Some things (like growing writers) take time
Once I (Carrie) visited Red Butte Garden (this amazing garden in Salt Lake City) during the off season. Instead of vibrant, creative displays of flowers and foliage, there were mounds of dirt and sweaty gardeners with shovels and seeds. What? This beautiful garden doesn’t just appear like magic? I had to laugh at myself. But how many times had I taken this for granted? So many times.
This week, I am reminded of this thought as I get back to teaching in my classroom. I feel discouraged that my students are struggling with short writing tasks. It’s been awhile since they had writing assignments and their confidence to even get ideas on the page is low. (Maybe getting used to their masks also has something to do with it?) Even so, my impatient nature wants a beautiful classroom of confident, fluent writers RIGHT NOW. But I’m trying hard to remember it’s like Red Butte in the off-season; it doesn’t happen by magic, and I’m the one holding the shovel. I have a vision of where I’d like them to go–and I need to keep this in mind one seed at a time. We hope this thought can be helpful to you as you are deep in the work of raising your writer. It can look messy and be slow work (especially right now), but keep after it. Great things take time to flourish. And sometimes writers can be late bloomers.
We are on your team.
Write On!
CARRIE AND EMILY