If you’re looking for a new writing challenge in April, here are a few to consider: NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Writing Month, offers a daily prompt as well as links to several more poems and poetry resources that may inspire. Amy Ludwig VanderWater at The Poem Farm announces a theme for her annual 31-day poetry projects.…
This post was inspired by Lisa Keeler’s Six Things I’ve Learn in Six Years of Slicing. Reading makes me a better writer. I used to think that my propensity for reading slices before writing my own was a way to procrastinate, and in my first year, I didn’t allow myself to read before I had…
This is my fifth year participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge, and this year, it’s different. Before, I carried a notebook and collected moments, fragments, words, ideas all day long. I sought slices everywhere. Pay attention, I admonished myself. Write that down. I worried so much that I wouldn’t be able to find…
Today, I borrowed a SPARK from Paula Bourque who blogs at LitCoachLady and whose latest book, SPARK!, focuses on quickwrites in the elementary classroom. If you’re stuck for a writing idea, be sure to visit Paula’s blog where she is sharing a different prompt every day in March. Here’s today’s prompt: A simple quick write SPARK to…
One. I started blogging in November 2012, not coincidentally when I was at my first NCTE conference. My very first post was called Writing Advice from John Green’s Dad and my mom left my only comment. “11 Things About Me as a Blogger” will be my 1,066th blog post. Two. The title of my blog…
Many of us are gearing up for the March Slice of Life Challenge that starts on Friday. (Friday!!! ALREADY?? YIKES!!) For 31 days, I’ll join 300+ other teacher/bloggers in crafting and publishing a daily Slice of Life, a short narrative capturing a moment, an image, a feeling, an experience. I’ve already unearthed my writer’s notebook,…
Image CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0 Steve Rotman on Flickr.com I am joining Trina Haase at Trinarrative for a daily haiku challenge in December. There’s always that day early in a new challenge where it’s late and you’re wrapping up your day and winding things down and then you suddenly remember you’ve committed to a challenge and so far,…
Image CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0 Steve Rotman on Flickr.com I’m joining Trina Haase at Trinarrative in a daily haiku challenge for the month of December. Today, I did some reading about the differences between traditional and modern haiku and attempted to write a traditional haiku. I focused on the seventeen syllable count as well as three elements of…
I always have lots of plans for summer writing. Stacks of new notebooks and the only pens I can write with. A couple of free professional development writing opportunities that should keep me in writing ideas and inspirations (#100DOSW18, Teachers Write). A lack of other obligations and time commitments that makes writing sound appealing and…
I just spent a wonderful week at the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference. I’m thinking about a lot of things from the conference, but today I want to think about writing community. I always think of community as something that is built and developed over time, but in my workshop, led by creative nonfiction author Alison…
