Writer's Mission Statement and Practicing What I'm Preaching

So I had a BIG realization today.  I have been thinking about how to help students find their identities as writers and, guess what... I hadn't stopped to think about my own writing identity.  (I have begun to realize how often I am not doing the things that I intend to ask my students to do.   Fortunately, I am aware of this now and can you start working on it!)  Jessie asked us, today, to create a mission statement describing who we are as writers.  And I'm struggling!  I can tell you the writing I've done and where I've come from as a writer... but WHO I am as a writer is super difficult.  (Not to mention the fact that I feel like reflecting is akin to trying to pull out my teeth with my point finger and thumb... though, obviously, much more useful and necessary.) I plan on working more on this defintion over the weekend and throughout next week (and to infinity and beyond).  For now, I've written out and included below the brainstorming that I wrote during Jessie's demo.  I came at my mission statement from two angles: (1) This is who I am as a writer and (2) This is what I believe about writing. 

This is Who I Am as a Writer

insecure
re-visioner
social writer - I need to talk it out
procrastinator
need a lot of work with character development
I'm sick of my voice
I feel a little offended when others try to change my writing - for better or worse
I write what I know


This I believe about Writing

Writing is hard
Writing is riffing
writing requires revision
writing require vision/goals/attempts/failures/mistakes
writing means taking risks
writing means being honest
writing means admitting you need to revise/rewrite in the direction you'd been fighting
writing requires talking
writing requires deciding when to end
writing is always for an audience