Slice of Life Challenge #23: Day 2/31 Writing Hiatus

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

Slice of Life Challenge #23: Day 2/31

Writing Hiatus

On Wednesday, while I was reading Elisabeth's post, a line of her writing resonated with me: 

The past year has felt like an extended hiatus from writing. I last blogged eleven months ago in April. The writer’s notebook I started in July is still only half full in March.

I felt like Elisabeth took the words right out of my mouth. This year has felt like an extended writing hiatus for me, too. 

Prior to my February 28th post, I had not blogged since April of 2022. Like Elisabeth, I began a new notebook in July, and I still haven't quite filled it. In fact, there have been a handful of weeks when the only time I wrote in my notebook was when I led a Literary Club session. 

My current writer's notebook - not even 100 pages long

I tried to ignite my writing through the NaNoWriMo challenge last November. I wrote about 10,000 words out of the 50,000 word goal. When I found myself getting too stressed out about finding time to write, I gave myself permission for a short break and never returned to my novel. 

In December, I challenged myself to write a Haiku-A-Day for a month. I wrote a Haiku every day for about two weeks. I am not sure what happened, as a haiku-a-day is a reasonable and attainable goal. I didn't have an audience or any kind of accountability, so maybe this was my problem. 

Perhaps my lack of writing this year has had to do with my school year. Honestly, it has been a tough school year for me. Most days I have returned from school exhausted, only to work in the evening to make sure that I am ready for the next day of teaching. Only to do it again the next day. And the day after that. It's been a hamster wheel. I have felt so overwhelmed as an educator this year. 

Regardless of the reason for my lack of writing this year, I have missed writing. I have missed the connection with other writers. I have missed all of the things that I notice when I am actively writing. I have missed sharing a small slice of my writing. I need to make time for myself to write.  

 

 

Slice of Life #22: Day 16: Tuesday Night Writing

 For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

Slice of Life #22:Day 16/31: 

Tuesday Night Writing

6:30 PM. I've finally finished with the school day, made dinner, put away the dishes, and prepared my lunch for Wednesday. My plans are ready for tomorrow. I am caught up with grading. I even paid some bills. It's been a heck of a day. I'm exhausted but also anxious with all the current things swirling in my mind. 

Writing is one of the things that helps to calm my brain when I am feeling out of sorts. I take out my journal and begin writing.

Herbert, one of my kittens, notices I've sat on the couch. Herbert bounds onto my lap, nearly pushing my journal to the floor. 

I try to pet Herbert as I write. However, he sees the tip of my Flair pen move and begins to bat at it. 

"Herbert! I need to write!" I gently scold and push his paw away. In response, he flaps his tail playfully against the side of my leg. He meows.

I put my pen to paper. Once again, Herbert paws at my pen. This time his movements cause a squiggly black line to appear down the side of my journal.

Sigh.

This game of me trying to write while Herbert bats at my pen continues a few more times until I finally concede. 

I put aside my notebook and hide the pen underneath my leg so Herbert cannot get to it. For a few moments I stop and observe. I marvel in the rhythm of his loud purrs and enjoy his presence. Sometimes he is a part of my self care, too. 

Writing can wait for a few moments. 

 

#sosmagic: The Power of Notebook Rereading

I’m joining an open community of writers over at Sharing Our Stories: Magic in a Blog. If you write (or want to write) just for the magic of it, consider this your invitation to join us.#sosmagic

#sosmagic: The Power of Notebook Rereading 

I'm reaching the end of my current writing notebook. Before I shelve that notebook and begin the next, one of my rituals is to look back and reread some of the things that I was thinking or noticing as I filled that book. I am almost always surprised what I discover; I forget things so easily. Remembering by rereading my writing often serves as an unexpected gift. Rereading this notebook was no exception - I was reminded of a recent surgery and my recovery period.   

In late November, I had carpal tunnel release surgery on my right wrist (my writing hand). In the first few days following my surgery, my wrist was swollen and bandaged. Although I had limited mobility in my right wrist, it was difficult to do the most simple things, like shower, put on shoes, or even open a convenience container of food. Yet I wanted to keep writing, so for a few days I wrote using my left hand. 

