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Interview with Ellyn Schaffner by Yohan Madhani

Ellyn Schaffner is a Canadian blog writer and homemaker who lives with her family in rural Alberta. She has been teaching kids for the past 32 years. She started writing from an early age and was appreciated for her writing skills since her childhood. She got her master’s degree at Walden University. She claims that she loves life and writes about it. She has written many blogs in her career, her first one being KinderKids. She lost years of writing due to a computer crash but bundled up courage and motivation and got back to writing regularly.  For my Community-Service Learning project, I got a chance to interview her about her works and herself. Our conversation gave me a deep and lovely insight into her life. You can find my questions and her wonderful answers below.

Blogging as a form of expression is picking up rapidly. Why do you think people would be interested in reading about one’s experiences?

I think we love to read other people’s stories, and blog posts are readily available and short. They fit into a busy life and are manageable readings. However, I also think that people need connections with other people and we live in a world where we can live in a rather introverted way, outside the community. Reading and responding via a blog, brings us back into being in community.

 

I read that you have been teaching for 32 years. Did teaching kids motivate you to write about your everyday life?

The short answer is yes. Kids inspire me daily and I love how genuine 5-year-olds behave offering me much material to write about. You may want to visit my KinderKid Blogspot as I am hoping to write there more often this year too.

How do you manage to get the time and inspiration to write while taking care of your house and family at the same time?

I keep a day plan for my teaching and for my life. I write down all of the things that I want to accomplish in a day and even though I write and record ideas and thoughts, as they come and on the go, I also schedule writing time every evening.

You say you are “Enraptured by Life”. Is there a specific event or period that made you want to start writing about your life?

I have marvelled at the simple things in life since I was 18. At least that is when I noticed marvelling. I was taking a gap year and went to visit my grandparents in Toronto. They lived on the 15th floor of a high rise, and I felt as if I could observe the world from such an extraordinary vantage point without people even knowing I was observing. I think this is when it began. As time went on and I grew busy, I stepped away from noticing the beauty in life every day, but when my mama was sick and dying, I started to see it again.

 

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