Here it is, the last May post of 2016. Overall I feel pretty good about how things went this year. I was talking with someone today about how writing a daily post each day is similar to NaNoWriMo, in that I’d need to show some progress on the project each day. In some ways it’s even more difficult, though; when you’re scrambling to write a book in a month, you at least have a pretty good idea as to what the book is supposed to be about. For daily posts like this, you need to think up a new topic each day. And they don't always show up gift-wrapped and ready to go.
To close off the month, I decided to take a little time for reflection. I started the month with the idea of linking these posts together as a loose narrative, telling the story of how I tried to fight my way out of teacher burn-out while a fairly dramatic spring trimester at school would be winding down. Thankfully I pulled out of that feeling, even if it meant the narrative I’d planned wouldn't be as cohesive as I’d originally thought. All the same though, I think some interesting ideas came up along the way:
*Being burned out is largely a choice you make. I think it’s safe to say everyone feels tired and frustrated by their jobs on occasion, and we’re all susceptible to sympathetic pain when we see the people in our lives going through difficult times. But we all get to choose how we react to whatever it is we feel.
*Music is a great way to get through the bad times.
*Honest appreciation is a wonderful thing. However it doesn’t come by that often, so it’s important to soak it up when it does. You’ll need it to remind yourself why you put up with all the frustrating and tiring things in the first place.
*It’s important to stay open to advice, particularly if it comes from sources you know and trust.
*Stay in touch with your personal history. Who you are now is very much connected to who you once were.
*Loyalty matters a lot — at least to me.
*Chuck Klosterman’s book Fargo Rock City is a benchmark work for the music fans of my generation, whether they realize it or not.
*Even when life seems to be going out of its way to kick the crap out of you, there are still good things happening. If you can find your way to recognize those things, they can help you achieve a sense of inner balance.
*Recognizing and acknowledging that you have a multifaceted personality and realizing different people will define you based on what they experience about you can go along way in how you build your relationships.
*As long as their choices don’t hurt anyone else, people should be proud to claim the things in their lives that make them happy.
*It could still be a very long time, if ever, before I even consider getting another dog.
*Even if I only have a toe-hold in the world of publishing and noticeable progress can seem painfully slow to build, I have made progress, and I’m still making it. And it’s worth being excited about.
*Friendships that develop based on proximity or convenience are no less valid than any other friendships, but they can be more difficult to maintain over time and separation.
*Everything about the coming year promises to be big.
One of the main reasons I write all of these posts in May is to give my Writer Brain a jump start before rolling into summer vacation. I’ll admit that unless I have a specific writing task in front of me that I feel responsible for, it can become too easy to let everything to do with school sap up my mental energy during the spring. (Wouldn’t it be magical if I didn’t have to think about allocations like this, and just WRITE???) Taking a month to force myself back into a strong and regular writing routine is a great way to prepare for all the time off I’m about to have. Things seem to naturally fall into place once the routine comes back; I even spent most of my Memorial Day weekend working on line edits for one of the manuscripts. Knowing I’ve got a summer ahead of me that will be like much of this past weekend was seems like great fun: randomly recording notes on my phone while I’m out in the world; taking an hour to tweak two or three paragraphs; pacing around the house talking to myself while I try to figure my way though some writing problem I'm struggling with, and keeping at it until it's solved. Which is probably why I willingly spend so much time doing this — because it feels so good when I get it right.
If you were one of the loyal readers who followed my posts even semi-regularly throughout the month — thanks! It always helps to know there’s an audience. The same really goes to all the people who have read or are waiting to read one of the manuscripts floating around. Writing doesn’t exist in a vacuum of course, and readers are needed to bring it all to life.
And on that note, I'm going to hit the 'publish' button up in the corner and bring the month to an end, which will also mean I'll be pulling back on the posting frequency for awhile. Plus with summer only weeks away, I have a new project I need to start putting together, which means that even if you aren't seeing daily blog posts gumming up your news feed anymore, the writing will continue. In fact, there will probably be even more of it going on.
And just wait until you see what’s on the way....
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
Day 30: 4th and 5th Grade Zen
If you’ve followed the monthly blog posts this year, you probably noticed a few mentions of a lot of changes coming at the school where I teach. Several years ago our district went through a restructuring phase that involved the closing of a number of schools. As a result of the subsequent domino effect, our school opened a new ESL program. ESL stands for English as a Second Language; it’s also known as ELL for English Language Learners, depending on which set of initials you feel is more applicable.
When this program opened, several ESL students were transferred to our building and have been a part of our community ever since. However, a new ESL program is opening at a different school next year, and since this school is right in the neighborhood where many of our ESL students live, they’ll be transferring there. Because of this, our school will be losing approximately sixty students.
Now, we’re not one of the larger schools in the district to begin with, so this drop in our numbers will be very noticeable. In fact, this is the engine behind why so many of the other changes we’re experiencing are taking place. Whenever a small school suddenly loses a large number of students, fewer teachers are needed on that staff, and fewer classroom sections are needed in each grade. Consequently, many people on our staff are being reassigned to new positions next year, including me.
To get you caught up, here’s what my last few years have been like: I taught fifth grade for eighteen years, then was transferred to third grade as the fourth grade teachers moved up to fifth grade for a second year with their students. The following year, my third grade team did the same thing and looped up with our students up to fourth grade. This all means I’ve now taught three different grades over the past three years. Next year I’ll be working in what’s being called a 4/5 split, which means I’ll be teaching math and science to a class of fourth graders for half of the day, then teaching the same subjects to a class of 5th graders during the other half. My partner, who is one of my closest friends at school and is widely recognized as one of the best teachers on our staff (whether she will acknowledge this or not), will be teaching all things language arts to the fifth graders while I’m teaching fourth, and then trading groups with me for the other half of the day.
As far as potential changes go, I personally see more pros to this arrangement than cons. My soon-to-be new partner and I are already moving forward, fully aware that our combined background knowledge, instructional experience, and creativity have the potential to redefine what can be done in the intermediate grades at our school. Our biggest hope is that whatever models we come up with will be successful and intriguing enough to compel the people we’ll be working with the most directly to be a part of what we’re trying.
Of course this does mean it’s entirely likely I’ll be teaching some students for the third year in a row as my current group goes from fourth grade to fifth. I’ll also have a new crop coming in as my fourth grade group. I’ve taught both grades before so there won’t be a lot of “new” for me as far as curriculum goes, which is nice, but managing two grades at once will likely present a few challenges…or, as Betsy and I are looking at it, new chances to put our creativity and divergent thought to use, and come up with solutions that won’t just be successful but will prove a benefit to everyone involved.
Two grades at once also means twice the Zen opportunities; it will just be a matter of which group will have the chemistry it takes to make those things happen. But they will happen, so watch this space. One way or another, there’s going to be an interesting and dynamic story to follow when the next school year begins.
When this program opened, several ESL students were transferred to our building and have been a part of our community ever since. However, a new ESL program is opening at a different school next year, and since this school is right in the neighborhood where many of our ESL students live, they’ll be transferring there. Because of this, our school will be losing approximately sixty students.
Now, we’re not one of the larger schools in the district to begin with, so this drop in our numbers will be very noticeable. In fact, this is the engine behind why so many of the other changes we’re experiencing are taking place. Whenever a small school suddenly loses a large number of students, fewer teachers are needed on that staff, and fewer classroom sections are needed in each grade. Consequently, many people on our staff are being reassigned to new positions next year, including me.
To get you caught up, here’s what my last few years have been like: I taught fifth grade for eighteen years, then was transferred to third grade as the fourth grade teachers moved up to fifth grade for a second year with their students. The following year, my third grade team did the same thing and looped up with our students up to fourth grade. This all means I’ve now taught three different grades over the past three years. Next year I’ll be working in what’s being called a 4/5 split, which means I’ll be teaching math and science to a class of fourth graders for half of the day, then teaching the same subjects to a class of 5th graders during the other half. My partner, who is one of my closest friends at school and is widely recognized as one of the best teachers on our staff (whether she will acknowledge this or not), will be teaching all things language arts to the fifth graders while I’m teaching fourth, and then trading groups with me for the other half of the day.
As far as potential changes go, I personally see more pros to this arrangement than cons. My soon-to-be new partner and I are already moving forward, fully aware that our combined background knowledge, instructional experience, and creativity have the potential to redefine what can be done in the intermediate grades at our school. Our biggest hope is that whatever models we come up with will be successful and intriguing enough to compel the people we’ll be working with the most directly to be a part of what we’re trying.
Of course this does mean it’s entirely likely I’ll be teaching some students for the third year in a row as my current group goes from fourth grade to fifth. I’ll also have a new crop coming in as my fourth grade group. I’ve taught both grades before so there won’t be a lot of “new” for me as far as curriculum goes, which is nice, but managing two grades at once will likely present a few challenges…or, as Betsy and I are looking at it, new chances to put our creativity and divergent thought to use, and come up with solutions that won’t just be successful but will prove a benefit to everyone involved.
Two grades at once also means twice the Zen opportunities; it will just be a matter of which group will have the chemistry it takes to make those things happen. But they will happen, so watch this space. One way or another, there’s going to be an interesting and dynamic story to follow when the next school year begins.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Day 29: Ten Things I'm Looking Forward to About Summer
Memorial Day weekend has become widely recognized as the unofficial start of summer. I only kind of agree with this. On one hand, I’m not going to consider it truly summer until I reach that first morning when I wake up knowing I don’t have to go to school to teach anyone or pack anything. On the other hand, any days at school that follow Memorial Day have a very different feel to them since summer break is tantalizingly close.
Each summer break is different from the ones before it, but there are always a few things about the season that are at least similar. I don’t yet know what moments or events will eventually come to define whatever this summer break will be, but I do know there are going to be some things about it that I’ll enjoy, because I do every year. Here’s a list of ten of those things that have me looking forward to finishing off the last two weeks of the school year. As always, in no particular order:
1. Catching up on television
My Netflix account has been all but dormant these past several months, and I know I’m going to more than make up for it when it comes to summer binge-watching. I also have a number of series saved on my DVR that I never found the time to watch during the school year, and I’m seriously thinking about doing a “West Wing” series re-watch this summer as well. And all of this is to say nothing of another summer of “Big Brother,” my summertime guilty pleasure (and I do feel guilty about enjoying it), starting up in a few weeks.
2. Family events
Just as I spend a lot of time with friends during the school year, I always seem to spend more time with my family during the summer. This year we’ve got a high school graduation, two weddings, and the annual trip to the Turtle Lake fair coming up. Plus there’s still the Cousin Movie Night I want to see happen (Paul, we need to get started on the logistics for that!).
3. Home improvements
There are always some jobs around the house that could stand being done, and summer is a perfect time to take care of them. I’m not talking about major construction or anything like that, but more things like organizing, cleaning, or small bits of decorating. I like having a home where I feel comfortable and relaxed, and I don’t mind setting aside some of my summer to put in the time and thought it takes to make it that way.
4. Games
Yes, I play video games (as you probably do as well, even if you want to call them 'apps' on your phone), and yes, I own an Xbox One. I don’t have the stamina to spend marathon amounts of time playing anymore, but when I find a game (or two) that really captures my imagination, gaming can be a great way to fill a lazy afternoon or a sleepless night.
5. Writing time
In summer, I don’t have to schedule in the time to write. I can just do it. I can plan, prewrite, write, revise, edit, proofread, and work on different projects at the same time if I want. If I ever catch a wave of flow state, I can just ride it out as long as I want without having to worry about other commitments. It’s wonderful, and one of the reasons I would happily leaving teaching behind if the opportunity ever came together. Since I can think of at least three different projects I’ll have going, I’m planning on this year being a very productive summer.
6. Afternoon movies
Maybe it’s an introvert thing, but I think the absolute best time to see a movie in the theater is to go on a hot summer afternoon. You don’t have to worry about crowds, or lines, or some knucklehead five rows ahead of you playing Candy Crush, or the people who sat in the seats right behind you even though the theater was only half full talking through the whole stinkin’ movie. If you time things right you can even get the whole place to yourself, and then pretend you’re a billionaire watching a private screening in the full-size movie theater you built in your basement. If anyone wants to tag along sometime and see how great it can be, let's talk!
