Begin at the Beginning: #TCRWP 89th Saturday Reunion and Mo Willems

Lucy Calkins began the day (early) with many announcements and then this:

“Mo Willems will pose for pictures at the beginning of his keynote but then he has asked that you turn off your phones and cameras and listen.  We would like him to return to Teachers College so we ask you to respect his request.”

And then pose he did!

His keynote was entitled; “How to Write in 4 Easy Steps, 4 Kinda Harder Steps, and 1 Pretty Much Impossible Step”

He explained his thinking behind the request to stop taking pictures . . .

If you are documenting, then you are not experiencing.

And even added, if your friends ask what the speech was about just tell them,

“Ya missed it!”

I will return to the 89th Saturday Reunion and even Mo Willems but do think about his words.

Do you miss the experience when you are documenting?

Honestly?

Make sure you “experience” life today.  Think about documenting and experiencing!

I’m off to experience a bit more of NYC!  If you need a bit more Mo Willems, here’s the site I liked best after about an hour of reading, writing and thinking.