Memories of the First Times I Identified as a Writer
- When I was in the third grade, we were assigned some sort of sentence writing with vocabulary words as homework. The next day in class, we each took a turn reading one of our sentences aloud. I don’t remember what my sentence was exactly, but I know I used personification for some silly object like the remote control in my sentence and when I read it aloud the whole class laughed. I was so confused by their laughter because the sentence made sense to me when I wrote it and I didn’t know what I had done wrong. Thankfully, Mrs. Robinson, my teacher, used this moment to teach a lesson on personification and asked the class to come up with other sentences to use as examples. She later pulled me aside to compliment my writing and encourage me to continue with it if I enjoyed it.
- Later that year I took a creative writing class. I remember feeling wonderfully confident when I was writing and specifically remember confessing that I hoped I never stopped telling stories with words.
Favorite Music to Write To
Places I Love to Write
- Twice I’ve escaped to a friend’s cabin on a lake a short drive away to battle a creative block. Both trips have resulted in a feeling resolved before we left for home.
- At the table on the back porch. As shown last summer.
Etsy Gifts for the Writer in Your Life
- Make Time for Writing Doodle Print. A great reminder for every writer – It’s important!
- Dictionary Dice. A game for getting through writers block! Great idea for a DIY gift, too!
Activities to Choose from to Celebrate Writing:
- Create a Mind Map. Do you remember mind mapping? It’s a technique I still use today when I’m working out the beginning stages of an topic. Here’s a great post on how to create a mind map visual tool! You can make your mind map for any sort of topic that you want to creative plan through. I’m going to be mind mapping my priorities and goals for spring!
- Bloggers, accept the Healthy Living Tuesdays challenge for April. Write a post about your Favorite Fitness Tools at some point this month, then link up with us at HLB the last Tuesday of the month to show off how you creatively tackled the topic.
Celebrate Writing Bonus Activities to Choose From:
- Support an 826 National Chapter in your region. 826 National is a nonprofit organization that provides strategic leadership, administration, and other resources to ensure the success of its network of eight writing and tutoring centers.
- Support Write Girl. There are several different ways to give to this organization which helps girls write their way to more positive futures. You can donate money directly, give by shopping at Ralph’s or iGive, or purchase one of the Write Girl anthologies or other books.
Books Which Had a Large Impact on My Writing
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. Anne Lamott has been a great literary and spiritual mentor to my adult life. I often find myself recommending Bird by Bird to my friends who write. Her books and essays on faith are great reads, too.
- Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life changed the way I understand storytelling.
Celebrate Writing Extra Resources:
- 5 Ways to Beat Writers Block from SITS Girls
- How to Write Courageously from Marta Writes [I keep this post visible in my Chrome bookmark bar and reread it often!]
p.s. some of the items I share [because I love them & think you’ll love them, too!] and link to on this post are available for sale in my amazon affiliate store. I’d love if you made amazon purchases through my store – you can search and shop for ANY item on Amazon as you normally would, by following this link. It helps to keep THS alive and well. xo