7. Reading time
What’s a summer reading list without the time to enjoy it? Every year I have at least one day when I set aside everything else and just read. It’s beyond amazing. And even though I already have a fairly extensive reading list, you can bet there will be at least a trip or two to Barnes and Noble in my future.
8. Working on the fridge
This will only be my second year of having a refrigerator door covered with colorful Post-It Notes making up a to-do list of summertime adventures. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with checking items off a list, and I learned last year that having the visual prompt of ideas and the motivation of being able to take them down are great ways to keep my days occupied.
9. The procrastination checklist
I’ll admit I procrastinate. It’s not a chronic thing, but if I have a job in front of me that I really don’t want to do, it’s too easy to find different ways to spend my time. After awhile though, those boring-to-unpleasant tasks start to hang over your head. Summer is a great time to take care of at least some of them, which not only gets the stupid job out of the way but also provides a little dopamine charge for the reward of finally getting it over with. Achievement unlocked!!
10. Naps
Maybe not every day, but several times a week. Most are pretty short, but the beauty is they don’t have to be.
So that’s part of my list. How about you? What are your favorite things about summer, whether you get eleven weeks off from your job or not?
Each summer break is different from the ones before it, but there are always a few things about the season that are at least similar. I don’t yet know what moments or events will eventually come to define whatever this summer break will be, but I do know there are going to be some things about it that I’ll enjoy, because I do every year. Here’s a list of ten of those things that have me looking forward to finishing off the last two weeks of the school year. As always, in no particular order:
1. Catching up on television
My Netflix account has been all but dormant these past several months, and I know I’m going to more than make up for it when it comes to summer binge-watching. I also have a number of series saved on my DVR that I never found the time to watch during the school year, and I’m seriously thinking about doing a “West Wing” series re-watch this summer as well. And all of this is to say nothing of another summer of “Big Brother,” my summertime guilty pleasure (and I do feel guilty about enjoying it), starting up in a few weeks.
2. Family events
Just as I spend a lot of time with friends during the school year, I always seem to spend more time with my family during the summer. This year we’ve got a high school graduation, two weddings, and the annual trip to the Turtle Lake fair coming up. Plus there’s still the Cousin Movie Night I want to see happen (Paul, we need to get started on the logistics for that!).
3. Home improvements
There are always some jobs around the house that could stand being done, and summer is a perfect time to take care of them. I’m not talking about major construction or anything like that, but more things like organizing, cleaning, or small bits of decorating. I like having a home where I feel comfortable and relaxed, and I don’t mind setting aside some of my summer to put in the time and thought it takes to make it that way.
4. Games
Yes, I play video games (as you probably do as well, even if you want to call them 'apps' on your phone), and yes, I own an Xbox One. I don’t have the stamina to spend marathon amounts of time playing anymore, but when I find a game (or two) that really captures my imagination, gaming can be a great way to fill a lazy afternoon or a sleepless night.
5. Writing time
In summer, I don’t have to schedule in the time to write. I can just do it. I can plan, prewrite, write, revise, edit, proofread, and work on different projects at the same time if I want. If I ever catch a wave of flow state, I can just ride it out as long as I want without having to worry about other commitments. It’s wonderful, and one of the reasons I would happily leaving teaching behind if the opportunity ever came together. Since I can think of at least three different projects I’ll have going, I’m planning on this year being a very productive summer.
6. Afternoon movies
Maybe it’s an introvert thing, but I think the absolute best time to see a movie in the theater is to go on a hot summer afternoon. You don’t have to worry about crowds, or lines, or some knucklehead five rows ahead of you playing Candy Crush, or the people who sat in the seats right behind you even though the theater was only half full talking through the whole stinkin’ movie. If you time things right you can even get the whole place to yourself, and then pretend you’re a billionaire watching a private screening in the full-size movie theater you built in your basement. If anyone wants to tag along sometime and see how great it can be, let's talk!
7. Reading time
What’s a summer reading list without the time to enjoy it? Every year I have at least one day when I set aside everything else and just read. It’s beyond amazing. And even though I already have a fairly extensive reading list, you can bet there will be at least a trip or two to Barnes and Noble in my future.
8. Working on the fridge
This will only be my second year of having a refrigerator door covered with colorful Post-It Notes making up a to-do list of summertime adventures. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with checking items off a list, and I learned last year that having the visual prompt of ideas and the motivation of being able to take them down are great ways to keep my days occupied.
9. The procrastination checklist
I’ll admit I procrastinate. It’s not a chronic thing, but if I have a job in front of me that I really don’t want to do, it’s too easy to find different ways to spend my time. After awhile though, those boring-to-unpleasant tasks start to hang over your head. Summer is a great time to take care of at least some of them, which not only gets the stupid job out of the way but also provides a little dopamine charge for the reward of finally getting it over with. Achievement unlocked!!
10. Naps
Maybe not every day, but several times a week. Most are pretty short, but the beauty is they don’t have to be.
So that’s part of my list. How about you? What are your favorite things about summer, whether you get eleven weeks off from your job or not?
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Day 28: I'll Never Let You Go (but I Might)
There are two weeks left in this school year. When the next one starts, things at the building where I teach are going to be different, but not necessarily for the better: Due to several dramatic turns of events taking place all at once, our staff is losing a significant number of people, and it’s likely we’ll lose even more before all of the dust settles. It doesn’t stop there, though. The domino effect of this is that some people who have been colleagues and friends for any number of years will have more separation in their days than they’re used to. The shifts this year generally have more to do with changes occurring in building programming instead of being anyone’s fault, but the end result still means many of us are going to be losing our friends. And even though it’s a part of how the system works and we’ve all seen things like this happen before, it’s still sad.
Friendships develop as people find common threads between them, such as shared personal interests, or mutual appreciation, or just discovering ways they fulfill some kind of need in each other's lives. Intangible bonds form around these threads, and we find ourselves drawn to the people who willingly accept whatever it is about us we can offer.
I think it’s fair to say that many friendships formed in a school are heightened by the emotional and stressful nature of the work that goes on there. I don’t agree with the platitude of calling a school staff a “family,” but there is absolutely a tone of “we’re all in this together” woven though the connections between people there. The overall purpose to which we’ve committed ourselves, as well as the tremendous time and energy we’ve invested in our work, can be a powerful uniting force.
But what happens when that unity is broken? What happens to relationships held together by shared goals and common interests and simple proximity when external changes either break them clean or start wearing them away? How long will those friendships hang on once the strongest reasons that kept them together are removed?
I can think of so many people I’ve lost when they’ve gone to other schools, from even just the past five years. Back when those people and I were parts of daily life for each other, we had a lot of life intersections. Circumstance brought us together long enough for us to become important to each other, but then paths diverged. So many of these relationships slowly faded into something less as we became people we were happy to see at district meetings, or people we stayed networked with over social media, but didn’t preserve much of a connection beyond occasionally liking a photo or punctuating a comment with “Miss you!” From that perspective, social networking has become a convenient way to collect the memories of people who have come and gone through our lives, and were too important to us to ever completely set aside. Instead of being the immediate friends we see every day, we become the people who say they’ll stay in touch, or agree to get together sometime, even though we both know how likely it is that might not happen. Everyone has a life away from school to go back to, and we all are going to be more concerned about the people in front of us each day than the ones from way back when that we don’t really see anymore.
For my friends who are already leaving, or still might be as the summer unfolds, I’m not happy about losing you. If you’re moving on to something better that will bring you happiness, I wish you all the best. If we’ve had any kind of a bond that went beyond a working relationship, I’ll be sorry when you aren’t around to be a part of that anymore. I’m glad we shared as much of our lives that we did. I appreciate all you did to make my life better, and for accepting me as I am and for who I try to be. I know you’ll find new friendships along whatever road your life follows, just as new people will be passing through my life as well. It’s just a little sad to think that we used to be those new people for each other, and then we discovered we got along, and then we became friends, and now that’s moving on for us.
We’ll have to be sure to get together sometime and catch up.
Friendships develop as people find common threads between them, such as shared personal interests, or mutual appreciation, or just discovering ways they fulfill some kind of need in each other's lives. Intangible bonds form around these threads, and we find ourselves drawn to the people who willingly accept whatever it is about us we can offer.
I think it’s fair to say that many friendships formed in a school are heightened by the emotional and stressful nature of the work that goes on there. I don’t agree with the platitude of calling a school staff a “family,” but there is absolutely a tone of “we’re all in this together” woven though the connections between people there. The overall purpose to which we’ve committed ourselves, as well as the tremendous time and energy we’ve invested in our work, can be a powerful uniting force.
But what happens when that unity is broken? What happens to relationships held together by shared goals and common interests and simple proximity when external changes either break them clean or start wearing them away? How long will those friendships hang on once the strongest reasons that kept them together are removed?
I can think of so many people I’ve lost when they’ve gone to other schools, from even just the past five years. Back when those people and I were parts of daily life for each other, we had a lot of life intersections. Circumstance brought us together long enough for us to become important to each other, but then paths diverged. So many of these relationships slowly faded into something less as we became people we were happy to see at district meetings, or people we stayed networked with over social media, but didn’t preserve much of a connection beyond occasionally liking a photo or punctuating a comment with “Miss you!” From that perspective, social networking has become a convenient way to collect the memories of people who have come and gone through our lives, and were too important to us to ever completely set aside. Instead of being the immediate friends we see every day, we become the people who say they’ll stay in touch, or agree to get together sometime, even though we both know how likely it is that might not happen. Everyone has a life away from school to go back to, and we all are going to be more concerned about the people in front of us each day than the ones from way back when that we don’t really see anymore.
For my friends who are already leaving, or still might be as the summer unfolds, I’m not happy about losing you. If you’re moving on to something better that will bring you happiness, I wish you all the best. If we’ve had any kind of a bond that went beyond a working relationship, I’ll be sorry when you aren’t around to be a part of that anymore. I’m glad we shared as much of our lives that we did. I appreciate all you did to make my life better, and for accepting me as I am and for who I try to be. I know you’ll find new friendships along whatever road your life follows, just as new people will be passing through my life as well. It’s just a little sad to think that we used to be those new people for each other, and then we discovered we got along, and then we became friends, and now that’s moving on for us.
We’ll have to be sure to get together sometime and catch up.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Day 27: The End of the School Year Playlist
I am so very happy to report tonight that the terribly long run of consecutive school days reaching from the middle of March until Memorial Day weekend is at an end. I know many non-education would read that and think, "Oh, cry me a river, teachers. I have to work 5 days a week all year long." Fair point. But a typical response I might offer that argument in the real world would likely be, "True. But you don't do this."
The last day of school for the students is now a mere two weeks away. The teachers still have to come back for one more work day after that (on a Monday this year, no less) to take care of some final organizational business and packing and so on. But I'm okay with that. That last non-student work day has a different feel to it. Personally, I love those days. The pace is slower, you see your friends more, and unless you're the kind of person who puts things off until the very last minute and are caught up in a panic scramble, the day just has a lower stress level.
One of my favorite things about those non-student days are how I get to play music in my room, all day long. In fact, I get so excited about this that I'll make a project out of creating a playlist for the day, and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you it's a full-fledged project. I put a lot of work into constructing any of the playlists I make, regardless of their purposes, but I easily put the most thought and effort into the ones I make for the last day of school.
If music is going to provide any kind of soundtrack to effectively mirror what's happening emotionally that day, the songs need to be chosen carefully. Obviously there has to be a good share of a celebratory tone. The last day of work before getting the next seventy-six days off is absolutely cause for celebration, so a lot of the songs need the energy to reflect that. However, it's often bittersweet to see students growing up and becoming former students, so there needs to be a few songs in the mix that offer a chance to reflect on that as well. On top of that, this year my school is experiencing an unusual number of changes in the staff, so that element of bittersweet is going to be even more pronounced as a lot of people who have become close friends will essentially be saying goodbye that day. As we all know though, every goodbye also leads to some kind of new beginning, so that hopeful optimism of facing whatever the future holds in store also crawls into the tone of some songs.
