"To be an expert writing teacher, you must be a writer." I heard this piece of advice a week ago, and I thought, sure that makes sense. Sounds easy. WRONG. Starting this blog was my foray into doing just that, my own writing.
I had this grand plan to write a deep and meaningful first post to start this blog off on the right foot. It was going to be amazing. I had written the first line over and over in my head. So, I sat down to write my earth shattering post. And...nothing. That first paragraph was truly great, but I had nothing to follow. Hello writer's block. (And WOW - this is what my students feel like!) I could feel my "perfectionism" taking over. It crept in slowly, only deleting a few characters here and there and then moved in to stay, deleting whole paragraphs at a time. This is as far as I got before my spaghetti noodle brain took over:
After this paragraph, I had to floss (I had corn on the cob for dinner), and I can't remember the last time I flossed. I daydreamed about what I would do tomorrow. I checked my social media. I read a chapter of my book. Writing. Is. Hard. I stretched. I watched my four month old sleep on the monitor. I sent a work email. I checked my social media, again. Did I mention writing is hard?
My goal is to use this blog as a tool to improve myself as a writer, as a writing teacher, and reflect on the beautiful chaos that is life. That first "good" paragraph I wrote isn't wrong. I'm working hard to make this world what I want. So, this is it. A blog about all the things I love to do in life. A blog about the hard things in life. A blog about the many things that make me, me.
