Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Writing or No Writing

Yesterday I wrote a grocery list. I wrote a check. I wrote comments at others' blogs. I have not been writing. I have a list in my head of things to do, things to organize, things to "get ready." I have not been writing. This is disappointing to me that I have not taken the time to write. The Literacy Teacher mentioned that one of her focal students had not been writing either, but she has been reading. I have been reading but not writing this week.
Do you think that sometimes we need to be reading to inspire our writing?
Sometimes as I am reading I think, boy, I'd like to write something like this. Perhaps I am just reading so that I can gain more skills as a writer. I need to take some time by myself, not in the house, to do some writing.
This leads me to think of my upcoming focal group of students that I will be meeting with twice a month.
Will I be able to support them?
Do I have enough prior writings to mentor them with?
Maybe this stagnant writing time that I am in is a good example that sometimes writers need to read in order to be a better writer. I have read a few books recently that I didn't really enjoy, I actually thought about the writer's ability to tell the story. I decided that I didn't really think this was my writing style. I collected that information as a writer for future writing. I filed it under: what type of writing I don't want write. I also read, "The Poisonwood Bible," (if you have not read this book I would recommend it) this author tells this incredible story through each character. It was a great lesson on how writers build their characters. Each chapter was told by the characters and they started as children and then ended as adults. You could see language changes as they grew older. It was like reading the lives of real people. The characters really came alive.
Perhaps reading others' writing is what I needed to do as a writer, because now I am ready to write.
ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

7 comments:

Stacey Shubitz said...

I have been blogging a lot, but not doing too much notebook writing. Not sure why. I guess we cannot fault kids for not writing, or take it personally, if we're not putting our own writing before other things ourselves.

Katie Dicesare said...

I have been writing more (other than blogging) in the past few days than I have all summer. I have felt stuck until today when I talked with two colleagues and my mom about my writing. The conversations have helped me. This is also big with my students whether we are sharing and reflecting or students are talking with writing partners. I connected right away to your thoughts today...thanks!

Jen Barney said...

This has been a BIG WORRY for me as well.... lets talk about it when we get together this evening!

- Think about when and what we want to do with our treasures we are meeting with this year. I have some ideas.

Sarah said...

There's so much thinking I am doing in preparation for school. Sometimes I cannot articulate the mumbojumbo going on in my head in complete sentences, let alone a paragraph. When I go to post something, sometimes I end up spending the time reading others before I can get my thoughts together. Right now I feel like I am reading too much school stuff. I need to keep my personal reading going. It's a circle.

Cathy said...

Sarah, do you do songbooks with your class? And how long do you spend with these books...I'm looking to use these more in the beginning (is that spelled right) stages of reading workshop and wanted to get other teacher's ideas.

Ruth Ayres said...

sarah --
your post resonated inside of me. i do this -- i think of it almost as binging. sometimes i'm really into art & it consumes me. other times it's writing. sometimes it's reading. still other times it's blogging. like you said, it's a circle. i've come to accept this fact about myself & try to just enjoy whatever my current obsession is.

Sarah Amick said...

Jen-Thank you for being a sounding board that I can bounce my thoughts off of. We will do awesome stuff with our focal treasures this year. We can do this I know. They will benefit just from the connections.

Sarah, sometimes you just have to step back and fill yourself with what will benefit you.

Ruth-love the thought of binging on artsy things.

Lit teacher and Katied- you guys rock with the knowledge that I gain from you. So inspiring to visit your sites. Thanks!