To Be a Writer...You Have to Write

To be a writer, you have to write.  I know...earth shattering revelation there, right?  Probably not, but today it was for me.  Let me explain. 

I am a teacher.  A second grade teacher.  My job is to teach young minds how to be life long readers and writers.  In order to be the best teacher that I can be, I spend the summer dabbling in some personal "professional" development (ie...reading a teacher book or two so that I don't feel like I have wasted squandered spent too much time away from my chosen vocation on my summer vacation).  This summer I pulled an older book off my shelf that I have had for a few years but haven't gotten around to reading (let's be honest, I'm a chick lit junkie and it got lost behind the bright pink novels that are full of sexy guys and situations that NEVER really happen!). 

Anyway... the book is all about teaching writing and is called What You Know By Heart and is written by Katie Wood Ray.  Though it was published in 2002, it is still full of great thought-provoking lessons.  After reading the first few chapters today, where Katie discusses how she creates her writing curriculum based on what SHE does as a writer, I was left thinking.  What is it that I do as a writer?  Wait, when was the last time I wrote anything?  Does my Dad's obituary in March (as important as that was) really count? I do have that blog...but the last post was in 2012.  Ummm wait..that can't be right, that was two  FREAKING years ago!!!  How can I teach my kids to be better writing, using my experiences, if I am not taking the time to write?  

Needless to say, my realization is this -- if I am going to be an effective teacher of writing, I need to spend some time writing.  Writing to share my thoughts and ideas.  Writing to remember what the process is like.  Writing to gain understandings, as Katie Wood Ray says, that I can then share with my students. 

So this is my summer professional development commitment.  I will take the time to write, if not everyday, at least most days.  What will I write about?  Whatever comes to mind.  If I wasn't writing today about needing to write (ok, that's a funny sentence)  then I might write about watching the truck come around the corner today and lose it's load of bricks.  How that prompted a conversation between Dakota and I about how split seconds can truly make the difference between life and death.  Or how I am struggling with becoming active again after the death of my father.  How it has been three months now and I still can't find the intrinsic motivation to get going.  Or maybe how BAD it hurt when I got a shot in the heel today at the doctor and I bleed all over the floor.  I might write about how Dakota threw a magazine at my head (and hit me!) when I threatened to video his face as the Dr. took his stitches out from his foot surgery.  Maybe about disappointments when friends cancel plans on you or don't bother to show up for an important event in your life.  How turning 40 is WAY harder than I thought.  Or even how I hate to be late for anything, it gives me serious anxiety that even Xanax can't take away.  Not that I've tried Xanax.  If you ask my kids, maybe I should. Probably my husband would agree that Xanax is needed.  Wow -- who would have thought I had so much on my mind?

So, though this is the Heath Family blog, you'll be stuck with the rambling thoughts of Darcy over the next few months.  I'll try to incorporate some Heath Family news into the mix, as much as possible, and under the threat of death from the teenagers when I share anything remotely personal about them.  My hope is that through this process of writing I'll develop some understandings that will help me become the teacher of writing that I want to be.  Wish me luck friends!