Welcome!

The Oregon Writing Project at Southern Oregon University welcomes you to the summer 2014 Literacy Leadership Institute blog. This is our collaboratively constructed story of our three weeks learning together as writers, as teachers and as leaders. (Posts are in reverse chronological order, from latest to earliest.)

Day 13: Margaret

And so, the final day of our institute snuck up on us (have you ever been told not to begin a sentence with and?).  Roy Saigo, SOU's new Interim President, spoke to us this morning, moving us to laughter and tears with his 'from-the-heart, to-the-point' stories. Writing, he reminded us, is a private matter... but is also critical to 'public' success -- what a poignant paradox, what a testament to the complexity of what it means to be an English language arts teacher, or to teach writing in any subject area.

President Saigo's appreciation for teachers shone through. As he gracefully exited, we were left silent, speechless, touched. Leadership with heart, leadership that connects. Developing ourselves, our students, our professsional communities. This is how I think of the leadership we are developing here, the OWP teacher leadership.

John's blog post ('informational writing' in the genre of poem, sub-genre: limerick) captured not just the content of yesterday, but also the spirit of the past three weeks: connections, appreciation, community, openness, humor, respect, risk-taking. All of it—all of our teaching, our writing our lives—us always a draft, always in revision.

"How many speeches have I torn up? Ray Saigo asks, rhetorically of course. But as Rick Taylor reminded us last week, "OWP makes you enough of a writer" to embrace the revision process, to understand that it is the revision process—the ability to revise— perhaps above all else that we are teaching our students. "There is no great writing, only great revising," noted Justice Brandeis (this quote didn't quite make our 2014 T-shirt, but came in second after "To Funny!").

This morning, reflections on the past three weeks flowed freely. Notebooks, hearts, and minds were all full. For my part, I've rediscovered my writing self, the writing self that extends beyond the project report, the grant proposal, the course description, the newsletter article... to writing that gets to the essence, that distills experience through words. I've written poems:

Skinny-dip

At the bend 

in the river:

blue glass,

icy thrill.

(thanks, Heather).  I've written six-word stories (thanks, Cindy), and a mini-story by a mouse about an obnoxious transluscent cheeseball. Heck, I've even written dialogue (thanks, Kim and Amy W.)

In a world of frenzied professional obligations that seem to press ever closer ("They tell me to be a freighter..." thanks, Amy S.), it has been a delight beyond words to immerse myself in a professional community of writers and teachers who know the importance of full minds, full notebooks, and full hearts — and are willing share them all. (Thanks, Sasha, for helping us uncover what's in our hearts, and connect it to our writing and teaching.)

We have broken free free of the tyranny of 'text types,' to the excitement of real-world genres.  Whether we can identify a writer's gender or not (thanks, Nancy!), we are certainly more attuned to the way our language choices convey identity, and the importance of empowering students to have a voice on issues that matter deeply (thanks, Carrie!).

"I remember the time" (thanks, Andra) when John brought in "a table full of violence "thanks, Amy S.), and we all wrote stories about objects we had never seen before. "The rock has a thousand stores," says John. We conjure up just twelve of them, and it turns out to be exactly as Cindy explained last week: "There isn't a story, and yet there is."

And why? Because "your brain is genius. Your brain extrapolates every day." John tells us this; this is what we must remember to tell our students: "your brain is genius."

As President Saigo pointed out, writing is a deeply private experience. This writing together has challenged us, changed us, and at times tested us. "Type quieter, you're driving me nuts!" Carrie says to Heather. And that exhortation, that expression of what really "fries her bacon," says so much of what we have experienced as a community of writers: honesty, authenticity, the attempts to speak our truths with each other, the willingness to bring our full selves to the process, to agree or disagree, to let others push us a little further along the way of what it means to write, to teach, to be human, and to do what is meaningful.

Jeanne asked us: "What is a treasure?" Surely, it is this:

Day 12: John

Oregon Writing Project

Daily Log

John Barber

Kim’s Blog

Kim’s blog starts us out very strong

with a message from North Vietnam

woke with a shout, enthusiastic no doubt

 and today the story goes on.

Heather’s lesson

Heather’s lesson inspired this blog

Limericks cut right through the fog

They’re short and they’re sweet

Just remember the beat

Her idea I’ll steal for this log.

Amy’s Circle Poem

Amy S. wrote a poem in a circle

Open-ended, strong and eternal

 Begin where you may

You’ll be reading all day

Its beauty could bring tears to Steve Urkel.

