My keynote begins with a story about over-packing a diaper bag as a new mom and then pairing down the bag to the essentials once my daughter got older. From there, I talk about how I discovered that to be an effective teacher of writing, I had to be a Writer. My speech covers why I write, how to make time for a writing life, conquering the fear of writing, the Slice of Life Story Challenge, how to model writing from the heart, and the importance of putting writing at the center of everything we do in our classrooms.