I know I won't be sitting in my classroom the entire time listening to every song that comes up, so I don't plan the playlist length down to the very number of minutes I know I'll spend at school that day -- that'd just be crazy, wouldn't it? Instead I'll figure out the number of minutes I expect to be there, basing that count on what time I figure I'll arrive and when I think I'll be done and able to leave, and then I'll add an hour on top of that, just to guarantee there will be some surprise in which songs come up in the shuffle. That's perfectly normal. Right?
After I decide on the number of minutes I'm working with, I'll scan though the music library and start looking for candidates. I have a few perennial favorites that have last-day emotion imprinted on them. I know I'll need a few that would sound great in the car with the windows rolled down. There have to be some classic rock standards that might launch someone into a quick dance break if they step into my room at the right time. I always need to add a few of my current favorites in as well, just to help me place the time I'm living in and remind me that yes, it is indeed the beginning of summer break, and there is a whole wide world of possibility and promise and adventure stretched out in front of me. Or at least seventy-six days worth of it.
But tonight is a Friday after a long week and a long ten weeks, so I think I'll wait until tomorrow to get started. But hey, if anyone at school wants to check out the results -- you'll know where to find me!
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Day 26: Tales from the Big Desk
I tend to get reflective about teaching as the school year begins drawing to a close. As I was thinking about topics to write about here for the end of this year, I began browsing through older school-related posts, to try and stay away from writing about any themes I've covered before. I noticed most of my teacher posts had gone up either close to the beginning or the end of the school year.
Since several of my teacher friends are 'Summer Vacation' readers and they enjoy the school posts, I've collected ten of my favorites here. You may have missed some of these the first time around since some go back a few years, but now, if you like reading the funny or thoughtful or inspiring posts about school life, you might connect with something here. Click the title of the post if you'd like to read more.
In chronological order:
Like vs. Love vs. Pity vs. Hate - May 25, 2010
This was about how you can have so many mixed feelings for your students, and regardless of how frustrated and angry they can make you, it's impossible to hate them.
Snowpants in June, or the Last Day of School - June 9, 2011
A glimpse into the carnival of chaos that makes up the last day.
Episode 4: Paying Back Karma - July 22, 2011
From a series of posts when I was reflecting on the events in my life that influenced the direction of my teaching, and when my 6th grade teacher taught me about second chances.
Just Got Back - Sept. 11, 2011
Some detailed and telling reflections on the beginning of the school year.
Graduation Day, Part 2 - June 4, 2012
Based on the reactions there were to it, one of the most emotionally charged I've written, telling the story of when I went to my nephew's high school graduation and had some incredible surprises.
My Life as a Talk Show Host - March 28, 2013
In which I made comparisons between the structures of late night talk shows and a typical day at school.
Day 6: Human Sudoku - May 6, 2013
From my first year of May posts, when I gave a glimpse into how much thought has to go into effective seating charts, which also shows how much thought has to go into some of the smallest points of the school day just to make everything work.
Day 29: Planting the Seeds - May 29, 2013
Reflecting on responsibilities of teaching, how difficult they are, how important they are, and how unfortunately open-ended the results can be.
The Compendium of 5th Grade Zen - June 8, 2014
All the Zen moments started in 5th grade. Some of my favorites came from those years. Here was a list of them all on what was, at the time, my last day as a 5th grade teacher.
Everything You Need to Know About Teaching 3rd Grade - Sept. 4, 2014
If you've ever worked with 8-year-olds, you'll recognize so much of this as true.
If you've got some time tonight or over the long Memorial Day weekend (which is promising lousy weather, at least in these parts), come on back and give some of these a look!
Since several of my teacher friends are 'Summer Vacation' readers and they enjoy the school posts, I've collected ten of my favorites here. You may have missed some of these the first time around since some go back a few years, but now, if you like reading the funny or thoughtful or inspiring posts about school life, you might connect with something here. Click the title of the post if you'd like to read more.
In chronological order:
Like vs. Love vs. Pity vs. Hate - May 25, 2010
This was about how you can have so many mixed feelings for your students, and regardless of how frustrated and angry they can make you, it's impossible to hate them.
Snowpants in June, or the Last Day of School - June 9, 2011
A glimpse into the carnival of chaos that makes up the last day.
Episode 4: Paying Back Karma - July 22, 2011
From a series of posts when I was reflecting on the events in my life that influenced the direction of my teaching, and when my 6th grade teacher taught me about second chances.
Just Got Back - Sept. 11, 2011
Some detailed and telling reflections on the beginning of the school year.
Graduation Day, Part 2 - June 4, 2012
Based on the reactions there were to it, one of the most emotionally charged I've written, telling the story of when I went to my nephew's high school graduation and had some incredible surprises.
My Life as a Talk Show Host - March 28, 2013
In which I made comparisons between the structures of late night talk shows and a typical day at school.
Day 6: Human Sudoku - May 6, 2013
From my first year of May posts, when I gave a glimpse into how much thought has to go into effective seating charts, which also shows how much thought has to go into some of the smallest points of the school day just to make everything work.
Day 29: Planting the Seeds - May 29, 2013
Reflecting on responsibilities of teaching, how difficult they are, how important they are, and how unfortunately open-ended the results can be.
The Compendium of 5th Grade Zen - June 8, 2014
All the Zen moments started in 5th grade. Some of my favorites came from those years. Here was a list of them all on what was, at the time, my last day as a 5th grade teacher.
Everything You Need to Know About Teaching 3rd Grade - Sept. 4, 2014
If you've ever worked with 8-year-olds, you'll recognize so much of this as true.
If you've got some time tonight or over the long Memorial Day weekend (which is promising lousy weather, at least in these parts), come on back and give some of these a look!
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Day 25: Another Big Block of Cheese
They did this thing on "The West Wing," at least early in the show's run, when they'd have occasional episodes about something called "Big Block of Cheese Day." Long story short, it was a chance for smaller interest groups to get an audience with someone on the White House senior staff. I've done a few Big Block of Cheese posts in the past when I've had ideas bouncing around that probably didn't have enough behind them to develop into an entire independent post, or, more likely, I was too lazy to take the time to do that. Since this is May and I'm looking to fill space, here are a few of the things on my mind these days.
*I've had a few discussions with a number of teachers in the past few days about how structuring the school year calendar to something closer to year-round school with manageable breaks built in would be an effective way to prevent the summer slide, when kids forget so much of what they learned the year before. Our school calendar follows an agrarian schedule that is completely outdated in the 21st century, and yet I'm glad we have it. I do like having a nice chunk of time off during the summer. However, even though my students are personally important to me so many get cranked up with attitude and less-than-desirable behavior this time of the year, because they're feeling the same school year fatigue I am. This usually makes it much easier to say goodbye on the last day. I'm sure they'd agree.
*I think I have at least the first wave of my summer reading list figured out and stacked on my piano bench. Of course there will be other books I buy during the summer that I'll add, but I've got a pretty good idea now of at least where I'm going to start. Last summer was a disappointing one as far as how much reading I got done so I'm making a point of taking advantage of that time this year. I have to say though, some of these books are pretty long. It looks a little daunting now, but I'm ready to take it on.
*Our media guy Reed hit me up with another head-scratcher of a question not too many days ago. The only reason I'm not using it as an independent post is because I'm so close to the end of May, and, to be honest, my stamina for coming up with a new topic every day and writing coherent thoughts about it is nearly running on fumes. Think about this one, though: If you consider every relationship you have, friends, family, colleagues, whatever -- each person you bring into your life has some reason for being there. Your relationship evolved out of an interest you shared, or fulfilled a need that you provided each other in some way. If you thought of all the people you have in your life, could you identify the connective threads that bind you to all of them?
*I've always watched television news, and I tend to follow it more closely during a political season leading up to a major election. I really don't know if I can this year. I'm just so sick of looking at Trump, much less viewing the lowbrow political performance art he's been displaying for nearly a year. I'm not even so sure I can put up with local news as much anymore. Not because of the Trump factor, but more because I'm questioning how necessary it is on a daily basis. Sure, if something big happens it's a good way to get information. But so much of it, even in a metro area that size of Minneapolis/St. Paul, has become more about community interests and presenting the anchors and reporters as engaging and accessible personalities.
*It's an unfortunate thing for me to admit, but I have yet to narrow down what will be my favorite album to listen to while driving with the windows down this summer. That title has often gone to a live album (they seem to lend themselves to driving, somehow) and something with a good straightforward, energetic rock sound, but without being too intense. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has favorites to mention.
*I think I have officially crossed over into the end of the school year slide. Not that I'm giving up on teaching anything of value or plan on sleepwalking through my final 11 instructional days, but we're now close enough to the end that I can see everything left that I need to do roughly mapped out in front of me, and the light at the end of the tunnel is that much brighter because of it. I think I can speak for most teachers by saying that reaching that point in the year is pretty nice.
*On the subject of planning out my summer, I've got some good ideas for Post-It Noting up my fridge. Right now I'm just collecting ideas though, and I won't officially even display my summer experiences to-do list until I drive away from school for the last time this year late in the afternoon on June 13. And honestly I'm even seriously considering posting at least select items online, almost as an unofficial open invitation for anyone who would like to join in with any of my adventures...though I can almost guarantee it would be a stretch to call any of them that.
*I'm curious: Do people not use Facebook that much anymore, or have a lot of people just gradually morphed into lurkers who sign in to read other posts, or memes, or videos, or whatever? I only ask because I've noticed, even in just the past few months, that a lot of people on my friend list don't seem to be as active online as they once were. I assume that means they're just off doing different things and the Facebook shine has worn off for them. Either that, or they're slowly blocking and ignoring me into oblivion...and after I've clogged up the news feed with daily blog posts for nearly a month now, can you blame them?
*Anybody want to make a Dairy Queen run this weekend? I might be up for it....
*I've had a few discussions with a number of teachers in the past few days about how structuring the school year calendar to something closer to year-round school with manageable breaks built in would be an effective way to prevent the summer slide, when kids forget so much of what they learned the year before. Our school calendar follows an agrarian schedule that is completely outdated in the 21st century, and yet I'm glad we have it. I do like having a nice chunk of time off during the summer. However, even though my students are personally important to me so many get cranked up with attitude and less-than-desirable behavior this time of the year, because they're feeling the same school year fatigue I am. This usually makes it much easier to say goodbye on the last day. I'm sure they'd agree.
*I think I have at least the first wave of my summer reading list figured out and stacked on my piano bench. Of course there will be other books I buy during the summer that I'll add, but I've got a pretty good idea now of at least where I'm going to start. Last summer was a disappointing one as far as how much reading I got done so I'm making a point of taking advantage of that time this year. I have to say though, some of these books are pretty long. It looks a little daunting now, but I'm ready to take it on.
*Our media guy Reed hit me up with another head-scratcher of a question not too many days ago. The only reason I'm not using it as an independent post is because I'm so close to the end of May, and, to be honest, my stamina for coming up with a new topic every day and writing coherent thoughts about it is nearly running on fumes. Think about this one, though: If you consider every relationship you have, friends, family, colleagues, whatever -- each person you bring into your life has some reason for being there. Your relationship evolved out of an interest you shared, or fulfilled a need that you provided each other in some way. If you thought of all the people you have in your life, could you identify the connective threads that bind you to all of them?
*I've always watched television news, and I tend to follow it more closely during a political season leading up to a major election. I really don't know if I can this year. I'm just so sick of looking at Trump, much less viewing the lowbrow political performance art he's been displaying for nearly a year. I'm not even so sure I can put up with local news as much anymore. Not because of the Trump factor, but more because I'm questioning how necessary it is on a daily basis. Sure, if something big happens it's a good way to get information. But so much of it, even in a metro area that size of Minneapolis/St. Paul, has become more about community interests and presenting the anchors and reporters as engaging and accessible personalities.
*It's an unfortunate thing for me to admit, but I have yet to narrow down what will be my favorite album to listen to while driving with the windows down this summer. That title has often gone to a live album (they seem to lend themselves to driving, somehow) and something with a good straightforward, energetic rock sound, but without being too intense. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has favorites to mention.
