There’s still a week to go, but I’m already feeling a little bit sad about the end of March. March gets me writing and publishing every day. March gets me thinking deeply and discovering things I didn’t even know I knew or needed to write about. March connects me to so many new teacher-writers whose words I love to read each day. March reconnects me daily with teacher friends I only sporadically interact with throughout the year. March brings me new readers whose comments push my thinking and help me see my teaching and writing in new ways.
If I’m honest, of course, I’m also feeling a little bit relieved that there’s only one week to go. March is intense, demanding. Writing and publishing daily with attention to voice and craft requires such presence and alertness throughout the day. Slice seeking sometimes feels like a full-time job! Reading and processing and commenting on so many Slices (I try to read and comment on at least 20 a day, because I know that comments matter to writers) takes energy. And of course all that writing and reading take time.
Still, on April 1, I imagine I’m going to feel a little bit at loose ends. So I’m already thinking about how I might challenge myself to stay focused on my goals.
Here are some ideas to consider:
A deeper dive into your writer’s notebook. Ralph Fletcher’s Breathing In, Breathing Out and Lucy Calkins’s Living Between the Lines are two beautifully written, supportive books about living the writer’s life within the pages of our notebooks. Perhaps a reread is in order.
A morning writing commitment. Julia Cameron recommends starting the day with morning pages, three longhand pages of writing first thing in the morning. Naomi Shihab Nye recommends three lines every day. I hope to commit to something somewhere in between.
A timed quickwrite. April is National Poetry month, so I expect my feed reader will be full of daily poems. I may choose one to write alongside each day. Or perhaps I’ll follow the Daily Writing Project’s daily word writing idea. Choose their word (follow #DWHabit on Twitter) or your own and write for a few minutes.
A poem a day. April is also National Poetry Writing Month, and the NaPoWriMo site hosts daily prompts and challenges as well as links to poetry written by other bloggers. Be sure to check out the wonderful poetry blogs written by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Laurie Purdie Salas, and Irene Latham for more inspiration each day in April.
Another monthlong blogging challenge. The Blogging A to Z Challenge might be fun. You select your own theme and then use that day’s letter of the alphabet to inspire your post.
A letter a day. April is National Letter Writing Month. Who knew? The Write On Campaign encourages letter writing throughout the month and even includes some ideas for writing letters to those in need.
A daily blogging meme. The Daily Meme and The Master List of Book Blogging Memes have more ideas than you could possibly use. Of course you should keep slicing with Two Writing Teachers on Tuesdays. The It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and Celebrate communities are also very active and welcoming.
How will you maintain your writing habits in April?
the dirigible plum 
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