Setting My Writing Spirit Free by Fran Haley

Summer sets the spirit free.

For a short while, at least, for a teacher.

As a teacher who writes (or a writer who teaches), summer brings a sense of throwing off chains, sudden buoyancy of an indescribable intensity, a beckoning of azure skies, a wild invitation from something without to something within.

Time for freewheeling.

In the summer my youngest son and I visit our favorite theme park. Our primary mission is riding roller coasters. We banter about which ride is best based on the duration, smoothness, height, speed, the aerial view, being worth the wait of standing in line. Each coaster is its own unique experience; we step in with our own unique anticipations.

I write in my mind as I ride. This is as natural to me as the pounding of my heart, my hair whipping about me, the reflex to grab hold of the harness as I come out of my seat with the coaster’s leaps and plunges. I have a sense of being astride a galloping horse or that I’ve mastered the power of flight - that mysteriously inborn human desire. The sensations stitch themselves into bits of story. That they are random does not matter; somewhere, somehow, I will use them. I will use images mentally photographed from this rare perspective: A deer feeding in the sun-and-shadow-dappled grass below the coaster track, the blissful coolness of an abrupt tunnel, albeit completely black and alarming until I burst out into the light again, the vast, silver river stretching to the misty rim of the world, sparkling like the sea as I reach the highest coaster’s crest.

No fear, only awe, exhilaration, for the ride and its offerings.

It’s not about safety. It’s about the experience.

Summer. Writing.

Made for freewheeling.



Fran Haley is a K-12 English Language Arts educator currently serving as an elementary literacy coach. Writing is her favorite thing to do and to teach; she loves helping people of all ages discover the power of their own writing and fall in love with the craft. She facilitates writing workshop training for teachers in her district and authors the blog Lit Bits and Pieces: Snippets of Learning and Life. Connect with her on Twitter: @fahaley.