Today was the National Day on Writing. For those of you unfamiliar, NDOW is sponsored by NCTE, the National Writing Project, and The New York Times Learning Network as a day to celebrate all forms of writing. In years past I have used mini writing marathons in my classroom, created various low stakes writing experiences, and shared writing with my students. Every day is a day for writing in my classroom, but I never want to miss the opportunity to celebrate that with my students. And this got me to thinking about my own writing process and experience, just exactly WHY I write. Why do I freewrite with my students multiple times a week? Why do I keep a blog even though I have approximately six readers? I write to connect. During our first months as a family of four, the jubilation was matched by moments of serious fear. As I experienced my own personal Dark Night of the Soul, I found solace and comfort in a community of other adoptive bloggers. Through our writing, we became family, and our words are the glue that holds us together years later, even after many of us have given up our blogs. Saying goodbye to my previous blog, Like the Love, was a necessary sacrifice. While my readership here is much lower than it was at the former blog, my goal is still the same: to connect. I write to think. Joan Didion says here, "I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." When I'm stuck on a certain teaching unit, I freewrite for a few minutes as I search for a new direction. Clarity comes. It might take time, but writing serves as the catalyst. When I'm struggling with a certain parenting problem, I reach out to my other adoptive mom friends in writing. As I process and produce the words to explain the situation, I oftentimes reach a revelation even before they have a chance to give advice. I write to model. I want to show my students what my personal writing process looks like, even when it's messy. And by sharing my writing with them, they can hear my voice. Even now as I sit with my laptop watching The Voice, my oldest son asks, "What are you doing?" I can honestly answer, "I'm writing a blog because I really enjoy writing." I write to represent. Many of the marginalized in our world are without a voice. I must use mine to stand for them. Whether it's speaking out against the systematic racism that still takes place in our country or sharing my own personal experience with adoption ethics, writing creates a platform. I write to stand there. I write to remember. Hidden in a drawer I keep a dusty collection of journals that chronicle the heartaches and hoorays and everything in between from the past fifteen years. Oh, they are an embarrassing treasure. In Paris during college it was a cracked orange notebook. In the margins I doodled the name "Damien," the object of my unrequited 19-year-old affection. During my early years of teaching it was a spiral journal that I decorated with magazine cut-outs. The lined pages contain early freewriting with students where I thought through lesson plans, grumbled about assessing student writing, and planned my nightly menu. I recently finished reading Still Alice by Lisa Genova, the story of a 50-year-old woman faced with early onset Alzheimer's. Now writing to remember takes on a whole new meaning, for one day these words may serve as my only memory. I write. Because I can't imagine life without words. Why do YOU write? I would love for you to share your thoughts in the comments.
4 Comments
Erin
10/20/2014 02:13:32 pm
I write to escape. The never-ending to-do list, the mountains of laundry, the bad smell currently residing in my car are all forgotten as I let ideas, successes, worries, and things not-to-be forgotten emerge on the page.
Reply
10/23/2014 01:13:47 pm
I never heard of National Writing Day. You've come up with a great list of reasons to write. Happy writing! :)
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AboutTeach. Archives
September 2020
|