Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Slice of Life Tuesday: Notebook Seeds

My last blog post was written nearly a month ago. 

A month. 

Back when I first started blogging, it was my goal to publish a post at least once a week. For the most part I succeeded in publishing a post each week. In fact, I surprised myself when I posted each day during the month of March for the Slice of Life Challenge

Following the March Slice of Life Challenge, I could seem to get my groove back into regularly blogging. I have published posts but not with as much confidence or fervor as I was when I was posting daily. 

Now I find that I keep wrestling with my inner writing critic. And I have not found passion in what I want to publish in a blog or publishing in another format. 

I am grateful that I didn't stop writing, at least in my notebook. A few weeks ago I came across a powerful quote from Ralph Fletcher's Breathing In, Breathing OutI wrote it and taped it in the inside of my current Writer's Notebook as a reminder to myself to keep going: "Keeping a notebook is the single best way I know to survive as a writer. It encourages you to pay attention to your world, inside and out. It serves as a container to keep together all of the seeds you gather until you are ready to plant them. It gives you a quiet place to catch your breath and begin to write" (Heinemann, 1996). 

A reminder from my notebook


I have lots of seeds in my notebooks. Fortunately, I never got out of the habit of writing every day. But I am not pushing myself as a writer like I yearn to. I know I need to cultivate my work, but I cannot help but feel a little lost.

Fellow bloggers and writer, what gives you purpose to fill your writing heart? 


Join the Two Writing Teachers Community. Share your Slice of Life today! 


8 comments:

  1. That's a tough question. I have learned I can't expect anything from a nebulous blogging audience. What pushes me is having a record of my thoughts, knowing there is an audience even when I'm not aware of it; keeping my skills sharp so I can be an authentic writing teacher. I firmly believe that to teach writing we must write. Writing is different from coaching a sport, for example, and to teach writing well, we must write, and knowing someone may read what I write helps push me.

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    1. I absolutely agree with your statement that to be a teacher of writing that we must write! I know this, but it is a great reminder!

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  2. I am always grateful to others who discuss their writing struggles; thanks for doing this. I'm intrigued by Glenda's response because mine is nearly opposite. What keeps me blogging is, in fact, the idea of the audience. I know that a small group of people is likely going to read what I write, and I have come to value their feedback. More than that, when I first started blogging Elisabeth Ellington over at The Dirigible Plum said that the March challenge was more a publishing challenge than a writing challenge. One of the things that gives me purpose is that challenge. I ask my students to "publish" to me, at least, regularly. In exchange, I try to make my writing public regularly, too. Today's, for example, needed a little more work - but in the end, I hit publish anyway & it's a better piece for me having gone back over it even as much as I did... I suspect my students have felt this way & I suspect I will feel it again. But, oh, that feeling when I publish something that works! That, too, keeps me writing.

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    1. Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Amanda! I feel like I write too much about the struggle of writing - not enough about successes! I really enjoyed reading your perspectives too!

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  3. It was interesting to read your post and Glenda's and Amanda's response. I am not entirely sure what keeps me writing. I am actually surprised I am still blogging. My audience is small, I haven't figured out what "my thing" is, and my posts vary in style and quality. Partially I write because I expect my students to write and I wish to show an example. I have to say that sometimes it maybe just one response from a reader, knowing that my words mattered to someone, that fuels me. Having pauses in my blogging does not worry me too much anymore. I hope you will listen less to your critic and more to your inner writer.

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    1. Terje, thank you for stopping by. I was also so intrigued by Glenda and Amanda's response, too. Both of them left me such interesting points to ponder over! I do agree that it is the response (even if it is just one) that helps me too... connecting with every one person is so important.

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  4. As always, your posts resonate so much with me! I always find it odd how I find it easier to write, to have ideas, to bring ideas to some kind of polished form, when I am blogging every day. But then, most habits are easier for me to keep if I do them daily. I also am not entirely sure what keeps me writing. Probably being part of a community. Does anyone really notice and feel let down if I don't Slice? Maybe not, but after I've skipped a few weeks (as I have over the past 6 weeks or so), I find myself really missing that community and wanting to connect again. What I do wish is that I could find some kind of way to write and publish more frequently outside of March. Maybe you and I need to connect outside of blog comments and try to figure this out since it's a struggle we both have!

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  5. Elisabeth, I would love to connect with you! I will try to find you on email!

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