JOIN: Celebrating My Mama and Reading and Writing

Every weekend, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

Yesterday my sister and I took my mom to Milwaukee for a Mother's Day girls' celebration. It's been a long time since just the three of us went out and we had such a great time. We scheduled a private lesson for her at a yarn store. She loves to crochet but she got some tips from a nice lady who does the lessons at the Knitting Nook. Then we went out to dinner at a tapas restaurant called La Merenda. It was so fun to celebrate my mom and spend time with her and my sister.  

I'm grateful to still have my mom in my life and that my kids get to have her in their lives. 

On the drive to pick up my sister, she asked me about my writing and we talked about how my grandma loved to read and write. There are so many things that contributed to me being a reader and a writer but the fact that my family embraced books and encouraged me to read and write is definitely one of them. I'm lucky and I wish every young person could develop a love of reading and writing. 

Blogging has been a really fulfilling way for me to share my love of reading and writing and to hopefully make an impact on the world by spreading a love of reading and writing. To celebrate eight years of blogging here, I'm happy to share the winners of three different books. I'm also offering to chat with anyone who wants to talk about writing. On Monday, May 28th, I've blocked off time to talk with 10 people who sign up for a personal writing conference with me. This will be first come, first served and we'll connect via Google Hangout. You'll have the option to share a short piece of writing with me ahead of time if you'd like or we can just talk about your writing life in general. It doesn't matter whether you have been writing for a long time or are new to writing. It also doesn't matter what you write. All writers count, all writers are welcome. Each writing conference will last 20-25 minutes.

To sign up for a writing conference with me, click the link below. Then click where it says, "Next available appointment slot on May 28, 2018." From there, choose a time slot that works for you and click "Save". This will save the appointment to your Google Calendar and reserve the spot with me. You will need to be signed into a Google account to be able to do this. I'll send you an email confirmation the week before our chat with more information. 

Jen Vincent Writing Conference Sign Up

And now the book giveaway winners! Thanks again to Scholastic for providing these books for me to give away. 

The winner of:

Comprehensive Literacy 

by Patricia L. Scharer

is Jill Bless!

The winner of:

One person will win The Megabook of Fluency 

by Timothy V. Rasinski and Melissa Cheesman Smith

is Lisa Maucione!

The winner of:

The Writing Teacher's Companion 

by Ralph Fletcher

is Lisa Cosgrove!

JOIN: Celebrating What Sucks About Writing Right Now

Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

It's seems a bit counterproductive to be celebrating what sucks right now but for me it is a celebration because by acknowledging what sucks right now, I can hopefully move past it. 

1. The Voice In My Head That Tells Me I'm Not a Writer

I'm not sure this will ever go away but I can definitely stop listening to it. As much as I write and as much as I love writing, there's still a little voice in my head that tells me I'm not enough. Partly, I'm not good enough as a writer and partly, I'm not good enough as a person that anyone would care about me or my stories or want to read them. It really hit home this week when I read The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. I knew I was in a sort of funk and this book was recommended to me so I finally read it. He points out how we all have hidden barriers, these stories we tell ourselves that hold us back, that don't let us live up to our potential. Well, one of my hidden barriers is that I feel seriously flawed as a person. Who cares about me? Who wants to read my stuff? Who am I to think I matter let alone, I'm important. 

I have no idea. 

Solution to celebrate: I'll tell that voice to be quiet. I honestly think I'll always have that little inner critic. In some ways, I think it's an internal defense mechanism. Putting myself out there, sharing my writing, hoping to be published, is a risk. But it's a risk I'm willing to take because I know that everyone else writing is a person too. Everyone else has gone through the experience of sitting down, writing, working on their writing, and putting themselves out there. If they can do it, I can do it too. I have no idea if anyone will care about my stories or want to read them but I can still try. 

I also have an idea for how to breathe some energy into my writing life by connecting with other writers. I'm planning to merge this blog with Teacher Mentor Texts next month and as part of the merge, I'll be offering writing conferences to any educators who embrace the writing life or who want to embrace the writing life. I'll share more info soon!

