This week I was out walking and a character popped into my mind. I walk past this farm many times each week. It’s been showing up in my notebook a lot lately, and I’ve been thinking about the kinds of people who could live on a farm like the one I walk past. I’ve been asking myself What if…What if…What if… So I began to dream about the kinds of people who may live there. I walked and thought. Walked some more and said What if…some more. When I returned… Read more {discover.play.build.} take a walk. →
Being a writer is mostly about developing a habit. Talk to any writer and then another and you’ll find those habits are all different. Some write in the morning. Others write through the night. Some write daily. Others take breaks. But all writers have habits. Writing a slice on Tuesdays is one of my writing habits. There are occasional Tuesdays when it doesn’t happen…but those are usually for unpredictable reasons. On a regular Tuesday, I slice. Even if it’s not an official Slice of Life Tuesday. I’m excited to know there are… Read more i’ve gotta slice (soLs) →
Yesterday I spent time in my art room. I wish I could share good stuff I created with you. But, my time was spent putting away, throwing away, and creating… Read more tidying up →
The Invention of HugoCabret by Brian Selznick(Scholastic) We gave Sam The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick for Christmas. Sam and I have been reading it together ever since.… Read more hugo cabret →
I believe celebration is the core of a writer. It’s what keeps us going. It’s not just about celebrating big things like products and publication, but about celebrating the ordinary day-in-and-day-out living as a writer. This week I’ve been working on a digital celebration for a kindergarten classroom. The teacher opened her doors to me and let me dabble a little with opinion writing. “Whatever you want to do, go for it,” she said. I accepted the invitation and was amazed at the work our youngest writers did with putting… Read more writing celebration →
STOP! Don’t read any farther, because this is the end of a slice I wrote with my writing group (BONS — Bits of Nothing or Something). To get the whole,… Read more writing group part 5: the end (soLs) →
A month ago I shared my notebooks and a little about my process on Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s blog, Sharing Our Notebooks. (It is a must-read and should absolutely be added… Read more fierce wonderings (soLs) →
You know, my writing process is a bit of a mess. It didn’t used to be. There was a point in my life when I could be given an assignment, make a plan, crank it out, reread it, make the deadline, and earn an A. The same is true when I started teaching. I wrote alongside my students, cranking out the assignments, jotting in my notebook, churning satisfactory pieces of writing out in time for deadlines. Writing has traditionally been easy for me. In fact, I would even go as… Read more what happened to my nice-neat writing process? →
One of the things I try to really tune-in to is what project I should be spending time on. I have a lot of writing projects: Blogs Professional book, Celebrating Writers, due out later this year from Stenhouse YA book Choice Literacy articles Scrapbook pages, where I like to document stories with photos + words Writing to use with students Work responsibilities Recently I added another project to my list of writing projects. I’m not even sure it can be called a project, but it is taking up my 1000… Read more writing project decisions →
Ruth Ayres Writes 