Writers Need To Go Rummaging Occasionally


Rummaging
'Go to the attic of your mind and rummage around and find something.'
Mary Higgins Clark


 What excellent advice for those who procrastinate over writing. Remember it is easy to find reasons not to write. What you are seeking is just one good reason to write. For teachers, the answer is -your students!

 Rummaging is such a wonderful word. I experience such delight when indulging in a bit of rummaging. It imbues the spirit of discovery, and the  potential to uncover unexpected treasure and delight. It may also reveal some thing long since forgotten, something considered lost. The very notion of digging and delving into some mysterious part of your life and its associated belongings create an air of excitement. The act of turning over items or fossicking and rifling through books, journals or collected papers is alive with the prospect of discovery or rediscovery. 

 I admit to deliberately hiding items inside books (notes, business cards, tickets) in order to enjoy the discovery of said items at some later date- by either myself, or maybe someone else well into the future, who knows? This conscious planting of ephemera in books makes rummaging a doubly sweet action. I recall the joy of discovery when rummaging through an old cook book of my mother's and unearthing small treasures hidden from the light for almost fifty years.

 Well, today I went rummaging back through my current writer's notebook and began to pull out and document some of my collected quotes about writing. Writers are collectors.  It gives me pleasure to share here, now,  a sample of my gathered treasures:

(On the front cover) -'There's no excuse. If you want to write, write.'
Natalie Goldberg.

'Say what mean, say what you see. make a photograph if you can for your readers.' Stephen King. 

'There is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the story.'
Frank Herbert.

'Scissors and paste are honorable writer's tools.'
William Zinnser

'When we look beyond the surface errors in student's writing we see the beauty hidden beneath.'
Lisa Eickholdt

'Before you can write anything, you have to notice something.'
John Irving

'It's called writing workshop ,not writing factory. We should see unique products in progress and evidence of writing everywhere.'
Tamberly Wheeler

'So much more than good intention is required ti lead all students to grow as readers and writers.'
Penny Kittle

"poetry should be positioned as part of everyday life.'
Sally Murphy 

Where are you finding writing in your notebook you want to develop into more writing.'
Linda Rief

'To be a poet is a conditon, rather than a profession.'
Robert Graves


This is just a sampling of what I uncovered while rummaging. I urge you to indulge in a bit of healthy rummaging too.

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