Writing as Play

As a self-described "hesitant" writer (at least according to the sentence stem exercise we did in class last Tuesday), and as somebody who is trying to start writing for herself again, Julia Cameron's words in our reading could not have been more timely:

"Kabir tells us, 'Wherever you are is the entry point,' and this is always true with writing. Wherever you are is always the right place. There is never a need to fix anything, to hitch up the bootstraps of the soul and start at some higher place. Start right where you are" (4-5).

One of the greater concerns I have as a potential English teacher is passing on this hesitation of mine, which has kept me in check creatively since I graduated from URI in 2012. "Write -- but do it right," and the incessant need for perfection at first attempt, bars many from even considering writing as play. We are taught structure, that every paper must have a thesis, that there are unquestionable laws to the act of writing that must be followed or else. Rarely are we taught to question, to make new things. There have only been two teachers in my lifetime that encouraged us students to step outside the comfort zone of the five paragraph (longer in college) essay and do something daring and potentially messy. 

That there have been so few, in a crowd of so many, is disheartening, and the ramifications carry out in the students' lives when, one day, they take pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard and, being more concerned about having word variety than what they are trying to communicate, stop, until eventually they cease all together because they just aren't good enough.

It is promising that the NCTE is recognizing that writing serves a variety of purposes, that everyone has the ability to write. The emphasis on the importance of writing is nice, to say the least, and the call to provide students with the opportunity to engage in their own writing is good. However, by emphasizing so much, do we run the risk of beating a dead horse (to use a cliche)? Do we run the risk of, by providing so much play, killing the play entirely? 

If you give me too many rules, I will freeze up. If you hand me too much freedom, I won't know what  to do. Since writing is such a personal endeavor, as our language is our own, perhaps the best thing is to trace back to Cameron's words: Wherever you are is always the right place. Should we, then, as teachers, go straight to the students, and have a discussion about writing? Why hate it? Why enjoy it? Why and how can it be so incredibly important? Because, ultimately, wherever they are, is going to be the correct starting point. 

The key, I think, is simplicity, to not overburden, either ourselves or our students. If we get bogged down in 'doing it right' to avoid 'doing it right,' we'll lose sight of why writing is a worthwhile pursuit,  beyond that label.