Slice of Life: When there's too much to write...

Every Tuesday, the writing community of Two Writing Teachers hosts Slice of Life. All are welcome to participate by linking up posts or commenting on other participants. 

Last week I wrote about how around this time of year, the pace of life gets going and it sometimes all feels like too much. This week's theme and topic unintentionally echoed last week's. 

There are weeks when I sit down to write something for the weekly Slice of Life, and I can think of nothing to write about. And then there are weeks when the abundance of potential blog posts is completely overwhelming, and I can’t get started on a post because there’s simply too much. I can’t focus. This week, I can’t focus. There’s too much. There are culminating activities--Capstone presentations, performance assessments, the Relay for Life that my daughters spend their year working on. There has also been the homecoming of college students and the approach of major birthdays in their lives. (Larkin turns 21 on June 3, and she is chomping at the bit to walk into the local wine store and buy a bottle!) There was a field trip today with 100 students to a somewhat very disorganized convention, (increasing my own anticipation for Larkin's wine-buying legality.) And there have been some important doctor appointments, athletic events, and achievements on the parts of all four of my daughters, as well in my life, too. How do I decide what to focus on and write, staying true to the concept of a slice of life?

Maybe my slice today needs to spin into and out of the ritual of sitting down in my writing chair, fingers on the keyboard, and deciding what to write, what to share with the community. Maybe my slice needs to include some of the empathy and understanding I have for those students who sometimes just can't get going. As I work with one of our special education teachers to develop a meaningful RTI system for written expression, sitting down and just getting a post out reminds me of how hard writing can be. Sometimes we get bogged down with the volume of word production and the correctness of grammar and conventions when the real challenge is sorting through ideas and just. getting. going. 

Happy Writing,