Below is a haiku I wrote shortly after my surgery (left-handed):

Carpal tunnel fix/
Icing, elevating hand/
Repeat new routine. 

Immediately following my surgery, I found myself full of gratitude for my body parts that worked well and didn't cause me pain. I was thankful that I could write or type using my left hand. During this time, I thought often about people who need to adapt to a sudden disability/pain and how challenging this must be. 

Three months after my surgery, I have full mobility again in my right hand and wrist. However, until I reread some of my notebook writing, I had forgotten how difficult the first few days following my recovery were. I am glad that I have a record of this time - a sharp reminder of how precious and sacred our bodies are.

Slice of Life #20 Challenge Day 18/31: Practicing Self-Care

Slice of Life #20 Challenge Day 18/31: 

Practicing Self-Care

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been a lot of changes in the last week of school. Professionally, I have had a difficult time keeping up with all of the messages and directives. I am doing my best to learn how to teach and connect with my students from afar. This is all really new to me. Yet, I know that our administrators, both at the district and building levels, are doing the best that they can - just like I am doing as a classroom teacher.

There have been several moments in the past few days that I have been on the edge of tears. As much as I don't want to admit this, there have been many moments that I have actually cried - sometimes out of frustration, sometimes out of fear, and sometimes out of just feeling incredibly overwhelmed. I don't think that I am alone in experiencing these intense emotions. 

There are so many unknowns; For me, the unknown (and what is beyond my control) makes me feel the most unsteady.  

As a parent, teacher, and friend, there are three things that have been incredibly helpful in practicing self-care for me during the past few days: 

• Walking around my neighborhood. I am fortunate to have a fantastic walking buddy and now friend, Dave. Although Dave and I are on completely different paths in life, he and I have shared fantastic conversations and connection. It's been a good, meaningful distraction. 
• Writing in my notebook. It's still my daily practice write at least three pages. More than anything, Writing has been my way out when I have experienced anything challenging. Each day I continue to list what I am grateful for. Practicing gratitude is often how I can flip my perspective to something more positive. 
• Talking to loved ones and friends on the telephone. Yes, talking, not just texting. A few days ago I swear I could actually hear my friend Steve's smile in his voice. More than once, he has made me laugh when I was feeling cranky. In general, talking on the phone has helped me stay connected with people that I may not be able to see in person. It helps me feel less alone.

Fellow readers, what has been most helpful to you during this time? 

Looking to connect with a positive, supportive online community? 

Consider sharing a slice of yourlife with Two Writing Teachers. 

All writers are welcome! 

Haiku-A-Day December Challenge #22: Practicing Gratitude

For the last three years, I've intentionally spent time writing and sharing a Haiku-A-Day for the month of December. The first two years I exchanged a daily Haiku privately with willing friends, mostly through text and email. Last year I wrote and shared each Haiku on my blog. Throughout this process, I've discovered that the practice of noticing and reflecting through writing a Haiku grounds me, provides with with a certain kind of peace, assists me with better practicing gratitude, and helps me better navigate this "hurry up" world. This year my goal is the same as last year: to pen and publish a daily Haiku on my blog throughout December. 

Haiku-A-Day December Challenge #22: 
Practicing Gratitude 

Most days I write a list in my notebook expressing what I'm grateful for. This especially helps me re-frame my mindset when I am feeling low or anxious about something. I recently reread my gratitude lists and realized I have writing territories within my lists: I often write about family, friends, church community, beauty in unexpected places, and shelter. It's a practice I hope that I continue to keep up with.  

Daily gratitude/

(no matter how small) helps me/
realize abundance. 