*I think I have officially crossed over into the end of the school year slide. Not that I'm giving up on teaching anything of value or plan on sleepwalking through my final 11 instructional days, but we're now close enough to the end that I can see everything left that I need to do roughly mapped out in front of me, and the light at the end of the tunnel is that much brighter because of it. I think I can speak for most teachers by saying that reaching that point in the year is pretty nice.
*On the subject of planning out my summer, I've got some good ideas for Post-It Noting up my fridge. Right now I'm just collecting ideas though, and I won't officially even display my summer experiences to-do list until I drive away from school for the last time this year late in the afternoon on June 13. And honestly I'm even seriously considering posting at least select items online, almost as an unofficial open invitation for anyone who would like to join in with any of my adventures...though I can almost guarantee it would be a stretch to call any of them that.
*I'm curious: Do people not use Facebook that much anymore, or have a lot of people just gradually morphed into lurkers who sign in to read other posts, or memes, or videos, or whatever? I only ask because I've noticed, even in just the past few months, that a lot of people on my friend list don't seem to be as active online as they once were. I assume that means they're just off doing different things and the Facebook shine has worn off for them. Either that, or they're slowly blocking and ignoring me into oblivion...and after I've clogged up the news feed with daily blog posts for nearly a month now, can you blame them?
*Anybody want to make a Dairy Queen run this weekend? I might be up for it....
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Day 24: Worlds Collide, Part 2: The Young Authors Conference
Young Author’s Conference
I was a chaperone for a field trip today as my school sent a group of kids to the Young Authors Conference. I’ve chaperoned this one a number of times over the years, and it’s become a favorite. The first time I went my writing was little more than a hobby, though one that still fired off some occasional “author someday” writing dreams. Mary Granpre, the illustrator of the Harry Potter books, appeared as a keynote speaker. I was a little starstruck to be in the same building as so many real authors. I’d even heard of several of them.
The second year I went felt a little different. I had gone through NaNoWriMo twice by then and had two complete manuscript drafts to my name. Some of the kids who came along that year had even read one of both. I was on pins and needles a bit since one of those manuscripts had earned a full request from an agent during the time window we were there, so everything about my author life speculation was heightened. Nothing came of that request because the manuscript wasn’t ready, the time wasn’t right, and I had yet to cross paths with the right agent.
My third conference happened just a month after the right agent and I found each other. I wandered through the conference that year with dreams that felt slightly more tangible, now seeing all of the authors there as people who could potentially see me as a peer in the not too distant future. I tracked down an author I knew who was presenting, David LaRochelle. He had a lot of history with my school and we had crossed paths over the years because of that, so he knew about my writing and had always been supportive. It felt great to tell him the news of my representation, since he knew exactly how big of a mountain I had climbed to even be able to make that claim. The keynote speaker that year was Geoff Herbach, who had a great speech and put on a great session. I tweeted him afterward to tell him how much I enjoyed his presentation, and later that same day he followed me. A real author, with published books and everything, following me on Twitter! it was so cool.
This year, my fourth trip to the conference, things were quite a bit different. First of all, a little over a week ago my plan was to go to the conference, live up a day with the kids chosen to participate (because they’re writers so of course they’re good and smart and interesting) and then go straight to Barnes and Noble to buy Justin Cronin’s new book The City of Mirrors, which was released today. That plan was torpedoed in the best of all possible ways last week when a box showed up on my front step with an early birthday present from my agent inside — a pre-release copy of The City of Mirrors. I nearly passed out.
I still had the conference to look forward to today, though. I walked around in my Watership Down t-shirt, because what else are you going to wear to a young author’s conference? It was a good conversation starter a few times when people enthusiastically recognized the listed names of “Fiver and Hazel and Blackberry and Bigwig.” (I still think Hazel should’ve been listed first, but, you know, different topic.)
The first session I went to was one of my highlights of the day: Magical Realism presented by Abby Cooper. Her debut middle grade novel Sticks and Stones will be released this coming July. We’ve known each other on Twitter for some time, but like most of the people in the Twitterverse, we had never met in person before. I told her in advance I was chaperoning that day and would be sure to come to her session. Since one of my students had a ticket to see her in the morning, I tagged along. The presentation was great, and her past teaching experience was clearly working for her. I had the chance to talk to her briefly afterward, and it felt great to make a new real-world connection to someone in the writing community. On my way out, I grabbed a couple of the bookmarks she had set out for attendees — one for her upcoming book, and another for My 7th Grade Life in Tights by Brooks Benjamin. Brooks and I both write for the "Middle Grade Minded" blog (check it out here if you want to see how awesome we all are) so I know him though that, and his book is currently perched atop my summer reading pile, just waiting for me to finish reading The City of Mirrors.
I had another session after that, then our group went outside for lunch on a nice patch of the campus grounds with a comfortable sun/shade mix where we were entertained by the same calypso band that has played the conference every year I’ve been there. After lunch we went into a book fair sponsored by The Red Balloon, one of the big-time bookstores in the Cities that specializes in books for children. I browsed with a few specific books in mind I was hoping to see, and ready to pounce at anything that even looked halfway interesting. I saw a good-sized section of Geoff Herbach’s books, and since I really liked the other two of his I’ve read (plus he did follow me on Twitter and all) I picked up his newest one, Anything You Want. As I went further down the table, I recognized a stack of copies of The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart, another Middle Grade Minded contributor. Without hesitating, I shot my arm across the table and grabbed the one on the top, startling a girl who had been standing nearby and studying at the cover. She looked at me, then looked at the stack again, then looked back at me with an expression of “Really? It’s that good?” I smiled and nodded, so she picked it up, read the back, and added it to the pile she was carrying.
We had one session left before leaving, but I was shut out of the one I wanted since the room was practically full when I got there. I was totally fine with this, since I had a paper bag under my arm with three new books I could read.
The day turned out to be another typically great experience at the Young Author’s Conference, but the thing I kept reflecting on throughout the day was how I spent most of my time there feeling like I had a foot in two separate worlds. I was primarily there as a representative from Teacher World, and spent most of my time inside of that sphere. I wore the stick-on name tag, I was recognized by the others teachers as a chaperone, I was escorting kids around and helping out others I didn’t even know who seemed confused or lost, because that’s what teachers do at events like this.
But throughout the day I kept encountering these reminders that, even though Teacher World is the bigger part of my life right now, Author World is noticeably catching up. Never was this more apparent than the bus ride home. I was talking to one of my students, the girl who had been at Abby’s morning session with me. She hadn’t volunteered her ideas during the session (magical realism, in case that slipped your mind) so I asked what she wrote about, and this conversation happened:
“I wrote about that thing you did that one time, with the lunchbox.”
“What thing I did that one time with the lunchbox?”
“You know, when someone forgot their lunchbox, and you wrote that thing on the board. I wrote about the stuff people forget at school when they go home, and then all the stuff has a party at night but the custodian finds out.”
“You should’ve raised your hand! She would have thought that was so cool!”
She pauses and looks at me, somewhat suspiciously. “Why were you talking to her after?”
“Well, we kind of know each other.”
“Kind of?”
“We’ve known each other through Twitter for quite awhile, but this was the first time we’ve met in real life. So we talked a little bit.”
She paused again.
“Wait: You’re saying…that you know…Abby Cooper?!”
Now a few others who had seen Abby’s sessions overheard this and began to chime in: “You KNOW her? / How do you know her? / We went to her thing after lunch! / She was really fun! / She gave us these bookmarks! / She was so pretty! / I want to read her book when it comes out!”
It hit me right then, sitting in the back of a school bus full of middle graders mostly making animal and robot noises while we slowly trudged through pre-rush hour traffic: The way my girls were fangirling all over Abby wasn’t so drastically different from the low-grade starstruck fascination I’d felt during my first time I’d chaperoning the conference. Then I wondered: How would that aspiring writer version of me from years back feel about where I am now, and what my day at the 2016 conference had been like?
He'd probably be pretty darn excited to know that my present was going to be a part of his future. Then he’d probably say, “Okay, yeah, it’s great that took the time to process all of this and that you still have the blog going after all these years. But seriously dude, if you have all of this happening now, you must have some REAL writing business to deal with. Shouldn’t you go take care of that, so you can get us to that last step already?”
And he’d be right.
I was a chaperone for a field trip today as my school sent a group of kids to the Young Authors Conference. I’ve chaperoned this one a number of times over the years, and it’s become a favorite. The first time I went my writing was little more than a hobby, though one that still fired off some occasional “author someday” writing dreams. Mary Granpre, the illustrator of the Harry Potter books, appeared as a keynote speaker. I was a little starstruck to be in the same building as so many real authors. I’d even heard of several of them.
The second year I went felt a little different. I had gone through NaNoWriMo twice by then and had two complete manuscript drafts to my name. Some of the kids who came along that year had even read one of both. I was on pins and needles a bit since one of those manuscripts had earned a full request from an agent during the time window we were there, so everything about my author life speculation was heightened. Nothing came of that request because the manuscript wasn’t ready, the time wasn’t right, and I had yet to cross paths with the right agent.
My third conference happened just a month after the right agent and I found each other. I wandered through the conference that year with dreams that felt slightly more tangible, now seeing all of the authors there as people who could potentially see me as a peer in the not too distant future. I tracked down an author I knew who was presenting, David LaRochelle. He had a lot of history with my school and we had crossed paths over the years because of that, so he knew about my writing and had always been supportive. It felt great to tell him the news of my representation, since he knew exactly how big of a mountain I had climbed to even be able to make that claim. The keynote speaker that year was Geoff Herbach, who had a great speech and put on a great session. I tweeted him afterward to tell him how much I enjoyed his presentation, and later that same day he followed me. A real author, with published books and everything, following me on Twitter! it was so cool.
This year, my fourth trip to the conference, things were quite a bit different. First of all, a little over a week ago my plan was to go to the conference, live up a day with the kids chosen to participate (because they’re writers so of course they’re good and smart and interesting) and then go straight to Barnes and Noble to buy Justin Cronin’s new book The City of Mirrors, which was released today. That plan was torpedoed in the best of all possible ways last week when a box showed up on my front step with an early birthday present from my agent inside — a pre-release copy of The City of Mirrors. I nearly passed out.
I still had the conference to look forward to today, though. I walked around in my Watership Down t-shirt, because what else are you going to wear to a young author’s conference? It was a good conversation starter a few times when people enthusiastically recognized the listed names of “Fiver and Hazel and Blackberry and Bigwig.” (I still think Hazel should’ve been listed first, but, you know, different topic.)
The first session I went to was one of my highlights of the day: Magical Realism presented by Abby Cooper. Her debut middle grade novel Sticks and Stones will be released this coming July. We’ve known each other on Twitter for some time, but like most of the people in the Twitterverse, we had never met in person before. I told her in advance I was chaperoning that day and would be sure to come to her session. Since one of my students had a ticket to see her in the morning, I tagged along. The presentation was great, and her past teaching experience was clearly working for her. I had the chance to talk to her briefly afterward, and it felt great to make a new real-world connection to someone in the writing community. On my way out, I grabbed a couple of the bookmarks she had set out for attendees — one for her upcoming book, and another for My 7th Grade Life in Tights by Brooks Benjamin. Brooks and I both write for the "Middle Grade Minded" blog (check it out here if you want to see how awesome we all are) so I know him though that, and his book is currently perched atop my summer reading pile, just waiting for me to finish reading The City of Mirrors.
I had another session after that, then our group went outside for lunch on a nice patch of the campus grounds with a comfortable sun/shade mix where we were entertained by the same calypso band that has played the conference every year I’ve been there. After lunch we went into a book fair sponsored by The Red Balloon, one of the big-time bookstores in the Cities that specializes in books for children. I browsed with a few specific books in mind I was hoping to see, and ready to pounce at anything that even looked halfway interesting. I saw a good-sized section of Geoff Herbach’s books, and since I really liked the other two of his I’ve read (plus he did follow me on Twitter and all) I picked up his newest one, Anything You Want. As I went further down the table, I recognized a stack of copies of The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart, another Middle Grade Minded contributor. Without hesitating, I shot my arm across the table and grabbed the one on the top, startling a girl who had been standing nearby and studying at the cover. She looked at me, then looked at the stack again, then looked back at me with an expression of “Really? It’s that good?” I smiled and nodded, so she picked it up, read the back, and added it to the pile she was carrying.