2. The Fear of Standing Out

I have another hidden barrier...and that's worrying about what other people will say if I write and blog and sell a book and love my life as a writer. I can't tell you how many times people ask, "Where do you find time?" I've even had people ask, "Do you ever sleep?" And I get it because I do a lot. I'm a mom, our family is busy with school and sports, and we love to have fun. I read, I go to yoga, I write. The truth is that I make time for what I really care about and what fuels me. I make time for my family and I make time to live a writing life. I'm lucky because my job as an instructional coach lets me to interact with people and share my love of learning and literacy so it fuels me in a similar way that my home life does. BUT I there are also lots of things I probably could be doing that I let go because I want to make time for what I really love doing. 

Case in point, below is a current picture of my living room table. It's littered with books, bills, homework, random stuff like sunglasses, a hat, a Color Street smple, blue sticks, pencil sharpeners, a compass. It's stuff we need to put away that we haven't. Mostly to blame are me and the kids. My poor husband...I really should clear it off, put all this detritus away, put books on the shelf. Then we could all eat dinner together at the kitchen table. But I don't make dinner every night. At least, not a fancy home-cooked meal. We don't set the table. 

All of this is to say that I have this fear of outshining other people. I have this worry that if I do too much, other people will judge me and ask how I do it and the very last thing I want is for people to tuck their chins back and look at me like I'm some kind of super human person. I'm not! I'm just me. There is so much I don't do to be able to have time to focus on what I really love. 

Solution to Celebrate: *sigh* I'm not really sure how to solve this other than doing what I do, trying to share as much as I can, and inviting others to go on the journey with me. I honestly believe we all have stories to tell. All our stories are important. That's a main reason why I started Story Exploratory. I don't want to prance around and have people fawn over me, I just want to share my writing life and encourage others to embrace their writing life, whatever that looks like. 

3. #1 and #2 Together

Okay, so what really really sucks right now is that I uncovered my hidden barriers. I was able to see that I have this underlying belief that I'm not good enough but also a fear of letting myself live up to my creative potential. It just sucks. They're basically in competition with each other. Just when I tell myself to believe in myself and go out there and work towards my dreams...I then tell myself to hold back and not be too free and too successful. Somehow I have to figure out how to shut down the voices in my head and to believe in myself and hold myself ultimately accountable to myself. But at the same time remind others that if I can do it, they can do it.

Solution to celebrate: The only thing I've got for this right now is to just keep going. I'm not sure what else to do other than to keep writing, to keep blogging, to keep connecting with others, and to celebrate this writing life. Just writing about what sucks right now feels freeing. I can put these ideas out there and maybe let them go. I wish I could say I could write this, post it, and completely let it go. I'll try. But I have a feeling I'm going to need to write about it more and just focus on my living my writing life and also inviting others to live their writing life or their creative life, whatever that means. 

You know what? I feel a little bit better. I teeny bit lighter. I smidge more ready to get over my hesitations, those silly voices in my head. I'm me. I'm a writer. I love myself. I love writing. I'm worth it. I'm enough. I'm going to keep going. 

How about you? What sucks about your writing life right now? What are your struggling with? What's holding you back? Maybe I can help! I'd love to hear more and hopefully this post helps you know that you aren't alone. Wherever you are on your journey, there are others on the path ahead of you or behind you. And we're here for you. 

JOIN: Celebrating Being Alive

Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

I'm in love with Instagram more and more everyday. I gravitated towards Instagram initially because every post is an image. When I was in high school, I saved money to buy a super simple SLR camera. I had no idea what I was doing but I dreamed of taking a photography class and developing my own pictures in a dark room. I never did take a class but I still love taking pictures and know some basics of what to pay attention to when taking a picture. 

Lately, I find that I'm most inspired by people on Instagram. Still, I love the images people post, the glimpses into people's lives but I also love the people who are there standing up, sharing their truth, being honest and saying it like it is. They inspire me so much. 

And then today I saw someone post something about being pessimistic...and the caption said something like, "I can't be pessimistic because I woke up today." Isn't that so true? Sure, the world is far from perfect....but here we are. We're here. Alive, experiencing the ups and the downs, the good and the bad. And for that I'm thankful.

