Reinventing Myself as a Writer and the Power of Narrative by Amy Rasmussen

I’ve had a hard time writing lately -- honestly, a hard time writing for about a year. Maybe because of stress, juggling too many plates, or being out of the classroom. Maybe because I just couldn’t find the words to say anything I thought worth reading.

Lousy excuses for someone who calls herself a writer.

Here’s the thing:  I know how to teach writers to find words. I know how to teach writers to find ideas and how to grow in confidence. I am confident in those things as a teacher of young writers, and I’ve been writing myself for decades -- some just for myself in stacks of journals, some for others on my blog. I just struggled to apply what I know to actually doing it. And I knew I needed to do something to get my writing mojo back if I ever hoped to continue my life as a writer. I needed a plan of attack, a process for my own reinvention and my desire to write.

My first step was to join in Sarah Donovan’s #verselove2019. For the month of April, I wrote beside poetry prompts and inspiring poems, mostly written by other teacher-writers. I struggled every day to find words, and some days the words eluded me, but I challenged myself to read more poems and collect beautiful language that inspired me. I finally had a breakthrough when I wrote a poem about my mother and her garden.

Then, I remembered the power of writing beside family memories. In a course I took at the University of New Hampshire Literacy Institute several years ago with Thomas Newkirk, I remembered writing beside family photos. Newkirk used excerpts from Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories by Jon Scieszka and encouraged us to write our own tall tales and almost true stories.  I wrote about my children, our home,  and the menagerie of pets that have lived (and died) over the years. I laughed and cried as I penned stories.

There’s power in writing beside photos and power in remembering and writing down the memories. This is a power I will nurture as I continue to reinvent myself as a writer this summer.

I believe in the power of narrative and how it can influence and add clarity and impact to other modes of writing. As I learned from Newkirk:  there’s a give and take, a scratch and itch, a conflict that needs resolution in all good writing. I want to explore and practice all of this in my summer writing.

So -- I’m looking at family photos that I will write beside. I think I’ll start with this one of my oldest granddaughter. I’m sure I can find words.

Amy Rasmussen lives and writes in North Texas. She’s taught all levels of high school English, except AP Lit (on her bucket list), and she currently works as an independent literacy consultation, facilitating professional development and helping other teachers move into a readers-writers workshop pedagogy. She writes at the blog ThreeTeachersTalk.com. Follow her on Twitter @amyrass.