Do I Love Learning? Me?!

It’s that tine again in my English classes where they read an article about the love of learning. Which means, of course, it’s time for my navel-gazing at the questions: Do I love learning and what am I learning now?

Well, you have to answer yes to the first.

Then when all you can think to say is uuuuuuuuhhhhhh about the second, you think maybe revisiting your answer to the first question is in order.

Michelle and I had this conversation last night. A companion to the discussion is our son’s struggles with college calculus and physics (classes I would not take in a billyun years because MATH). She thought that if she really loved learning, maybe she should take some math classes to help her learn the stuff she hadn’t liked much in high school.

“You’re going to take a calculus class?” I asked.

“Nooo no no. I’d have to start smaller. Way smaller.”

So what should I be willing to learn?

Well, writing a book is something I need to learn how to do. Or edit a book. Or create a coherent story. Or something. Which tells me I should probably be going to writers’ conferences, as learning collaboratively is where most of the learning occurs. I don’t know what I don’t know about editing, see, so my struggles to get Doleful Creatures to completion are likely going to continue to be struggles until I change my approach.

But the big conference close by, in Salt Lake City, is coming fast and all the spots are filled. Maybe I need to make that a goal next year. But we all know how well I do with goals.

Maybe a writing conference would help. Though the social aspect of them frightens me. A collaborative learning environment might be just the thing. Or not. Maybe.