Creating a New Space

At the end of this month, this blog will celebrate its 7th year. It is hard to believe that I have been sharing words in this space for that long.

I have grown as a writer, a poet, and a storyteller. When I think about why I started this blog, my answer is simply because I wanted to share a day in my life as a reader, a writer, and a teacher, and I wanted to join a community of writers.

I still want to continue writing here, but this space has grown and needs to be pruned a bit. So, I will continue to share stories and poems and reflections about my life, but my teaching life is moving to a new space.

This week I will be creating space on another blog called Pencils, Pages, and Practices. My goal is for this space is to become a place to share ideas, resources, and what I am learning and doing in my classroom. I hope you will continue to join me here AND check out my new corner in the teaching world, too!

Weekend Verbs #SOSMagic

Sometimes I just need a time-out. Time for me. Time to do what I want, when I want, and why I want.

And try hard not to think it selfish.

With so much time at home and school being "officially" out, scrolling through social media and getting sucked into its toxic hold was taking up too much of my time. Last weekend I took a personal time-out, and I unplugged for almost three days.

Do you know what I learned?

• The world continues with or without me scrolling through it.
• My personal productivity increased.
• It wasn't as difficult as what I thought it would be.
• I was happier.
• Returning takes discipline.
• I didn't miss it.

Sunday night I sat with my notebook and wrote my weekend verbs, all the things I did instead of plugging in.

I made time to:

walk
plant
transplant
water
fertilize
smile
read
write
celebrate
sleep
grill
relax
lounge
(sun)burn
talk
collaborate
soak
eat
swing
rock
observe
laugh
drive

BE

Maybe time-outs aren't such a bad thing after all!

I’m joining an open community of writers over at Sharing Our Stories: Magic in a Blog. If you write (or want to write) just for the magic of it, consider this your invitation to join us. #sosmagic