Thinking about writing about writing

I should be working on my Master's course about teaching writing. Honestly, I should have been working on this course a lot more than I have been. I don't know what's wrong with me. This should be my course. I should have a lot to say. Writing is something I've been reading about and thinking about and presenting about on a fairly regular basis for the last 4 years. But every time I sit down to work on this course, I get distracted and while I'd like to blame my obsession with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I should point out that while I've finally closed the YouTube window, I'm still checking Twitter every few seconds to see if Hipsterhood or God re-tweeted my last tweet.

That part of my brain that lives to justify every bad choice I make tells me that these distractions are central to my thoughts and ideas on writing. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a brilliant, multi-modal retelling of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" using social networking sites like YouTube, Twitter, and Tumblr (I've been trying to come up with a way of working it into my Language Arts program, but I just can't seem to make it work for Grade 5). And Twitter has changed the way we communicate and use language to tell the story of our lives. But that part of my brain is too closely allied with the procrastinating part of my brain to give it much credence. "So just close Twitter!" you say. But then I might miss something interesting, or exciting, or even relevant (like this website for spelling - which is the topic of the post I'm supposed to be writing for my course's online discussion forum).

So I decided to come here and ramble for a bit. Empty my mind of all the miscellaneous drivel that's clogging it up right now. Hopefully then, I'll be able to focus and write a properly worded, analytical, thought-provoking 15 sentence article on why I think invented spelling is a critical part of figuring out how to use the rule-laden written form of the English language.

Or maybe I'll just go check out one of Wil Wheaton's shows of interesting people playing a board game together...