Book Reviews

Book reviews they can be a pain

No one wants to have written in vain

When critics say no

It can be quite a blow

Not unlike being hit by a train.

Sasha’s lesson

Sasha’s lesson a unit entire

Intended and achieved to inspire

We must write from the heart

Write from the start

Never letting our meaning expire

The end

The end of the day has arrived

And I hope I’m not sounding contrived

When I say to you all

It has been quite a ball.

Now let’s get this writing archived.

Day 11: Kim (There's a light at the end of the tunnel)

Frustrations! 

This morning started with a lot of frustration.  Frustrated with technology, frustrated with the class load, and frustrated with the weight of an authentic audience. (Thanks Amy S. for the words!)  So I am starting this blog with frustrations of my own!  Although I am not frustrated for the above mentioned reasons, I am frustrated because I have an opportunity to entertain you with my writing, and I am blank!  I want to catch the essence of my personal writing style, yet the information comes to my brain in chunks that are irrational and irrelevant.  Boy am I glad that Margaret reminded us that "when you are up there, you are giving us a gift.  Don't apologize for your writing, because it makes us pause in our enjoyment of the gift."  So, I won't apologize for the gift I am about to give you, I will just say, in the words of Andra, "embrace, love, and enjoy my mistakes, It's a learning process."

"Our best is always changing - tomorrow your best will be different!" Andra

"Good morning OWP Fellows!  Time to rock it from code switching to authentic dialogue.  Hey, is it a little early to be this loud?  Just a little shout out to Carrie for bringing us the blog this morning.  Carrie how was your night last night?"  "I was frustrated with technology.  I guess I felt what our students feel when their environmental factors get in the way of what they are trying to do."  "Well Carrie, why don't you read us an excerpt from your blog." (As Carrie reads the blog, her frustration comes flooding back again.)  "I am sorry there are so many mistakes.  I don't like this blog writing because it is live for everyone to see, and I don't write that way."  (Margaret joins the crowd in the studio and reminds Carrie,) "Don't apologize for the gift you are giving us..." "Thank you Margaret for you thoughtful musings.  Where would your OWP Fellows be without your insightful encouragement?" (A slamming door is heard over the airways. It is Amy S. entering to offer some advice.) "The weight of an authentic audience is heavy." "Wow, heavy stuff Amy! Thank you for joining us."

"Now on to the next portion of our show. We have a phone-in listener for our morning warm-up. Cindy, are you on the phone with us?" "Yes, hello folks." "What do you have for us today Cindy?" "Well, I brought some stuff today for arguments, but I am feeling some of us want to finish our discussion from Carrie's portion of the show. If you feel like moving on and trying your hand at arguing I am fine with that.  If you want to try arguement writing here are your instructions.  I want you to chose a position statement and think about what the opposition would fire at you, and form a rebuttal.  Or if you would like to finish your discussion from this morning, feel free. I am fine with that."  "Thank you Cindy for being sensitive to the energy in the room.  I think I will tackle the argument of legalizing marijuana." (There is a buzz about the studio. DJ Muse quickly abandons his argument and listens in to Sasha and Heather making an argument for good character education in schools.) 

Now we pause for a commercial break brought to you by Amy S. 

(As she is preparing to teach her demo lesson, she speaks to the crowd.) "I am very visual, you are going to see a lot of things today.  This lesson is based on something I taught online to remedial writers which doesn't work because they are already writing from a deficit. People are telling them what to write and then we say the word "essay." We are going to look at this with a meta-cognitive approach with extrapolation. (Thank you John.)"

Back to our program:

"Welcome back to our show. It sounds like Amy has a great lesson planned for us today.  Amy, take it away." "Nancy, what would happen if you yelled at one of your band mates?" "I wouldn't be in the band any more." "Amy W., what would happen if you whispered on the court playing volleyball?" "I would get yelled at." "Right, because of ineffective communication.  It is important to listen as well as hear." (Amy S. gives a great example of code switching, changing what you are saying depending on whose listening, using the humor of Key and Peele.) "Concretizing your audience is important because it changes the face of what you write. Now it's your turn to write."  (Amy S. gives the audience a scenario and challenges them to write about it in 5 different genres; tweet to a faceless mass, email to cousin, email to professor, report to police, and song/poem.  A sultry voice is heard singing in the background:) "Boom boom ain't it great to be a poor student..." (Then from another area of the studio:) "The empty gas tank blues." (Yet another entertainer:) "Driving along the I-5 way.." "How can you help but sing along...Singing do-wah-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-do..." "Thank you Carrie, Nancy, and Heather for sharing your musical talent with the audience today. Amy, we are out of time, Andra is here to share a parting word." "I liked the shift from the spoken word to the written word.  Our students don't always have the oral experience and this is a way to acknowledge that."  "Thank you Andra for summing it up so well."  "We are going to take a studio break, we will be back in seven minutes."  (Echoes of "The Star Spangled Banner resonates in the background.)