We had one session left before leaving, but I was shut out of the one I wanted since the room was practically full when I got there. I was totally fine with this, since I had a paper bag under my arm with three new books I could read.
The day turned out to be another typically great experience at the Young Author’s Conference, but the thing I kept reflecting on throughout the day was how I spent most of my time there feeling like I had a foot in two separate worlds. I was primarily there as a representative from Teacher World, and spent most of my time inside of that sphere. I wore the stick-on name tag, I was recognized by the others teachers as a chaperone, I was escorting kids around and helping out others I didn’t even know who seemed confused or lost, because that’s what teachers do at events like this.
But throughout the day I kept encountering these reminders that, even though Teacher World is the bigger part of my life right now, Author World is noticeably catching up. Never was this more apparent than the bus ride home. I was talking to one of my students, the girl who had been at Abby’s morning session with me. She hadn’t volunteered her ideas during the session (magical realism, in case that slipped your mind) so I asked what she wrote about, and this conversation happened:
“I wrote about that thing you did that one time, with the lunchbox.”
“What thing I did that one time with the lunchbox?”
“You know, when someone forgot their lunchbox, and you wrote that thing on the board. I wrote about the stuff people forget at school when they go home, and then all the stuff has a party at night but the custodian finds out.”
“You should’ve raised your hand! She would have thought that was so cool!”
She pauses and looks at me, somewhat suspiciously. “Why were you talking to her after?”
“Well, we kind of know each other.”
“Kind of?”
“We’ve known each other through Twitter for quite awhile, but this was the first time we’ve met in real life. So we talked a little bit.”
She paused again.
“Wait: You’re saying…that you know…Abby Cooper?!”
Now a few others who had seen Abby’s sessions overheard this and began to chime in: “You KNOW her? / How do you know her? / We went to her thing after lunch! / She was really fun! / She gave us these bookmarks! / She was so pretty! / I want to read her book when it comes out!”
It hit me right then, sitting in the back of a school bus full of middle graders mostly making animal and robot noises while we slowly trudged through pre-rush hour traffic: The way my girls were fangirling all over Abby wasn’t so drastically different from the low-grade starstruck fascination I’d felt during my first time I’d chaperoning the conference. Then I wondered: How would that aspiring writer version of me from years back feel about where I am now, and what my day at the 2016 conference had been like?
He'd probably be pretty darn excited to know that my present was going to be a part of his future. Then he’d probably say, “Okay, yeah, it’s great that took the time to process all of this and that you still have the blog going after all these years. But seriously dude, if you have all of this happening now, you must have some REAL writing business to deal with. Shouldn’t you go take care of that, so you can get us to that last step already?”
And he’d be right.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Day 23: Worlds Collide, and Right in My House
Shorter post tonight. Remember a few days back, when I posted this?
Day 13: The Book Club of Destiny
Tonight is the night of that very book club meeting. I'm mostly excited, but a tiny bit anxious. This is mostly a positive anxious, though. It will certainly be a fun to have these people over to my house to talk about my book. As I'm sure I've mentioned a few times before, in my earlier days as a writer getting people to agree to read something I wrote usually involved a lot of hopeful groveling. Not tonight, though. These people were excited to read it, and so far have had very nice things to say, and I get to be there and listen to them roll through a list of discussion questions about it! All good things!
But, there's a world collision on the horizon, probably, as long as all the technology works the way it's supposed to. Which, speaking from the perspective of someone who has experienced a lot of presentation snafus happening during staff development sessions, I'll feel better about it when I know it's happening and it worked. Once book club came together with the novelty of having the author involved with the discussion, I thought, "Why stop there? Why not see if how possible it would be to also get the agent to make a cameo appearance as well?"
Long story short, the plans are in place right now for book club to connect with Carrie tonight through cell phone and Bluetooth technology, which I'm very excited about, but this does introduce an unusual collision of Writer World and School World for me. I'm not expecting it to be anything but great, but having those two worlds not just existing side by side like they usually do, and actually overlap for a short time? It's newish territory for me, so it could feel a little weird.
Not that that's a bad thing, though. In fact, with any luck, the day won't be too far in the future where there's more overlap than independence between the two worlds.
Might as well start getting used to it now....
Day 13: The Book Club of Destiny
Tonight is the night of that very book club meeting. I'm mostly excited, but a tiny bit anxious. This is mostly a positive anxious, though. It will certainly be a fun to have these people over to my house to talk about my book. As I'm sure I've mentioned a few times before, in my earlier days as a writer getting people to agree to read something I wrote usually involved a lot of hopeful groveling. Not tonight, though. These people were excited to read it, and so far have had very nice things to say, and I get to be there and listen to them roll through a list of discussion questions about it! All good things!
But, there's a world collision on the horizon, probably, as long as all the technology works the way it's supposed to. Which, speaking from the perspective of someone who has experienced a lot of presentation snafus happening during staff development sessions, I'll feel better about it when I know it's happening and it worked. Once book club came together with the novelty of having the author involved with the discussion, I thought, "Why stop there? Why not see if how possible it would be to also get the agent to make a cameo appearance as well?"
Long story short, the plans are in place right now for book club to connect with Carrie tonight through cell phone and Bluetooth technology, which I'm very excited about, but this does introduce an unusual collision of Writer World and School World for me. I'm not expecting it to be anything but great, but having those two worlds not just existing side by side like they usually do, and actually overlap for a short time? It's newish territory for me, so it could feel a little weird.
Not that that's a bad thing, though. In fact, with any luck, the day won't be too far in the future where there's more overlap than independence between the two worlds.
Might as well start getting used to it now....
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Day 22: Half a Life Behind the Big Desk
I have something of a milestone circling my life right now. My birthday was yesterday, and I turned 48 years old. When this current school year comes to an end in a matter of weeks, I will have been teaching 24 years. In case you haven’t done the math already, this means I’ve spent half of my not-short life teaching, and all at the same school.
Last month when I was asking around for ideas to write about this May, someone suggested to write about life lessons I’ve learned from my students. To commemorate this meaningful (at least to me) confluence of years, here are 24 things, generalized to a certain degree, that I’ve learned about life from spending half of mine sitting behind the big desk.
1. Simple pleasures can be everything. I’ve seen people run around the classroom in the morning, offering high-fives to everyone they see, just because there’s grilled cheese for lunch that day.
2. Effort and attitude are far greater indicators of student success than intelligence and ability.
3. Mean girls and bullies start young and last well into adulthood.
4. If something smells bad, whether it’s body odor, or vinegar from science class, or a fart, or a plastic container half-filled with ranch dressing that’s been lost in a desk or a locker for a month, children will pull their shirts up over their faces so quickly it’s almost as if it was something they were born knowing how to do.
5. Every morsel of school breakfast gets eaten. At least a third of most school lunches get thrown away.
6. The education catch phrase “what’s best for kids” is frequently used as a quick and easy way for people to claim the high road in several professional disagreements.
7. When kids today talk about getting together to play after school, they usually mean meeting up on a server instead of at a playground.
8. My childhood was a ride around the lake compared to the nightmarish lives I’ve seen too many students try to survive. So was yours.
9. Outside of occasional token acknowledgements, teachers are under-appreciated by our society.
10. Children are funnier than adults. Too many adults think that just mentioning sex or body parts or using inappropriate language is more than enough to pass for having a sense of humor. Children don’t rely on those crutches and can make jokes out of just about anything.
11. Parents tend to take youth sports WAY MORE seriously than children do.
12. Not many children younger than ten are truly independent thinkers. The ones who are can be fascinating to know.
13. Most behavior problems that aren’t related to some kind of medical issue can be traced to a lack, or an absence, of love and attention.
14. Children are more honest and more forgiving than adults.
15. Children frequently give their teachers credit for being better people than they (we) actually are.
16. There are always exceptions to the rule of course, but usually boys carry a much greater sense of entitlement than girls do.
17. Too many parents go creatively overboard when it comes time to decide how to spell their child’s name.
18. Bathroom breaks are more often mental breaks than actual bathroom breaks.
19. Children are either organized or they aren’t. There is no middle ground here.
20. Children care about racial differences far less than many adults do.
21. The length of the honeymoon period at the beginning of the elementary school year is inversely proportionate to the numeric value of the grade level.
22. If a child falls asleep in class, you let them sleep. There are probably reasons you don’t know about that would explain why they’re so tired.
23. As children start to figure out everything wrong with the world they’re going to inherit, they aren’t happy about it.
24. When you most desperately need to clear your head, sometimes all it takes is a box of crayons and a fresh sheet of paper to get the job done.
Last month when I was asking around for ideas to write about this May, someone suggested to write about life lessons I’ve learned from my students. To commemorate this meaningful (at least to me) confluence of years, here are 24 things, generalized to a certain degree, that I’ve learned about life from spending half of mine sitting behind the big desk.
1. Simple pleasures can be everything. I’ve seen people run around the classroom in the morning, offering high-fives to everyone they see, just because there’s grilled cheese for lunch that day.
2. Effort and attitude are far greater indicators of student success than intelligence and ability.
3. Mean girls and bullies start young and last well into adulthood.
4. If something smells bad, whether it’s body odor, or vinegar from science class, or a fart, or a plastic container half-filled with ranch dressing that’s been lost in a desk or a locker for a month, children will pull their shirts up over their faces so quickly it’s almost as if it was something they were born knowing how to do.
5. Every morsel of school breakfast gets eaten. At least a third of most school lunches get thrown away.
6. The education catch phrase “what’s best for kids” is frequently used as a quick and easy way for people to claim the high road in several professional disagreements.
7. When kids today talk about getting together to play after school, they usually mean meeting up on a server instead of at a playground.
8. My childhood was a ride around the lake compared to the nightmarish lives I’ve seen too many students try to survive. So was yours.
9. Outside of occasional token acknowledgements, teachers are under-appreciated by our society.
10. Children are funnier than adults. Too many adults think that just mentioning sex or body parts or using inappropriate language is more than enough to pass for having a sense of humor. Children don’t rely on those crutches and can make jokes out of just about anything.
11. Parents tend to take youth sports WAY MORE seriously than children do.
12. Not many children younger than ten are truly independent thinkers. The ones who are can be fascinating to know.
13. Most behavior problems that aren’t related to some kind of medical issue can be traced to a lack, or an absence, of love and attention.
14. Children are more honest and more forgiving than adults.
15. Children frequently give their teachers credit for being better people than they (we) actually are.
16. There are always exceptions to the rule of course, but usually boys carry a much greater sense of entitlement than girls do.
17. Too many parents go creatively overboard when it comes time to decide how to spell their child’s name.
18. Bathroom breaks are more often mental breaks than actual bathroom breaks.
19. Children are either organized or they aren’t. There is no middle ground here.
20. Children care about racial differences far less than many adults do.
21. The length of the honeymoon period at the beginning of the elementary school year is inversely proportionate to the numeric value of the grade level.
22. If a child falls asleep in class, you let them sleep. There are probably reasons you don’t know about that would explain why they’re so tired.
23. As children start to figure out everything wrong with the world they’re going to inherit, they aren’t happy about it.
24. When you most desperately need to clear your head, sometimes all it takes is a box of crayons and a fresh sheet of paper to get the job done.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Day 21: Maybe This Will Be My Year
A good thing about this being my fourth year writing daily posts throughout May is I now have a handful of regular themes I know I can fall back on. Since today is my birthday, it's time to examine the world of horoscopes to see how well the "Your Birthday Today" entry predicted my 2015-16 orbit, then take a glimpse at the future I have ahead of me.
First, last year:
"The others will be trying to catch up with you this year. You'll be prolific. Whatever it is you love to produce -- smiles, phone calls, cookies, kind words, doodles, deals, your special product -- you'll turn out record amounts. July shows you carefully plotting, and August shows you going full force. Sagittarius and Leo people adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 45, 24, 31, 1 and 17."
