What Teaching Kids Taught me About Writing? When I was called to be a home lesson teacher. I had no experience. No clue. But the person asking me to do this believed I could do it. As with things I am confused about. I called persons I knew had the experience for advice Googled. Checked YouTube. Figure it outWhen I started I knew beyond doubt that I could figure it out. I just didn’t know how . What was special about this was the time between learning a technique and putting it in practice. I taught these kids every day except Sunday. Unlike writing where I consumed stuff. With this I got to practice immediately. So I got better quickly. AudienceWhen I started teaching I promised to tell them stories at the end of the class if they did well. At first when I started telling the stories. I picked the stories I knew. In a short time I exhausted those stories. I would walk to the class without knowing what story I will share at the end of the class. Yet I came up with these stories. I made them up. And they seemed to love the stories they shared the stories with their friends. My audience loved the work. That’s what mattered. With writing my thoughts I decided to share my thoughts with subscribers of this newsletter every Friday. For me I am looking for a way to do that. That is why I am excited for the April Poetry Challenge. Find a way to write for an audience or any form of accountability even if you are writing for yourself. Create before you innovateI saw a quote once I can’t remember who said it. “Writing is hard because you are trying to write well” This is where the big problem is for me as a writer. When teaching I made mistakes but I learnt from those mistakes. Not at once though. The time for teaching was clear while I did research it didn’t interfere with the work instead it helped the work get done. With writing I should be comfortable with writing shitty first draft. And come back to edit it but not at the same time. The mixture of both leads to not writing anything at all. Until next time, keep writing. Still working on the National Poetry Month Blueprint. I will send you the link when it is ready. |