Writing a BLOG is a new experience for me. I have written before, well, almost all of my life. For the past 15 years I have mostly enjoyed telling stories. I learned this pleasure from being a Waldorf teacher. We teach through stories. As a teacher you can enchant, you can instruct, you can mystify and generate interest, and you can certainly entertain. Much of good teaching is being a showman. If you, through stories, make something vivid, it lives forever in the memory of the kids. They can give you back the story the next day with more detail than you gave when you told it the first time.
I remember being observed for teaching instruction by James Putherer in my third grade class. I was telling the story of Joan of Arc. My God, how I loved her story. I had re-read biographies of her. I had a million times the info I could give third graders in a 40 minute story. Thus armed, I put myself in the times of Joan of Arc and started telling her story in the first person. The class was with me. It didn't take much description for them to be back in time, feeling and seeing her courage and deeds.
Then I made a side comment, an editorial comment, and I lost the class for a few heartbeats. I saw it happen, couldn't help myself. I, of course, needed to show my wit. Mr. Putherer's comment in my observation conference was that I was a very good story teller but that I had to overcome my urge to insert myself into the story. That was a very important writing lesson for me. (Like the 'sponge problem', still learning.)
The other important lesson I spoke of many months ago in this blog. I talked about the incredible editing process at Readers Digest when they took twenty two pages of my writing and turned it into 3,000 words..but never lost a word of mine, and never lost my tone, flavor, style. The first thing the editor told me was that I had to "kill my babies". I was shocked at this expression and he explained that the things I thought were cute and clever might be for me, but not for the audience of 5,000,000 that the Digest was going out to. The story was the thing. It was a very important writing lesson, very much in line with the Waldorf comment.
But for the past years I have wanted to share my thoughts and stories but couldn't quite 'get' who would listen. I didn't want to write articles anymore. I couldn't see how a book would hold together because I couldn't picture the audience. Last winter when I had some nice quiet time in Nicaragua, I ran across an old pile of notes on scrap paper with my son's instructions on how to start a blog. "What the hell", I thought. I started writing and found that I was really having fun and it didn't matter who I was writing for. I was just writing and enjoying it. Then, getting feedback, mostly on facebook, I started to get an idea of my readership.
Then came the Russians. For months 12 Russians read everyday. I started to picture my very real, but also completely imaginary Russians. Then one week - no Russian readers! Had I been offensive? Had the internet gone down in Russia? Was it a national vacation? I was kind of devastated. Then they came back, just as mysteriously as they had disappeared. That was months ago. This same thing happened last week and today they are back. I can't believe how attached I have become. (No pressure intended). We have a relationship in my mind. I have this with many of you in my mind. I don't know who you are. I don't know how you found me. I do know that I sometimes see your faces in my mind's eye when I write and also get feelings of satisfaction when I know my story entertained rf got you thinking.
Thank you and God Bless!
No comments:
Post a Comment