How To Twit-aiku

Bear with me, I know this is wa-a-a-a-y over complicated, but...

Now that our home computer issues are cleared up (translation: we bought a new computer), I have once again begun playing with Twitter by witting Twit-aiku. The process of compressing ideas into 140 characters (including spaces) is not nearly as easy as it seems, especially if you want what you have to say to be clear and cohesive.

As I was trying to craft a Twit-aiku to post this afternoon it occurred to me that it might be interesting to consciously take myself (and you) through my writing process. At the core, what I'm performing is really more of a two-step than a drawn out process.

Generally, Step 1 consists of me simply identifying a feeling, moment or action that I have experienced in the very recent past. Today I jotted down some thoughts about cleaning my classroom. I do this initial drafting without considering character count... I'm simply brainstorming:

during work today i began closing out my classroom by clearing bookshelves, gently packing anthologies in plastic crates for the journey home, stuffing manila folders with last year's lessons plans while rifling through forgotten ones for hidden activities yet untried

Step 2 is just what you might think... "wordsmithing" (a "buzz word" I recognize that many educators and writers dislike) or revising. Given my nuttiness with words this "step" could take forever so I have been attempting to discipline myself to "publishing on Twitter whatever it is I've come up with after 15 minutes time. What follows is a brief example of my revising with commentary.

First, I focus on a single aspect or action in the original brainstorm.

during work today i began closing out my classroom by clearing bookshelves, gently packing anthologies in plastic crates for the journey home, stuffing manila folders with last year's lessons plans while rifling through forgotten ones for hidden activities yet untried

After the occasional trip to Dictionary.com for synonyms and antonym suggestions, and some honing of my central idea. I find that I have an end result that is okay, if not unoffensive:

stuffingloosely organizing manilla folders with last year's lessons plans while rifling through forgotten ones for hidden activities yet untried

It definitely helps if a metaphor, simile or some other element begins to appear, which in the case of this particular one, lead to the inclusion of "seed" and "nurture" in the final draft. I find myself looking at spelling possible limited shorthand or other means of reducing the character count to fit within the 140 character maximum.

loosely organizing manila folders while rifling through ancient forgotten dittos i hold my breathe in hopes of finding a hidden seed to be nurtured for next year

A bit more wordplay (tenses, plurality, word choice) later, and here is the "final" result as posted on Twitter:

loosely organizing manila folders while rifling thru ancient dittos i search for a castaway seed in need of nurturing until next school year

I'm not sure if I exactly captured it, but I was trying to evoke that sense of one year ending while hope springs eternal, maybe in the ashes of what has gone by, that next year will bring about something beautiful.

And that is how I "rock" the Twit-aiku! For what I think is a stronger example, check out Octobia's Blog!