A visit from Socrates:

"We are back in the studio today with the musings of a great philosopher.  We are going to channel our inner Socrates and dive in to the Socratic Circle. Andra is going to give us a less formal approach and Amy W. will then formally train us (briefly).  Andra, would you please read the rules of engagement for Socratic circles?" "Thank you for asking, Legal participation follows these guidelines: 

• Questions and comments are supported by evidence
• Everyone will participate in the discussion most importantly by listening.
• Argument is encouraged, especially if it's evidence based and not against the person (ad Hominem).

Illegal Participation includes:

• No put downs
• One-on-one debates
• Hand raising is discouraged
• Consensus is not the goal

That about sums it up.  Let's get a more formal opinion from Amy W.  Amy, what do you have to add to this discussion?" (A powerpoint is displayed on the screen in the studio) "I go through this powerpoint with my students before our first Socratic circle.  There are a lot of slides here so I will post them on the blog."  (The essence of what Amy W. taught is that there is a difference between a debate and a discussion.  Stick to the point.  Both listen and hear.  Ask open ended questions.)  "We have invited John, Amy W., and Cindy in to the studio to demonstrate a working socratic circle.  Take it away folks." (A hum is heard over the airways as the participants work their way through a mock socratic circle.  Mumblings of "text redundancy, writing across the curriculum, scaffolding and building leadership," were heard by the radio audience.  However loud and clear, "We are going to go forth and multiply writers," was heard from Amy W.) "Andra, would you please once again lead us out of our conversation around socratic circles with one last question?"  "Sure DJ Muse.  My question for you to ponder is, What did you notice in yourself as an observer of the socratic circle?" "I was taking notes as they were talking," "Thank you Jeanne for that insightful input.  That is a great way to pull writing in to this method." (Many other insights were shared during this portion of the show but in the interest in time, most of this discussion has been cut.)

Lunch time! Tummies are full on food but also what we chewed on from our discussion in the Socratic Circle and Amy S's demo lesson.

"Man my belly is full from lunch!  Only 2 hours left in our show so I better shake off the urge to nap and open my mind for our next guest.  Next on our show we have Amy W.  Amy is not stranger to our show and she will be demonstrating how to effectively include authentic dialogue into our writing.  Wait a minute, we are experiencing technical difficulty."  "I hit the doc cam button, go figure!"  "It's okay Amy, we will get our technicians in here to fix it.  Why don't you ad lib in the mean time."  "I'll just get started, we can do it without the doc cam.  Are you ready for your world to be rocked?"  (In an ear pleasing voice a recorded voice reads the following quotes: "We tend to think a dialogue as a tennis volley, with the subject being hit back and forth between speakers.  But when you really listen, you realize that people talk over each other constantly, and rarely finish a complete thought." -johnaugust.com and "Because direct dialogue has a dual nature - emotion within a logical structure - its purpose in fiction is never merely to convey information...") "Can anyone guess what we are talking about in today's lesson, based on these quotes?" "Dialogue!" "We will set the stage with brainstorming the characteristics of conversation vs. dialogue in a story." (The studio audience brainstorms characteristics such as formatting, flow of dialogue, and listening to how people actually talk.) "Thank you Amy for that engaging conversation.  Do you have any practical advice for us?" "Certainly DJ Muse.  In order to create realistic dialogue, you have to know something about your character.  What do they wear, what are their mannerisms, and what is their personality." "We have some guests in our studio that are going to try their hand at creating realistic dialogue.  We are going to give them 2 characters and they have to create dialogue around a situation.  John and Margaret, you are up first." (John and Margaret are given the characters of a movie star and a fanatic fan.  Insert announcer aside here: I am sorry I didn't capture funny lines from these "skits" I couldn't type that fast.  Carrie and Heather had a nerd and cheerleader; Nancy and Amy S. had a couple on a blind date. Carrie wants to know, "Who was the blind one?" Kim and Sasha had a DJ and phone in listener, the inspiration for the genre of this blog; Cindy and Jeanne had a dog catcher and dog owner.) 

