Slice of Life Tuesday: Three Lines a Day

Recently, I was listening to a podcast called This Movie Changed Me. Writer Naomi Shihab Nye was the guest speaker in this episode. Since this episode centered around a movie about growing up, host Lily Percy invited Naomi Shihab Nye to read part of her introduction from A Maze Me: Poems for Girls, including this section: 

"If you write three lines down in a notebook every day (they don’t have to be great or important, they don’t have to relate to one another, you don’t have to show them to anyone)... 

you will find out what you notice. Uncanny connections will be made visible to you. That’s what I started learning when I was 12, and I never stopped learning it. 

Every year unfolds like a petal inside all the years that preceded it. You will feel your thinking springing up and layering inside your huge mind, a little differently. Your thinking will befriend you. Words will befriend you. You will be given more than you could ever dream.” (Greenwillow Books, 2005)

A Maze Me: Poems for Girls 

Although I read A Maze Me several years ago, I mostly paid attention to the coming-of-age poems, not Naomi Shihab Nye's stunning introduction. Yet, in listening to Naomi Shihab Nye read part of her introduction, I found myself mesmerized. 

When I first purchased and read this book, I wasn't in the habit of writing each day. Now, I set aside time each day to write. After I listened to the podcast, I reflected how daily writing has impacted me.  

Just like Naomi Shihab Nye wrote about, writing each day changed me.

After I gave myself time (and permission) to write, I discovered what I noticed and what I was thinking the most about. Often, this surprised me. Indeed, I found uncanny connections in my writing. In addition, I have experienced that writing gave back to me in a way that I didn't expect. 

In a way, writing and words have become my most trusted friends. 

I am reminded that these lines do not need to be great or important or even connected to each other. I am reminded that the act of daily writing is essential. I am reminded that a writer gets to pick which parts of her writing is published. I am reminded that writing always gives me back more than I think.

Three lines, friends. Three lines. 

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