If you're on Instagram, you can find me there at @mentortexts. 

As always, thanks for stopping to celebrate with me!

I'm here, you're here and I'm so glad.

JOIN: Celebrating My One Little Word for 2018

Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

As far as I remember, my first one little word was in 2013 and I picked the word simplify. There was a lot going on in my life and I felt scattered, stretched in too many directions. I wanted the year to be about figuring out what I most desperately wanted to be doing and simplifying parts of my life so I could really focus on what mattered most - my family, my health, reading, and writing.

In 2014 I chose patience as my word, realizing there were so many goals I had for myself and so many things I wanted to get done and knowing that I had to chill out and be patient. After I picked the word, I heard from a friend that there's a saying that if you ask to be patient, God will sure give you something to be patient about. 

When 2015 came around, I was working in a pretty stressful job dealing with lots of different people all the time. Let me tell you, when you are in heated discussions, it's not always easy to stay cool but staying cool and being able to talk through things is super important. So grace was a perfect word. Here's a funny story about what I learned about grace. Little did I know, that the idea of giving myself some grace would also play a factor. I have a print-out from Ruth's blog that says in loud, bold letters, "I am enough." Even though I had learned how to better say no to things and simplify my life a little bit, I still found giving myself some grace and adjusting my expectations was important. 

2016 was about stopping to just enjoy it all and my word was revel. Revel was such a fun word. It was about enjoying the now and celebrating as much as I could soaking up everything that was my life.

And last year, after the election and my eyes were opened to how much needs attention in our world, I chose the word zealous. My husband often says I'm over-zealous, sometimes still biting off more than I can chew, but sometimes just having such super big dreams and wanting to make them happen while also thinking it's going to be easy. But last year was about being zealous, being more passionate, being more vocal, speaking up and bringing attention to things. It was a great word and one I relied on as a reminder to keep going when it felt hard. 

Now, in 2018, I picked the word love. It's like taking all my words from 2013 through 2017 and rolling them up into one big giant hug. Simplify was about self-love. Patience was about love of the journey. Grace was about love for others and love for myself. Revel was about love of this glorious life. Zealous was about loving life enough to want to make a difference. And now, I'm celebrating love. 

Speaking of celebrating love, I can't think of anyone who more beautifully loved life than Amy Krouse Rosenthal and here's my post from last year that celebrates her. 

Love, love to you on this beautiful day. 

Thank you for stopping in to celebrate with me!

Did you pick a word for the year yet?

JOIN: Celebrating 2017 Successes!

Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

I'm a huge fan of celebrating because it's a time of reflection for me. Last year, I joined Julie Hedlund's 12 Days of Christmas for Writers and it was a great opportunity to take time to reflect and plan so I decided to try it again this year. 

On the second day, she asked us to make a list of successes from the year and challenged us to share them, so here we go!

1. I discovered and fell in love with 826CHI. I went to an inspiring poetry workshop in the spring, volunteered for their middle school writing camp in the summer, and then was invited to be on a panel in the fall. (And I just signed up for a hand-lettering workshop this winter!) Being connected with 826CHI helped me grow as a writer but what I appreciated the most is that I feel truly seen when I'm there. I love them!

2. I participated in an online women's retreat with Wild Cozy Truth and then was invited to be part of Renee's Wild Cozy Truth podcast.

3. Speaking of podcasts, I was also invited to be part of Dream Gardens podcast where I got to talk about The Girl Who Drank the Moon. 

4. The Mr. Colby Sharp invited me to be part of his One Question video series where I talked about keeping up my writing habits during the school year.

5. I got a little bit brave when it comes to videos and made a video about my thoughts on how education can change the world. To make things even more exciting, I went Live on Facebook for the first time and started a Facebook Group called Story Exploratory LIVE. (Please ask you join if you aren't already part of the group!)

6. This summer was our 6th summer of Teachers Write and it was another awesome year. I was able to draft my 3rd novel super fast during the four weeks of Teachers Write this year. It's the first time I've ever drafted so fast!

