When going to Seminary* back in high school, I remember seeing on a classmate's desk the quote, "You don't have to read the scriptures everyday, just on the days that you breathe." I'd seen a similar sentiment elsewhere. "You don't have to practice piano every day..." or "You don't have to practice basketball..." or "You don't have to do art..." or whatever else. And in a lot of ways, that's what's wonderful about that sentiment: It doesn't matter what you plug into the blank, if you truly care about something, if you love it and want to excel at it, you have to inhabit it.
The last nine months have been interesting for me. I'm now at the close of an experiment that I decided to begin in August of 2016. I toyed with writing daily for a half week or so, but really began the experiment in earnest on 23 August 2016 in which I talked about beginning my ninth year as a teacher. I wrote it in the morning, before classes had started. It isn't a lot, but it is, in a lot of ways, the beginning of a new addiction in myself, a new way to breathe. I've become entranced with writing non-fiction. These essays have been a fantastic resource for me to think, to plan, to expand my writing. Some of it has been polemical. Some has been motivational. I've written memoir, analyses, and critiques. I've done a tiny bit of creative fiction.** In other words, I've put down a lot of words, and that has made me a better person.
All of this has happened because a woman I respect and admire said that she wrote an essay a day. What? I remember thinking. How can she have time to do that? Then I remembered that she's part time and her family doesn't live at home any more, so she has fewer excuses. But then I remembered that I can figure out ways of being better, and it won't come without sacrifice, without trial, without attempt. So I decided, during that week of training before the school year began, to invest in my writing in ways that were different than I've thought of before.
I began to write these essays.
Some are rubbish. Most are trash. A couple are pretty good. None has been revised (except an after-the-fact typo that I noticed here or there). I feel like I understand music videos, some movies, and my religion a little bit better. I think I've grown as a teacher by writing down my thoughts and ideas here. I know that I've started conversations, some of which I've elected to remove myself from, while in others I have continued to grow and converse. I've found a refuge for my voice in this quiet corner of the internet, knowing that I'm exposing my thoughts in ways that are much more open and personal than I do in almost any other place in my life. (I have a private "journal" that I write in weekly that is the only place where I'm more honest than I am here. I don't let anyone--even my wife (much to her irritation)--see it.)
The thing about the quote "You don't have to write every day, just on the days that you breathe" is that it's correct this way, but by following it, the reverse becomes true, too. The days where I had to--for one reason or another--skip my daily writing were unpleasant. Yes, sometimes I disliked having to sit down at the computer instead of in front of the TV or PlayStation, but I always felt better about writing than I did with the other task. That dedication has made it so that the days I breathe are the days I want to write. If nothing else, I'm learning that I don't have to wait to be "an author" to be a writer.
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* For the curious, LDS high school kids go to a Church-run Seminary from 9th to 12th grade. In most places on the planet, this is an early morning class, taught by a volunteer in her/his home. In almost every quarter of Utah, the Church builds their own buildings just off of the school's campus and pays full time staff--secretarial and instructors--to teach the courses. Every year the Seminary studies one of the four pillars of Mormon scripture: Old Testament, New Testament, Another Testament (Book of Mormon), and Modern Testament (Pearl of Great Price/Doctrine and Covenants). By the end of the four years of high school, Mormon kids who graduate from the Seminary program are considered ministers of their religion, having studied it in a formal, academic setting. You can find out more here.
** Were I not so lazy, I'd link these different essays. Alas, you aren't in the universe with the proactive Lord Dowdle, so you'll have to shift through over a hundred essays if you want to find what I'm talking about.
The last nine months have been interesting for me. I'm now at the close of an experiment that I decided to begin in August of 2016. I toyed with writing daily for a half week or so, but really began the experiment in earnest on 23 August 2016 in which I talked about beginning my ninth year as a teacher. I wrote it in the morning, before classes had started. It isn't a lot, but it is, in a lot of ways, the beginning of a new addiction in myself, a new way to breathe. I've become entranced with writing non-fiction. These essays have been a fantastic resource for me to think, to plan, to expand my writing. Some of it has been polemical. Some has been motivational. I've written memoir, analyses, and critiques. I've done a tiny bit of creative fiction.** In other words, I've put down a lot of words, and that has made me a better person.
All of this has happened because a woman I respect and admire said that she wrote an essay a day. What? I remember thinking. How can she have time to do that? Then I remembered that she's part time and her family doesn't live at home any more, so she has fewer excuses. But then I remembered that I can figure out ways of being better, and it won't come without sacrifice, without trial, without attempt. So I decided, during that week of training before the school year began, to invest in my writing in ways that were different than I've thought of before.
I began to write these essays.
Some are rubbish. Most are trash. A couple are pretty good. None has been revised (except an after-the-fact typo that I noticed here or there). I feel like I understand music videos, some movies, and my religion a little bit better. I think I've grown as a teacher by writing down my thoughts and ideas here. I know that I've started conversations, some of which I've elected to remove myself from, while in others I have continued to grow and converse. I've found a refuge for my voice in this quiet corner of the internet, knowing that I'm exposing my thoughts in ways that are much more open and personal than I do in almost any other place in my life. (I have a private "journal" that I write in weekly that is the only place where I'm more honest than I am here. I don't let anyone--even my wife (much to her irritation)--see it.)
The thing about the quote "You don't have to write every day, just on the days that you breathe" is that it's correct this way, but by following it, the reverse becomes true, too. The days where I had to--for one reason or another--skip my daily writing were unpleasant. Yes, sometimes I disliked having to sit down at the computer instead of in front of the TV or PlayStation, but I always felt better about writing than I did with the other task. That dedication has made it so that the days I breathe are the days I want to write. If nothing else, I'm learning that I don't have to wait to be "an author" to be a writer.
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* For the curious, LDS high school kids go to a Church-run Seminary from 9th to 12th grade. In most places on the planet, this is an early morning class, taught by a volunteer in her/his home. In almost every quarter of Utah, the Church builds their own buildings just off of the school's campus and pays full time staff--secretarial and instructors--to teach the courses. Every year the Seminary studies one of the four pillars of Mormon scripture: Old Testament, New Testament, Another Testament (Book of Mormon), and Modern Testament (Pearl of Great Price/Doctrine and Covenants). By the end of the four years of high school, Mormon kids who graduate from the Seminary program are considered ministers of their religion, having studied it in a formal, academic setting. You can find out more here.
** Were I not so lazy, I'd link these different essays. Alas, you aren't in the universe with the proactive Lord Dowdle, so you'll have to shift through over a hundred essays if you want to find what I'm talking about.