Haiku-A-Day December Challenge #3 Slice of Life Mash-Up: Three Daily Pages

For the last three years, I've intentionally spent time writing and sharing a Haiku-A-Day for the month of December. The first two years I exchanged a daily Haiku privately with willing friends, mostly through text and email. Last year I wrote and shared each Haiku on my blog. Throughout this process, I've discovered that the practice of noticing and reflecting through writing a Haiku grounds me, provides with with a certain kind of peace, assists me with better practicing gratitude, and helps me better navigate this "hurry up" world. This year my goal is the same as last year: to pen and publish a daily Haiku on my blog throughout December. 

Haiku-A-Day December Challenge #3
Slice of Life Mash-Up: 

Three Daily Pages

Several years ago I began carving out specific, daily time to write. Not just to complete a paper for graduate school or to write an example to use for teaching. This writing was only for me. I set a goal for myself to write three daily pages in my notebook. 

This summer I dug through some of my past writing notebooks. As I reread pages, I noticed patterns of my behavior and reactions to events. I marveled at how I grew as a writer and as a human. I generated new questions about myself. In retrospect, circling back to my writing gave me clarity about some difficult decisions I faced. 

I began writing in this notebook (see below) in early October. I'm approaching the last few pages, so I am excited to begin a fresh notebook soon. Ultimately, I'm grateful I got into a daily writing habit. I try to remember how my writing has helped me grow whenever I don't feel "in the mood" to write. 

Three daily pages - /

my ongoing writing goal./ 

Nearly full notebook.

Daily writing remains my goal, my fuel for growing.

**********

Looking to connect with a positive, supportive online community? Consider sharing a slice of your life with Two Writing Teachers. All writers are welcome! 

Tuesday Slice of Life: Ice

Looking to connect with a positive, supportive online community? Consider sharing a slice of your life with Two Writing Teachers. All writers are welcome! 

Slice of Life: Ice

Recently, I was combing through some old notebooks from last year, searching for seed ideas for a blog post. I came upon a piece of a slice I began last winter about ice but never finished or published. Last year's winter was harsh, and at the time I was consciously trying to write about anything positive to get me through that long season. 

So below is a slice I began last winter and finished early this morning. 

Today's slice involves emulating a fun mentor text from Neil Pasricha's popular Book of Awesome and blog 1000 Awesome Things. I used the same format to write about wordless dog greetings in a past Slice of Life Challenge in this post. 

Ice

Sure, icy sidewalks are a constant for us in Wisconsin. Ice can be challenging to take care of and especially dangerous to the elderly. 

But there's just something so satisfying about the sound of ice cracking beneath your feet on the sidewalk. 

Pop! 

Crash! 

Crackle! 

Crunch! 

Awesome! 

(photo from: here)

In case you're wondering, we don't have much ice on the ground...yet. But the forecast calls for an upcoming winter storm, just in time for Thanksgiving travel! 

Tuesday Slice of Life: Heart Mapping and What Matters

Looking to connect with a positive, supportive online community?  Consider sharing a slice of your life with Two Writing Teachers. All writers are welcome! 

Tuesday Slice of Life: 
Heart Mapping and What Matters 

What matters to them?

I have been pondering this question all year, especially for my students who have not found a lot of success in school. Many of my high school students insist that they don't care about much, mostly when it comes to learning. 

Enter Heart Maps. 

I have been a fan of Georgia Heard's Heart Mapping for a while now. In Heart Maps (Heinemann, 2016), Georgia Heard shares this, "Heart Mapping is a metaphor for what all writer's know: to write is to delve into what matters to us, to keep our feelings alive, to be vulnerable, to tell the truth, to question, and to speak what many people keep inside." 

What matters to my students? What matters to me? These are questions that I have tossed around all year, not just in an effort to reach more of my students but as a personal inquiry as well. 

Below are two Heart Maps I created with students this semester.The first one is a general Heart Map of what currently matters the most to me, and the second is a Heart Map that is a zoomed in version of one item from my Heart Map - writing. 

One of my Heart Maps

A Zoomed In Version of a Heart Map - on writing 

As a class, we revisited Heart Maps throughout the school year, especially with my ninth and tenth grader learners. I was often surprised at what my students revealed to me through Heart Mapping, even my students who are the most reluctant to read and write and share. Often Heart Mapping was a springboard for writing, and it often created a perfect opening for conversation. Heart Mapping helped me better understand what my students were reading and thinking about. 