I really don't think of the past year as being unusually prolific, so I'm going to have to call shenanigans on this, overall. If there are any Sagittarius and Leo people adoring me, I think they've been doing it from afar. Well, no, wait: My mother is a Leo. So there's that.
All right, let's put that to bed and see what's coming. Here's what the "Your Birthday Today" horoscope has to say, along with my parenthetical annotations:
"The next three months bring opportunities that seem straight from a sample sale -- odd shapes, colors, and sizes -- a creative challenge with fantastically lucky results (the next three months: June, July, and August; should I be optimistic about my summer break?). Couples will adventure in June and intertwine business to lucrative effect in September (okay, we'll ignore this part). Singles aiming to fulfill a business agenda accidentally catch feelings ('accidentally catch feelings?' Just what exactly is that supposed to mean?!). Leo and Aries adore you (Leos, you had your shot last year and you blew it; hey there, all you Aries...what's up?). Your lucky numbers are: 4, 17, 22, 38, and 45 (17 and 45 again, for the second consecutive year? What am I overlooking about those numbers???)."
Okay, that doesn't seem very helpful, other than my summer should be a divergently creative bonanza which will somehow involve 17 and 45 for some as of yet unknown reason. I guess all there is left to do now is get this new year of living underway and see what happens!
First, last year:
"The others will be trying to catch up with you this year. You'll be prolific. Whatever it is you love to produce -- smiles, phone calls, cookies, kind words, doodles, deals, your special product -- you'll turn out record amounts. July shows you carefully plotting, and August shows you going full force. Sagittarius and Leo people adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 45, 24, 31, 1 and 17."
I really don't think of the past year as being unusually prolific, so I'm going to have to call shenanigans on this, overall. If there are any Sagittarius and Leo people adoring me, I think they've been doing it from afar. Well, no, wait: My mother is a Leo. So there's that.
All right, let's put that to bed and see what's coming. Here's what the "Your Birthday Today" horoscope has to say, along with my parenthetical annotations:
"The next three months bring opportunities that seem straight from a sample sale -- odd shapes, colors, and sizes -- a creative challenge with fantastically lucky results (the next three months: June, July, and August; should I be optimistic about my summer break?). Couples will adventure in June and intertwine business to lucrative effect in September (okay, we'll ignore this part). Singles aiming to fulfill a business agenda accidentally catch feelings ('accidentally catch feelings?' Just what exactly is that supposed to mean?!). Leo and Aries adore you (Leos, you had your shot last year and you blew it; hey there, all you Aries...what's up?). Your lucky numbers are: 4, 17, 22, 38, and 45 (17 and 45 again, for the second consecutive year? What am I overlooking about those numbers???)."
Okay, that doesn't seem very helpful, other than my summer should be a divergently creative bonanza which will somehow involve 17 and 45 for some as of yet unknown reason. I guess all there is left to do now is get this new year of living underway and see what happens!
Friday, May 20, 2016
Day 20: Questions and Answers, Round 4
Thanks to all who contributed questions for this year. All right, let's do this.
When you brush your teeth, where in your mouth do you start?
Bottom left, back.
The picture you have of yourself of where you’ll be in 5 years — will that converge with reality?
I sure, sure hope so. If not in five years, maybe in six. Or seven.
How many full manuscripts have you written? What is the status of each?
Hmm….eight. Six of them are either on my external hard drive or in a box in the closet in my home office and will probably stay there. The two most complete of the group, Following Infinity and The Ghost of Lake Emily, are on deck for submission. Following Infinity was on submission last year during a time when things in publishing seemed slow, and since it’s so quiet and introspective, it doesn’t really jump out and grab readers by the throat. The Ghost of Lake Emily, on the other hand, basically does just that. During that time I was (and still am) revising and editing Emily. Carrie and I talked about the two, and decided to adjust our strategy and put the bigger push behind Emily. As Carrie said, she usually doesn’t have two projects to consider when working with a debut author, and Emily has the potential “to make a bigger splash.” And if/when that turns out to be the publishing breakthrough, then we bring Infinity back out and hopefully demonstrate my range as a writer and get them both out there.
At what point in your life — professional, personal, and family — did you reach a point where you had to give up expressing your true opinions to keep the peace?
Professionally, I gave that up when I began working with people who might not share all of my ideas and I had to either protect or foster relationships with. Sometimes I can put my damned foot in my mouth all the way to the knee though, so clearly I haven’t mastered diplomacy. However I’ve also learned that if you carefully word what you want to express and present it in an openly respectful way, that will often earn you some breathing room.
In my family life, I probably gave that up when I reached the level of adulthood when people began to treat my opinions as adult, in the sense that I wasn’t given a pass on saying something because I wasn’t just a kid who sometimes spoke before the filter had a chance to do its job. And for the record, since this was the parameter established when I was asked the question, I’m considering “family” as my extended family.
Personally, I probably still don’t consider this enough. My problem is that I think audacity is one of the funniest things ever, like when a comedian makes a joke so over the top that half of the joke is in how far over the top they’re willing to go, because doing that is a way of acknowledging how no normal person would ever say or do anything so bold. Sometimes that can be justifiably misunderstood. I guess that’s more of an approach to expression than expression the content of an opinion, but that’s the best answer I’ve got.
Who would you want to be if you could be any person at any point in history?
I honestly think I’d rather witness specific moments than experience something from the perspective of another person. To answer the question, however, I think I would pick someone from a particular category instead of naming any one specific person: I’d like to know what it would feel like to have created a thing or an idea that was going to profoundly change the world for the better, and I’d like to be inside of the moment when that person would experience the full realization of what an impact their creation was going to have. Otherwise, I’d like to be my future self on the day I find out my first book has sold. Does future count as history if it hasn’t happened…yet?
If you could have any one superhero power, which one would you choose? How or what would you use it for?
The power to heal myself and other people. Not to the degree that anything I did would have a permanent impact and make myself or someone else immortal; I’d like to be able to heal injury, or fight back chronic illness, or help them resolve the issues that plague their thoughts so they could find and enjoy an inner peace.
Do you ever randomly count things?
The last time I can remember doing that was while I sat for a long time in a waiting room at the vet, and only to occupy my mind so the stress I was feeling wouldn't take me over.
If you could take a lesson to learn something new, what would it be?
Guitar.
When do you truly feel the most joy, and are you ever going to get a new puppy?
My most joyful moments can be divided into two categories: 1) When I’m creating something, like some new plan or strategy for school or a writing idea and, for whatever reason, I get so caught up in what I’m doing that I achieve flow state and can barely keep up with how fast the ideas are come. There’s nothing like that feeling. 2) When I receive some unexpected gesture of genuine acknowledgement. As I’ve mentioned earlier this month, I think perfunctory expressions of appreciation are largely meaningless. But if someone does or says something nice and it comes from an honest place? Even small gestures can mean so much. My problem is that between my introversion and my tendency to be harshly self-critical, I tend to think that most people forget I even exist unless I’m directly in their line of sight. When I get any reminder that isn’t true, it means a lot. (But notice that up there I worded my answer as “unexpected gestures” instead of “surprises.” Because the introvert in me thinks big dramatic surprises are some of the worst things I could ever experience, especially if they involve crowds of people. Again, this was addressed in an earlier post from this month.)
As for the puppy….
I honestly don’t know. I’ve been without Spencer now for about half as long as I had him, and I still have scars from losing him. When I look at the dogs in my family, it doesn’t seem fair to the dogs to have only one, when I see how they thrive when they have others in their pack to socialize with. I don’t know if I have room in my life now for a puppy, or a dog, or two dogs, especially when I have to spend most of my days at school. I might have another dog someday. But I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
Who are the three people you would most like to meet…living or dead?
#1 - Hands down, my agent Carrie. We’ve spent hours talking on the phone. We’ve exchanged dozens of emails, some directly about our work and some that had nothing to do with it. We’ll text back and forth and comment back and forth on Facebook and Twitter. But I’ve been working with her now for a little over two years, and we’ve never actually met, face to face. It almost happened once this past winter but didn’t come together. I’m sure someday it eventually will.
#2 - John Petrucci, the guitarist and main composer for Dream Theater. I’d just like the chance to thank him.
#3 - Freddie Mercury. I really wouldn’t care so much about meeting him, though. I’d just rather have the chance to see him perform.
What are the best and worst foods you have ever tasted?
Best foods: Bacon, when it’s baked instead of fried, and done right; smoked salmon and just about any other kind of seafood while in the Pacific Northwest; fresh pineapple while in Hawaii; the chicken and dumpling soup my mother makes. Worst foods: Some pasta salad at my sister’s first wedding that must’ve had some kind of vinegar-based dressing on it and tasted like a mouthful of spoiled poison. I was at the head table and felt socially obligated to eat all of it. It was all I could do to force it down.
What would life be like if politics did not exist?
Worse than they are now. There has to be some kind of system that society agrees to use to keep the chaos in check. Otherwise it would be like The Walking Dead without the zombies.
If elementary education still a good career for a guy?
It can be. As far as careers go, there are always going to be schools and kids that need to be taught, so once a person works their way into the system and can grab onto any kind of job security, that can be nice. But it’s such a stressful job, and so hard, and so completely unappreciated. I don’t know if I would recommend that someone go into teaching at any level if they thrive on pats on the back. If the internal motivation is there and they’re good with knowing they can make a significant difference in the lives of so many people, that’s different. It really depends on what the person wants out of what they’re doing. I won’t lie — there are absolutely benefits to being a male teacher in the elementary setting. But there can be drawbacks, too.
Which is your favorite constellation?
Probably the Big Dipper, even though it’s technically only a part of Ursa Major. But it’s easy to find.
Where would you like to visit if money were not an issue?
I don’t have any bucket list of destinations. Maybe different places in Europe, to take in the topography and bits of culture and history more than a couple of hundred years old?
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to a younger version of yourself?
As it happens, this is very close to what will be an important theme in Manuscript #3, which I’m going to be busting my butt to work on this coming summer break. Knowing myself as I do now, I’d probably say, “Don’t beat yourself up for being this way. You aren’t shy, you aren’t afraid, you’re introverted. And you’re probably going to be happier with some aspects of your life if you start taking small steps to accommodate that RIGHT NOW. And don’t drive through Andover on the way home from Turtle Lake in July of 2015, because some woman reaching for her water bottle is going to rear-end you and cause $7,000 worth of damage to your car.”
Have you written about your memories of 2608 Oakes?
Some of them, because how could that entire story ever be adequately told? Click here to read that post from last year.
What were the early influences on your writing?
If we’re talking about when writing became something serious for me, Stephen King. The end.
When you brush your teeth, where in your mouth do you start?
Bottom left, back.
The picture you have of yourself of where you’ll be in 5 years — will that converge with reality?
I sure, sure hope so. If not in five years, maybe in six. Or seven.
How many full manuscripts have you written? What is the status of each?
Hmm….eight. Six of them are either on my external hard drive or in a box in the closet in my home office and will probably stay there. The two most complete of the group, Following Infinity and The Ghost of Lake Emily, are on deck for submission. Following Infinity was on submission last year during a time when things in publishing seemed slow, and since it’s so quiet and introspective, it doesn’t really jump out and grab readers by the throat. The Ghost of Lake Emily, on the other hand, basically does just that. During that time I was (and still am) revising and editing Emily. Carrie and I talked about the two, and decided to adjust our strategy and put the bigger push behind Emily. As Carrie said, she usually doesn’t have two projects to consider when working with a debut author, and Emily has the potential “to make a bigger splash.” And if/when that turns out to be the publishing breakthrough, then we bring Infinity back out and hopefully demonstrate my range as a writer and get them both out there.
At what point in your life — professional, personal, and family — did you reach a point where you had to give up expressing your true opinions to keep the peace?
Professionally, I gave that up when I began working with people who might not share all of my ideas and I had to either protect or foster relationships with. Sometimes I can put my damned foot in my mouth all the way to the knee though, so clearly I haven’t mastered diplomacy. However I’ve also learned that if you carefully word what you want to express and present it in an openly respectful way, that will often earn you some breathing room.