"Thank you guest speakers for an entertaining afternoon.  I am curious what the story is behind your conversations."  "Well DJ Muse, funny you mentioned that.  I am going to have our guest speakers spend 10 minutes writing the story behind these conversations.  We will hear a few when they are finished."  "Thank you Amy.  I will take this time then to mention a void we are feeling here in our studio.  Our guest expert, Andra, had to leave us early this afternoon.  Boy are we feeling the absence of her insightful thoughts." "Amy, are your guest speakers ready to share?" "Actually, they are." (John, Margaret, Heather, Carrie, and Kim share their stories.) "You know DJ Muse, it is interesting to note that Margaret and John both included the same phrase "Russian Mule" in their story without collaborating.  I think we can say that creating dialogue with a partner has a powerful impact on your creativity." "Yes Amy, I would agree with that." "Tell us more Cindy." "It is really hard for me to do partner work.  I get anxious and don't want to dominate so I get quiet and I don't really share...." "It is challenging in a good way because it pushed the creativity in a different way."  "Yes Amy S., that is what I was about to say."  "Thank you all for sharing, and thank you Amy for demonstrating how to effectively use realistic dialogue in our writing.  It has come to the time in our show for response groups.  We will take an hour long song break and come back to wrap up our show.  Here's a great song from the Spoonful of Sugars to get us started."

While a much needed song break drones on, the guest speakers in the studio take time to discuss their writing and finish pieces they are working on.

"This is DJ Muse bringing you back from our hour long song break.  We only have 5 minutes left in our show. During the break I was talking to Margaret, the head technician of this show and she shared some news with me that has invoked some mixed emotion. Margaret, would you like to share with our audience the news you shared with me?" "We only have 2 days left in this broadcast.  I am saddened by this realization, but also excited at what we have accomplished." (An agreeing hum falls across the crowd now gathered in the studio.) "Tomorrow is the last day for the log and Friday will be the last day for sharing the log.  Our show will end, but our musings will go on through our prose and poetry.  It may look messy, but will always come together in an anthology that will inspire and encourage. Well, that's about it for DJ Muse.  I'm going to take myself out of the drivers seat but I am going to turn you over right now to the excitement of Johhhhhn Barberrrrrrrrr." (DJ muse points to the adjoining broadcast room and the sweet sounds of his voice fade away.)  

  

Day 10: Carrie

  

Anticipatory Set-" So Glad We Made It" Re-Written:  By Carrie

Art by:   Amy 1

 See Song: from the "Spoonful of Sugars"

Back up percussion and harmonies:  Heather

("Is  their band's name sexist? We argue respectfully for a moment, with the robust vocabularies and miles of words we share.)  
The reference to gender comes after Nancy's lesson from yesterday on gender, as shown in the voices of  our writing. 
She even had females in our class, write as if we were male.  The one male, John, admitting just how
limited he felt, tried to write in a more feminine voice.  This is a man, who loves swords and
Rifle Club Associations,  We understand and love his "shitty attitude".
Considering voice in this way is fantastic!

I pause for reflection.

I am full of gratitude for  our  2014 OWP's members' wit and wonderful array of giftings. 
I have most recently begun a  gratitude journal,  from an inspiring lesson earlier in the workshop on the subject of "Gratitude" from Sasha.  Thank you, dear Sasha.
 I write:  "I am thankful for my new friend, Heather, who reminds me of some of the more divergent students in my experience.  I celebrate all of our differences and similarities, as I do with all the variety of learners in our OWP Leadership Institute.  We all have strengths and dare I say, the converse is also true."
 
Thank you, Margaret for your brilliance and  Andra, your practical wisdom.
 Amy 1, your Empathy, and our moment "In the Spirit" I will forever remember.
 Kim, your  love of your youngers. Jeanne, your homemade muffins and command of the English language are nothing short of inspirational. I am in grateful awe for the depth of Nancy's giftedness, Amy 2's honest humor, and my own ability to
sort through the messiness of the muddy, ashy waters, only rising to the surface with light and treasures. 
We are all coming from a wealthy treasure grove, places with darker and lighter "jewels" follow us into the rooms of The Oregon Writing Project.  This much has been so very evident.

