Another Tuesday. Another Call for Slice of Life Stories.

Last night, when Ruth and I were on the telephone, I informed her about an experience I had about a week-and-a-half ago at the TCRWP Writing Institute.  I took a course with Mary Ehrenworth that dealt with breathing beauty and life into essays.  Mary gave us a sleuth of strategies for helping kids write less-formulaic essays.  But, one of the most important things I took away from her session was the fact that she took time to celebrate the (adult) writing we did during the course of the week with a silent “gallery walk” type of celebration. 

There were about 40 adults in Mary’s session, each of whom wrote an essay using one of the structures she showed us earlier in the week.  Prior to the celebration, Mary asked each of us to write the words “Comments for _________” at the top of a couple of blank pieces of paper.  Then, she had us leave them next to our essays as we got up and walked around the room to read our colleagues’ essays.  Everyone was silent.  The only form of feedback we could give one another was in writing.  Kid-like thoughts went through my head as I wondered if anyone would like what I had to say, what kind of comments I’d receive, etc.  Certainly these are the same thoughts that must go through our students’ heads when they’re given the same type of celebratory task.

At the end of the celebration, Mary gave us a few minutes to connect with people whose essays we read and were moved by.  I sought out one woman in particular whose essay about her son affected me deeply.  Her writing was powerful, truthful, and gripping.  However, two people who wrote comments on my sheets sought me out so as to elaborate on the comments they left for me in writing.  I was so touched that they not only took time to write a comment, but came and found me to speak with me. 

The comment sheets from the celebration in Mary’s Section follow below.  As you can see, they vary in length.  Some are signed with the reader’s name, while others aren’t.  All are genuine.

So today as you link us to the Slice of Life Story you write on your blog (or cut and paste into the comments section of this post), please consider visiting each and every one of the other writers’ links and leaving a comment.  We write to be heard and to know that we’ve touched someone else with our writing.  Comments fuel other writers by making them more passionate about their words and hopefully will lead to writing more often.  The bottom line: feedback just feels good!