In my family life, I probably gave that up when I reached the level of adulthood when people began to treat my opinions as adult, in the sense that I wasn’t given a pass on saying something because I wasn’t just a kid who sometimes spoke before the filter had a chance to do its job. And for the record, since this was the parameter established when I was asked the question, I’m considering “family” as my extended family.
Personally, I probably still don’t consider this enough. My problem is that I think audacity is one of the funniest things ever, like when a comedian makes a joke so over the top that half of the joke is in how far over the top they’re willing to go, because doing that is a way of acknowledging how no normal person would ever say or do anything so bold. Sometimes that can be justifiably misunderstood. I guess that’s more of an approach to expression than expression the content of an opinion, but that’s the best answer I’ve got.
Who would you want to be if you could be any person at any point in history?
I honestly think I’d rather witness specific moments than experience something from the perspective of another person. To answer the question, however, I think I would pick someone from a particular category instead of naming any one specific person: I’d like to know what it would feel like to have created a thing or an idea that was going to profoundly change the world for the better, and I’d like to be inside of the moment when that person would experience the full realization of what an impact their creation was going to have. Otherwise, I’d like to be my future self on the day I find out my first book has sold. Does future count as history if it hasn’t happened…yet?
If you could have any one superhero power, which one would you choose? How or what would you use it for?
The power to heal myself and other people. Not to the degree that anything I did would have a permanent impact and make myself or someone else immortal; I’d like to be able to heal injury, or fight back chronic illness, or help them resolve the issues that plague their thoughts so they could find and enjoy an inner peace.
Do you ever randomly count things?
The last time I can remember doing that was while I sat for a long time in a waiting room at the vet, and only to occupy my mind so the stress I was feeling wouldn't take me over.
If you could take a lesson to learn something new, what would it be?
Guitar.
When do you truly feel the most joy, and are you ever going to get a new puppy?
My most joyful moments can be divided into two categories: 1) When I’m creating something, like some new plan or strategy for school or a writing idea and, for whatever reason, I get so caught up in what I’m doing that I achieve flow state and can barely keep up with how fast the ideas are come. There’s nothing like that feeling. 2) When I receive some unexpected gesture of genuine acknowledgement. As I’ve mentioned earlier this month, I think perfunctory expressions of appreciation are largely meaningless. But if someone does or says something nice and it comes from an honest place? Even small gestures can mean so much. My problem is that between my introversion and my tendency to be harshly self-critical, I tend to think that most people forget I even exist unless I’m directly in their line of sight. When I get any reminder that isn’t true, it means a lot. (But notice that up there I worded my answer as “unexpected gestures” instead of “surprises.” Because the introvert in me thinks big dramatic surprises are some of the worst things I could ever experience, especially if they involve crowds of people. Again, this was addressed in an earlier post from this month.)
As for the puppy….
I honestly don’t know. I’ve been without Spencer now for about half as long as I had him, and I still have scars from losing him. When I look at the dogs in my family, it doesn’t seem fair to the dogs to have only one, when I see how they thrive when they have others in their pack to socialize with. I don’t know if I have room in my life now for a puppy, or a dog, or two dogs, especially when I have to spend most of my days at school. I might have another dog someday. But I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
Who are the three people you would most like to meet…living or dead?
#1 - Hands down, my agent Carrie. We’ve spent hours talking on the phone. We’ve exchanged dozens of emails, some directly about our work and some that had nothing to do with it. We’ll text back and forth and comment back and forth on Facebook and Twitter. But I’ve been working with her now for a little over two years, and we’ve never actually met, face to face. It almost happened once this past winter but didn’t come together. I’m sure someday it eventually will.
#2 - John Petrucci, the guitarist and main composer for Dream Theater. I’d just like the chance to thank him.
#3 - Freddie Mercury. I really wouldn’t care so much about meeting him, though. I’d just rather have the chance to see him perform.
What are the best and worst foods you have ever tasted?
Best foods: Bacon, when it’s baked instead of fried, and done right; smoked salmon and just about any other kind of seafood while in the Pacific Northwest; fresh pineapple while in Hawaii; the chicken and dumpling soup my mother makes. Worst foods: Some pasta salad at my sister’s first wedding that must’ve had some kind of vinegar-based dressing on it and tasted like a mouthful of spoiled poison. I was at the head table and felt socially obligated to eat all of it. It was all I could do to force it down.
What would life be like if politics did not exist?
Worse than they are now. There has to be some kind of system that society agrees to use to keep the chaos in check. Otherwise it would be like The Walking Dead without the zombies.
If elementary education still a good career for a guy?
It can be. As far as careers go, there are always going to be schools and kids that need to be taught, so once a person works their way into the system and can grab onto any kind of job security, that can be nice. But it’s such a stressful job, and so hard, and so completely unappreciated. I don’t know if I would recommend that someone go into teaching at any level if they thrive on pats on the back. If the internal motivation is there and they’re good with knowing they can make a significant difference in the lives of so many people, that’s different. It really depends on what the person wants out of what they’re doing. I won’t lie — there are absolutely benefits to being a male teacher in the elementary setting. But there can be drawbacks, too.
Which is your favorite constellation?
Probably the Big Dipper, even though it’s technically only a part of Ursa Major. But it’s easy to find.
Where would you like to visit if money were not an issue?
I don’t have any bucket list of destinations. Maybe different places in Europe, to take in the topography and bits of culture and history more than a couple of hundred years old?
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to a younger version of yourself?
As it happens, this is very close to what will be an important theme in Manuscript #3, which I’m going to be busting my butt to work on this coming summer break. Knowing myself as I do now, I’d probably say, “Don’t beat yourself up for being this way. You aren’t shy, you aren’t afraid, you’re introverted. And you’re probably going to be happier with some aspects of your life if you start taking small steps to accommodate that RIGHT NOW. And don’t drive through Andover on the way home from Turtle Lake in July of 2015, because some woman reaching for her water bottle is going to rear-end you and cause $7,000 worth of damage to your car.”
Have you written about your memories of 2608 Oakes?
Some of them, because how could that entire story ever be adequately told? Click here to read that post from last year.
What were the early influences on your writing?
If we’re talking about when writing became something serious for me, Stephen King. The end.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Day 19: Blue Sky Clarity, or 100 Minutes of Meditation
If you’ve been following the progression of the May posts this year, you might remember how I was standing on the edge of burn out earlier in the month. Thankfully I found my way out of that, and I’m now in a place where I can look ahead to the rest of the school year, and beyond, with more optimism and less dread. Back when I was knee-deep in the stress though, I was actively looking for things I might be able to do that would help my fight that off.
Sometime around then I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Stuff You Should Know. During a break the hosts did an ad for an app that is supposed to give users an introduction to meditation. It starts out very gently, guiding you through a series of ten minute sessions, once daily over a ten-day period.
I’ve never seriously considered meditating before. It all looks like quietly sitting to me, and any time I’ve tried to do that my mind takes off in nine different directions. However, our school social worker recently completed a series of lessons about mindfulness that really impressed me. When I looked up this app, I saw that a lot of what it presented was based around the idea of mindfulness. At that point I didn’t think I needed it as much for immediate stress relief, but I was still curious enough to see what I might be able to get out of it. Since the first ten-day cycle was free, I gave it a try.
Day 1: The guy doing the talking has a mostly pleasant British accent. He starts off speaking conversationally, but when it’s time to begin the mediation he sounds purposefully sleepy. There are a lot of prompts about breathing, noticing how the body feels, being aware of the sounds in the room, things like that. Within minutes of finishing, out of nowhere, I have AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” playing in my head. Weird. Maybe I didn’t internalize it all so much.
Day 2: I sit down to meditate right before bed, thinking it might help me sleep, even though falling asleep isn’t really a problem. Maybe I’m just making an excuse for sticking this into the very last moment of my daily routine. In a few minutes I’m relaxed enough to fall asleep sitting up, and missed half of what I the British guy was telling me to do.
Day 3: Once again I try this right before bed. In fact I tried starting in bed, thinking if I fell asleep again I’d be all set, but then got up and decided I should probably do it sitting up like I’m supposed to. Brit mentioned the idea of problem solving in life, about not running into the traffic of our problems and trying to make them all stop at once, but sometimes just stay off to the side and and being aware of them; not in the sense of ignoring the problems, but knowing you can’t solve them all and being mindful of where you are instead of trying to do everything at once. This is hard for me. If I’m idle when I feel there’s a problem I need to solve I start feeling depressed very quickly, like I have to always be moving forward to justify my existence. This was difficult to wrap my head around.
Day 4: I took the advice of Brit and moved my meditating to right away in the morning. It helped my focus. I like having things to do in the morning. Walking, reading the newspaper, eating breakfast in the kitchen instead of inhaling something quick at my school desk has always helped me frame the day as being more complete than going straight from alarm to getting ready for school to school. It was calming to take that ten minutes to not think forward, and just be.
Day 5: My first Saturday, which usually would be the day of the week that would find me the most calm and clear-headed already. There was a short animation to watch today, about how sometimes too much effort can be counterproductive. This marked the second day in a row of reaching the end of my ten minutes without sleeping, so I figured I should probably do the rest of my sessions in the morning. Plus that way it doesn’t cut into my Hogan’s Heroes reruns.
Day 6: My first Sunday. I’m slipping into the steps pretty naturally now, just because I’ve heard the prompts enough times to know what to expect. There are some mentions to the effort that goes into trying to force things to change, but as far as what I’m doing to meditate the routine is the same thing each day. Nothing really noteworthy.
Day 7: My first Monday morning, which should really be the most useful time since Monday is not my favorite day of the week. Another animation talked about how the calm blue sky always there above us, even if we can’t always see it through the clouds. These ideas are introduced without any direction to reflect on them other than a brief mention at the end. I try to bring the ideas into my reflections when I feel I’m supposed to, but when I’m told to “just let the mind wander” it always goes somewhere else. Maybe I’m meant to keep that idea with me throughout the day.
Day 8: I got up too early and fell back to sleep halfway through, only to wake up at the end. I wasn’t ready to turn myself over to the process today, and stood up at the end with a mindset of “Okay, that’s done now. What’s next?” Nothing internalized.
Day 9: Early again. I’m prompted to think about letting the mind clear and rest so I can access the thoughts below the surface; what good things would you find there, and what would you find that needed to be let go? The 10 minutes went fast today. I actually pulled myself from some completely random train of thought that was building and back to focus once without being reminded. When it came time to let the mind wander, it went into this surreal vision of peaceful collapse that evolved into a slowly exploding color pattern, which brought itself to a dead stop and became almost like a painting. I stood up and ignored my usual routine of getting ready for school right away, and instead sat down to write. I left the morning news off, I didn’t play any music, I just sat and thought and let the ideas present themselves. I took an hour to let morning be an independent part of my day instead of a prologue to school. If felt really good, taking away the stress of pre-anticipation and letting myself just be. Did that mindset come from meditating? I really don’t know.
Day 10: The last day. I started off strong, knowing the routine pretty well, but soon I was fighting off the urge to think about writing this post since I was all too aware of how this was my last session. My mind kept going back to that instead of focusing on this, feeling that, appreciating, or noticing things but not doing anything with them. I caught up with the routine again just as it ended. I had wondered where my mind would go when I cut it loose to wander on this last day. Today it didn’t really go anywhere.
As far as growth experiments go, I was glad I tried it, but I’m not necessarily convinced it made such a difference that my life is now in the first steps of a brand new path. If anything, my biggest takeaway was that I now have a better idea of what goes on when people talk about their own meditation.
Will I continue working on this, now that my free ten days are over and I would have to start a subscription?
I really don’t know.
Sometime around then I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Stuff You Should Know. During a break the hosts did an ad for an app that is supposed to give users an introduction to meditation. It starts out very gently, guiding you through a series of ten minute sessions, once daily over a ten-day period.
