Back Again

So, I'm back...and this time, I'm challenging myself to be more committed. Not necessarily more committed to the blog, but more committed to writing something each and every day, even if it's only a sentence or 2. I guess that's what I get for going to a teacher's conference in Philadelphia all weekend. I'm still here actually, reveling in so many wonderful ideas, resources, and influential people. I found myself going mostly to sessions that featured young adult authors, and I think that was more valuable than any kind of curriculum instruction stuff I could have seen. The last session I went to was a panel of authors (Laure Halse Anderson included) who all spoke about how they use blogs to reach their readers. Readers...I want to have readers! People who visit my humble little piece of the web regularly just to see what I have to say. That's probably a far-fetched idea, so for now, I'm content to just get some of my ramblings down in print for random strangers to stumble across by chance.

In my quest to try writing every day, I feel like I'm in danger of becoming weighed down, writing only about books and lesson plans. Right now, it's all I really know. Life beyond my future career in the classroom really does not exist at its fullest at this particular moment. So--before I make a serious effort to branch out beyond what kind of grammar instruction I've found has been the most successful and other subjects of that nature, I'm going to enjoy one last (for now) unadulterated student teacher-centered post.

Today I met Sarah Dessen, a young adult author who is hugely popular among teenage girls. I've read only one of her books, Someone Like You, and I enjoyed it, but to be honest, it didn't exactly change my life or anything like that. Even so, I was so THRILLED at the prospect of meeting her in person. Sarah Dessen's blog is one of the reasons I'm challenging myself to become a more committed writer. Because she posts so faithfully (and I read it quite religiously), I feel like I know her on a personal level. When I actually listened to her speak in a session about girls coming of age, I felt as if I were listening to an old friend. I felt somewhat prideful as she so gracefully accepted the heartfelt praise and answered sincere questions of several admiring teachers...she so effortlessly lived up to my expectations.

You want to hear something else really cool? Before attending that session, I was at her publisher's booth in the exhibition hall (LOTS of books + free stuff + author signings = HEAVEN) browsing through some of her titles. I knew she would be signing later in the day, and I needed something for her to sign! A woman working in that booth started talking to me about which books were her favorites, and we were chatting away about my future in the classroom and how I really wanted to become more familiar with Sarah's books because I knew how popular they are. Long story short, I wanted a particular book, but the only copies left were for display only. This absolutely lovely woman quietly sneaked a copy into my bag, and she would not accept any payment. I was delightfully surprised and grateful for her helpfulness and generosity! Only later did I find out that I had been speaking with Sarah Dessen's book editor. Wow. The kind of people you rub elbows with (or is the expression "rub shoulders" ?) at NCTE.

In short, spending so much time among fantastic teachers and real, successful authors has inspired me to once again find the writer within myself. And as any decent (or at least aspiring) English teacher would tell you, we are all writers. Even if the only writing we do in a day consists of sending a series of text messages, sprinkled with cryptic and once-foreign expressions like "lol", "ttyl", and of course, "OMG!". Honestly, I still cannot get over this whole "text language". What's wrong with typing out a full sentence? I'm sure more people than ever have unlimited texting plans these days, so it really shouldn't be an issue. Ugh...I digress. So anyway, I would encourage you--whoever you are, whether we know each other or you just happened to stumble across this blog, to try writing just a little bit every day and see where it leads you. I'm pretty excited...I'm expecting some cool stuff to happen :)