In my classes, Heart Maps aren't fancy. My students used their notebooks. I provided colored pencils, crayons, and markers. Making Heart Maps didn't take a lot of planning time. My high school students reported that they enjoyed the process of creating Heart Maps and often pleaded to work on Heart Maps when we had time.Creating and sharing Heart Maps helped me get to know my students better, fostering a positive classroom culture.  

One student example of a Heart Map (used with permission)

Another student example of a Heart Map (used with permission)

When one of my sophomore students, Tina, unexpectedly passed away in February, I felt paralyzed as a person, not just as her teacher. Tina was a close friend to many of my students, and grief arrived in many ways. One of my classes particularly struggled for an extended period of time, and I knew that I could not simply press on with our scheduled learning, even though deadlines were looming. We used Heart Mapping as a part of our healing. We didn't get to everything in my literacy support course that I wanted to, but I do not regret spending this time to process through Heart Mapping. Crafting Heart Maps also helped me recognize who needed more support than I could offer as a classroom teacher.  

Friday will conclude my nineteenth year of teaching. Still, as a seasoned teacher, I am always surprised at how long it often takes to build trust with students and to discover what they care deeply about. Knowing what matters to my students helps me recommend books for students to read, nudge them in issues to write and learn about, and meet their needs better. It helps me build trusting relationships. My teaching will continue to focus on what matters to my students so that I can serve them better. Heart Mapping is one way that has helped me know my students better, and I will keep using it. 

Tuesday Slice of Life: Notebook Work

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Tuesday Slice of Life: Notebook Work

I have not felt particularly inspired as a writer this month. Although I have had plenty of topics to write about, I have had a challenging time articulating my thoughts in words and coherent sentences. Each time I have sat down to blog, my process has looked a little like this: I start writing. I get stuck. I write about something different. I get stuck. I try writing again about a new topic. I get stuck. Inevitably, I do not get a post published.

However, as much as I have dragged my feet in writing, I have continued to write daily in my notebook. Late in April I read the great visual artist and Professor Lynda Berry´s Syllabus. Instantly, I fell in love with the sketches infused with multimedia in Syllabus, the Emily Dickinson poems and other important quotes scattered throughout the book, but mostly I appreciated how Dr. Berry encouraged her students to explore and record what they noticed. For a great example of Lynda Berry´s work, read Brain Picking´s post. 

Throughout May I used Dr. Berry´s Daily Diary format for at least one page a day. The Daily Diary includes a list of seven things you saw, seven things you did, something you heard, and something drawn. By far, the most challenging part for me was drawing something every day. When I first started creating a Daily Diary it took me a while (about thirty minutes!) to create one page. Then I reread the instructions in Syllabus, and Daily Diary pages are meant to be created quickly, so I set a timer for each section and now I can complete each page in about fifteen minutes.

Below is an example of a recent Daily Diary page: 

One of my favorite things about creating Daily Diary pages has been rereading my past Daily Diary Pages and noticing emerging patterns, such as how I notice a lot about nature on dog walks, things my students and my own children say and do, how many of my days are spent. Ultimately, my favorite part of a Daily Diary page is recording what I heard. Often I include what I overhear at stores in in the hallway. Itś such great stuff! The page I posted (see above) is an exchange between a teenager and a middle age women at Target. 

Daily Diary Pages did not necessarily give me confidence as a writer, but it has helped me continue with my notebook work and kept me noticing what I cared about. When I took the time to revisit my Daily Diary pages, I realized that I could go back and use these pages for future writing, too. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 19: Daily Gratitude

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 19: 
Daily Gratitude

It's easy for me to get discouraged by challenges I face. Sometimes these challenges turn into disconnection, withdrawal, fear, and pain. Then I find myself in a not-so-healthy space, and I do not show up how I want to. In an effort to be a more mentally healthy person, I make room for daily gratitude.

