Learning from Writing: You Should Write About That #sol18 Week 1

For the month of March I'm participating in the Slice of Life Challenge on my other blog:  Merely Day by Day.  Writing every day isn't easy, and I'm learning some lessons I want to remember when I sit beside young writers.  Thanks to the team at Two Writing Teachers for pushing me to be a teacher who writes, and helping to grow my reflections.

"Your next post should be about the loss of bookstores," Clare commented on my Slice of Life post, A Familiar Pattern, about the pattern of malls closing.

A few days later she returned to another post, Start a Contribution List, asking, "What's a Passion Planner™?  Can you slice about that?" 

I've appreciated her comments.  I've kept these little nuggets tucked in the back of my mind knowing when I need an idea to continue my goal to write every single day this month, I'll have a few ideas to use for my post.  

In my first grade classroom, one of my favorite things to do was greet students at the door.  Students always entered first thing in the morning full of stories, and I was the story catcher.  My students would share tales of losing teeth, learning to ride a bike, or going someplace special.  They'd share stories of friends, new experiences, and funny things that had happened to them.  Of course, I'd listen intently and then say, "You should write about that.  That would be a great story for writer's workshop."  The more reluctant the writer, the more deeply I listened - and the more animated my reaction.    

Even among my friends who have blogs, it isn't uncommon to hear one of us say to another, "You should write about that."  It's like a gift when that happens.  It's not always easy to see our stories we might share.

There's power in having someone say, "You should write that."  

Writing every single day isn't easy, but having someone to help shine light on your stories makes it a little more possible.

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