July 10

Celebrating a Goal Achieved!


In March, I was knee deep in the slice of life challenge, when I saw a post on Instagram about #the100dayproject. It was shared by a favorite author of mine, Elle Luna. 

Created by Elle Luna


I was teaching two different classes, writing blog posts every day, reading and commenting on student blog posts too, and something inside of me nudged me to take on this project. 

Created by Elle Luna

Now, I had to decide what I should do…I wish I’d documented my thought process somewhere, but for some reason, I thought of writing a poem a day using my pink typewriter. You can read about my first day here. 


I started the challenge on April 1st. I completed the challenge and shared my 100th poem yesterday. What did I learn? 

  • Doing something for 100 days truly built a habit. 
  • Showing up on days I didn’t feel like it, was hard.
  • Sharing on days when I knew my poem was bad, humbled me.
  • I enjoyed the quiet every day when I wrote.
  • I love tap of my typewriter.
  • I found confidence every day I showed up to the page.
  • Many people enjoyed my poems. 

I’d do it again…in a minute. The process was powerful. I learned a lot. I’m grateful that I was able to complete this. On to another challenge…

Created by Elle Luna

https://twowritingteachers.org/
Category: #poetry18, challenge, goals, poetry | LEAVE A COMMENT
July 3

Walking into Writing


I set some goals for myself this summer. I shared them here, but I’ve revised them. My goals are simple for this summer:

1. Walk

2. Write

3. Clean

4. Read

5. Swim


The first goal is the one I’d like to talk about. I have a confession…I’m a relatively sedentary person. The things I love to do include sitting: writing and reading. It’s not good. During this past school year, a friend nudged me to accompany her after school on walks. I did and look where I am now. School has been out since June 15th. Of the sixteen weekdays, I’ve walked fourteen of them: missed one for rain and one for not feeling well. 


My day starts with the walk. Sometimes I walk with a friend and other days I walk alone…in silence or accompanied by some of my favorite tunes…in the cool mornings or in the extreme heat. Regardless, I lace up my sneakers and I walk. 


How has this changed me? I feel better. I have energy. My day begins with something already accomplished. Feeling more motivated, I get more done and I am happier.

Walking has helped me as a writer too. I work out ideas as I walk. This morning, I wrote my typewriter poem, in my head, on my walk. (I jotted it down in my note app, so I could type it later.) 


Walking calms me and gives me confidence. This helps when I sit down to write. As writers, we often doubt ourselves. I often have the, “I’m not good enough!” imposter syndrome worry. Walking calms that in me. I don’t know why. I don’t understand it. (I don’t even care why!) 


Walking has motivated me to clean and purge and organize. I’m almost done with my house and the garage is next. Taking a walk can be overwhelming to a sedentary person like me. It’s all about one step at a time…hmmm, just like writing. One word after another. 

Category: goals, summer, walking, writer's notebooks | LEAVE A COMMENT