7. For the first time, I mentored two people for Brenda Drake's Pitch Wars contest. I was so happy to be chosen as a mentee in 2014 so it was super cool to be able to now be a mentor. The two women I worked with were so great and I'm glad to have them as Pitch Wars family and friends now. 

8. I did lots of learning at conferences again this year. I presented at the ICE conference and at Nerdcamp Michigan this summer and also went to NCTE again. 

9. At school, I talked with teachers and students about teaching and learning and I helped to coordinate a district-wide professional development day, district-wide celebration of World Read Aloud Day, and celebration of Day on Writing where we were able to bring in Kwame Alexander at our middle school. 

10. And, finally, what I'm super proud of is that I made my writing a priority this year. I started off the year taking a course with my friend Marcie that was all about developing good writing habits. We realized it would be great to hold each other accountable to our writing goals so we text almost daily to check in and share our writing progress. Thanks to her, I've gotten a lot of writing done just knowing I need to check in with her. I've connected with so many other writer friends who cheerlead for me and read for me and help me keep going. This was also my first year working with Danielle as my agent and I'm so grateful for discussions with her, her belief in me, and to know that we were able to get some of my work out on sub already. I'm looking forward to working more on my writing and sharing my writing life here. 

This is me...it's New Year's Eve and when I took the kids to Target earlier, my car said it was only 12 degrees outside. We're headed to one of my son's friend's house to celebrate with their families tonight. I'm thankful for time at home to unwind and decompress, to reflect and plan forward, to get some writing in before we welcome in 2018. Thank you so much for being here to be part of my writing life and to celebrate with me. I'm glad you are here!

What are you celebrating this week?
I'd love to hear about any of your 2017 successes!

JOIN: Celebrating NCTE 2017

Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

I'm so grateful for the NCTE annual convention every year because I get to connect with friends who feel like family. It's an opportunity to learn from people who push my thinking and to rejuvenate. I have so many ideas after NCTE that I'm excited to make happen. 

Here's a recap of all the wonderful people I connected with. By the end of the conference, I left knowing that I carry their hearts with me and that's pretty amazing.

 Katie Muhtaris!

 Michelle Hasseltine!

 Jennifer Sniadecki and Jeff Anderson!

 Lynda Mullaly Hunt!

 Gae Polisner!

 Melissa Stewart!

 Roshani Chokshi!

 Jess Keating!

Margaret Simon!

 Kellee Moye!

 Franki Sibberson!

Colby Sharp!

 Steenz!

 Shawna Coppola!

Chris Lehman!

Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Matt De La Peña!

Stella Villalba

Leah Henderson!

Gregory Taylor!

 

Chad Everett!

Alyson Beecher!

Of course, even though I took all these pictures....there were still others who I didn't take pictures with who also impacted me like Pernille Ripp, Donalyn Miller, Katherine Hale, Jessica Lifshitz, Kristin McIlhagga, John Scovill, Brian Wyzlic, Katherine Sokolowski, Travis Crowder, Ruth Ayres, to name a few. 

NCTE, thank you! You rock! I can't wait until next year. I'm already counting down the days. 

JOIN: Celebrating Playlist Power

Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

This weekend I'm celebrating how helpful a playlist can be! I started collecting songs related to an idea I had for a novel early in 2015. I finally wrote the first draft of that novel this summer, over two years later. I still find songs I want to add to playlists I create and I find myself listening to the songs as I'm writing. 

The playlist for the novel I'm currently revising - or rewriting to be honest - really helped me think through what changes I'd like to make as I rewrite. It also helped me remember what I initially thought this book was going to be about. It's mostly still what I thought it would be but I'm learning about first drafts and about all the next drafts as I think about what I thought I was going to write, versus what I did write, and what I plan to make the writing into now. Sometimes things just go where they go...but now that I've written something, I can go back and makes changes to it. 

It's kind of like working towards the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop. Every lick gets you closer until you finally get to that chewy goodness in the middle. Every draft gets me closer to what the story is meant to be. 

This week I'm celebrating how helpful my playlist was as I'm starting on this new revision. I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year but I have a few friends who are! If you're reading, keep going! And if you aren't doing NaNo, I still wish you happy writing!