I process as I write, synthesize, strategize, leave behind, plan ahead, and just plain let it go. Writing loves an audience, it doesn’t require one.

When you write more and more, more ideas come to you. Ideas come to me now on my commute, in conversations, while I’m making dinner, right before I truly wake up in the morning, in the afternoon when I’m packing up to come home. There are little scraps of paper in my pocket, on my laptop, on the bedside table, in my phone, and stuffed in my bags. Most of them I will write about, others may fade only to come back later in a different circumstance.

I’ve learned a few things about myself as a writer in the process. I must write the whole thing in one sitting. I can go back and edit, but the whole has to be written at once. I can change big pieces after the fact. As long as I write it flat out, I’m usually fine. If something interrupts me and I stop before I finish… I can rarely get the momentum again. I’ve carried that over to the students, encouraging them to write and write, not taking their pencil up from the page… and then to go back and reread. I’ve learned not to read other blogs before I write mine. I love reading them after I have published. If I read them on the front side, I get in my head and start to compare my writing, my style, my content, and it is a truly a hot mess. I’ve learned that consistency is important particularly with time. Writing in the literacy center at school early in the morning is my favorite thing to do and also the most dangerous. I can easily be interrupted there by the ebb and flow of my position in my learning community. When that happens, my writing can be totally thrown off. If so, so be it. Another topic will come. I’ve learned to revel in the writing and the memories celebrating them with my fellow writers. It’s a glorious thing to share.

So as I start this fifth year, I look forward to writing each day. Goodness knows there is always so much to write about. I am thankful for that friend that encouraged me to start and each and every person that has encouraged me to continue. This year more than any year before, it will be the writing that sustains me, that changes me, that keeps me moving forward, and keeps me anchored. Off we go!