Each night before I fall asleep, I write at least three things I am grateful for from that day. For example, on Sunday night here are a few things that I wrote about:

1. My thirteen-year-old son had a great weekend at camp with his Boy Scout troop. He got to spend the weekend outside with friends and exploring -unstructured play. He came back exhausted but excited to tell me all about his adventures. I am thankful he experiences weekends like this, and it makes me happy that he still shares this with me.
2. In church this morning my wonderful friend Bonnie reminded me of the positive connections I have in our congregation. As a seasoned grandma and great-grandma, I appreciate the wisdom and care Bonnie shares with me. This morning I felt anxious and feeling unsettles, but being at church for just an hour helped ease that. 
3. We found our missing library book. For the past month, even time I have received an overdue notice in my email or have walked into the library, I have felt full of guilt. I am not sure where this book has been, but I am glad that it finally showed up and we only have a fine instead of paying to replace the whole book.
4. I have some generous, kind friends who I was able to spend time with over the weekend. I appreciate how my friends show me unconditional love and make me laugh.  

Gratitude, unfortunately, doesn't just happen. It needs to be an intentional, daily act. Some days I will write one or two full pages on what I am grateful for that day, and it gives me a sense of peace before I sleep. 

For the past three years I have been in a daily habit of recording daily gratitude. If I am going through a particularly rough spot, I also begin my day with expressing gratitude. Sometimes I share out loud what I am grateful for with my dog on an early morning walk. Other times I have a conversation with one of my children on the way to school or over breakfast about what I am thankful for that day. If I have time, I take out my writer's notebook and write more gratitude. Noticing and sharing gratitude (through writing or conversation) makes a huge difference for me. 

I believe that noticing gratitude brings more joy, and I want to lead a life filled with more joy. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 10: What Moves You?

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 10: 
What Moves You? 

I often return to Ralph Fletcher's classic text, Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer's Notebook (Heinemann 1996). In Chapter 2 Fletcher writes, "If I want to write movingly I must first pay attention to what moves me. I must be connected to it: I must be fused. That's what the notebook is for. It gives you a roomy space to record and explore what amazes, delights, disgusts, or appalls you."

 

Indeed, Ralph Fletcher. My notebook is truly a reservoir of what moves me - what captures my daily attention or feelings. For example, here's a snippet from a bit of Friday's notebook writing: 

Standing in the doorway of my classroom, I greeted seniors as they straggled in with their Starbucks coffee cups and earbuds dangling from their ears. Friday morning. 7:30. Many of them barely uttered a hey.

Just before the final attendance bell rang I heard, "Mrs. Haase! It's so glad to have you back!" Addie, a senior, brightly greeted me as she breezed into first hour.

"It's good to be back and see you, too, Addie." I replied. 

After being gone for two days of school, navigating notes from a collections of substitutes, it was great to be missed by a student. Her cheery greeting reminded me why I love teaching, even after being absent from school. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 7: I remember

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 7: I remember...

Writer Natalie Goldberg has some fantastic, practical ideas of how writers can live a writerly life in her book Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Mind. On page 10 Goldberg writes:

"Do a timed writing for ten minutes. Begin with "I remember" and keep going. Every time you get stuck and feel like you have nothing to say, write, "I remember" again and keep going. To begin with "I remember" does not mean you have to write only about your past. Once you get going, you follow your own mind where it takes you....The memory can be something that happened five seconds ago. When you write a memory, it isn't in the past anyway. It's alive right now." 

On Wednesday I used this question to fuel some writing in my writer's notebook. Writing nearly two full pages, I was surprised what my mind uncovered in only ten minutes. Since my daughter was home sick from school on Wednesday and I stayed home to care for her, I wrote about remembering the time I had mononucleosis as a sophomore in high school and missed way too much school. I remembered being so tired that I could barely function; I attended only one class each day (math) for over a month. To make matters worse, I had an enlarged spleen and couldn't participate in a church youth group trip that I participated in each year. 

I hadn't thought about having mono in ages. 

