Disconnecting

This graphic makes me wonder. When we don't have access to the internet, to social media... do we feel like we're imprisoned?

Or, are we imprisoned by our constant need to check our email, our posts, our Facebook whatevers? Do we feel anxious and deprived if we can't connect?

I am disconnecting for a couple of weeks. It's by choice. I'm going to be doing some things with friends and family, and I want to be present in the present.

By the time the middle of July rolls around, I'll reconnect. I promise. 

100 Story Ideas... and the Rest of My Summer

During the rest of the summer (which is flying by) I have a few things to look forward to.

photo by pexels

Later this summer I'm doing some traveling. Hopefully, I will be able to take pictures. To tease you with some details, the place I'm headed to is on another continent, there's lots of light, and the country's name is a misnomer.

Sometime between now and the beginning of August, I'll also be going into my classroom and unpacking all the boxes and figuring out the arrangement of my room. I've ordered some posters of historic figures (since I'm teachin' history), and I am going to buy some succulents (since even my kill-proof plants that weren't succulents did not fare well last year).

Also, I have the opportunity to devote four solid days to wading through my curriculum and getting some lesson-planning done. A group of teacher friends and I are doing an advanced institute of a class--this one is free and for no credit. Fellow educators can either work on their personal writing, or do curriculum work... or whatever uninterrupted work they want to do.

One of the resources that was shared during the earlier class (which was for credit and did cost dearly) was Times 100 Best Photos from 2018. If you head here, you can read about the story idea I wrote about one of those incredible photographs, and I share a link to the resource.

After all, every picture tells a story...

Halfway Through the Summer... Rejection... and Some Encouraging Words

It used to be that summer lasted for three months. When I was a kid, and when I first started teaching, school ended in the beginning of June and began again after Labor Day.

These days, a teacher's summer break lasts a couple of months. I would say there is an extra week or two of free time thrown in, but that is ASSuming the teacher doesn't go in and work on their classroom--getting it set up--until they're required to. (Most teachers go and either set up their class like a tornado--fast and furiously--or they go in a piddle around, getting things done at a snail's pace.)

The graduate class I teach is over at the end of this week, which means I will have some time to work in my classroom (in a new school, along with teaching a new subject). I'm looking forward to arranging and rearranging the tables, setting up things, etc.

I've slowed down submitting my manuscript. I did have the chance to create a movie about the manuscript--and I'll share it later in July. The only excuse I have for being a slug when it comes to submitting: it's been discouraging. 

However, I did get a reply that's encouraging. A small publisher is interested in seeing the whole manuscript. 

I am guardedly hopeful...

Happy Father's Day... and the Father I Might Kill

When I was a kid, fathers weren't as hands-on as they are now. I don't know, but I imagine my dad didn't change a lot of diapers. His job was to bring home the bacon... and the ground beef that got mixed with lots of spaghetti and stretched thin.

My dad was a great parent. Was he a bit inflexible? Yes. Was he too conservative for my tastes? Yes. Did he sometimes get too loud and blustery? Yes. However, he put up with my shenanigans along with my brother's, was a master BBQer and loved a cocktail every evening before dinner.

My father (and mother) chose me--I'm adopted. However as a writer, I chose the characteristics as I create fictional characters. 

How will they end up when the story is finished? It is up to me...

Please check out my post on The Muffin. In it, I share a little about my WIP... and a little about the father I might be killing.

Packing Up the Old... Headed to the New

Today I'm headed to both my new classroom and my old one. I'm hoping to unload two carloads full of crates and boxes into my new classroom. Then I'm going to clear out (more) stuff from my old classroom, eat lunch (with my "old" colleagues) in the middle of the clutter-fest... followed by boxing up more of my clutter.

As I was clearing out and organizing last week, I threw away a lot of stuff, gave away stuff and packed up stuff. It made me think of the impasse I've reached (recently) as a writer.

I've been plagued with rejections from agents. Several of them were personalized. Two of them praised my writing... my manuscript just doesn't fit their current needs. 

That's the old.

A couple of days ago I began reading the book Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham. The format (back and forth between two characters living in two different eras--along with the two storylines--inspired my inner core to budge. I've been stagnant as a writer for a month, mired in self-doubt and despondency.

But no more. Now I'm looking to the new. After my former classroom is cleared out and my report cards are finished, I'm moving forward.

How about you? Are you stuck in the past or are you plodding forward?

What We Know or What We Want to Know?

When I was much, much younger, I was told, "Write what you know." 

Today, that would involve battling my mustache... and I'm a woman. It would involve falling asleep at 7:30 at night on the couch, surrounded by a puddle of drool. It would involve daily trying to camouflage my poochy belly.

That's what I know. Does anyone want to read about that stuff?

Probably not.

For a serious discussion of the dilemma I'm currently facing, go check out my post on The Muffin. 

And if you have a suggestion or you know an agent or a publisher (who owes you a big favor), please let me know.

After all, I'm looking for just one yes...