Sign up for the 16th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge #SOL23

The 16th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge begins on Wednesday, March 1st!

A couple of months ago, I walked while listening to an audiobook, Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro. I stopped walking when I heard one of the characters (Mimi) referred to as the “Chronicler of Small Memories.” That’s me, I thought! But it isn’t just me. It’s you, too. It’s true of everyone who participates in TWT’s annual Slice of Life Story Challenge.

Each Slicer becomes the person who chronicles the moments others may miss. You pause to write things down. But you know that your jottings aren’t about preserving something for posterity. You are the person who takes the time to record in a way that does more than mere chronicling. Sometimes you do more than retell small moments bit by bit. You analyze the moments you capture. You often interpret the moments as a means to make sense of your world. You do this because you want a record, a story, an account of your life that captures what you want to remember months, years, or even decades from now.

As the pandemic approaches the three-year mark, the #TWTBlog team recognizes the strain on educators. The Slice of Life Story Challenge helped members of our writing community feel more connected as educators and humans when COVID-19 impacted our personal and professional lives. We hope the Slice of Life Community can balance an imbalanced and imperfect world.

Melanie Meehan and I recorded a #TWTPod episode about getting started with the Slice of Life Story Challenge. ICYMI, you can click here to listen to it now. In addition, this episode is available wherever you consume your podcasts (e.g., Apple Podcasts, Spotify).

I encourage you to listen to one or both of these conversations I had last January with some of our returning Slicers if you are unsure about how you’ll make the time to write daily.

If you’re still unsure about participating, you might read one or all of these pieces I’ve written (before you fill out the form below) about being a teacher who writes:

If you’re ready to commit to being part of our month-long writing challenge, please fill out the following form even if you filled it out last year. (We retire our database every year.) It will help the co-author team keep track of who participates in the Slice of Life Story Challenge. It helps us to have all participants’ contact information in case of a problem with one of the links you leave, etc.

This year, we ask participants to complete this form no later than 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, 3/1/23. This form will close on the morning of March 2nd. In keeping with the spirit of a month-long challenge, it is important to participate fully for all thirty-one days.

Thank you!

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If you have questions about the individual challenge, contact one of these co-authors.

INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGE
If your last name begins with the letters A – C, please email questions to Morgan Davis at medavis8[at]gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters D – G, please email questions to Amy Ellerman at ellermanamy[at]gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters H – K, please email questions to Betsy Hubbard at betsymhubbard[at]gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters L – N, please email questions to Jenna Komarin at Jennakomarin[at]gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters O – R, please email questions to Beth Moore at beth[at]elizabethmoore.work.
If your last name begins with the letters S – V, please email questions to Stacey Shubitz at stacey[at]staceyshubitz.com.
If your last name begins with the letters W – Z, please email questions to Sarah Valter at sarahvalterreads[at]gmail.com.

Questions about the Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge should be directed to one of these co-authors:

If your last name begins with the letters A -H, please email questions to Leah Koch at Leah.koch7[at]gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters I – Q, please email questions to Lainie Levin at lainlev72[at]gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters R – Z, please email questions to Melanie Meehan at meehanmelanie[at]gmail.com.