The Way that the Writing Gets Written

In longhand.

In a notebook.

In several different colors of inkpen.

For a couple of paragraphs, in magic marker.

Over the course of weeks.

Sitting in the back of the room during Story Time.

Sitting on a stool next to the Grapevine Climber at the Wonderlab.

Sitting on a quiet section of the bleachers, away from all the other parents and all the action, at the girls' homeschool Valentine's Day party.

One page at a time, sometimes one paragraph at a time, sometimes one sentence at a time.

Sometimes not even that much.

In a way that looks like this:

It may not look like much, but it's excellent. And I'll tell you what--following my girls around while I write, asking them to hold on for a minute before they speak so that I can finish my thought, stopping in mid-sentence when I'm called away so that I'll know exactly how to begin again when I have time, putting the period on a final sentence and then startling the child playing next to me by exclaiming, "Finished!"?

Really, there's nothing that beats it.