I have let perfect be the enemy of the good. It’s something I struggle against in a lot of things. I tend to look at writing as something that has to be perfect – each and every time. I have let perfect be the enemy of the good in so many ways, it’s hard to know where to begin explaining this issue!

We didn’t have writer’s workshop in my school – that’s something my kids are lucky enough to have in their school. Their instruction is to write for 15-20 minutes about whatever you want, your favorite things, what happened this weekend, your favorite toy – anything; draw a picture to go with it if you want… In my elementary school (and I am sure with many other more traditional schools too), it was more like “Write a poem.” No topic, Due Friday. OK, now what. I still remember vividly in 3rd grade getting this assignment and thinking to myself – what the heck am I supposed to write about? Everything? Nothing? In the end, I plagiarized a poem from one of the books in my bookshelves at home and got in big trouble. Needless to say, I didn’t do THAT again.

What usually happens when I have to write is…

Brain freeze?

Writer’s block.

I mean, it’s like boiling the ocean. Where do you start. Giving kids a place to start makes writing easier in the Writer’s Workshop Program. I still remember the first day of kindergarten for Jasper – he got out a sheet of paper – half blank and half lined and got to draw a picture and then write about it. It was posted on the website by the day’s end (along with other kid’s pictures as well). But it was fantastic to be able to see that writing and drawing for my first child going to his first day of school. I was very proud. He didn’t have writer’s block – he never has.  He can crank out writing very quickly. He wrote his “I am from” poem over the last two weeks very quickly – 1st draft, 2nd draft, final draft and he made it better each time.

That’s not how writing works for me. I have to mull it over, think about it incessantly. Write most of it in my head before getting it through to my fingers to a computer keyboard and onto the page, so to speak. Some articles ruminate in my head for years, others come out all at once in a fit of passion about a particular issue or topic! This summer, I have tried to post a blog a day and that works well for about 2 weeks  and then I have a brian freeze or writer’s block. I have plenty of topics to write about – probably a year’s worth of daily blogs, but that doesn’t stop the writer’s block or pushing it off until later. I have let perfect be the enemy of the good. I need to stop that and just write.