 I begun writing last eve. (I might add for hours) only to find such frustrations at home with a half working phone (that dies all too often) and a computer without a printer. (it is still in our storage pod, as we are remodeling.)

 I suddenly am moved by empathy by this experience.  This must be what our students that are a. not blessed to own their own computers or phones b.  have time to work-out technical issues, because they are moving, or babysitting their 6 siblings must feel.  I am humbled, again, by the thought that my BLOG will be less than perfect.

Ugh!  Perfection Impedes My Progress, but I press forth!!!  I traverse further with a flag that says, "To funny!"

 And the beauty is that I didn't  flee, but fought through some of the discomfort the subject of writing makes me feel.  I am reminded of the occasional emotion writing stirs up and the bravery one must have to reflect on our lives, past and present.

So I press on........

Blessed by  the OWP participants.

I am thankful for today and Kim's activity of writing about our senses outdoors.

When we return,  Heather does not disappoint with a line she wrote, referring to the black crow, most of us heard, calling from above.  The writings of these black birds, were in this author's opinion better even than, do I dare say, Poe's 

The Raven ?

"Another herald for this day, with all its fullness." Heather does not dissapoint, as we are reassembled to a setting so unnatural.

I am disappointed to leave the sanctuary of a cool, damp lawn.  The smell of a summer, I long for.

Margaret, feeling something similar, about the black crow, describes its sound, and then the bright, August sun."The sudden sun jabs my left eyeball."
Andra adds confidently about the barrage to her ears, many more noises.
"Deafened, I wonder, (from the sounds,"Is this the sound of civilization?"
I want, at this point, to stop for the teachable moment and write a class poem about this fella pictured.

 

Nancy invented a new form for analyzing gender in the voice of writing. She began by walking us through the analysis of Japanese characters. She follows by plunging us into the meaty conversations about the evidence of gender, at times, even in something as simple as texts. (Is meaty a gender specific word, I wonder?)

If not meaty, then it was a weighty discussion we had. (No, not weighty, because weighty is definitely not feminine, right?, because women have fluffy conversations. I jest.)

I detect a wonderful, quiet "still waters run deep" character in this young woman (person). I think I'm going to ask her to be my new best friend. She is so cool!

Amy 2, said, "This is tough."

Andra said, "Not tough enough." And I think they are both right. Too often we teach "or". Similar to the Hebrews, we study the "and". Maybe, it's possible that we are all sometimes biased and sometimes not. Sometimes right and wrong. Sometimes teetering on the politically correct and incorrect, which morphs with every generation. "I like being called a lady" Andra says, but "MY lady, suggests that the lady is the man's possession."

I love this safe place, where differences of opinion don't prevent us from all becoming friends.

I was able to go to lunch with Dave, the young man, who earlier had an epileptic seizure.  We prayed together over at the Peace House. I am not lying when I say we prayed to unearth the "treasures within our infirmities", that each of us could develop some gratitude around our diagnoses.  I shared earlier drafts of the poems I will share below.

Our afternoon lesson was a trip and I don't know why I am surprised when the  Spirit shows up.  Especially when we "keep our treasures above (in altruistic ways), rather on treasures of materialism.  I think Jeanne must have prayed over her assignment, bcause without even knowing it......Jeanne took on the challenge of teaching us professionals, beginning with a writing prompt of????????. 

You guessed it! 

 Surprise!  

She led us through a lesson entitled: "Treasures". 

What she Jeanne didn't know is that

Amy 1 began this thread with a story of......

A bronzed sculpture she saw in the library this morning.

It looked this this woman diving (above)

Only, as Amy described Her Lady Scuplture

Her arms invoking help from the 

Celestials.

Daniel, with his clear sensitivities 

Having to search hard for his blessings

Deep down at the bottom of

His ocean

Poem 1 By:  Carrie McCoy 

( I tried to use as few prepositions, as possible, and wrote in a male voice, something I have never done)

My Lady

is not fat.

but ROUND,

as love should be.

She comes not

to bed

with a bag of bones, this time

not this season,

though she has.

"Thick and Thin",

I tell her, "I love you all the same".

She dives under our covers, 

feeling for me,

likes she's Goodwill hunting,

making me feel like

I am her most prized-possession.

She feels my roundness, as she whispers:

"Thick or Thin,

I love you just the same."

Robust backside

Ample breasts

I feel the weightiness of her love.

We plunge-

to the depths of the Crystal Lake.

