Challenge Accepted! What the heck did I do that for!

As I sit here trying to wrap my head around the fact that school starts in a week, and the challenge that has been posed to me by someone that I look up to professionally, Cheryl Morris (@guster4lovers) to write my first blog (and publish it) before school starts.

Writing professionally is easy for me.  Tell me what you need and I will write it.  I write quite a few letters of recommendations each year, so that type of writing isn't an issue either.

Writing creatively scares me to death.  I even dreamt last night about writing this post, and it wasn't a pretty dream.  I was made fun of, my admin threatened to fire me because of my poor writing skills, and my husband couldn't believe that I couldn't write.  I don't know why I am scared.  I have never had a poor self esteem or self confidence.  I am a "get'er done" type of gal.  Tell me to do it, and I will do it.

Am I scared to write because I grew up not being able to hear well (I was deaf in one ear, and partially deaf in another), thus making me a not so great speller?

Am I scared to write because my high school English teacher told me that it was good that I was good at math, because writing wasn't certainly my strong subject (even though I graduated having A's in all of my English classes)?

Am I scared to write because you truly are exposing yourself in all ways?  You are allowing your audience to see into what you are thinking.

I don't know and I am not sure anyone else can tell me why either.  However, I have to get over this.  I have to let this fear push me to be a better writer, to make me want to write, and to enjoy writing.

If I expect my students to write, and blogging is a goal of mine this year for my students, I have to write too.

Thanks, Cheryl, for posing that challenge in our #flipclass chat.  I needed to be challenged.  Just suggesting to me to write would not have been good enough.

Here's to a year of blogging, I hope!