READERS HOPE: A place where great readers are inspired to become great writers…

Opportunity dances with those on the dance floor.

As an editor here on Readers Hope, and a writer on Medium, I want to inspire readers to take a leap of faith, and write. Because…tell the truth…you want to…you really do, but you’re too scared to go out on the limb of the tree. Yet THAT is where you will find the best fruit.

I really wanted to write an article that would entice you to give writing a try on this new publication. I thought long and hard about how to introduce my ideas, and the other night it came to me.

A story!

It’s a story about me, about my softness, about how I felt at the time when national testing in schools was introduced here in Australia.

This story occurred in the first year of testing and I was teaching year three at the time, eight or nine-year-olds!

Tension filled the air. Though we’d talked to the children about it being just the same as a classroom activity, they knew otherwise, and many of the parents offloaded their stress onto the children. Easy to do!

We teachers had been reminded that in no way were we to help a child! So with a cup of coffee in one hand, and a lovely strawberry tart in the other…not quite true, but you get the idea.

But on that day, compassion took over and the obeying of rules was sort of sidelined, by me.

The task was writing. Bear in mind there was no lead up to the topic. Teachers had no idea about the task, and this was an atypical scenario, where students were challenged to write with no preamble, under test conditions. All of this was new to these students, who were, after all, little more than five-year-olds with a few Christmas dinners tucked under their belts…babes in the woods!

The task read something like this:

You are walking along the road and you find a photo. Write about it.

This of course is not verbatim, but close enough for jazz. There was no extra packaging, no ideas about where they might go with the idea…just a large, blank paper.

I sat at my desk, watching as capable writers caught each other’s eyes, twisted their lips downward, clenched their teeth, and raised their shoulders in the I-don’t-know poise, (palms upturned).

I so wanted to help them, but I couldn’t. In my classroom, writing challenges were prefaced by drama, and laughter, or tears, or whatever. I loved getting students up to high doh, as my mom used to say. When high doh (a musical term for those who are confused), was in place, my students were sufficiently ready to write.

It was fun…always!

But no high-doh on testing day. It was all seriousness, and silence, and quiet…super, super, not-so-good, quiet.

I had a few borderline special-needs students in my class, and I was watching them carefully, monitoring the build-up of tears, and listening to the sniffles.

In an instant I knew what to do. I couldn’t help them. That was true.

BUT, nobody said I couldn’t do a spot of silent drama…just to fill in the time!

That would be my defense if push came to shove.

So what did I do?

1. I grabbed one of my bookmarks, scribbled a few stick figures, and left the room momentarily, dropping the bookmark (photo) on the floor. I returned, picked it up, and feigning surprise, I dramatically turned it upwards, looked in horror, and began to cry. How I cried! I rested my arms up on the door, and sobbed into them.
2. The ‘photo’ was then returned to the floor, but this time when I checked it, I laughed. I put my hands over my mouth so as not to make a noise. I grabbed a tissue to wipe my happy tears. I made eye-contact with a few students, and I KNEW that they already had some ideas.
3. The ‘photo’ was returned to the floor, but this time when I picked it up, I was excited…so excited. I went to the whiteboard and drew a moneybag with dollar signs. I raised my clenched-fist arms in victory, then quietly returned my bookmark to our novel, dusted off my drama queen behavior, and sat down.

All the while, save for my antics, there had not been a sound in the classroom. You can deliver lots of ideas, stimulate for success, in silence, I believe.

After that the coffee and strawberry tart would have come in handy!

The thing is, when I surveyed my little troopers, every one of them was writing.

Now, you may be reading this and thinking: Well you did help them.

And perhaps I did. But all I did was use one strategy that I’d normally use to bolster creativity. I said not a word. Besides, I had eased the dis-ease in my students.

The interesting thing was, that after recess (after the test), they were all super-excited about what they had written. Some thanked me for the ideas.

‘What ideas?’ I asked. ‘I was just filling in time.’

That they felt good after the test was all I wanted to hear

I wanted them NOT to be afraid of challenge.

I wanted them to imagine.

I wanted them to believe that whatever they wrote about was kosher.

I wanted them to feel that they were capable.

And most of all, I wanted them to learn what it means to write.

You see, when I was behaving badly, my actions were merely a reflection of the words in my mind.

My excitement, my sadness, and my happiness, were very much predicated on my personal experience.

Every writer writes from their experience. They may not necessarily believe that, but it’s true. You can’t write convincingly, from a blank canvas.

1. My first ‘drama’ was about when my young cousin was sick with meningitis and not expected to live. That was harrowing, (my tearful response).
2. My second was based on a special party coming up. It was there in my imagination, and it helped me to dramatize, absolute excitement.
3. My third one was, you guessed it, all to do with winning the lottery!

In my silent performance I managed to trigger the imagination of my students, yet I didn’t say a word!

And THAT, is what writing is all about: IMAGINATION.

I’m here to tell you today, that there is not one writer who writes from a blank canvas.

In their pretty little heads are gazillions of ideas that are ready and waiting to be used. Nobody helped put them there.

Those times when you are feeling high, or angry and losing control, or happy and excited, can all be brought into play when you want to write.

They’re there in that HUGE cranial bank of yours, dying to be used.

Yes I know. You didn’t actually write them in your own blood.

Nor did you scribe them beautifully with a feather.

Your didn’t blot your copybook when transcribing the words to paper.

And you may not, as yet, have tentatively written them in a WORD document.

But they are there, and you are the dealer of the thought cards. You get to choose. Will you share your thoughts with others? Or will you wimp out?

‘I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.’

As it turned out Atticus Finch was not licked, if you remember. He WON!

And write now, (SORRY! I mean RIGHT now), you’re sitting on that jagged fence thinking: Well it’s alright for Maria. But she’s been doing it forever.

I’m here to tell you that I haven’t, well, not in an official capacity. I love to write. And I loved turning students into writers! I’m not always successful. One of my most talented students of all time, who had planned to be a writer, is now a chemist, working in a chemist’s shop.

SHE, makes me feel like a failure. But you know, I won’t be surprised if I hear one day that she is now, the talented, and much lauded Stephanie King! SOMEBODY else might have to move sideways!

So, how about it?

What thoughts could you put on paper?

It doesn’t have to be much to get you started. And we are here to help you. BECAUSE, we all started at ground-zero, and from there it seemed like a long way up.

Still does, to be honest. I don’t have the secret writing sauce, but guess what? Every day I try to get just a wee bit better. Right now I’m trying to figure out what writers want to read, and what will grab them in the moment.

And that’s the thing. You may be thinking: I could never get my thoughts in order.I’ve got them, but they’re a bit mashed up.

Hey there! I am the queen of mash! Believe me. And besides, if you’re a wee bit squeamish about hitting the publish button, you can send me a note and we can mash together (not literally!)

I hope by now I have inspired you to have a go. Write about yourself. Write about what you thought of this article. My skin is not really thick as yet, but I’ll be fine.Write to get things off your chest.

You can bring a whole new perspective to what it is to be a writer.

Whadyasay? Are you up for it? Have I inspired you? In which case:

Carpe diem!

Carpe your quill.

Carpe your pen and paper.

Or dust off your laptop and get cracking.

And by the way, I’m just going to put this post in the slow cooker. It will read much better in the morning. It’s something I always do. I sleep on articles, then read them next day. It’s a great habit to get into.

See you on the inside!