Living Life Twice

As the Australian school year draws to a close, we reach a time where attention is given to student resources and supplies for the next academic year.  So, I find myself thinking about how schools might best go about supplying students with writer’s notebooks for 2023.  Allow me to be frank here -we're talking writer's notebooks, not a string of sausages. It's a decision requiring some consideration. Handing out a one size fits all notebook relegates this special writer's resource to little more than workbook status in the eyes of young writers. If kids come to view the writer's notebook in this way, it loses integrity. It loses its individuality. Those books may come to be viewed as a 'teacher thing.' The ownership eroded significantly. Such an outcome remains totally avoidable, but it does however require some pre planning on the part of those managing the acquisition of school resources. Demonstrating the integrity of this writing resource is ultra-import...

I find myself frequently informing inexperienced, student writers that I spend a lot of time thinking about writing in addition to all the actual writing I choose to do. I want them to know that part of my personal process as a writer is to engage in a lot of what we might refer to as -rehearsal. I do not wait until I'm actually writing to begin the necessary thinking that launches a writing piece.  I actually devote a sizable amount of time to collecting ideas, ephemera and artefacts to further enlighten me. Then there's the incalculable time devoted to considering, observing and rehearsing writing related matters. Matters, I believe might prove useful, when I return to my writing place.  For this reason, I find myself buoyed when a young writer enters a classroom and informs me they know what they intend to write about that day -before we even begin the writing workshop. They arrive with pre-determined writing intentions. This is clear evidence of rehearsal occurring beyond ...