Last month I met up with some of my writing project colleagues at a special Friday session during the National Writing Project's Annual Meeting. I was sitting between two women whom I admire very much, one has survived cancer twice, and the other one was in the middle of surviving being a co-chair for our local NCTE, whose members worked so very hard to with the Annual Convention that was held her in Las Vegas. I cannot even begin to tell you how both of them inspiration both of them are as teachers as women.
The co-chair and I were commiserating over our lack of time, amount of preps, stacks of papers, number of inane correspondences we had to answer to from parents and administration, and the struggles of just taking care of our families. (Obviously, I had nothing on her this month!)
Of course, the other lady, who has some refreshing perspective on life after having faced critical illness twice--the last just a year ago--could absolutely relate, except her children are college-aged now. In the middle of our conversation, she pointed asked us, "But when do you have time to write?"
Ouch. When do I have time to write? That was like a dagger to my spleen.
I don't have time to write.
Sometimes I don't have time to read.
Sometimes I don't get enough sleep.
Two weeks ago, I was at an iPad trainer's training (like I needed to take on anything else this year), and we were talking about blogging in the classroom.
"Who blogs?" asked the trainer.
Ouch. A twist of dagger, reminding that it had been stuck there for a few weeks. I used to blog. I want to blog again.
Technically, I am not any busier than I ever have been. A few years ago, while I was getting 4 hours a sleep a day while working on my master's degree, I still found a moment or two to write. I fully realize that I am actually busier than I used to be, as the work load, which does not seem to be more really is. You know, it's that little trick, where each year just one more responsibility (or stupid paperwork) is added, or another 5 students are added to each class period, which ends up being another 35 students I didn't have to grade or document last year, and the next thing you know, I'm in deeper than ever.
But when do I have time to write?
Or read other bloggers? Yes, I really enjoy that!
When?
3 comments:
I think that it's more than just the "time" question. It's true that we can always make time for the things that are important, but there is more to writing than just a blank spot on the calendar.
There has to be a reason to write---something beyond the mere opportunity to share. We need headspace---and passion for the subject---too.
Like you, I have found my blogging lacking over the last year or so. It's not that I don't have things I'm thinking about or that I don't like blogging. I have the time to write. But somehow, being immersed in working in the trenches with educational "stuff" all day has meant that I needed a break from it at home. I can't bring home something I've thought about all day.
Instead, I started a new blog about something that is tangentially related to my job...and that little blog has made me ridiculously happy about writing again.
Maybe your inspiration for writing isn't coming from the classroom anymore. That's okay. What would you like to write about?
If you figure it out, I hope you'll let us know so we can follow your journey there, too.
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Goddess. It's not that I mind writing about teaching and teenagers, although after looking through my archives, some of the struggles are the same year after year, but perhaps "headspace" is part of the problem. Perhaps I want to leave my work at work, which in the last few years I have been VERY interested in doing. Perhaps I don't want to really blog at all. Perhaps I want to write a novel instead! LOL! There's always room for dreaming.
There's never enough time to do all the things I want to do - let alone all the things I need to do AND the things I ought to do AND the things I want to do! hahaha :)
In my case, I blame Star Wars: The Old Republic. Things were fine until I created a smuggler character. Then all of a sudden something in my brain went splodey and said WRITE ALL THE FANFICS NAOW KTHX. Soooo ... yeah. My professional blog is being neglected because I'm struggling to write fanfic instead of blog posts. ;)
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