My muse never came,
A novel in a month
Was not meant to be
Not for me.
In this after school
NANO group,
I was the one
Devoid of thought,
With little plot–
Dabbling in fiction,
Characters unrevealed.
Each student,
Writing by choice,
finding his or her voice.
Inspired fingers tapped across keys
And pens and pencils
Danced gracefully.
Characters, conflicts,
And plots developed
As writers were transformed.
They found kindred spirits
In this little room
After school,
As they laughed and wrote
And shared
Their stories.
Maybe I was the muse,
So I didn’t lose,
Meeting after school,
I helped them discover
Their stories,
Giving them
Community and
a place to be heard.
Maybe one day
I will have my own plot,
But for now I will
See those writers
As characters in
a part of my story
And I will
bask in their glory.
Meandering Maya 
I haven’t taken on NANAWRIMO for several reasons, the first being that I don’t want to write a novel. In a close second is the fact that it’s so very hard to write a novel in a month. If you attempted to write and didn’t succeed to your expectations, try again. Remember, a month is such a short amount of time. Give yourself the gift of time, Maya.
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I enjoyed reading your poem and imagined what an encouragement it was for you to support their writing. Even though you weren’t able to write your novel, I am sure your presence made a difference. Good luck in your future writing endeavors! I like Stacey’s advice-give yourself the gift of time!
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I wonder if your “role” in this group was to be the “muse” as well as the “inspirer” and “motivator”! I also wonder if your novel, your story may need to be about the process you just endured! Your poem suggests to me that there is a story waiting impatiently to come out!
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I agree! You said so much about the “teacher’s” role with your observations of what your students were doing. Our literacy coach recently talked to us about being engaged as teachers. Here you show us one way to do that. Thank you!
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What a gracious position to take – I think you were undoubtedly the host to many muses.
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