TLC #5: Writing as a Way of Being, p. 2, with Robert P. Yagelski

Hello!

You’re getting this email because you signed up to attend The Long Conversation, a live show dedicated to the crafts of writing, reading, and editing, hosted by me, Rachel Jepsen, who is seeing daylight.

Our next gathering is on Friday, November 13, at 5:30 PM EST, and I’m thrilled to announce that we have a very special guest—Robert P. Yagelski, author of Writing as a Way of Being!

In addition to having written one of my favorite texts, which we read from last week, Dr. Yagelski is the author of Literacy Matters: Writing and Reading the Social Self, four textbooks on writing, countless articles, and a children’s book! He teaches at SUNY Albany, where is also the Director of the Program in Writing and Critical Inquiry. He formerly directed the Capital District Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project. 

It is an absolute honor to be joined by Dr. Yagelski to discuss the connections between writing and well-being, the anxiety of the blank page, process over product, and ‘writing oneself awake.’ We hope you will join us and bring your questions! And if you missed last week, catch up with the podcast, and access the reading here.

This week: Keep writing!

If you joined us for the reading and writing assignment last week, I encourage you all to continue this project each day this week (yes, it is already Tuesday—you can start now!). Sit down with a pen or pencil and sheet of paper and write about what you’re feeling, sitting there, writing. What can you feel in your body? Your boot on the hardwood, the glide of the pen across the paper, your heart rate, anything you can detect. Now what are you feeling inside? Go for ten minutes and don’t stop. If you can’t think of anything to write, just write “I can’t think of anything to write” until something else comes to mind.

I want to hear from you about what changed, or didn’t, over time as you did this exercise each day.

See you on Friday, everyone.