Something Old, Something New…

Journaling hasn't been a daily thing for me, although at times I wish it could have been. I'd like to try, though. I've been reading a book by Matthew Dicks about storytelling (Storyworthy), where he suggests doing 5 minutes of "Homework for Life" every day - take time to notice beautiful live events every day, and write them down. Now THAT, I can do. So, from this week: 5/15/21: Dedicated kids decorating - Juniors and sophomores. I'll get a whole different crop of Sophs next year - I won't be teaching Honors, so I'll change my approach again. I love teaching. 5/14/21: Walt not renewed, Erica in CO. 5/13/21: Senior Vision Boards: "I really enjoyed hearing about people's goals" 5/12/21: Missed a meeting this evening - forgot all about it. 5/11/21: Nick dropped in - back from remote! He stops in to see me, has lunch with me, comes to see me through the day. Relies on me to keep him straight. I love that kid. Gave me such a big hug. Kids like him are why I teach. 5/10/21: Talked to Tony about taking the bar. Feeling like this is possible. Traded stories about family law and the ridiculousness of who gets custody of Fifi the poodle. 5/9/21: Mother's Day is usually hard, but not as hard this year - Will reached out! My sisters always text me on big days, and Will reached out to them this year, too. Evolution can happen. My heart is warmed. Past years have been hard, this one could have been, too, but this made it easier.

30 books in 30 days

I just read a blog post that inspired me to try this myself. It is from Courtney Rodgers, and can be found here. This got me thinking. I already do a Goodreads annual challenge, where I decide how many books I will read in a year, and then challenge myself to exceed my goal. This year’s goal is 175 books; I’m already at 125, and I have a 4-hour flight ahead of me tonight, and 3 books in progress. I’m guessing I will hit 130 by the end of the weekend. Could I do a 30-day challenge like this and add it to my 175-book challenge? Should I make it part of my 175 books? September is a very busy month for me, as a rule. School starts up again, and I have a little different schedule every year. Plus, this year I have the added challenge of a new classroom (right across the hall from my old one, so I didn’t even change hallways), with a new roommate who has classes in the room during my prep periods. That just means I will adjust my free time a bit, but it also means that September is a bit rough for me. This year, I have the additional challenge of my partner working in the same building, and him not being able to drive, so I need to chauffeur both of us to our various appointments. By the way, you know you’re over 55 when you have multiple doctors for various ailments. Just saying. So, can I realistically complete this challenge? I think so, for many reasons. I have discovered in recent years that I’m a pretty competitive person, and I’m the most competitive with myself. If I challenge myself, I MUST succeed at the challenge. This also means that I’m careful about how I challenge myself, so I don’t set myself up for failure. So, yeah, 30 books in a month? I can totally do that. Another reason I think I will succeed is that I work hard to keep my home time sacred. I try very hard not to bring school work home - I don’t always succeed, especially when grades are due, but I try hard. This challenge will ensure that I keep home time sacred, because I won’t have time to do school work - I’ll be reading to meet my 30 books! Oh, and all that time waiting at doctors’ offices? I can spend that reading, too! I am committing to this challenge, then! Every day I will try to post the book I’m reading - and hopefully I finish - and a few words about my reaction to the book. I’m not a fan of writing reviews (gives me flashbacks to book reports in grammar school! Which I know dates me!), but I will give some feedback, mostly for my own information. My favorite books to read are romance novels and “chick lit.” I enjoy reading about relationships, but not in an angsty way. I look for happy endings, and ongoing relationships. Right now, I’m reading a few series: The Westcott Series, by Mary Balogh; The Black Dagger Brotherhood Legacy, by J.R. Ward; and the Scandal and Scoundrel series by Sarah MacLean. I falso started reading the Kat Holloway Below Stairs mystery series, by Jennifer Ashley. I’m not usually a big fan of mysteries, but this series sounds pretty good. Book 1 was good, anyway. I’ll let you know how the next ones turn out. I also love two Nalini Singh series: Psy-Changling and Guild Hunter. I don’t mind re-reading books I really like, so I might get into these again, before her new ones come out this fall. Wish me luck with this!

