Pulling it Together

I am coming home from five days away at NCTE Convention in Chicago. As with all conventions like this, I come away wishing I had gone to more sessions and feeling like I shortchanged my experience. I know that I can only take in so many new ideas and, with presenting and other new duties, five sessions is more than enough for me to mull over and to glean wisdom from. Maybe it's the teacher in me - always wanting to do more and to do better.

One of the goals I decided upon after this conference is to write 10 lines a day. This came about when I ran into my former colleague from Jakarta - Betsy Hall - and she encouraged me to do what she has been doing, thanks to the advice from a writer friend of hers. It must have worked because she now has the manuscript of a Young Adult novel that she has been working on for 8 years. I'm not sure yet what I will write. It could be my memoir or the film and literacy book I am itching to complete. It could also be a stab at fiction. One thing's for sure, I need to apply what I have instructed my own writing students to do - write every day. After all, that's the only way anyone can improve their craft - PRACTICE!