For the Love of Writing: Writing as a Form of (Self-) Love

Abstract

In this paper, I describe my writing process and theorize it as an act of self-love by examining what makes writing hard for me and what makes it easy for me; additionally, I present a brief argument for teaching writing as or for love as a manner by which to avoid (re)producing systemic inequities in literacy education. As such, this autoethnography aims to inform readers of my lived experience as a writer and, in so doing, share ways in which writing instruction in school contexts can help students develop individualized writing processes that help them love writing even when it’s hard.