Maybe you didn't realize I was inviting you to a celebration today, but thanks for coming!

Thanks for joining me on a year of reading and writing adventures.  (Yes! our blog and book club have just hit the one year mark.)

And after this year of reading books and stories, journaling, and slowing down the pace of life in general (or at least trying!) we've got our very first literary edition.   

Your fellow vagabonds--your fellow adventurers of the written word--are here to share a part of their writing journey with you.  

The stories, poems and personal essays you'll read in this very first literary edition are a collection of work inspired by the Slice of Life Creative Writing Program, the Short Story Series, or the Tiny Story Challenge we recently held at our Book Club on Facebook. 

When I think of my most meaningful writing (and reading) experiences, you know what they are? Two simple yet precious occasions where I was part of small, meaningful writing communities:

• Where I could see by my reader’s comments (or the look on their faces)--that they ‘got it,’ that my story was their story too. 
• Where I had the privilege of reading inspiring stories and then having one of those conversations with the author--the kind that Holden Caulfield dreamed of.

My time spent in small writing communities has taught me that sharing your work is maybe as important to the writing process as the hours you spend pounding they keys, or scribbling into your notebook. 

That finding other writers who 'get you,' and forging a relationship with them, is worth the work.

And that it all starts by being willing to share--at first with people you don't know that well--yet.

Writing--it's such a gift.  

Think about it:

• Your writing is there for you in an unending supply--whenever you need it.
• You can't use it up.
• On the contrary, the more you write, the more the words seem to want to pour out of you.
• And it's such a generous pastime! Share your writing with others, give something to your readers, and you don't have less, you have more--a stronger voice, better writing, even more to say.

How long have you known the writer in you? Did you meet her during childhood? Or maker her acquaintance more recently?

No matter.

Sharing your writing is one of the best ways you can grow--whether you're starting out or whether you've been at it for decades.

Today, we'll talk about WHY sharing your writing matters to your writing, and your writing habit.

But first, let's make sure we all understand what I mean when I say you should share your writing.  And maybe talk a bit about what I don't mean. 

Why should you read (and write) short fiction?

We're a multilingual community here at Vagabond English.  This is a place where you can read and discuss books and stories with people all over the world.

It's also a place to find your voice with a little writing and reading of your own. (No matter what language(s) you grew up speaking!)

So why should you read and write short fiction? 

Because...

• Your reading leaves its footprints all over your writing.  
• Because you want to read high quality writing...but you're busy!
• Because reading great writing immerses you in the experience, and you learn lessons about writing. (how to craft a great story, how to write more beautiful prose)
• Because reading and writing in a language you're learning helps immerse you in that language and 'think on your feet' so you become more fluent and flexible.  

And since everyone in our community has a different relationship to English, let me give you two ways you can work on your reading and writing habit today:

Do you know the most exciting thing about undertaking a writing project, a writing habit...a writing adventure? 

It's that moment after weeks, months, years of writing of covering uncharted territory, spilling miles of ink, when you look over your work.

And you see that you are someone new. A different person, a different writer. 

And in that moment, you realize: you have changed--and so have the goals and purposes of your writing.

And you find yourself contemplating new possibilities--a larger writing project, perhaps.

Like I said, your writing habit is an end in itself.  But writing habits also have a way of taking us to places we never expected.  

You've been using the slice of life journaling technique --the act of capturing the moments of your life on the page.  It's a tool you can use to sharpen your writing, to start thinking like a writer, to start noticing the details you'll need and saving them for later.

It's a practice that will change your writing...and your life as you take notice of what's going on around you. As you choose your focus.

Last week we talked about your journal--and how just keeping a journal is an end in itself. 

But sometimes, after you write for a while...you realize you've got something in there...

• Something you want to keep.

• Something you want to explore.

• Something you want to pass on. 

• The beginning of a story...

This week, I'd like to invite you to start seeing your slice of life journal as a collection...even organizing it that way.  Is this for you?

Read on to find out...

Last time on the blog we talked about writing slices of life: Capturing the moments of your life--past and present and writing them down in your journal. The next three blog posts will focus on what direction you can take when writing these slices of life.  Briefly they are:

1. Your journal: when the journey is your destination. (today's topic)

2. A curated collection of your moments, for you, for your children, for the future... (up next!)

3. A writing project of your own? When your collection of short and sweet journal entries brings you somewhere unexpected. (the final post in this series).

Which one is for you, right now?  Only you can answer that--and here are two things to keep in mind:

• The answer might surprise you.  

• The answer will change--because writing changes you.

Recently, I've been taking our conversation deeper into your journaling habit.  Today I'm going to focus in on a specific skill that I call writing 'Slices of Life.'  Here's what we'll talk about today

• Why capturing and writing slices of life is an essential writing technique that your favorite novelists use.  A technique you can learn with practice.  
• How capturing your moments and translating them to the page is not just a writing technique, but a way of life.  
• How you can start practicing this super-easy technique on your own, at home in a way that's simple, fun...and life-changing.  

