Summer Writing… The freedom to create, to invent, to grow.
As a teacher, I spend lots of time on my computer drafting emails, writing report card comments, and thank you notes for the sweet end-of-the-year gifts I receive from the middle of May up until the last day of the school year.
Summer writing, however, is all mine!
Up until a few summers ago, I did not consider myself a writer. Sure, I wrote the above-mentioned pieces, but I wasn’t a creative writer who could write on the spot, develop a character or setting, or pluck a line out of a novel that would become the bedrock of a short story that nagged at me to finish. That all changed when I joined the Wyoming Writing Project. I saw myself as a writer and that summer I found my voice.
Each summer since I have found that I am a better writer. Not just because I continue to work with the WWP, where my writing family lifts me up inspires me, but because there’s something about summer that brings the writer out of me. The freedom, the long warm days, reading books that have piled up on my nightstand, playing with my children, riding my bike along the greenbelt, walking and talking with a good friend in the mornings. All of these things inspire me and in the summer, I can really pay attention and find the hidden gems that are lurking around every corner.
Find those gems. Use your summer to create characters and worlds you’ve only imagined. Who knows what you’ll find?
Sara Pommarane is a fourth-grade teacher in Laramie, WY. She is heading into her 14th year of teaching and her first group of Kindergarteners are graduating from high school! Sara received her National Board Certification in Literacy in 2018. She is married to a fellow educator and has two children. Sara loves all things reading and writing. You will often find her family fishing and her nearby with her nose in a book and her writer’s notebook not far away. You can follow her on Twitter @SaraPomm or through the Wyoming Writing Project @wyowriting.
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"the books that have piled up on my nightstand"--I'm with you!
ReplyDeleteAhhh....finding the hidden gems, not only in our writing, but in our daily lives as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing with us this month! Happy summer writing!