Post-English Subbing

The good thing about subbing in an area outside of my expertise is that it expands my horizons into ideas I haven't thought about for a long while (as I said, around 35 years!).

I've been writing research papers for years. Since I started college in 1993, actually. I was a late-bloomer; I didn't go to college until I was 31. I did things backwards - married, had my son, then went to college. Anyway, with all my writing experience, and my editing experience as a teacher, I see myself as an expert. However, that expertise ended with non-fiction writing. I have loved writing since I was young, but when I tried to write some kind of fiction, I got stuck. Everything I wrote felt trite or uninteresting. I had lots of words, but few ideas. Well, actually, I had lots of ideas, but couldn't express them in a way that made others want to read them. Or made me want to read them.

Here comes the expanding horizons part. The teacher I was subbing for, Ken, is an amazing writing teacher. He has his kids writing and writing and writing, and not worrying about the quality of their first drafts - everything is subject to revision later. He had them read an essay called Shitty First Drafts by Annie Lamott, that talks about "down drafts", "up drafts" and "dental drafts". You can read it yourself, but the gist is that the down draft is going to be revised. Every time. Down drafts are for putting ideas down on paper. Revising those ideas as you go along can actually limit the process. This is a revolutionary concept for me. It frees me up to just write and not filter or revise as I go. It reminds me of the idea behind National Novel Writing Month. Just write. Turn off your inner critic and just get your thoughts on paper. Or in the computer - whichever works.

I've been playing with the idea of writing a novel in November for years, ever since I heard about NaNoWriMo. I got stuck on silencing my inner critic, though. That darn critic is pretty loud! I practiced while I was subbing, though - to circle back to my original topic - and I'm ready to try writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Wish me luck.

Other ideas that came out of this experience - I need to rewrite the essays I submitted with my teaching applications this summer. I'm not sure they were my best work, and my ideas have refined as I've been back in the classroom. It's time to revisit the ideas and to be sure I'm expressing myself clearly. Wish me luck there, too!

English Subbing

So I'm subbing for an English teacher for a few weeks, which is weird for me, since I haven't had to think about English stuff for oh, about 35 years or so... I tested out of my college level English classes, so I never had to take college English. I have, however, done a LOT of writing in my college and graduate classes, so the concept isn't completely foreign. Certainly not as foreign as, say, math or science!

The students are working on writing ever shorter memoirs in class, and as I prepare for class, I find myself really struggling. I love words. I live by words. One of my fondest memories is of my godfather, my Uncle Bob, teaching me a new word every time I saw him. This was a big deal, since he lived in California, and I lived in New Jersey, so I didn't see him that often. In his last years, he took great delight in forwarding me his Word of the Day email. I have every one saved. For a person with a vocabulary the size of mine to write a SHORT anything is a real effort! The first piece the kids wrote was a 60-word memoir, then a 6-word one, then 140 characters. EEP! I gave it a good try, though, and I tried to follow my own advice to the kids - whatever comes out of my head is valid and good. The only way it could be "wrong" is if the format or style doesn't meet the criteria. Other than that, my words and my message are valid. I hope. (ha.)

So, these are my examples:

60 words:

Moving can be painful and positive at the same time. Starting over is overwhelming and cathartic - paring down years of memories to only essentials. Realizing memories are stored in the mind, not in possessions. Deciding what to keep based on need, not want. Resisting advertising's siren call to buy ever more. I now have a “one in, one out" rule.

6 words:

STRUGGLING! 6 words? So not me!

140 characters:

Food, Yarn, Books, Family, Cat, Bed. All the essentials of my life that make me happy. Add in 70s and 80s reruns and country music, and I'm blissful. (129)

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Next up, the kids are doing an encyclopedia in the format of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. I expect I'll have an easier time of this one, since there's no word or character limit. Wish me luck!

Meanwhile, fall has arrived in New Hampshire in all its glory.