Happy Slice of Life Day! (Do you think Congress would make it a national holiday?)
I love the Slice of Life challenge. Writing and sharing for a full month: it takes a bravery and persistence I’m never quite sure I have when I pull up to my keyboard each March.
Certainly, I have a lot of reasons to pass up the opportunity: I’m tired, there’s too much going on, school is bananas…LIFE.
Yet here I am, back at it for another year. What keeps me going?
- I like doing hard things. It puts me in the space of being a learner, and it’s uncomfortable. I’ve actually grown to relish that discomfort. And being in that space of discomfort? It gives me admiration and respect for everything I ask my students to do every. Darn. Day.
- The community. I’ve met so many amazing writers and humans through Two Writing Teachers. I’m lucky to know so many insightful, wise folks that I call colleagues and friends.
- Nothing – NOTHING – has done more to make me a better teacher of writing than to actually be a writer myself. And if for no other reason than I can speak to the kids honestly about the successes and challenges we both face in our quest for creative expression.
Write on, my friends! Let’s make this a wonderful March.
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 
Welcome back for another year!!!! I’m like you & often wondering why I agree to do another year of 31 days of writing.
Glad you are here. I thought long and hard about joining this year, but I knew I would be missing a wonderful experience if I backed out.
Lainie!! I had the same idea but wrote much less and less eloquently. So happy to be reading your writing this month.
Welcome back! I love the community as well. 🙂
You too! I’m excited to write and read alongside you!
Yes! Our students need to hear how to live a life of writing.
Absolutely! And with that comes all of the excitement, fear, nervousness and wonder…
I wholeheartedly agree! I am looking forward to it!
Yes to all three! I am hoping this will also help me keep up with writing weekly after the month ends.
It just might! And I’m also hoping this month offers you pleasant surprises: a blog post you didn’t expect to write, comments that make you feel seen…all of it!
I agree with all three of your points! And I so agree with making March 1st a national holiday! 🙂
I’m so glad you’re in for the month! I really enjoy reading your slices. I have hesitated for the past several years but always join, and then get so much out of participating. It’s a sure-thing investment–put in the time and energy and it’s guaranteed to pay dividends!
Agreed! And it’s good to “see” you oout here, too!
Yes! Same, same, same. Every March I think… can I really do this? But the community and the writing writing writing …there’s nothing like it.
I had a storytelling friend who would always talk about how fear and excitement were two sides of the same coin. Seems fitting here, too…
Yep! Sometimes I wonder why I want to do this year after year–it’s hard (and my report cards are not done yet!), but I know that this is the place where hard things turn into amazing experiences. You totally captured the magic.
This sounds like the absolute, complete, 100% better alternative to writing report cards any time, any day. And…hard things turning into amazing experiences…YES.
Glad you’re back for another year! Glad all of us are! 🙂 Looking forward to catching up with slicers’ adventures and shenanigans this month.
Ohhhh yes! I’m definitely here for the shenanigans…
You express what I’m sure we’re all feeling so well. It’s so good to be back!
“Nothing – NOTHING – has done more to make me a better teacher of writing than to actually be a writer myself.”
– Co-sign
Hello, Lainie! So good to “hear” your vibrant voice again! You cannot hear this but I’m heartily applauding every reason you give here for taking on the Challenge. This makes my 8th year and I very nearly bowed out…as you said, so succinctly: LIFE. I’ve been blogging very little, but here’s a truth, a curious correlation: Making time for writing in an already-packed life gives you more time. I don’t know how it works. It just does. You’ve also given a good bit of implied advice for daily Slicing: Keep it brief. Do-able. I’ve been amazed by the number of Slicer folks who’ve wrestled with the idea of taking the plunge this year; I swear I can hear groans akin to that of the students when it comes to writing…but the hardest part is that first step, chucking out the first words, the getting started. Before you know it, the magic’s at work (magic IS hard work; magic does not just happen!). And so much of it springs from the connection to one another, the supportive comments that pull us individually to keep at it. So here we are, off and running again – not a race, but a journey with many surprises lying just ahead. Thank you for being such a steadfast and FUN encourager, friend! Here we go, yes!
Here. We. GO! When you mentioned “chucking out the first words,” I had to smile. That was exactly how my second post turned out. I started with the title and the post took me in a completely unexpected direction. It’s what I love about the process of writing, and it’s what I have to remember when I’m feeling resistance to getting started. Chuck out those first words, Lainie. Have a lil’ faith in yourself. Sounds like a mantra to lean on.
Yes to all of this! So many reasons not to slice, but the reasons in favor of it are so powerful. For myself, I know I would miss the community. I love reading posts and commenting and catching up with dear friends this month. And also a big yes to how doing the writing makes us so much better as writing teachers.
Agreed! And I’d also venture to say I’m just a better…TEACHER. I wouldn’t say my core philosophy has changed as a result of slicing, but it certainly has deepend.
Yes, yes, yes! This will be a great month, and I’m ready for all the inspiration I’d otherwise miss out on. Thanks for being here and cheering on our community of writers.
All of this, my friend!! “And if for no other reason than I can speak to the kids honestly about the successes and challenges we both face in our quest for creative expression.”
Thank you! I feel like there’s another blog post brewing there, but I have to get my thoughts together…
Hi Lanie! Yes, I am well. No, I am not even pretending to participate in SOL this year, Life has delegated my blogging to a lower rung on the ladder. Still, it’s March and I cannot let the month pas without popping in on you and a few others.
“And if for no other reason than I can speak to the kids honestly about the successes and challenges we both face in our quest for creative expression.”
That is the best you can do for your kids. Let them see creative expression is not always easy, or always a success, but oh the act of simply creating itself, even if the only person who appreciates it yourself, is so worth the challenges.
As for letting my students see what’s easy and not…I think that’s been my biggest evolution as a teacher in the last several years: to allow them to see me as a full, flawed human: to let them know that their struggles and my struggles really are the same, that they don’t have problems because they are kids but because they are HUMANS, and the best I can do for them is to stop pretending problems go away just because I’ve got my grown-up card. There’s probably a blog post on this, but it’s not yet quite formed.