Allowing Words to Hang in the Air

At the Basic Workshop Training there is always time for Adult Writing.  Yesterday, I shared one way to help get students writing is to read aloud a well-written text (a poem, picture book, or novel excerpt) and then allow the words “to hang in the air” while everyone silently picks up their pens and begins to write. 

I used Jacqueline Woodson’s Sweet Sweet Memory for this experience.  (If you’re not familiar with this text you should get your hands on a copy ASAP.  Like all of Woodson’s work it is exquisite, but this may be my favorite — if I could choose a favorite!)

Here is what came out in my notebook after writing for ten minutes with Jacqueline’s words floating in the air around me.

The world is swirling round and round
I’m trying to stand still in the midst of change
Anchoring my feet so I’m not engulfed by life.

I want to stand still, to catch my breath
But it’s impossible

The world is swirling round and round
I don’t want it to sweep me away
But it’s impossible not to change
To simply stay still.

Breathing in
Breathing out
Changing.

I’m swirled around by life
Reminding myself to live in the moment
Saying over and over to not make things more complicated than they need to be
To accept good enough
To go with the flow
To know it’s going to be okay

The world is swirling round and round
When all is stripped away
I wonder what matters most.

Clearly this is first draft writing . . . but at least it’s a start to putting words on the page in response to how I’m feeling right now.  As a writer I plan: 

1. To write an ending
2. To study Woodson’s work
3. To revise (and revise and revise and revise . . . )
4. To publish (This may be a blog post, a classroom writing celebration, or a scrapbook page)

By reading well-written text and then picking up my pen I almost always get words on the page I can come back to and craft into something I’m pleased to have written.