Every semester, I sit down with my students for a one-on-one writing conference. In that conference, I ask them questions about their writing process like: what do you do when you write, do you ever scrap something and start over, how do you know when it’s done? Inevitably, we end up talking about why they don’t perceive themselves as writers, but simply as “students of writing.” While there’s nothing wrong with being a student of writing as we all have to start there, a shift can occur in all our writing when we begin to see ourselves as writers with an audience, writing for the purposes of communicating with someone on the other side of the paper or the screen. I always hope that in illuminating that shift for my students, I can help them find a true purpose and audience for their writing, one that moves beyond writing for a grade and helps them see how empowering it can be to write to communicate. Truthfully, though, I have talked a good game for years, but I have not sat down and written for those same purposes of communication in far too long. So, today, I’ve decided to write, not as a “teacher of writing,” but as a writer, reaching out to a virtual audience through my words and ideas.
My hesitation to write in this kind of public way probably stems from some kind of self-consciousness that plagues every creative mind. Not since I attempted to write a novel on the old IBM Selectric typewriter I borrowed from my father’s office have I had the hubris or the bravado to put word to page. Of course, in those days the chances of anyone reading a few typewritten pages from a ten-year-old, so the specter of the internet makes this endeavor even more frightening. The fact someone might actually read these words one day scares me into being very careful about what I say and how I say it. Yet, I’ve also learned from my students that we need to write in order to figure out what we think. Sometimes, it is only through writing (or talking with another person face-to-face) that we consider our ideas in the context of an audience, thus forcing us to reckon with what we believe based on the words we write. I hope that in writing for all of you, whomever you may be, I will come to terms with more of my thinking about and my understanding of the world around me.
This blog will be my attempt at trying to do more now because I’m not getting younger, nor is my writing getting better just sitting here. Eventually, I hope to see the fruits of this labor as they blossom into better writing and even more experience and expertise to share with my students. Calling one’s self a writer means staking a claim for your ideas and your voice. I think I’m ready to try to admit I have things to say and I can develop a voice to say them. Thank you for being my audience and for giving me a virtual person to communicate with so that I might figure out how much I have to share.