for Cole. One of Darin Johnston's students who is ready to quit. And to the rest of us too.
Writing is hard.
Harder still?
Writing every day. At fourteen days in, it can seem impossible to finish. Some days we all want to quit. Why even try?
But those days pass.
And you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and write one word. And then another.
YOU WRITE.
Big moments make slices.
- Two of my speech kids were selected to perform at All-State
- The school board voted to accept the retirements last night
And funny happenings in the classroom make slices.
- Mrs. Day, since you know watch more basketball than I do...
- My Creative Writing kids coming up with creative ways to take care of the shoe squeakers
Little moments make slices.
- Listening to the quiet
- Watching snow fall
- Baby smiles
Dogs can write slices :)
- See this one and
- this one
Because sometimes having another point of view when writing is a good thing.
The point is you just have to keep trying and keep writing. As I look back on some of my previous years posts, I sometimes cringe. They aren't all masterpieces. Sometimes your slice is going to suck.
BUT YOU WRITE ANYWAY.
Great one to encourage students who are feeling the struggle too. I've noticed with my seventh graders that many of their best ideas start from "not knowing."
ReplyDeleteI really like the format of this. My students are 14 days in and I am trying to challenge them to come out of their comfort zone. I am going to share your post with them tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteRight on! Write on!
ReplyDeleteOh my, yes. Right about now it's getting REALLY hard, isn't it?! My students are feeling it, too, for sure. Thank you for your encouragement to keep going!
ReplyDeleteI read Cole's post too and encouraged him. I hope he reads this too! Great thoughts for pushing through the hard and just write anyways. Sometimes that's our best writing!!
ReplyDeleteIt gets hard, then you have a good day, then it gets hard again...you just have to keep going- sometimes only because you told yourself you would. But it turns out you keep going because you want to find your story...
ReplyDeleteMay be the hardest to accept is the fact "sometimes your slice is going to suck." We would all love to write masterpieces all the time even though we know it is unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteSome days are harder than others, when the fingers just hover over the keys and nothing seems to happen. And then, amazingly a slice is created - sometimes good and other times ...
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say thank you for this. I did show Cole this blog and a couple of other responses I'd gotten. Next day, he wrote.
ReplyDeleteCommunity is about supporting one another, whether teacher or students. To you Deb and this community of writers: Thank you! :)