Friday, February 7, 2014

Reading Writing & Writing Writing

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Reading writing is pretty common in this house. There's a book club, stacks of student assignments (especially now at the end of the semester, hello!), journal articles to edit, blogs to read, and so on. But writing writing...that's something else. I want to write, but I don't have time. Nobody has time for anything, right? We're all busy. But I guess it's time for this teacher to take some of her own instruction, namely "Everybody's busy and nobody has any time, I know, but everybody has priorities. Your writing needs to be high on your priority list."

I also give my students a list of file formatting requirements which are, if I'm honest, pretty obnoxious for them, no matter that they make my life infinitely easier. After listing the requirements I further annoy them with the statement, "They say it takes 30 days to form a habit. We have a semester. Let's make it a good one!" I'm rolling my own eyes at this statement...I am definitely annoying!

But there's truth in that. Writing takes discipline, and disciplines have to be a priority. And sometimes you also need a little accountability and structure to get the ball rolling. I've recently joined a small writing group to help hold me accountable to my writing goals. One of these goals is to post here at least once weekly. This forces me to show up and write something. Bam. I did it.

::STOP::

I also decided to attempt a five-minute writing challenge this week and the timer literally went off after I typed "I did it." Love that. Also, the writing prompt for this week was 'writing'. Kind of perfect timing on both counts!

Anybody else a fan of writing writing? Or are you more of a reading writing sort of person? What things do you do to help you form a new habit and/or hold you accountable?


7 comments :

Unknown said...

I'm a fan of reading writing, and I want to make a habit of writing writing. :D That's why I'm so thankful for five minute Fridays. It's gotten me back in the habit. Have fun reading the writing you get, and have fun writing your own writing.

Unknown said...

Hi Juliette! I'm glad we crossed paths again here. :)

You're right: writing takes time set aside to work on it. Time that is hard to come by, which is why I'm thankful for 5 Minute Friday! Glad you joined up this week!

Jolanthe Erb said...

Ahh - the discipline. That's the area that gets me every time, but it is very much the truth :) This assignment has reminded me of what I love - and definitely makes me want to do it more!

Juliette said...

@Melinda: Thanks!

@Chrysti: !!!! So fun to run into you again!! Small world!

@Jolanthe: I know, I'm totally getting reminded of what I love and I really liked this week's prompt!

Allison said...

Tja, I fall into the I like to write, don't have the time to, and would rather sew anyway category. I guess for me writing is more of an outlet than a disipline, but then again it's also not the focal element of my work.

Unknown said...

This is so good! When I am tired or busy the first thing to go, for me, is my writing. Sometimes it just takes SO long for me to organize my thoughts on paper that I just don't bother. Your students might be annoyed now, but I bet you help them more than annoy them!

Unknown said...

So grateful that you came to the party, friend. You're so right, writing takes a lot of discipline and effort and accountability. Glad that you are taking advantage of the FMF challenge in an effort to meet your goal! Also, really excited to get to know you better through the (in)courage group! :)

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