Stop & Look Around You: THAT’S WHAT WRITERS DO!

I attended the Teachers College Summer Institute on the Teaching of Writing last week. I’ll be blogging about it A LOT in the days (probably weeks, since I have about 100 pages of notes) to come. One thing that strikes me is that nearly every instructor echoed the same message: you need to pay attention to the little things around you and let yourself take notice of them because that’s what writers do.

Stacey Fell said, “We find significance in ordinary moments. An ordinary moment can become an opportunity to record everything we see/hear. And then we can take that and push ourselves to have a big idea about the things we’re surrounded by.”

Ralph Fletcher said, “A writer is not someone who has an extraordinary life. A writer finds interesting stories in their ordinary life.”

So here are two ordinary things that happened to me in the span of 30 minutes yesterday morning. These are things I can push myself to make more out of in my notebook and could potentially develop into a piece of writing.
1. I believe in the kindness of strangers. When I got on the M4 Bus at 125th St. and Broadway, I asked the driver if he stopped at 120th Street. He said the next stop was 122nd Street and the one after that was 116th St. I groaned. He asked what was wrong. I told him that I fell and hurt my back a few days before. He declared, “Well then, the next stop is 120th Street!” I was in disbelief. My mouth thanked him… I wish my back could’ve!
2. I was sitting in the library at T.C. near a woman who was eating packets of Sugar in the Raw. I kept hearing a shake of the paper, then a rrrriip!, and then a whoosh! as the sugar went into her mouth. I think she might go into sugar shock! (I timed her to see how many she consumed in one minute and I counted 7! That’s one packet every 8.5 seconds!!! And I was sitting next by her for over 20 minutes!) I tried not to stare, but I was truly in disbelief.