Her replete body

Intertwining

with mine,

as we explore

the treasures of our

Round love.

Aho!

Day 9: OWP and the Musings of a Reflective Observer

Embracing the multi-genre element of the blog and bowing to the craft, humor, and metaphorical vehicles which have come before me, I’ve chosen to summarize a different facet of yesterday’s class.

In life, I take notes and write exercises in order for my brain to consume the learning; revision:  I take notes and write exercises in the hope that my brain will consume the learning.  It is really my heart which remembers.  So, as an homage to Sasha and her Gratitude List with which she began our “camp,” (and set the spirit-tone) the following is merely a scattering of the gifts offered yesterday.

(John, invited himself to paused to recoup)

Amy W., invited us to pause and reconsider

Inviting a gadfly:

“What makes you feel sad, mad… feel something?”

Deflecting her humor:

“Just ignore [my] sarcastic undertones.”

Celebrating creativity:

“Just picture an elephant doing yoga.”

Nancy, invited us to pause and think

On “most chicks”:

“I’m better than a dirty throng.”

Finding a place for poetic contradictions:

“Like Blake’s ‘necessary contradictions.’”

                           http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45315

On her elocutive elephant:

[quote too dense to scribe, but hilarious]

Kim, invited us to pause and motivate

Her solution to a pet peeve:

“I wrote a letter to my roommate on how to make ice.”

Her kind-hearted teacher reflection on the LPAs”

“There’s nothing in here for [my students] to write for fun!”

As she moved us forward in her demo lesson on comics:

“I’m curious…”

“I’m curious…”

“I’m curious…”

“I’m curious…”

“I’m curious…”

And her conclusion:

“Pictures drive text.”

Heather, invited us to pause and ask

After examining our peeves:

“I’m pumped UP!”

Looking to make sense of Carrie’s controversial photo:

“It’s what we infer.”

And her solution:

“For me, I don’t really say good or bad.  I just have some questions.”

Cindy, invited us to pause and feel

After Carrie’s brave lesson:

“Aho”

On the baby’s photo:

“I love the intent in the gaze.  They are connected and I think that connection is beautiful.”

On Carrie’s decision to post questions vs. objectives:

“Ahhh- WOW!”

And constantly throughout Kim’s lesson:

“Right!” and “I like it!”

Audra, invited us to pause and look forward

On revision:

“This is the process of being a teacher of writing. [Savor] the process and save all drafts.  Show students how messy real writing is.”

Regarding automatic sinks:

“A first world problem; try not having water.”

On the jogger:

“I’m going to cry.”

And quoting UpWorthy:

“Composition can be more than words on the page.”

Margaret, invited us to pause and come together

Inside the learning process:

“What’s the difference there?  [Don’t answer] Just park that.”

On challenges:

“It’s a reach for all of us.  We’re all getting our minds… our hearts around all of this.”

An argument’s breadth:

“If reasonable people can disagree, then it is a good argument.”

Celebrating Kim’s activity:

“Let’s do it!”

Jeanne, invited us to pause and consider (Occam’s Razor)

On the photo discussion:

“It needs to be something familiar.”

The comic strip is:
“A chapter”

Interpreting the images:

“We needed to tell the story backwards.”

Carrie, invited us to pause and react

With hands open, offered her history:

 “That comes from my family’s language.”

                  Tanizi, hello

                  Aho, amen or I agree

                  http://www.creedictionary.com/search/index.php?q=tanisi%20

On her authority:

“I come from, I think, a place of honesty and expertise.”

Teaching argument:

“We’re empowering kids to speak out and have an opinion.”

On the disenfranchised:

“We must unite in our infirmities against those who seek our extension.”

“… join me, will you?”

Sasha, invited us to pause and keep going

On OWP:

“I’ve renamed it Writing Boot Camp.”

On blogging:

“[It’s hard] having to put it out in the world to be read by anyone.”

On the work this week:

“I just have to tackle [writing] like I’m going to tackle this messy house, by tidying up one small corner at a time.”

After Amy’s arm-up:

“I want to write more!”

Encouraging the demo lesson:

“Carry-on, Carrie!”

And a final pause to consider our slogan options, thus far:

Let’s get write to the essence!

Writing… source for language come alive!

Rewriting is like rearranging the furniture.

(sorry, I could not add clever marks)

Writing is messy!

To Funny!              The pen: mightier than the sword!

And with that, I gently lay down my pen.  Thank you all for these jewels.