Writing Marathon

This afternoon my friend Donna and I did a writing marathon, which was introduced to me in my Level 1 Iowa Writing Project class, and I just read about in Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, which I highly recommend for folks who need to get their writing habit back off the ground.  She's a big proponent of writing practice--daily or near-daily writing that sort of cleans your insides out so you can begin writing coherence.  Thinking in this way has opened doors for me this summer to just write for understanding and memory-keeping.  It's been great.

The idea of a writing marathon is that you write with others, and after set amounts of time, you share what you've written without commenting.  Then you write some more.  In my class, we also moved between sessions to see if new locations would lend new inspiration.  Donna and I noticed that our pieces were a little cyclical.  Though my second piece didn't answer questions she presented in her first, there were definite connections.  This meant that we had a few themes in our writing:  teaching, mothers, death.  I highly recommend this activity for getting some words on the page and pushing your thinking.

I thought I'd share a line or two from each location.  These were all pretty stream-of-consciousness, not focused on craft, journal-like entries (I did revise a bit before posting), but I appreciated some of the thinking that came up.

Stop 1:  Cedar Falls Public Library.
"I so wholeheartedly believe in the institution of public school as the purveyor of upward mobility and the cornerstone of democracy that it saddens me to be worrying about the unintended curriculum that kills curiosity so much of the time."

Stop 2:  Hillside Cemetery, sitting on the bluff of the Cedar River.
Comparisons between teaching and farming: "Seeing the potential is necessary.  The seeds will grow into something stronger, and you have to maintain faith that it will happen in order to continue putting resources into it."

Stop 3:  The Hearst Center
Here I was playing around with verbs and titles of works.  I ended up working on a fiction sketch from the choices in my list:
"I saw the other monks whisper as I refused dinner again.  There is nothing to say, which is why I remain silent except for chanting in the evening as prayer.

There is no solace from thinking about the way they treated Brother Thomas.  None.  He was fourteen, taken in as an orphan.  He was confused.  His elders should have reached out to him in love."

Stop 4:  Cup of Joe
Here we ate treats and talked, so we did less writing, but we did finish with about ten minutes.  The exciting thing about this stop was that I got to start a new notebook.  I filled up one notebook between April and now, which is the most I've written in a while.  There are some good seeds there, and it gives me some motivation to finish this next one.
 "Equations are freeing as problems with minimal consequences if we can only value the wonder of a solution and the human brain.   Kids always look at me like I'm crazy when I impart how joyful learning is--how exciting that they get to come all day and learn for free!"

So there are some snippets from our afternoon of writing.  I think this could work with any creative outlet--drawing, painting, photography, and it's a great way to set aside time to do it.  Any other fun suggestions to keep creative juices flowing?

Summer has arrived.

This is why I love summer:

I have time in the morning to make steel-cut oats, even if I didn't pre-soak them, and I have a stocked refrigerator and pantry so I can throw blueberries in and top them with walnuts and yogurt.

The relaxed mode of summer is ideal for reflection, but I've found over the past several summers that I can easily whittle away at my free time and feel like I didn't accomplish anything.  Now that the wedding is over, my scheduled class meetings are over, and I'm home for five weeks without scheduled activity, it's time to think through how I want to spend my days.  One problem I have had in the past is that I let myself do things I just want to do (like watch the Sopranos) that don't have any impact on me meeting my long-term goals.  I wanted to articulate some of my goals for the summer here so that I set out to work toward them.  I also considered the best way to meet my goals and thought about scheduling time each day on separate components, but I don't think that's the best way to go for me.  What I'd like to do instead is schedule each week on Monday that includes time for specific components.  I also know that one key thing for me is to included unashamed free time so that I don't feel like I'm scheduling my summer away.

These are the general goals I articulated earlier in my notebook, by category:

Cook:

*Bake our bread all summer.  There's no reason to buy when I have so much time on my hands.

*Preserve something from our CSA bounty--spaghetti sauce, pickles, corn... I'm not sure what, but I want to freeze or can something to use at a later time.

Read:

*Continue generating a list of "to-reads."

*Compose annotated bibliography for new master's research and start working through it.

*Read Canterbury Tales and Frankenstein in preparation for my M.A. Comps in February.

House: 

*Deep Clean the whole place.  This includes our disgusting windows that no one has bothered to clean in years.

*Make the living room, master bedroom, and porch desirable places to hang out. (They sort of feel like we just moved in.)

*Re-paint the upstairs bathroom.  (Much needed as 100 years of paint is currently peeling off the walls.  I believe I will tackle this next week.)

*Hang art and photos.

Write:

*I'd like to figure out a writer's notebook routine that works.  I think this will involve research of different ways to work on it and seek which I like the best.

*Write a few pieces about teaching and unions that I've been thinking about.

*Polish and submit at least 3 pieces for publication somewhere.  I had a student pressure me about publication this year--"It's so easy to submit," she said.  "You have no excuse."  She is right.  I can only be rejected if I actually try to submit something.

Teach:

*Writing for Publication syllabus/plan

*Block Standards into quarters and figure out my portfolio grading system

*Work on revamping first month of lessons

*Read as much YA Literature as possible to prep for new year.

Other:

*Run a 5K sometime in September (I need to look at possibilities and sign up for a race.)

Goals for the Week:

1.  Finish cleaning and putting away wedding gifts, recycle all packaging, and finish thank you notes.

2.  Try writing by hand on a daily basis with sketches.

3.  Go to library to pick up copies of books for comps and books about student reflection; complete as many requirements as possible for summer class.

4.  Pick out paint chips for upstairs bath and research steps I will need to take to properly repair, clean, and prime surfaces.

5.  Wash five windows in the house.  I have to start somewhere.