CELEBRATE This Week: XC (90)

I’m glad you are here to celebrate! Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

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I turned my Instagram account public. I’ve been using it to collect & document celebrations. I love it. Please follow me there: @ruth_ayres to find celebrations throughout the week.
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September 19 will mark our 100th celebration! I’m cooking up some ideas for this milestone. Won’t you please invite your friends to join us?

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I wrote these lines on my latest writing project:
My living story has three main plot lines. I’m an educator, writer, and momma. I’ve tried to figure out how to keep these stories tidy and organized, each staying on its own path. In a single word, I’ve been trying to get it right. The quest for getting things right almost suffocated my story...
I’ve learned story survives the mess of life. This is part of the beauty of living stories – they are constantly rewritten. No matter how determined I’ve been, I’m unable to keep my three storylines from tangling…

This week I celebrate that my are stories learning to coexist. For the past few years I’ve been walking this path, trying to figure out the kind of writing life I am meant to live. The path has been unmarked and uncharted. It took time to find my way.
All this time I thought I had to figure out if I am writing as an educator or a momma; writing professionally or fiction; writing about adoption or teaching. It turns out that maybe it’s not an either-or decision.
At the Choice Literacy writing retreat, I found my writing voice again.  As my editor said, “You seem to have your writing mojo back.” I couldn’t stop smiling. I was relieved to still be able to make words line up into something meaningful. 
I had the privilege of delivering an ignite talk to kick off nErDcamp. Seven minutest to talk about whatever I deemed most important. For the first time, I allowed my three storylines to whisper to one another. I shared the importance of having a bounce back spirit.  Later in the day I led a session about enticing writers, helping students write even when they don’t want to write. Again, I allowed my storylines to mingle. 
The kindness and appreciation of nErDcampers has been overwhelming. The tweets and blog posts and intentional conversations have helped me recover my writer self. I will always be grateful.
This week Brenda Power sent me the poem, “Maybe We had to Come this Far” by Douglas Worth
It is beautiful and fitting, a timely reminder that I can’t rush life. I can’t rush writing. I can’t rush learning. And I definitely can’t rush the unfolding of story.

This is a picture of me, kicking off nErDcamp with a story. This is me, celebrating the way things always come back around to story. 
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Edited: I was having trouble getting the Inlinkz to work. I think it’s up now. Please check the comments for more links. Thanks!

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19 Comments »

  1. “living story”
    I really really like that.
    I have a lot of trouble with writing. I don't like writing because I don't have ambitions to write.
    But, I do have a living story.

  2. There is a smile in the voice of your writing, I'm glad it's back. Your words reach, touch, and make a difference, no matter the topic. Now I'm smiling after reading your words. 😃