My I remember exercise also led to writing about one of my childhood bedrooms, how we packed up our boat to save room in the car when we went on summer vacation to my grandpa's cottage, and how I didn't realize how introverted my dad was until I was an adult. 

Ten minutes of writing opened up all kinds of things to write about and for all kinds of "seed ideas" for another time.

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 1: Eleven Things About Me As a Blogger

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 1: 
Eleven Things About Me As a Blogger

In celebration of the first day of the 2019 Slice of Life Challenge, I decided to write eleven things about me as a blogger: 

1. My husband helped me come up with the name Trinarrative for my blog. This is a mash-up of my first name (Trina) and the word narrative. I wanted a name that had to do with writing with a bit of pizzazz. 
2. I began blogging in the summer of 2017; I am still learning what it means to be a good blogger. Click this link to read my first post. 
3. It is only my second year participating in the Slice of Life Challenge. After I heard Ralph Fletcher promote the Slice of Life Challenge at the Annual Wisconsin Reading Association Convention and read about it in his professional book Joy Write, I knew that I wanted to try it. 
4. My big brother, Brian, helped me set up this blog. My friend and colleague, Jeremy, has also helped me figure out blogging. 
5. I nearly always write my posts out by hand first in my writer's notebook before I type the post in Blogger. 
6. Last December I challenged myself to write a Haiku-A-Day and publish it on my blog. Among many other bloggers (including my friend Elisabeth), I accomplished this.  
7. Initially, I began this blog to reflect mainly about teaching and how I was learning as a teacher. To my surprise, I ended up writing a lot about myself as a writer, about my children, and even posting my own poetry.
8. I am often long-winded as a writer/blogger. I know that most people do not take the time to read anything long (like this post), especially in a digital platform. It is challenging for me to be a concise writer.
9. Blogging has helped me to be a more reflective person. It has made me notice more and when I look back on my published blog posts, I am almost always grateful that I took the time to write. 
10. I used to be incredibly self-conscious of every slice I posted on Blogger. I worried that someone would read my writing. I worried that no one would read my writing. Confession: I am still often uncomfortable with this. However, receiving and rereading comments has helped me keep going when I feel self-conscious about my writing (check out the gems writing pals left me in this post).  
11. Blogging has helped me have an authentic purpose and audience as a writer. I never knew how much I needed this.

I used Amy Krouse Rosenthal's brilliant The Book of Eleven: An Itemized Collection of Brain Lint as my mentor text.

Open this link to read my post from last year about my list of eleven things about me as a reader. 

Haiku-A-Day December Challenge #8: Sanctuary

I am joining Elisabeth from The Dirigible Plum in writing a Haiku-A-Day during the month of December. Please let me know if you are posting a Haiku-A-Day too! I would love to read your work.

Haiku-A-Day December Challenge #8: Sanctuary

Earlier this week I wrote about how my topics, word choices, and audience has been so different in my Haiku-A-Day challenge this year. (You can read that post here.) In a greatly appreciated comment from my friend Elisabeth, I was reminded how my writer's notebook is where I can retreat. My writer's notebook is where I craft poetry, ask myself the most painful and complex questions, explore my thoughts and feelings without fear of judgement. 

As I continue to try to make sense of some really tough, painful things in my life, writing continues to provide an outlet and healing. I am thankful for notebook writing:

Pen, paper, pages-

my sanctuary housing

most intimate thoughts. 

Slice of Life Tuesday: Writing Group Wonderings

Recently, a local artist (and former student), asked me to consider submitting a piece of writing for an upcoming art show in support of women's issues. Of course I was honored, thanked her, and I assured her that I would immediately begin working on a piece.

Then I privately panicked.

Me sharing my writing with a larger, public audience? Aye. Just the thought fills me with so much angst. Yes, that's me, the English/Reading teacher who is always encouraging her students to submit writing for publication. 

What a hypocrite. 

