I’VE CARRIED a lifelong passion for the printed word, having known since elementary school that I wanted to land in the publishing world. Back then, as a pre-teen, I was using sheets of carbon paper (anyone remember those days?) to create multiple versions of a one-page newsletter divided into quarters to report on news involving each member of my family. In 6th grade, when a friend and I tried to create a class news sheet, we learned an important lesson about plagiarism.

I recognize not everyone who works in school leadership maintains a similar fondness for writing when so much of it is required for official purposes. Still, an increasing number have found professional fulfillment in their extracurricular writing. Some are channeling their educational leadership experiences into articles for this and other professional magazines. Others have the discipline for writing books — which we often highlight in the magazine’s “Why I Wrote This Book” section.

Others have discovered the rewards of maintaining a blog to share their insights on their work and their lives. Those whose pithy excerpts we publish in “Best of the Blogs” in School Administrator work in school systems rural, suburban and metropolitan. A directory of 98 members who blog can be found at www.aasa.org/SAblogs.aspx. (We’ll be updating the roster this summer so let me know if we’ve overlooked yours.)

I find the most valuable superintendents’ blogs are updated at least monthly. I commend your attention to them.