#SOL20 Day 9 “Some Place”

SOL20This March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.

We all come from someplace.      Where do you come from?    How did you escape? Go for ten.

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#SOL20 Day 8 “Long”

SOL20This March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.

I was asked by a slicer why I chose to write out my slices and share the notebook pages. Here are my thoughts on that.

I want to write out my memories by hand. I find my thought process is very different when I do that. I think the slowness of it (compared to my typing speed) invites me to linger/envision a bit more and a bit longer and I am more immersed in the memories. I can often type at the speed of memory, but the handwriting puts it all in slow motion, which if you think about it in videos and movies, brings importance, nostalgia, and, focus to the moment. I would encourage everyone to reflect on how your tools shape your writing and your remembering.

What have you waited a long time for? Go. Ten minutes

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#SOL20 Day 7 “Religion”

SOL20This March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.

EASILY OFFENDED? Skip my slice today and come back tomorrow. My religion memories are from a child’s perspective and probably bordering on blasphemy. 😉

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#SOL20 Day 6 “Bicycle”

SOL20This March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.

Today it was 10 minutes about a bicycle:

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#SOL20 Day 5 “Three”

SOL20This March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.

Name 3 times when it came to you clearly that you wanted to write memoir. 10 Minutes.  I noticed a pattern of emotional events when I took the time to think about it. img_7763

#SOL20: Day 4 “Coffee!”

Screen Shot 2019-03-02 at 5.28.56 PMThis March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.

Today’s spark from Natalie: “Tell me about how you drink coffee. When? Where?…A whole world exists in coffee. Glean those details…Go. Ten minutes.” Here is my ten minute slice.

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Do you drink coffee? Tea? Hot cocoa?  What’s your ritual. What details do you think of?

#SOL20: Day 3 “Die”

Screen Shot 2019-03-02 at 5.28.56 PMThis March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.

In this writing SPARK, Golberg asks us us to tell her, “What will you miss when you die?” I gave myself 5 minutes, because I wanted to see what would bubble up first-my life has been so wonderful I could write a tome on what I’d miss if I gave myself enough time.

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What will you miss when you die?

#SOL20: Day 2 “Test 1”

Screen Shot 2019-03-02 at 5.28.56 PMThis March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.

In this memoir SPARK, I have 2 to 3 minutes to respond to each memory prompt. fullsizeoutput_1813bfullsizeoutput_1813a

See what Natalie is teaching us about? Using our senses when we write. Sound, taste, touch, sight, and smell.  What do you remember when you lean on your senses for memories?

#SOL20 Day 1 “I Remember”

SOL20Welcome to the 2020 Slice of Life!! This March I will be participating in the montOld Friend from Far Awayh-long challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises, slicing from my childhood or young adulthood.

I REMEMBER

This spark asks me to begin with “I remember” and write for ten minutes to see where it takes me. As you can see memories don’t come to me chronologically, and it’s fascinating to see which memory the mind lands on first.

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What do you remember if had 10 minutes to quick write?

Slice of Life 2020 is Coming!

Starting on the 1st of March I will be blogging each day for the Slice of Life Challenge from the TwoWritingTeachers. (So if you are looking for educational ideas and reflections you might just want to visit my Facebook page this month) This will be my 5th year participating in this challenge and for the past several I have tried a theme to pull my slices together. One year I wrote a small moment from the previous day, another year I wrote micro-poetry, and last year I wrote quick writes from my book Spark! This year I will be practicing memoir writing using exercises from Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away.

Screen Shot 2020-02-23 at 8.04.17 AMAs she says, “To write memoir, we must first know how to remember.” The book is filled with timed and meditative exercises to guide you through remembering. It is an invitation to “open forgotten doors of memory”.  So my #SOL20 for March 2020 will be meditations on memories and slices of my life that I want to remember and reflect on from my childhood or maybe even early adulthood. Though I want to try all of her exercises in the book, I will be mindful that my memories may not be shared memories for all who lived them and I will not be posting any that may be hard truths that others may dispute. I won’t shy away from writing them, I just won’t share them with the blogosphere.

If you would like to participate in this year’s Slice of Life Challenge I think you will find it to be a potentially life changing experience. I have met so many amazing people through these month long journeys that I have kept in touch with, met up with at conferences, and have formed wonderful friendships with. I have learned to appreciate the writing of others, the stories of others, and the joys and sufferings of others with so much more empathy and understanding. It will help you see small moments with the keen eyes and ears of a writer.  Ask any ‘slicer’ what the experience was like and I would bet most say it was a game-changer for them.

If you are interested (or think you might be) click HERE for information from the TwoWritingTeachers. It has all the information you need, and if you would like to chat with me about it, leave a comment or tweet me @LitCoachLady. I would be happy to help anyone with this challenge. Get your notebooks and pens ready!

One More Off My TBR Stack

MAYBE HE JUST LIKES YOU by Barbara Dee
What a powerful book! I think this will start a lot of conversations and hopefully stop a lot of heartache and hurt. Mila is a 7th grader who finds some boys giving her unwanted hugs, and then comments. When she tells her friends how uncomfortable it is making her feel they think she’s overreacting and tell her, “Maybe he just likes you.” But Mila knows in her gut that this isn’t ok. Their passive aggressive behavior is making life miserable but she can’t talk to her mom, who has just lost her job and she overhears arguing with their estranged dad over money. Who can she turn to? Who will listen and understand? This is a book I think all middle schoolers should read to build empathy and understanding so that all kids feel safe and respected.
Sexual harassment and bullying are becoming more problematic, I’m glad readers have books like this to help.