Kim Blevins
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All over the place...

9/17/2011

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Are other writers as strange as I? Or am I just wrong? It's entirely possible! I started writing for myself in the summer of 2009 after I experienced the Ozark Writing Project's Summer Institute. I had a life-changing experience that summer and the floodgates of writing opened for me and in me. The thing I feel so odd about is all the different subjects and formsI like to write and want to write.
Project 1:
I want to write young adult fiction and I have a "book" begun during NaNoWriMo 2009, a challenge to write 50,000 words in the month of November. I just finished a query letter to Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Yes, you read that right. I began the book November 1, 2009; finished the book in June 2010 and just now sent a query letter. Hey, it's scary! I did send it out to two contests last fall and was rejected but took their advice on changing the first chapter.

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Project 2:
I love to write humorous short essays about my journey as a woman being dragged kicking and screaming into middle age. I have two stories on More magazine's site. One is about running and how much I suck at it (also how it compares to writing). The other is about my EF trip to Italy with students and how the men all looked at Kayla and none at me and how hard that was in so many ways. 

Project 3: 
I have written a lot about my struggles as a teacher and a woman in today's world. What to do with these? Nothing. They sit on my hard drive with nowhere to go.

Project 4: 
I would like to write more stuff about cool classroom ideas.
I have written two articles about the Shoes project in my room. One was published on the Teaching Tolerance site and one has either been rejected by English Journal or they'll be emailing me ANY day now. I would love to write more about teaching and my thoughts on how it should be done but how do you do that when there are SO many wonderful teachers and who am I anyway to tell anyone how to teach? I've written a lot about Organic Teaching and I think I need to blog about this so I'm not overwhelmed but all I have is five pages of notes and thoughts- and uh, a web address I bought and can't figure out how to create. (looking down in shame)
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Project 5: 
I wrote a short historical fiction story with my eighth graders (hmm that would be about five years ago) about a boy who didn't want to be in Hitler Youth but had to. I couldn't stop thinking about him and a couple of years ago I wrote four more chapters and I'm stuck. I'm scared. How do you write historical fiction? I don't want to screw it up and offend anyone. I still love my character Till though and would love to finish this. 

Project 6: 
I am trying to keep a blog for parents about what goes on in my classroom at www.blevinsenglish2.weebly.com  I just checked it and the piece I wrote about last week is not there. I wrote it. I thought I pushed the PUBLISH button. What happened? Epic fail. 

Project 7: 
This blog- what do I put here? I want to put everything and I kind of have as I look through the posts. Just trying to get ahold of this whole idea is tough. I'm a teacher so is it okay if I curse in my humorous stuff? How do you write truthfully about wifely and motherly struggles without hurting someone's feelings? Eh.. I don't know. 

So... am I weird or are other writers just like this?
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    Kim Blevins is a teacher-consultant with the Greater Kansas City Writing Project.

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