The Long Run

With my mom's arthritis, she'll never run even a half a mile with me, but last week, I carried her for five. No, more like I took her for four, and she pushed me to go one more. Because of course, that's what mom's do.  Maybe it's all the talk about the American Dream in the convention speeches the past few  weeks, but I was thinking a lot about this whole life journey on my run that day.  There's no simpler way to say it.  My mom's childhood sucked.

Don't ask her about it because she doesn't want to talk about it.   Among other things, they called her dirty.

A little dirt never hurt anyone, and in my opinion, it's a sign of good play. Of course, they weren't really talking about the mud on a cheek. It was a deeper mess. Caked on so hard, maybe it never really comes off even with vigorous scrubbing.  No, I imagine no matter how far she traveled from that childhood, she always carried that dirt with her, a heavy burden.

My Summer Vacation

The end is a matter of hours away.  I know I've said I love beginnings, so I'm sure I will be excited once I walk into my classrooms tomorrow.  However, that doesn't mean I like the fact that summer is over.  This was a particularly good one for a couple of reasons.  First, I'm a college professor which means I'm not on contract, but typically, that doesn't mean much for me.  This year, I took it more seriously, doing next to nothing for work.  Second, I stepped back from my lists and goals and just lived a lot.  I had so much fun.

Now, of course with the end about to smack me upside the head, I feel guilty. I didn't do enough. I revised my goals too far in the other direction, and now I'll never get it all done.  Doesn't matter that many items on my to do list are arbitrarily placed there by me.  I still feel like I failed.

Be a better idea shopper

It's safe to say I love the internet. For at least twelve years, it's been an integral part of my daily life.  I've used the internet to build new relationships and to maintain old ones.  I can give credit to the web for my trip planning expertise. I would not be writing fiction or a blog (obviously) today if it weren't for the various communities I've encountered.  I quite literally can't imagine my life without a search engine or a social network.

How to ruin a hobby

I haven't blogged in a long time, so I feel obligated to write something. I sat here for a few minutes trying to decide what to write about.  I ended up with a list of things that annoy me.  It included everything from fallacious reasoning on the internet (and let me tell you the sub-list on that one could end up covering blog topics for the rest of my life) to the trend of bad fanfiction taking over the publishing world (ask me what I think.  Come on, give me a reason!). 
Sure, I've got a lot to say on a lot of topics, but as I faced that blank screen, it was the sense of obligation that hit me.  Why did I HAVE to write this blog today?  Why is it even on my "to do" list?

Because I'm a writer and writers blog, right?  It's what I SHOULD do. 

And if I'm a writer, that means, I better start adding more writing tasks to my daily list as well.  Edit three more chapters, write more, network more, query more.  All of which sound like work. Writing began as a hobby for me—a sidetrack of a reading hobby.  It was fun. 

Making Progress

I know it's a shock, but I'm still here.

It's been forever and a day since I last blogged. I spent June immersed in teaching summer school, carting kids to swim lessons and dance, and of course, participating in Camp NaNoWriMo.  I'm happy to report that I survived and managed to complete the first draft of my third novel.  I'm just now settling into summer though we've already reached the halfway point.

Summer Camp

I know I said I was going to start a series on beginnings/expectations, etc., and it's not been something like a umpteen bazillion years since I blogged.  The thing is, I have an excuse.  I got caught up in both endings and beginnings.  The end of the school year for my girls was filled with track meets and retrospectives and previews for next year.  Then, I walked immediately into my summer class, a fresh start and another chance for overly high expectations.

What really threw me off, though, was that at the last minute, I decided to go away to summer camp, Camp Nano, that is.  Just like November's NaNoWriMo, the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month. 

Guess what that means?  Yup, another beginning.  Thirteen days in, and I'm still on track.  Given the word counts of middle grade fiction, if I meet the goals, it should mean finishing it by the end of the month.  Thankfully, that will  allow me to tick off one of two summer writing goals earlier than expected.  I plan to write one novel and finish editing one short story. A novel this month will leave me plenty of time for the latter.

(Much Too) Great Expectations

Comm Studies Award winner!

The fact that it's been almost a month since my last post can only mean one thing: a semester has ended. The past month has flown by in a flurry of presentations and papers and grading and excuses and more grading.  Last week, my eyes watered listening to Pomp and Circumstance. Yesterday, I uploaded the last of the final grades.   Today, I give myself a reflection pause.

It was an interesting semester, one that started really strong. My students were active and engaged.  They read before class and tested well.  By midterm, either they were fading, or I was.  Regardless, Spring Semester 2012 fizzled out, puttered to a stop, limped into home.