Frustrated Writer #1

I just spent 45 minutes composing my thinking about the Atlanta cheating scandal and was just about ready to post.  It was a good one–I had checked names and included details, and it was really coming together.  I liked it.   I was trying to add a link to the draft and somehow I lost the entire post.  Poof…gone.

I want to S-C-R-E-A-M.

So, I am now out of deep thoughts related to education and am working on a true journal entry of being a frustrated writer.  I think this feeling of pure disappointment, angst, and just being mad is important to note because our younger writers will feel the same things as they work to create and share their thinking with us across the next year.  I am a spoiled writer and I have learned to compose at the computer in a very quick manner.  Most of our student writers start out on paper, so they won’t actually lose the drafts.  Unfortunately, they may lose their ideas, thinking, etc.  (I have taught a few that would physically lose the draft, too!)  They may hit a brick wall, lose their vision, or just run out of steam.

Regardless, we must proceed as writers.

That is the only message we can send our writers and that is what I just told myself.  I must proceed with writing tonight even though I just lost a beautiful draft. It stinks, but continuing to push my thinking and keeping my hands on the keys (pen to paper) will help work out the kinks.  Writing is therapeutic in so many ways.  We learn so much about ourselves by writing that cannot be observed by others.  We find that inner voice that can get lost in the ordinary hustle bustle of the day and seeing our thinking on paper raises awareness of one’s self and develops ideas simultaneously.

So tonight’s blog is not earth-shattering and my thoughts on the Atlanta scandal may never see the light of day.  However, I am more in touch with my “inner writer” than ever, thanks to some technical problems.  When working with students this year who are frustrated, I will remember this night and my frame of mind and how I held my face in my hands and stared at the computer.  And then I will tell them to proceed.