It is March 16th, which means that I have completed 15 of the 31 blog posts in my first-ever Slice of Life Challenge. Today, I'm taking a moment to ponder my feelings about accepting this challenge.
There are days when I love blogging. These are the days when I feel connected to a world of other writers whose words encourage and inspire me. These are days when the words just flow and my only problem is that I can't move my fingers across the keyboard fast enough to keep up with the thoughts pouring out of my brain. These are the days when I realize that I've been "thinking like a writer" and seeing details in life I would have missed only 16 days ago.
But to be honest, there are some days when I don't love it. There are days when I give up on the idea of ideas pouring out of my head and just pray for a trickle...something...anything. There are days when I spend thirty or forty minutes writing, only to re-read what I wrote and then delete it all, discouraged by the blank screen staring back at me.
After contemplating my love-hate relationship with blogging, I have come to this conclusion:
That first set of days is wonderful. They are the days when I have the most warm-fuzzy writer feelings. But, I believe that perhaps the second set of days--the ones others might call "bad"--are the ones that keep me coming back. The days when it is hard remind me of the reason I accepted this challenge in the first place. When I struggle to improve my own writing craft in my native language, I am reminded of the difficulties my past and future students (will) face as they write in a second language. When I discover ways to improve my own writing, I think of future opportunities I will have to share these discoveries with students. When I fear that people will think my writing is sub-par, I think of those kids who have certainly felt similarly. And so, I'm glad that I accepted the SOL Challenge 16 days ago! It is most certainly a challenge, but it is a rewarding one.