Writing to Learn, Learning to Write

In January, I found a writing challenge that encouraged people to write just one sentence a day. Just one sentence. How hard could that be? So, on January 1st, I wrote a sentence. And on January 2 and 3, and 4,5 too. OK, it was kind of easy because I was on winter break, we weren’t traveling, so there was plenty of time in the day to write. I even started to write two and three sentences at a clip! I kept up my daily writing habit through the first week back at school. I was feeling good. I had written every day for twelve days. But then I missed a day…and then another…and now it’s January 20! So today I’m pledging to get back to it. I want to write. I enjoy writing. I find it hard, but I really like working through the problems and creating something that works. I’m even in a writing group now. So here we are….getting back to it.

Four towels hanging in the bathroom.

Four napkins on the table.

Four pairs of shoes by the door.

This is the way I like my house to look. All four of us home. All four of us together. Now that the girls are grown and living their own big lives, this is no longer the way the house looks on a daily basis. But when they are home, even if it’s just for a night or a weekend, I stop to celebrate these small things. When the girls head back to the city, I leave the towels hanging and the napkins on the table for a day or two before throwing them in the washing machine. I want to hang on to these moments just a little bit longer.

On Saturday morning, the weather was so beautiful that we ate our breakfast outside on the porch, pink tulips gracing the table.

On Sunday morning, I snuggled on the couch in the living room with one of my daughters.  We researched skin care routines and tried to figure out how we could create a routine that was both effective and cheap.  We had a plan.

On Sunday afternoon, I walked the dog and felt a bit weak along the way.

On Sunday night, I was in the ER with a low heart rate.

On Tuesday afternoon, I had a pacemaker placed in my chest with wires running to my heart.

Life. 

You just never know what’s around the corner.

It’s March 31.  The final day of the TWT SOLC.  I made it!  I sliced every single day for 31 straight days.  I’m so glad I joined this challenge again and returned to this community for another month of daily slicing.  

A reflection on the month:

-It really wasn’t hard for me to come up with 31 topics to write about this year.  I don’t know why that is.  I usually start to struggle by mid March. Maybe it’s true that when you set a goal, commit to a new daily practice and make space in your life to make things happen, you can achieve miracles. 

-I didn’t create a theme or a project this year.  I just tried out different topics and different formats.  I wrote about animals (dogs, cats, and birds), people (family and friends), rituals (snowflakes, candles, breakfast), craft projects (crochet), and, of course, teaching and learning.  I tried short slices, poems, lists, and even some of the formats that other slicers had tried. I wrote about happy times and hard moments.  I wrote about hanging on and letting go, about aging, and even about retirement.  I really enjoyed this kind of wandering around in my brain.  I think it was good for me.

-I commented on a few posts every day.  I tried to include both people and slicers I know well and slicers I hadn’t met before.  

-I was lifted up and inspired by comments that I received.  The comments made me feel like I was part of something bigger than myself; something important and beautiful.

-Now that the SOLC is over, I’m thinking about what my writing habit can look like.  Should I keep trying to write something every day?  Should I take a writing class to push myself in some new directions?  Should I go back to the weekly SOLC?  

All in all, I enjoyed the March 2025 challenge.  I got to know other people in new and surprising ways.  I found some calm in the storm that is swirling around us right now. I learned some new things, and I got to know myself just a little bit better.

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for this community, this challenge, and this space

I’m a list maker.  Wallace’s Lists by Bottner and Kruglick is one of my all time favorite picture books. I’m sure I’ve written about list making before. I don’t know what it is about a good list, but it can be extremely satisfying.  I sit at my desk in the kitchen and write down what I want to accomplish, star a few of the most important items, and quickly start crossing things off.  My list always includes things that don’t really need to be written down on a list, like walk dog or wash hair.  I always walk the dog, and I’m not going to forget to wash my hair! These items are on the list so that I can have the pleasure of crossing them off! There are always a few things that remain undone on the list at the end of the day, so what do I do? I start a new list!

Our April break is coming up in a few weeks.  It’s time for the “What to do on April Break” list. 

-Things I want to do in NYC

Visit a few museums (see museum list) – Cooper Hewitt is on the top

Visit the High Line with my friend Liz  (She has never been and asked if we could go together in the spring.)

Catch a lunch or dinner with the girls

Check out the cherry blossoms (Brooklyn Botanical Gardens or in Central Park)

-Take a tennis lesson

-Work in the gardens

-Exercise daily

-Start a new book

-Post slices for our school SOLC

-Plan for Easter (Start a shopping list.)

