My Life as a Writer

I never really considered myself a writer.  I struggle with it even now, staring at the same sentence for five minutes, erasing what I just wrote and staring into space trying to gather my thoughts.  I think it is because of the way I think.  I'm not a sequential thinker.  If you know me well enough for me to just randomly tell you what I'm thinking you might think I'm ADD.  My thoughts and ideas jump all over the place.  If I need to follow a thought or idea through I really need to make myself a list and keep myself on task for it to get done.  And that is probably why I'm not a fluent writer.  I don't write down a plan.  I try to muddle though my thoughts in the post and many times end up thinking my writing sounds just like chit chat.  I know that may be okay, but the chit chat has to stay on topic!

My life as a writer has had a complete metamorphosis in the last several years.  Basically, the only writing I do on paper is a to-do list for the day.  It keeps me focused, sitting on my desk next to my elbow.  I have tried to replace it with online to-do lists.  They just don't cut it for me.  Other than that, my writing is done on this blog, on twitter, on my ipad, in email and on facebook. 

It has occurred to me that my children probably wouldn't even recognize my handwriting if they had to identify it.  That really bothers me, because I treasure the letters I have from my grandmother and father who have since passed away.  I would recognize their script anywhere and it brings comfort to me to get out those old letters from time to time.  I really need to sit down and take the time to put pen to paper. 

What is your Life as a Writer like?

Catch up with other posts in the Fall Blog Challenge.

The Small Moment that Made a World of Difference

Photo by hira3 on flickr

There are many small moments with my kids that I wish I could capture and remember for posterity.  I don't mean the award ceremonies, dance recitals and birthdays, although those are really special memories.  I mean the really small moments.  Where they ask questions or share ideas.  Or just surprise you with what they do.

Recently, my son looked across the kitchen table at me and said, "Mommy, do people on the other side of the world stand upside down?" I just had to laugh. 

His class just finished studying the author, Mem Fox and learning about Australia.  They even skyped a teacher from Australia!  I remember specifically talking to him about how it was midnight for her and we just finished breakfast.  I guess there is still room for misconception in there, but I'm struggling a little with how to make him understand. 

Any suggestions?

Blog Tour Coming

My latest professional read is Day by Day: Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice and I'm proud to announce that Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz will be stopping by here on their upcoming blog tour!  I can't wait to talk with them!  Here are the stops on the tour:

Dec. 6 – A Year of Reading
Dec. 7 – Raising Readers and Writers
Dec. 8 – Write Brained Teacher
Dec. 9 – HERE !


There's still time to drop by Stenhouse Publishers to preview the book online or purchase your own copy.  I'd love to have some thoughts and questions of yours to add to my own.  Happy Reading!  And Writing!

What Book Made the Biggest Impact on your Life?

I have always been a good reader.  I loved school, enjoyed going to the library and would rather draw or write than play outside most of the time.  I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up from the first time I helped a little boy sitting next to me in first grade.  But my passion for reading didn't develop until the fifth grade.

In fifth grade I learned about the presidents, was a school patrol and I fell in love with reading. Everyday after lunch we put our metal lunchboxes away and settled in our desks to hear our teacher read aloud from a chapter book.  The one that I remember the best is:  Where the Red Fern Grows  by: Wilson Rawls 


I was a ten year old kid living in the suburbs. Having no schema for this story's setting caused me to really use my imagination.  I was transported to the Ozarks of Oklahoma, with a little boy saving his money penny by penny to have enough to buy two coonhound pups for companionship and to help him "treeing" raccoons.  And even though I had nothing in common with the character in this story, I felt like I was there with him in his tragedies and triumphs.  I hung on every word as my teacher read this story aloud.  I dreaded the moment she would close the pages for the day.  Tears leaked from my eyes as the story ended and I furiously wiped my face before my classmates would notice.  I hated the story to end.

This book impacted my life the most because from that day on I always had a book ready to read.  I tried to read all the Newbery award winning books, the entire Little House on the Prairie series and any books written by Judy Blume.  I chose the specialty of reading/language arts as a teacher and enjoyed transporting my students to that place that my teacher had taken me, surrounded by the magical words of a story.  I have grown up to be an avid reader myself.  I surround my own kids with books and even though my 14 year old thinks she has outgrown read alouds, I hear her slip into the room while I'm reading to my 7 year olds. 

Other bloggers sharing their posts from the fall blog challenge can be found here :)