I discovered the Two Writing Teachers (https://twowritingteachers.org) blog about two years ago and have been following along ever since reading one post.  I get the daily emails letting me know that a new post is available, and every Tuesday their “Slice of Life” email comes out asking writers to post their slice.  That’s the email that I never look at.  The one that I open but don’t dive deeper.  I used to get a little anxious when seeing that email as if it was telling me “you must write and post.”  I realize now that all of my past feelings of writing were haunting me.  Writing was always my least favorite thing to do in school.  I never felt “good at it.”  I never felt like I was a writer.  I was always scared to share my writing.  And, my writing always had lots of red marks on it when it was returned.  Ironically, writing is my most favorite thing to teach to my kiddos, my first graders.

This year, when the blog post from the Two Writing Teachers came out about the March Slice of Life challenge, I felt myself begin to have a slight internal debate.  “Should I do this?  Can I do this?  Will I even have anything to write about?  I don’t even have a blog.  I don’t know how to set up a blog.  I’m not a writer.  There’s no way I will have time.  Maybe I’ll just commit to writing everyday, but keep it in Google Docs.  That’s not really the same thing.  I think I want to be brave and give it a try.  I have nothing to lose.  I always tell my kids that they are writers.  Maybe it’s time I take the chance, step out of my comfort zone, and take the plunge.”  

For a day or so, I continued to go back and forth – not willing to say yes or no.  And then today, I got a sign and didn’t even know it.  My 7 year old daughter and I were at Barnes and Noble shopping for new writing notebooks (and cool pens, of course).  She chose a notebook that had the words “My Thoughts” written on it.  I chose this notebook:

When I got home and took out my book, it hit me.  This was my sign.  I thought I was just choosing a cool notebook with an awesome quote.  I didn’t realize it was going to give me the push I needed.  So tonight, I created this blog, and signed up for the March Slice of Life Challenge.  I stepped out of my comfort zone, took the plunge, and am both excited and anxious for this challenge!