Several times during the year, I renew my commitment to developing a robust writing habit.
Sometimes I pursue this habit by participating in a writing challenge on social media. My favorite one is the March Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by the Two Writing Teachers. I usually get off to a great start. I blog every day for a month and swear that I will continue to blog every day for the rest of my life. That’s 365 distinct posts worthy of publishing on my blog.
That.
Is.
Daunting.
Which brings me to a major roadblock: feeling pressured to write well each and every single time.
Not possible. I even tell my students this. So, why do I have such a hard time applying it to myself?
Maybe you’re thinking that I don’t have to post every day on my blog.
Agreed.
Or, maybe you’re thinking that any time spent writing is worthy of celebration.
Agreed.
Or, maybe you’re experiencing the same kind of hesitation and insecurity about writing and are having a hard time staying on the straight and narrow path.
Welcome to the tribe!
In my head and in my heart, I know that positive habits are messy and take time to cultivate. So, the first step towards embracing a writing habit is to write every day. It’s as simple as that. Easy? Not by a long shot! But writing every day makes it easier to call yourself a writer, even if you never make your writing public.
Full disclosure: It has taken me a long time to call myself a writer, and still longer to make my writing public.
In the past, thinking that everything I write has to be brilliant has made it that much harder to keep up the resolve to write daily. Either I got bored with my writing or I ran out of interesting topics to write about. Or, I decided to watch a movie instead of writing. Or, I spent time reading someone else’s writing to effectively ignore my own. And, although reading what others are writing is important, I can’t get stuck there. It has taken all the courage I can muster to confront myself when I write something less than stellar. Well, OK, when I write something that is just plain bad.
So, this year I am coming to terms with my truths:
Truth #1: blogging every day just doesn’t work for me. There! I said it!
Truth #2: although I will write every day, I don’t have to make it public every day.
Just admitting this lifts a heavy weight off my shoulders.
This is my writing contract for 2018 -
Write. Every. Day.Because (truth #3) if I don’t write a lot, I will never be able to write anything worth reading. And, after all, that’s what it’s all about.
Blog and share my writing as often as I can.
Don’t worry about whether or not what I write measures up to my idea of perfection.
Will you join me?
Elisa Waingort is a grade 4 Spanish bilingual teacher in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She has been an ESL specialist, classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator, and teacher leader in schools she has taught at in North and South America. Elisa is a writer and a reader. She loves to learn alongside her students.
Write for Us!
The #TeachWrite Twitter Chat Blog is dedicated to providing a space for our community to connect and share their voices about writing and teaching writing. We are looking for guest bloggers who would like to blog on topics related to being a teacher-writer. Educators and writers of all levels are invited to join us in this space. More information can be found here.
We are so much alike. I am trying to commit to the daily writing habit and I see you doing the same on the TeachWrite check in. But making everything I write public, I'm with you. I wouldn't write if I thought everything had to be made public. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and writing a post for TeachWrite!
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I am honored to be in such good company. We can nudge each other along towards our individual journeys.
DeleteI'm with you on this. I've been trying really hard to write every day. In the past, once I missed a couple of days I gave up. But this year, I've given myself permission to not write a day, to not publish every day, to just write for the joy. It's better :)
ReplyDeleteDeb, being able to forgive ourselves is so powerful because instead of feeling like failures, we can simply keep going. I've been doing this a lot lately in my life. I'm finding I am getting more things done and I feel more satisfied.
Delete