Over at the Vagabond English Book Club we've been talking about why you should write about your life.   And that discussion has driven home a few lessons for me:  

Writing about your experience will not only change your writing...it will change your life.  

Which means...the way you write, the way you come to the page, the choices you make, the way you frame your experience--it really matters.

And you're going to have to make decisions about what's important.  If you want to keep going--if you want to keep yourself (and your readers?) interested. 

Today's post is about three lessons that will make your writing about your life more compelling, more life-changing.

These are the lessons I keep coming back to--whether it's in discussion with you, when I'm writing, or when I'm awake at night thinking over 'the big stuff...'

Oh, and for each lesson, there's a journal mission.  Enjoy.  

The start of the New Year...a time to reflect, to write.

The time of year where, after a winter slump, I begin to wake up early again, and reach for my notebooks, my keyboard. To write.

And you know what I write about in these early hours of the morning?

My life--

• what matters,
• moments and memories I want to capture,
• what I need to think through, get over...or reach for. 

Towards the end of my writing session, my thoughts turn to work, to the day...to my blog posts or a short story I want to write.  But only after I've settled the most fundamental questions.

Sometimes writing can feel like a stumble through the shadows...

You take your truths, your stories and you weave them into word--words you hope will reach across continents, culture, time.  And deliver your message, your meaning to someone you may never meet, speak to or hear from.

We spend so much time in solitude, walking an unfamiliar landscape with little light to guide us.   

We may write and read alone.   But we do it to connect with other people.   

And when we travel too long without answer or feedback, we wonder where we are going...

And we ask ourselves:

• Will anyone understand this?
• Did I make my point?
• Does anyone care?
• Is my voice strong enough to carry my message?
• Am I evolving as a writer...or just moving in circles, making the same missteps again and again?

You're out there, on your own, doing all the right things:

• You've carved out time for a reading habit worthy of a writer,
• You're working on a writing habit too--whether it's chatting in our Book Club on Facebook, writing reviews on Goodreads keeping a journal, writing stories or blog posts.  
• And you're creative with your writing and learning. Connecting your writing and your reading to your life.

These are the first steps--the steps you must take to finding your voice and your confidence as a writer.

No one else can take them for you.

But...

You want to find your voice. And you're busy.

So busy, you don't even want to believe it's possible.  

And maybe you even have this fantasy, where one day you'll wake up with more time than 'to-do.' 

Is it just me? Because I admit it,  I  cling to that fantasy...

The fantasy is more comfortable than admitting the reality:

I've got to make some serious choices to make about how I spend my time.

Here it is, this little fact, irritating us, reminding us of it's presence:

We have to choose. We can't do it all. And we owe it to ourselves to make our time count. 

And we owe it to ourselves to commit to creativity.

Want to sound like yourself when you write? Find a voice that's truly yours?

You'll have to find something else first: The time.

You know that reading books is not an "escape from." 

Reading books is an invitation to...

It's a priceless opportunity to hear many voices, to transcend the barriers of language, culture (even time!) and to understand. 

The beautiful thing is this: 

By reading, by hearing the voices of others, you can find your own voice as well.

We need to talk. 

All that reading we do online, it's changing us.  It's a silent process, more than a decade in the making. 

As reading changes, so does writing, thought, mind...

So let's put our phones down for a minute.  While we're at it, we'll tell Facebook to take a hike...Medium too.  Because this change--nearly imperceptible, scratching at us--it's worth our (undivided) attention.  Even if that attention has become...fleeting.

We can see it in our writing, but it goes deeper: the nature of our thought, our ideas is changing. Writing, in the end, is just thought and language on paper--or on a screen.  

Thought and language...language and writing... all of it jumbled into a black bag with a velvet interior.  Go on, reach in there.  Feel around, try to grasp what you can't see. 

The contents? That ever-changing matter that is as familiar as it is mysterious?

It's just... who we are, after all.  

Set a reading challenge worthy of a writer.

Why? 

Because writers never cease to struggle, as they translate life into language.

Because writers invent themselves with every book adventure and take their language with them.

Because when you read a great book, you are already embarking on the writer's journey.  

Because when you read, you write the story too. 

There is no destination.  

You pick up a book and travel to distant lands and cultures.  You find new homelands that you could never otherwise visit... linger in misty places that exist only in fantasy.  

You take on the lives of your favorite characters, explore their worlds, drink their tea, feel their carpet under your feet.  You know their struggles, their tragedies.

You forge meaning.  

It's the journey of a lifetime.

Ready to go? 

This is the moment where you pack your bags, where we make sure you have everything you need for your journey. 

Everything is new, so don't plan too far ahead.

Focus first on the next few months--the next 1-3 books.  After that, you may not see things the same way anymore.  

You may find you're a different sort of traveler.  

And here are a few more travel tips before you go!

Remember those choose your own adventure books?  

At the end of each chapter, you had to choose between your options: steal a key, go into a cave, return home... it was up to you.  

Your book journey is such an adventure.  

It's also the adventure of a lifetime.

Books are the places you'll go and the people you'll meet on your travel. And each one will leave you a slightly different person. 

Which adventures will you choose?