lessons | Thinking Through My Lens

On this 31st day of the Two Writing Teachers’ Slice of Life challenge I’ve been thinking about the lessons that daily writing for a public audience offers and why I continue to choose to write and publish on my blog every day in March.

1. There is something incredibly special about this particular community of writers. There is a kind of welcome that encourages participation even when I feel like an imposter as a writer. Those who comment manage to find a nugget of meaning and bring it to my attention, fueling that desire to continue and teaching me to comment thoughtfully as well.

2. Even when I write every day, writing doesn’t get easier. It feels hard to have something to say that others may want to read. It’s different than writing in a journal for your eyes only, public-facing adds a different kind of pressure.

3. But, when I do commit to everyday writing I wake each day with an expectation of writing. Every moment becomes potential fodder for my writing, from elephants and play to the fun of sending and receiving postcards to the lost art of knot tying. Living a writerly life means paying attention to the little things, breathing them in so I can exhale words on the page.

4. Writing everyday makes me a different kind of reader. I notice the way other writers use language, how they develop topics, what they say and don’t say… And I don’t confine myself to books. I’m reading song lyrics, advertising copy, overheard conversations, notes scrawled on the sides of buildings and bathroom stalls…

5. When I’m writing every day, there is no perfect place or setup for accomplishing my writing. I write on airplanes, in the few minutes before I need to set up for a Zoom meeting, when I should be writing report cards, and even on the beach. Luckily my blogging app makes it pretty easy to at least get a draft going no matter where I am.

6. And I’m convinced that daily writing makes me a better teacher of writing. I’m living writing as a process…and knowing that on the other side I am also producing a product. Just like my students know that at least some of their writing will be read by someone else, I, too, expect that someone will read what I write. Writing for myself is important, but writing for others is another aspect of writing to consider whether I am writing emails, reports, newsletters, poetry, or even social media posts. Understanding writing from the inside out helps me make writing instruction more playful and responsive and is an important reminder of the power of words across contexts.

With March done, it’s time for National Poetry Month. Will I continue to write and post throughout April? That’s the plan—with the help of Verselove. Thanks Two Writing Teachers community, I hope to see many of you as we continue into April.

After a beautiful sunny day yesterday, I got in the car with a colleague to drive to UCLA for a conference event. We had barely gotten out of the driveway before droplets starting appearing on the windshield. Before we hit Camp Pendleton, it was a full-fledged downpour! And then the ribbon of sunset started to peek out from below the blanket of clouds.

The conference center/hotel at UCLA was tucked away from the freeway, forcing us to navigate narrow streets with cars parked at odd angles…and avoid the abandoned scooter right in the middle of the street. After taking the odd u-turn directed by Google maps, we arrived at a strange stopping place in front of a building that may or may not have been a conference center. Lucky for us Milton was out front–obviously used to confused conference center seekers. He was funny and welcoming and got us situated, checked in, and headed toward an equally odd driveway to a narrow underground parking lot.

When I arrived at my room and peeked out the window, I found myself looking out at a football field, bolding marked UCLA.

This morning after walking on the treadmill before what I knew would be a sitting day, I headed into the shower to get ready for the day ahead. As I was getting dressed I kept hearing a sound. Is that chanting? Does someone nearby have the TV on loud? I looked out the window to find an entire squad of young men in matching uniforms shouting through their calisthenics!

And as if that was enough of the unexpected, as we headed downstairs for the conference, we noticed a strong and visual security presence. We learned throughout the day that there was some kind of protest going on outside. (Although we never did learn exactly what the protest was all about!).

As we left for an oh-so-long and not-really-unexpected-LA-traffic-filled drive back home, the conference center was teeming with security. Men standing at attention, ear pieces in place, barriers everywhere. We actually had to have a guard move a physical barrier to be able to leave the parking area! (After another policeman jokingly told us we’d need to stay awhile!)

Luckily, the event was interesting and felt like worth the time and effort. And I didn’t have to suffer the long and traffic-filled drive home alone, instead my colleague and I were able to talk, debrief our experience, and otherwise entertain each other in the pain of stop and go traffic.

It was truly an expect the unexpected kind of experience–including the somewhat unexpected enjoyment of the event itself. I’m trying to learn to embrace the unexpected, and realize that unexpected is just another opportunity to learn and grow and make a choice to see what surprises me as a gift rather than an ominous talisman of trouble to come!

How do you respond when the unexpected shows up at your door?