This is just a start.  I know I will add and delete a few items as we get closer to the break. But it’s a list, and that, in and of itself, makes me happy.

I love to make breakfast. I love it even more when our daughters are home.

As a family, we’ve always loved to gather around a good, hot breakfast.  When the girls were younger and  living at home, we made a point of eating breakfast together. No matter how busy the mornings were, with Tim and I working, the girls going to school and then working, we always sat down and had our first meal of the day together. It became a nice tradition; a way to gather, to hear everyone’s plan for the day, and then to head off into the world, stomachs and hearts full.

So, when one or both of the girls are home, I make a nice breakfast.  Before heading up to bed in the evening, I ask  “What would you like for breakfast tomorrow?” Last night, our older daughter was home.  I asked the breakfast question. 

“What about scones?” she replied.

“Do you want me to make bacon?” Tim chimed in.

“Eggs?” I added.

The menu was set.

I can’t wait for our Saturday breakfast.

Sometimes there are no words

For a friend who is facing the hardest time of her life.

Sometimes there are no words

To heal or to help

Sometimes there are no words

To understand

Sometimes the only words are

I’m here.

Our fourth graders are studying poetry for the next few weeks.  Yesterday, I heard the teachers talking about how the kids were going to be writing cinquains.  Oh, there’s a slice idea.  (I’m running low on day #27.) I don’t know if I’ve ever written one of these form poems.  Let’s give it a go.

No thoughts

On this morning

Maybe write a cinquain

Two, four, six, eight, two, syllables

No thoughts

Let’s try again.

Morning

Coffee wakes me

The sun slowly rising

A new day lies ahead of us

Hope dawns

Better.

I love starting a new book. I love reading the title and looking at the cover illustration and thinking about the journey I’m about to experience. I am always interested in the dedication and sometimes a poem or quote the author has included before the story begins. What is the author hinting at here? How will this fit with what’s to come? I also enjoy meeting new characters in a safe space and visiting new places and time periods. Who are these people? What makes them tick? Where will they go? What will happen to them as we move through the story together? What will happen to me?

Last night I started the book The Wedding People by Alison Espach. A friend recommended it. The author actually grew up in the town where we both live. My friend has invited me to hear the author speak at our local library in a few weeks, so I wanted to read the book before I go to this event.

Title and cover: Wedding People is the title, and the cover is an illustration of water with a hand sticking up out of the water making a peace sign while the other hand is holding a champagne bottle. (To be honest, I would not have picked this book up on my own. The title and cover illustration do not draw me in. I really don’t want to read a book about a bunch of drunk people at a wedding, so I’m hoping that’s not what I’m in for.)

Dedication: To all the strangers who made a dreary moment magical – Hmmm. I’m interested. Was her wedding dreary, but somehow strangers made it OK?

Quote:

It was awful, he cried, awful, awful!

Still, the sun was hot. Still, one got over things.

Still, life had a way of adding day to day.

-Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway

I like books that give me hope. This quote made me think that maybe dark things will happen, but that the characters will be OK in the end…Maybe? Or does the character just end up living day to day. That could be depressing.

Characters and Setting: Phoebe (a name I love), recently divorced, has arrived at a hotel in Newport, Rhode Island for the wedding of high school friends, Lila and Gary. On these first few pages, I am meeting guests and the bride as we wait to check in to the hotel.

And off I go, into another story! I’m hoping it’s a good one!

 Birds seem to be taking center stage this past week on TWT’s SOLC.  Slicers have written about birds who poop on cars and porches, not wanting to encourage bluebirds because they bang on windows, and bird cams capturing everything that is happening in a Peregrine falcon nest.

Owls have been taking center stage for me.  Last week, I suggested that a fellow slicer consider putting fake owls on her cars to scare away the birds (the ones that are pooping on her cars and porch).  Last night, as I was writing another slice about collective nouns (parliament of owls being my first example), I heard a sound outside the kitchen window.  I recognized the hoo…hooooo……….hooo hooo right away!  I yelled to my husband, “Raoul has returned!!!”  We threw on our coats, grabbed the flashlight, turned off the outside lights, and went out into the night.  Hoo…hoooooo…hooo hoo Raoul called, first from the left and a few minutes later from the right. We missed it.  He must have just flown from one side of the yard to the other (Do you know that owls make no sound when they fly?)!  We tried to find our favorite Barred Own friend with the flashlight (trying desperately to have an Owl Moon moment – If you know, you know.), but to no avail.  

Raoul spent the better part of the night hoo hooooing, not to be seen by human eyes.  We are so happy to have our owl back. We’ve missed him so.

(Pronounced Ra – ool, the ow-ool)