Month: March 2016

by the numbers

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It’s March 31, the last day of the Slice of Life Challenge. WE DID IT!!! In March, I wrote: 4 poems 11 small moment stories 3 idea essays 10 posts based on memories from my jar 2 overheard moments 1 post entirely in emojis 1 post about writing entirely in emojis 1 photo essay 1 silent sunday 1 throwback thursday 1 recipe ….a total of 31 posts! In March, I received: 202 comments that kept me writing Special shoutout to my top commenters, who I so appreciate and loved reading all month: MrsSurridge, Beth Scanlon, Rose Cappelli, macrush53, readwriteteachmakedinner, Hannah, Lisa R and…..my mom. 1 video from my friend teaching in France, showing her university-level English students analyzing my emoji post countless ideas for my own slices, 4 of which were published reinforcement that I am a writer, that I can make writing a habit, that I still have lots of stories to tell. ❂   Slice of Life is a daily writing challenge during the month of March hosted by Two Writing Teachers. Visit their blog for more information about the challenge and …

poo-ku

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I couldn’t settle on a topic for today’s post, so I went back to my jar of memories for some inspiration… Found it! If you’ve ever lived in France, then you know this situation, and also how much of a joke the above park sign is. People have these grand illusions of France as a sparkling, wonderful nation of art and culture and cheese, and it can be all of these things. But it’s also covered in dog poop. You think, she must be exaggerating. You think, oh sure there’s always that one person who doesn’t clean up after their pets. But imagine “that one person” is an entire nation of dog owners. I was inspired by this problem to write some haikus, or as I’ve dubbed them, poo-kus. We love the idea Of pink Parisian poodles Sporting blue berets Here’s reality: Those poodles poop and no one Thinks to pick it up Beautiful alleys Medieval cobblestone walks All covered in poop Watch out! she shouted With an unexpected shove My foot just missed it Peals of laughter ring We …

overheard at school

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The architects of our brand new school building are documenting their works with photos and videos during the school day. Two girls are watching a camera crew get video footage of another grade at recess through the window of their classroom.  Girl 1: I think they are filming a movie on the playground. Girl 2: Those kids get to be in a movie?! Girl 1: Yeah, I it probably starts like, ‘They were all having a great time at recess. It was a beautiful day. And then the ZOMBIES ATTACKED.’ ❂ *full disclosure: this is the same mastermind behind the piñata diaries   Slice of Life is a daily writing challenge during the month of March hosted by Two Writing Teachers. Visit their blog for more information about the challenge and for advice and ideas about how to participate.

creating with emoji

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Yesterday, I wrote about my day using only 57 different emoji. I loved reading all the comments of people who said they still totally “got” it, or followed most of it despite the lack of words. Prompted by mom, and her awesome post about why literacy includes both words AND pictures (and, yes, emoji!) I wanted to share some more about my process creating my post. I actually started by writing this post on my phone, to have easier access to the emoji keyboard. (If you haven’t yet learned how to find the emoji keyboard on your phone, directions are here.) I used the WordPress App on my phone to type in all the emojis I wanted, going moment by moment and finding just the right little picture to describe what I did or how I felt. Reading over the emoji and turning them into a story requires a lot more imagination, inferring and close reading than simply describing my day with words. But there’s no real mystery to reading emojis, no secret information teenagers have that …

writing and writing and writing

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I feel like I’ve been writing all day… I spent all morning writing cover letters, updating CVs, composing emails. I spent a few hours this afternoon writing responses to my online bookclub, engaging and discussing with other readers. Then, I edited all that job stuff some more. What’s worse is they’re all in French (except the bookclub!) which makes the process take about 10 times longer. Usually my job application process is pretty streamlined: Update resume with recent developments Write cover letter using the building blocks from countless cover letters I’ve already written Maybe send both to my mom or a trusted friend if I’m feeling really anxious Spend 2 minutes composing a simple introductory email to attach my documents to Hit send. Today my process is more like this: Study a whole bunch of examples of French CVs (they’re different than American ones!) Start my template with a healthy dose of copy/paste Google things like “professeur remplaçante description pour CV” to make sure I’ve got some French buzzwords to use Start my cover letter with a …