Each time I have carved out some time to work on a piece for this show I get stuck. Here are a few questions that have rolled through my brain:

• What is worth writing about? 
• Once I figure out my topic, which details do I include? Which details do I omit? 
• How will I craft my work in such a way that is compelling? 
• What form should I write in? A poem? An essay? 

This weekend I found myself combing through past writer's notebooks. I culled my favorite lines and topics. I made lists. I created Heart Maps. I wrote Haiku. I even turned to works from my favorite writers for inspiration. No luck. 

Finally, I reached out to a far away writerly friend for some advice. She inquired if I belonged to a writing group and shared that she would be lost without her writing group. 

Hmm. A writing group might give me suggestions, help me get unstuck, and at least help me silence some of those self-defeating voices in my mind. If I had a community of writers, I might hold myself more accountable to writing and publishing. A community of writers might provide me with feedback. A community of writers might provide me with more inspiration. A community of writers may be working through some of the same struggles about writing that I am. 

On Sunday night I finally decided on a topic to write about for submission to the local art show - my unhealthy body image and how I fear that I have passed this on to my daughter.

Now that I have determined my topic, I have some serious writing work ahead of me. 

In the meantime, I am wondering about writing groups. To my writing friends, do you belong in a writing group? If so, how often do you meet? For how long? What does it look like? Sound like? Has being in a writing group helped you as a writer? What smart suggestions do you have for me? 

Thank you in advance for any insights! 

Join Two Writing Teachers and share your own Slice of Life. All writers are welcome! 

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 Out. I 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! 

Slice of Life Tuesday: Daily Engagements through Quickwrites

Last Saturday morning I listened to The Quickwrite Handbook with Linda Rief and Penny Kittle, a podcast episode on Heinemann's Teacher Podcasts. In this podcast, extraordinary teacher-writer Penny Kittle shares an experience she had listening to legendary, beloved teacher-writer Linda Rief speak at a conference (twenty years ago!) when she initially heard about Quickwrites and the powerful effect Quickwrites could have, "... these carefully planned engagements, could unlock the voice and ideas that lead to confidence and an interest in writing..." Penny Kittle also comments that Quickwrites, "...not only leads students to find writing and not only pay attention to the moves of writers, but it establishes a routine where students collect what matters to them in a safe place where they are allowed to stumble, to wobble, to fall..." 

It made me stop to wonder why I did not use more Quickwrites in my daily writing. I have plenty of compelling texts all around me, but sometimes I forget to utilize them as a writing tool. Maybe writing with mentor texts would help me have less writing moments like these. 

As I sat down to write that day, I glanced at my library copy of Naomi Shihab Nye's Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners. I devoured her beautiful and powerful introduction. Thinking as a writer, I found so many worthy entry points from her work that I could emulate. To begin, I wrote a few powerful passages and recorded a quote she referenced from poet Galway Kinnell, "To me, poetry is someone standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what is it for him or her to be on earth at this moment?"

This passage led me to ponder this question, What is it like for me to be on this earth right now? 

And then I wrote. 
And I wrote. 
And I wrote.

Here's a peek from my notebook writing that morning:

Coffee residue sticks to my teeth, tongue -
Brush me.
Wash away my grimy residue,
I yearn to feel clean.

Snuggling under my light weight hand-stitched quilt,
I am safely sheltered with
air-controlled temperature while
outside swells in heat,
barely a breeze for leaf sways.
I watch morning doves swoop for
sunflower seeds and
dogs saunter past
our bay window.

In silence I sit (mostly in silence) -
the hum of the nearby one-fish aquarium,
steady clock ticks,
air forced from vents -
stealing still moments before
children emerge -bedhead beauties-
and shatter
precious
quiet.

Writing with a compelling text beside me made a huge difference. The above writing wasn't profound or beautiful, but it got me writing and I kept going. As Penny referenced, I had the chance to play with words and ideas in a safe way in my notebook. In addition, it provided me with something worthy to consider. And since last Saturday, I have continued to dip into Voices in the Air as a source of daily writing engagement. 

Join me in writing a slice of your life and sharing it with the Two Writing Teachers Community. Everyone is welcome!