Hello everyone and welcome to Teachers Write 2016!!!! I'm super excited to be able to take part again this year and cheer you on every Monday with some food for thought and a prompt to warm you up for a week of writing!

Recently one of my students wrote to me to ask for some encouragement because she was "stuck" and struggling with believing in herself and the story she was trying to write. She worried she might not pass. She worried she couldn't write this thing she had so desperately wanted to write back at the beginning of the semester. It all felt too big. Too hard. Too overwhelming.

Basically, she was going through what all of us go through at one time or another: The great writer freakout. I actually think hitting this moment is a BIG deal because it means, well, it means you have reached another step toward becoming a dedicated WRITER! You care! You want your work to do something that matters! You want it to be the best it can be!

OK, that's great. So now how do you get unstuck?

Here's what I wrote to this wonderful student...

Dear [student]:

As your mentor, what I want most for you is to see that you have grown over the course of the semester. What does that mean? All sorts of stuff, but here are a few possibilities, which hopefully might spark something in you as you struggle with creating new work, or linger on something you feel isn't quite "there" yet:

It means that you try new things.
Revise the hell out of something that just doesn't make you proud yet.
Take risks.
Push yourself to write about something you're afraid to.
Explore form.
Conquer a weakness you've been struggling with, such as passive voice.
Surprise yourself and me with a new twist.
Discover the kernel of truth you've been trying to get at all along.
Write something that makes you uncomfortable.
Make connections.
Weave in a theme in a subtle, beautiful way.
Write something suspenseful.
Write something quiet and intimate.
Have your character realize something unexpected.
Have your character do something that hurts.
Think about regrets. But also pride.
Think about how you want this character to grow.

I hope this helps! You can do this. Make a schedule for yourself. If you're too tired at night, maybe try getting up earlier and write before work. If you put in just 30 solid minutes every day, you should be able to meet your goals. Put in a solid hour every day, and you will be golden. You can do this!!!!! Did I say that already? Oh yes. I did. Because it's true!!! :)

Sending lots of strength and encouragement,

Jo

Dear teachers, I hope that any time you feel stuck during this wonderful camp we've created together you will revisit this letter. Sometimes writing is easy. Sometimes writing is painfully hard. But always, writing will show you something about yourself or the world that you might never have known if you hadn't tried in the first place. I wish you all the best as you set out to discover what that beautiful surprising possibly painful but maybe even life-changing thing is.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday Morning Warm-Up:

Choose at least one of the items from my list above and reflect on why it is important to you to try, and how you might achieve it. If you feel brave, please share in the comments to help inspire others! Keep your reflection with you during your writing sessions to reflect back on when you have a tough writing day. Remember why you are doing this, and then try again.

Here we go!

Love,

Jo