Writer's Notebook: Where Writing Comes From

MAIN POINT:

I should have started writing in a journal sooner. I have become more observant, more empathetic, and more understanding in this very short period of time (and less irritated with things I can not control).

"Something Beautiful"

My entry about something beautiful was a couple petals from the flowers I had gotten at the farmer's market a couple days ago. In my journal, I taped two petals on the paper- one that had fallen off the flowers and one that I (very carefully) plucked off myself, feeling guilty as I did. I wrote about how things on this earth all tend to happen in seasons of life. I wanted to make a visual representation for myself that everyone's life (my flower petals) are in different stages but all get to the same point (inevitable death). The one petal was brown and green, turned from the full blown yellow. The freshly stolen flower petal was bright yellow and still looked alive. Today, they are both dead, flat, brown and green with some yellow still peaking through, and taped inside of my writer's journal.

I have needed some reminding lately not to compare myself to others or their success and know that everyone has a different timeline and will get there when they get there. For example, I saw a post online about a talk show host firing Oprah at 23 years old. Like HELLO- imagine being the one to fire Oprah??

All of us humans are on this planet to do great things. Same orbit, same flower, but some of us might fall off the flower sooner. Some of us will get fired at 23 and become the most famous talk show host or some of us might not get fired at 23 and still become the best we want to be. Trusting in yourself and my own goals is something I am focusing on in my writing journal right now.

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Draft of "Where I am From"

I am from Tennessee Vols colored fishing lures

from Carhart and Adidas

I am from the smell of wet dogs on a farm, in the valley with mountains on all sides

foggy yet colorful,

It sounded as if all the birds were right outside your window I am from the dogwood flower,

the honeysuckle tree, that we only ate in the treehouse on summer mornings

I’m from the breakfast casseroles on Christmas and bossing older cousins around

From Ruth and Witt

and Michael Allen I’m from the "write it down"s and

"get ready to roll"s.

From "be the sunshine" and "don't tell your brother he was adopted" (because he wasn't)

I’m from the by and by, we aren't meant to know the answers

I’m from Berrywood Drive and country roads, deer meat and homemade jams.

From the firefighter who didn't pay as much attention as he should've

the mother who was kinder for it, and

the grandfather that gave up a lifestyle to stay.

Under the fireplace and at the end of the bed, in a chest of pure cedar.

I am from these people and the choices we have all made- piled onto one another- paving our way in this life.

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Shortcut by Donald Crews 

The first thing I noticed about this book was the inside cover pages. They said "KLAKITY-KLAK" over and over again in black and brown coloring. It made me already wonder and assume what this story was going to be about. I thought maybe a train, railroad tracks, or someone "chugging along" through life (this was a stretch but those journal entries have gotten me interpreting things differently lately). I was right about the railroad tracks, that was on the very first page! The author's tone at the beginning of the book was suspicious and regretful already, saying how the children "should not have taken the train tracks" and the road instead. The author later alludes again to something not good happening when they mention AGAIN that the children passed the cut-off going to the road knowingly. It made me wonder what was going to happen- I almost wanted to skip pages. Then the children hear a train come and have to quickly decide what to do. The children jump off the tracks and onto a slope, disregarding the dangers that the slope holds.

I think this part in the story represents how sometimes to avoid a sudden threat we do something reckless to get out of the "now bad" and worry about repercussions of that action later.

Overall, I think this book is a great way to teach children about the risks we take and the potential of what can happen when you take "shortcuts" in life, with school work, with friends, and how it can change you!

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Brown Girl Dreaming pp. 43-138 

This page of "Brown Girl Dreaming" made me think hard about my past and how I have learned everything I have learned. As well as how everything I have taught has been interpreted and learned as well. We all learn based on what we already know- having an experience to attach a new fact or thing to. I think this excerpt proves that theory we have been learning with association.

This page is STRONG. Other than talking about civil rights and the struggles there, I think this can relate to kids in more ways as well. For example, don't we all have somewhere where we genuinely feel like we "belong"? There will always be places where we, as humans, feel like we do belong more and belong in some places less. This could be because of the people, the food, the habits, the way people talk, or even just where you are.

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Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal pp. 101-129;

During this reading, I actually went a bit over. I couldn't stop and was not paying attention to the page numbers! This week, I finally mustled up the courage to give the paper from our first reading to a stranger (I made a copy because I couldn't possibly tear a page out of a book) and it was the sweetest experience! I had already told some friends to read this book and how amazing it was, but it wasn't really what Amy Krouse Rosenthal had in mind I don't think. So I followed her rules. I was walking my parents' dogs around the lake this past weekend and gave the sheet to an young but older than me woman. I was so impressed with how normal the stranger took it. I told her about myself, what I was doing with my education, and that I promise I wasn't crazy. I left my phone number on the page and told her to text me if she did get the book and liked it.

To my surprise, she texted me a couple days after and told me she was in a book club with other women in the neighborhood that bordered the lake. She believed in things like this (referring to what I did by giving her the sheet of paper) and ordered the book for her entire book club. She said she started reading it before they do it as a group and wanted to thank me- that it was just what she needed. So thank you, Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

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