Today’s Photo Friday goes out to the man who inspires me to be an educator and writer, my great grandfather, Foster Thomas. He passed away when I was very young but I will always remember his thick, white, curly hair and those thick rimmed glasses. I remember taking dinner over to his house and sitting with him in his leather chair as he read to me. I wish he was still around so I could hear him tell stories about teaching in a one room schoolhouse and then retiring as head of the technology department at the high school. He lived so long and saw so much. Fortunately, I do get to know about these stories. Not from his own mouth but through his writing. He saw the importance of telling a story and writing it down. His writing will now last forever and it will be here for generations to read.

Writers write because they have a story to tell. Why do I write? I write because I have a story that I believe should be shared. This semester I am learning how to be a teacher of writing, “A writer who initiates writing is someone who understands that the written word has power to do things in the world, that writing is a way to achieve many important purposes” (Anderson, 2005). I am not saying that my own writing has the power to do things in the world but I want to teach, to model that kind of writing for my students. Are my writings always good? No. Do I like all of my writings? Not really. Do I need to improve? You bet! That’s what is so great about writing. There is always room for improvement. There is always room to write more.

I do always have a vision for my writing, “I believe good writing starts with the passion of purpose, with some good reason a writer has found to want to write or to need to write” (Wood Ray, 2006). Writers write about their passion because they need to. That’s why I write. That’s why I share my writings on this blog because I have passion to tell a story. Stories need to be told. I write because I believe great stories need to be shared. By sharing them I can insure that they will last forever.

To sum it up I am going to keep writing and I encourage you to write down your own stories. Stories are meant to be shared. Stories are meant to last forever.

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I would like to thank all of the wonderful people who support me and my writing. It means the world, so thank you.