Writing and Me

I’ve set a goal for myself of writing every day for at least ten minutes. It’s not working. Most of the writing I’m doing is because I have a deadline that’s either imposed internally (blog entry) or externally (doctoral paper). Without the deadlines, I’m not writing during those self-appointed ten minutes every day. Of course, I write emails, notes to parents, comments on school documents, etc. But that’s not the same as disciplining myself to write for ten minutes whether or not I have to.

I need to revert this trend as it stultifies my goal. I want to be writing for the sake of writing as that is the only way to get at anything worth writing about. Make sense? It does to me. I need to write, every day, for 10 minutes even when I don’t have a deadline. There are now three article ideas running through my head and that’s all that’s happening – they are running through my head. I need to transfer the ideas in my head to paper.

Just yesterday I read a quote in The Life Before her Eyes by Laura Kasischke that resonated so deeply with me that I wanted to jot it down so I could write about it later. But, I got distracted and, in a flash, the quote was gone. And, I’ve neglected writing in my professional journal for the past month; this happens often.

I need to write to make sense of the events in my life. I need to write because I like the act of composing, revising, and making my writing as clear as I’m able at that moment in time. I need to write because how can I ask my students to write if I myself don’t write? I need to write because, through my writing, l make important connections in my personal and professional life. I need to write just like I need to breathe.