Reading Anne Lamott this week has been refreshing. I appreciate her sarcastic and dry sense of humor. I've caught myself actually laughing out loud as I've been reading it. In addition to enjoying her sarcasm, I've been struck by her description of the writing process. I was hung up when she began to describe the writing process and went on to talk about staring at the computer screen, listening to voices of anxiety, judgment, doom, guilt, and severe hypochondria (p. 7). She goes on to write, "You hold an imaginary gun to your head and make yourself stay at the desk. There is a vague pain at the base of your neck. It crosses your mind that you have meningitis" (p. 7). As I read this passage, I thought to myself, "Holy cow, it's like she's inside my head and knows exactly how I feel when I'm asked to write a paper." It was powerful for me to read that and know it's a common experience, even for those who make their living by writing.
As I was reading through Routman's Writing Essentials, I was struck by how much of her advice for strong writing aligns with advice for strong teaching in general. Simplifying your teaching, not only for writing but all subjects, will make the material more accessible to students. Celebrating your students, for academic abilities, personal strengths, etc. makes for a richer classroom community. Similarly, sharing your life with your students makes you more accessible to them and helps strengthen your community. I appreciated Routman's tips for helping create a classroom that is full of celebrated writers, but I ultimately feel that her advice chould be applied outside writing to teaching in general.
Reading this segment in Lamott I could also relate to the experience of staring at the blank screen or sheet of paper with an aching, paralyzing, dullness upon occasion. “Forcing” writing, staying in front of the computer and just pushing through with the task of writing when there is no inspiration, feels much like pulling nails for me; arduous, slow work with little or no reward. The quality of written work truly suffers when produced under such conditions, often feeling disjointed and unloved (which it often is, if gotten so). On the other side of the spectrum, the author can endow so much of himself in the written piece that it comes as no surprise how personal writing can feel. Yet the love from the author towards a certain piece is no guarantee of its success. How ironic it must feel to find the unwanted child becoming popular (published) and the most cherished one not making it past the editors/publishers trash bin.
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