As we get closer to the end of the challenge, I've been thinking about the quantitative data of my posts.
Poems: 6.5
Lists: 5
Informational posts: 3
Teaching Strategies: 7
True Slices (as opposed to "band aids" or just other genres and topics): 14
Posts I'm Personally Proud of: 7
Of the "true slices," most are about moments in my classroom. I imagine this has a lot to do with me having been on Spring Break this week.
Most of the lists are from days when I was in a hurry (much like today).
My posts about particular teaching strategies, though not often true slices, were the ones that received the most interaction from the community, both in views and comments.
The informational posts are three of my personal favorites. They're not necessarily my best writing, but I just enjoyed doing them.
My posts started out longer and have become much shorter in general.
Of all the things I have taken out of my first year doing this challenge, I think this data about how I respond to different types of days and feedback is the most useful. As I work on building a daily writing habit outside of this challenge, this information tells me a lot about how I can work through writer's block, and how I can help my students do the same. It also tells me the traps I fall into when I am feeling lazy: lists, planning, objectivity. (I realize now that I also do this in writing stories. I will plan and outline but never actually get around to writing the story itself.)
The posts that make me proud also share patterns. They are the posts I tended to start the day before, or perhaps ruminated on all day and didn't get to until later when my thoughts were more fully-formed. Yesterday's slice, which I posted at 11:55 pm EST, is one of my favorites and one I'd like to write more about in a fictional setting. While stealing fifteen minutes here and there to write is a great start and the thing that has saved my writing life over the course of the last year, I know that my next step is to dedicate larger blocks of time to truly think and craft.
Twenty-nine down, two to go!
There is certainly a lot of reflection in this post! My favorite posts are also the ones I start the night before and revisit in the morning or at some other time before posting. I suspect that may have a lot to do with the detail and quality of my revision. Sometimes, like today, I just let a post roll from an experience. It seems like perfunctory writing even if it is a topic I could develop more deeply!
ReplyDeleteFor my best posts, I usually think about it all day, write at night, edit & post in the morning. On Spring Break now, I think about it all day & night, write and post in the morning. I am definitely feeling less stressed about things than I was when I was at work.
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