"What do you want me to write?" a boy asked me this morning. Anxiety played across his face. He wanted desperately to be "right." And I wouldn't give him the "right" answer. How terrible am I?
Want to know what he was writing? A journal.
I told this student, "Don't write the journal for me. Write it for yourself."
I say that a lot. Today, though, it dawned on me how silly that is. I write all the time...and I rarely write "for myself." That is not to say that I don't enjoy the act of writing or that I see everything I write as an assignment. I just find writing meaningful if I have an audience in mind.
When I began this blog, I was writing to Moriah. She always wanted me to write a blog, so each post kept her in mind and what she would enjoy or want to know about me. As time went on, I started writing to my students and I wanted them to know but couldn't tell them or to my family or to specific friends. I didn't write directly to them, but I would imagine these people reading my work and it changed how I wrote. Authors have a demographic in mind when they write books. It's a natural thing. Writing is meant for reading so the two acts intertwine.
So, after a few minutes at my desk, as I watched my student continue to struggle, I walked back over to him. I said, "This is about falling and standing back up, right? Why don't you write it as if you are telling your mom. Tell her something that would make her really proud. Or your younger brother, what advice would you give him?" He was quiet for several minutes, thinking, but was able to finish the whole journal... and it is a REALLY good story. I'm glad he found someone worth writing for.
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