Thoughts on Writing

Strangely enough, I drive with my dog about 20 minutes each way when he has to be groomed. He goes to a lady who knows just how to take care of a Shih Tzu since she has about ten of them herself. He is always excited when we pull into her driveway because he knows he gets to visit with her crew and of course she gives him treats too. The nice thing about the long drive though, is that I can listen to a book or a podcast on the way.

Today I listened to the "Let's Get Busy" podcast with Matthew Winner and his guest Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen. I loved learning more about Sudipta and hearing about her stories. As a participant in Teachers Write though, I paid close attention when she mentioned writing. She shared a quote from Jules Renard, "Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted." I love it! Sudipta explained that her books are part of a conversation between her and the reader. Writing is a different kind of conversation because there is this huge pause between the writing and the reader's interaction. So, the reader participates in the conversation, but doesn't interrupt the writer's flow of thought. I like that way of thinking about writing.

Now I just need to do more writing!

Reflection on a Beautiful Day

On Tuesday I slept in, baked some scones, cruised around the Internet and read some books, wrote a book review and hung out with my children. I love summer vacation. In the afternoon, I sat on the back porch reading The Language Inside (a fantastic novel in verse). The sun was warming my skin and I could smell the fragrance of the blooming bushes on the gentle breeze. As I appreciated the weather and my state of relaxation, I wondered if I would remember this day - this individual moment of peacefulness. Or would it be lost in the memories because there was nothing distinct to set it apart? Could I capture the moment to hold onto later when I need a happy thought?

I will give it a try. Putting it into words makes it seem more of a solid memory. Putting things into words is what many teachers will be doing very soon for Teachers Write. I am excited to be participating again this year. Learning together is so much fun and I am happy to do anything that helps to keep me writing.

Will you be joining Teachers Write? Will you be doing any other reading or writing challenges this summer?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen & Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host a meme every Monday that invites people to share the children's and young adult books they have been reading over the past week and what they plan on reading the following week.

Past Week:

Professional

This was a great extension for the Teachers Write summer program that I was in this year. Kate provides many helpful strategies for planning, writing, and revising even though the focus is on revision. Loved it!

I also started reading Courageous Conversations about Race in preparation for a conference this week, but didn't get finished.

Early Chapter Book

Kashmira Sheth wrote her first early chapter book. It is funny and engaging as two brothers try to convince their dog-averse mother that their family needs a dog. Our third grade loved it when she shared the first few chapters during her author visit.

Young Adult

I was quite eager to read this collection of sci-fi short stories. The neat thing about this book is that it contains the voices of a diverse group of characters. There are characters from many different countries and backgrounds. I will have a more in-depth review later this week. I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to more great works from this publisher.

Caldecott Challenge & Battle of the Books

A Ball for Daisy is part of the Wisconsin Battle of the Books for elementary schools this year. So, I got to mark one more off for the Caldecott Challenge as I prepare for coaching BOB. Have you noticed it doesn't have text? Makes it tricky for writing questions.

Blizzard! is also on the BOB list. I think Murphy does a fantastic job of weaving the facts into stories that capture the imagination of a reader. I would like to find more of his books. 

For the Coming Week:

I will try to finish Courageous Conversations About Race. I am also starting to read Splendors and Glooms. Other than that, I am not sure what the week will bring. Happy reading!

Teachers Write

I am excited to get back into the habit of writing through Teachers Write. It's a virtual summer writing camp for teachers and librarians and I am sooooo glad that Kate Messner and her cohorts are offering us this fantastic opportunity.

Last summer I participated in a class called The Artist's Way. As members of the class, we were expected to write every morning for at least thirty minutes. This was part of exploring and expanding our inner creativity. We also got to have artist dates every week where we set aside at least an hour to create or appreciate art on our own. It was a fantastic experience for me. I enjoyed the writing and I especially loved having an excuse to go off with my camera taking pictures or making a collage from images out of magazines. It was like getting to be a kid again without all of the negative filters that I had built up over the years.

This led me to be open to National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo when it was mentioned on Twitter. I had heard about it the year before and thought it sounded cool, but this time, it actually sounded possible. Writing 50,000 words in one month was a pretty huge undertaking for me as I have never really written anything beyond an article or a very short story. The guidelines were perfect though. We were to write without editing. To write in a flow of words. No filters. Exactly what I needed to do. It helped that my teenage daughter agreed to do it with me and that we found a local group that met once a week. I loved working at a table with a bunch of other people struggling through the same task at different speeds and working in wildly different ways. It helped that we had live jazz music, super yummy crepes and chai lattes available too. We ate, laughed, and vented together all month long. The minute I finished though, I saved the file and never touched it again from November until today, when I finally shared it with six young ladies who were convinced that they needed to read their teacher's book no matter how boring or silly it might be.

Coincidentally, today is also the first day of Teachers Write. I am once again working amongst a large group of people with the common goal of tapping into our creativity and writing something. We aim to push at our self-imposed boundaries in spite of the vulnerable feelings we might experience. With this challenge, I hope to remember what it feels like to be a student in language arts class being asked to write to a prompt. I also hope to remember how good it feels to express myself and tell a story and I would love to find my writing voice. I have been blogging for awhile now and am beginning to know my non-fiction voice a little, but I am way more uncertain about my fiction voice.

I am once again on a new adventure. I can't wait to see where this leads.