I’ve never seriously considered meditating before. It all looks like quietly sitting to me, and any time I’ve tried to do that my mind takes off in nine different directions. However, our school social worker recently completed a series of lessons about mindfulness that really impressed me. When I looked up this app, I saw that a lot of what it presented was based around the idea of mindfulness. At that point I didn’t think I needed it as much for immediate stress relief, but I was still curious enough to see what I might be able to get out of it. Since the first ten-day cycle was free, I gave it a try.
Day 1: The guy doing the talking has a mostly pleasant British accent. He starts off speaking conversationally, but when it’s time to begin the mediation he sounds purposefully sleepy. There are a lot of prompts about breathing, noticing how the body feels, being aware of the sounds in the room, things like that. Within minutes of finishing, out of nowhere, I have AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” playing in my head. Weird. Maybe I didn’t internalize it all so much.
Day 2: I sit down to meditate right before bed, thinking it might help me sleep, even though falling asleep isn’t really a problem. Maybe I’m just making an excuse for sticking this into the very last moment of my daily routine. In a few minutes I’m relaxed enough to fall asleep sitting up, and missed half of what I the British guy was telling me to do.
Day 3: Once again I try this right before bed. In fact I tried starting in bed, thinking if I fell asleep again I’d be all set, but then got up and decided I should probably do it sitting up like I’m supposed to. Brit mentioned the idea of problem solving in life, about not running into the traffic of our problems and trying to make them all stop at once, but sometimes just stay off to the side and and being aware of them; not in the sense of ignoring the problems, but knowing you can’t solve them all and being mindful of where you are instead of trying to do everything at once. This is hard for me. If I’m idle when I feel there’s a problem I need to solve I start feeling depressed very quickly, like I have to always be moving forward to justify my existence. This was difficult to wrap my head around.
Day 4: I took the advice of Brit and moved my meditating to right away in the morning. It helped my focus. I like having things to do in the morning. Walking, reading the newspaper, eating breakfast in the kitchen instead of inhaling something quick at my school desk has always helped me frame the day as being more complete than going straight from alarm to getting ready for school to school. It was calming to take that ten minutes to not think forward, and just be.
Day 5: My first Saturday, which usually would be the day of the week that would find me the most calm and clear-headed already. There was a short animation to watch today, about how sometimes too much effort can be counterproductive. This marked the second day in a row of reaching the end of my ten minutes without sleeping, so I figured I should probably do the rest of my sessions in the morning. Plus that way it doesn’t cut into my Hogan’s Heroes reruns.
Day 6: My first Sunday. I’m slipping into the steps pretty naturally now, just because I’ve heard the prompts enough times to know what to expect. There are some mentions to the effort that goes into trying to force things to change, but as far as what I’m doing to meditate the routine is the same thing each day. Nothing really noteworthy.
Day 7: My first Monday morning, which should really be the most useful time since Monday is not my favorite day of the week. Another animation talked about how the calm blue sky always there above us, even if we can’t always see it through the clouds. These ideas are introduced without any direction to reflect on them other than a brief mention at the end. I try to bring the ideas into my reflections when I feel I’m supposed to, but when I’m told to “just let the mind wander” it always goes somewhere else. Maybe I’m meant to keep that idea with me throughout the day.
Day 8: I got up too early and fell back to sleep halfway through, only to wake up at the end. I wasn’t ready to turn myself over to the process today, and stood up at the end with a mindset of “Okay, that’s done now. What’s next?” Nothing internalized.
Day 9: Early again. I’m prompted to think about letting the mind clear and rest so I can access the thoughts below the surface; what good things would you find there, and what would you find that needed to be let go? The 10 minutes went fast today. I actually pulled myself from some completely random train of thought that was building and back to focus once without being reminded. When it came time to let the mind wander, it went into this surreal vision of peaceful collapse that evolved into a slowly exploding color pattern, which brought itself to a dead stop and became almost like a painting. I stood up and ignored my usual routine of getting ready for school right away, and instead sat down to write. I left the morning news off, I didn’t play any music, I just sat and thought and let the ideas present themselves. I took an hour to let morning be an independent part of my day instead of a prologue to school. If felt really good, taking away the stress of pre-anticipation and letting myself just be. Did that mindset come from meditating? I really don’t know.
Day 10: The last day. I started off strong, knowing the routine pretty well, but soon I was fighting off the urge to think about writing this post since I was all too aware of how this was my last session. My mind kept going back to that instead of focusing on this, feeling that, appreciating, or noticing things but not doing anything with them. I caught up with the routine again just as it ended. I had wondered where my mind would go when I cut it loose to wander on this last day. Today it didn’t really go anywhere.
As far as growth experiments go, I was glad I tried it, but I’m not necessarily convinced it made such a difference that my life is now in the first steps of a brand new path. If anything, my biggest takeaway was that I now have a better idea of what goes on when people talk about their own meditation.
Will I continue working on this, now that my free ten days are over and I would have to start a subscription?
I really don’t know.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Day 18: Media Shaming
One of my favorite memories about growing up in my family would be staying at our grandmother’s house, or getting together with cousins at our house or one of theirs, and frequently getting drawn into deep and rambling conversations that would last well into the night, sometimes even until the sunrise.
I clearly remember a conversation like that I had with my cousin Chris years ago. We were at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event in my hometown. I was staying up the entire night to chronicle my experiences for the local newspaper, and Chris had decided he was going to stay on the track and continue walking overnight until the relay ended at 6:00 AM. Which he totally did, by the way.
To keep myself awake and to support Chris, I spent a lot of my time walking with him. While we let our conversation wander through any number of topics, Chris brought up a point that had a big effect on how I saw the world. I had my iPod with me, and I said something about one of the songs on whatever playlist I had created for the night being a guilty pleasure. Chris pointed out that music should never be thought of as a guilty pleasure, because anyone lucky enough to have music that gives them pleasure has nothing to feel guilty about. Years later I was on a road trip with Chris and his wife, and I heard everything from Rob Zombie to Barry Manilow to Megan Trainor come up on his iPod; this is a guy who practices what he preaches. The only reason I’m citing those three examples is to highlight exactly how diverse his musical tastes are, and how he can enjoy and include all of them without shame.
I almost said “shameless” there, but did a quick self-edit because the word didn’t fit. “Shameless” sounds more like when someone should be ashamed of something but they don't have the presence of mind to realize it. That’s not Chris.
Yesterday I was talking with a different Chris, the media guy at school (who seems to have become something of a secondary character in my May blog posts this year). He was telling me about a conversation he had with a friend that amounted to “If someone were to scroll through your iPod, what surprises would you have on it that wouldn’t fit with the rest of your music? What would be the song or the album you almost wouldn’t want other people to know was there?” I told him about what my cousin Chris had said, which he immediately agreed with. Here was a guy about my age who is currently reading through Chuck Klosterman’s scholarly heavy metal examination Fargo Rock City, and relates to it possibly even more than I do. We were in a group of people from school who saw AFI, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Linkin Park at State Fair two summers ago, and he’s proudly telling me how he could still sing along with almost every lyric on Air Supply’s greatest hits. Soon after that, my teaching partner wandered into the conversation and demonstrated how she could still recall not just the lyrics but even the cadence to the bridge in Metallica’s “One.”
I don’t know what high school is like now, but back in my day (I’m pulling a total Chris Hardwick Grandpa Gen X here) if you didn’t like the right music or even if you didn’t pick the right t-shirt at a concert you saw, that was reason enough to get you thoroughly ostracized. One of the reasons this was so effective back then is because, collectively, me and all the other high school jerks of the time allowed other people too much influence in dictating what we loved.
But why? Why should I care what music anyone else listens to, or if they’d like any of mine? As much as I reference Dream Theater on Facebook, what difference would it make if I’m the only reason someone has even heard of the band, or even realized it was band instead of an actual theater?
If we share an interest, that can become a great connection. If we don’t agree, it shouldn’t matter because we can both still independently love what we have claimed as ours. And why should it stop at music? Thinking about this, I feel I owe an apology to someone I’m pretty sure is reading this, since only days ago I looked at her like she had three heads when she said she thought “The Big Bang Theory” is funny. Clearly I disagree. But what would that have to do with her?
Movies, television shows (even reality TV), books, podcasts, magazines? Any kind of entertainment we consume, anything that we’re lucky enough to discover and love and claim as a part of our lives? We should all be able to own those choices without ever having to worry about someone else using any of them as a weapon of snark. I know I’ve done quite a bit of exactly that in my past, and even though it’s something I’ve tried to be more aware of in recent years, I know I’ll still slip from time to time. For that, I apologize to anyone I may have irritated by stupid little comments I probably found more amusing than they did.
So like what you like, people. Own it proudly. Listen to your music, watch your movies, read your tabloids if they enrich your life in any way decide is meaningful. I promise to do my best to steer clear of cracking any jokes about your choices, as long as I can still listen to my progressive metal, play my video games, see my Marvel movies, and watch “Big Brother” three nights a week in the summertime.
I clearly remember a conversation like that I had with my cousin Chris years ago. We were at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event in my hometown. I was staying up the entire night to chronicle my experiences for the local newspaper, and Chris had decided he was going to stay on the track and continue walking overnight until the relay ended at 6:00 AM. Which he totally did, by the way.
To keep myself awake and to support Chris, I spent a lot of my time walking with him. While we let our conversation wander through any number of topics, Chris brought up a point that had a big effect on how I saw the world. I had my iPod with me, and I said something about one of the songs on whatever playlist I had created for the night being a guilty pleasure. Chris pointed out that music should never be thought of as a guilty pleasure, because anyone lucky enough to have music that gives them pleasure has nothing to feel guilty about. Years later I was on a road trip with Chris and his wife, and I heard everything from Rob Zombie to Barry Manilow to Megan Trainor come up on his iPod; this is a guy who practices what he preaches. The only reason I’m citing those three examples is to highlight exactly how diverse his musical tastes are, and how he can enjoy and include all of them without shame.
I almost said “shameless” there, but did a quick self-edit because the word didn’t fit. “Shameless” sounds more like when someone should be ashamed of something but they don't have the presence of mind to realize it. That’s not Chris.
Yesterday I was talking with a different Chris, the media guy at school (who seems to have become something of a secondary character in my May blog posts this year). He was telling me about a conversation he had with a friend that amounted to “If someone were to scroll through your iPod, what surprises would you have on it that wouldn’t fit with the rest of your music? What would be the song or the album you almost wouldn’t want other people to know was there?” I told him about what my cousin Chris had said, which he immediately agreed with. Here was a guy about my age who is currently reading through Chuck Klosterman’s scholarly heavy metal examination Fargo Rock City, and relates to it possibly even more than I do. We were in a group of people from school who saw AFI, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Linkin Park at State Fair two summers ago, and he’s proudly telling me how he could still sing along with almost every lyric on Air Supply’s greatest hits. Soon after that, my teaching partner wandered into the conversation and demonstrated how she could still recall not just the lyrics but even the cadence to the bridge in Metallica’s “One.”
I don’t know what high school is like now, but back in my day (I’m pulling a total Chris Hardwick Grandpa Gen X here) if you didn’t like the right music or even if you didn’t pick the right t-shirt at a concert you saw, that was reason enough to get you thoroughly ostracized. One of the reasons this was so effective back then is because, collectively, me and all the other high school jerks of the time allowed other people too much influence in dictating what we loved.
But why? Why should I care what music anyone else listens to, or if they’d like any of mine? As much as I reference Dream Theater on Facebook, what difference would it make if I’m the only reason someone has even heard of the band, or even realized it was band instead of an actual theater?
If we share an interest, that can become a great connection. If we don’t agree, it shouldn’t matter because we can both still independently love what we have claimed as ours. And why should it stop at music? Thinking about this, I feel I owe an apology to someone I’m pretty sure is reading this, since only days ago I looked at her like she had three heads when she said she thought “The Big Bang Theory” is funny. Clearly I disagree. But what would that have to do with her?
Movies, television shows (even reality TV), books, podcasts, magazines? Any kind of entertainment we consume, anything that we’re lucky enough to discover and love and claim as a part of our lives? We should all be able to own those choices without ever having to worry about someone else using any of them as a weapon of snark. I know I’ve done quite a bit of exactly that in my past, and even though it’s something I’ve tried to be more aware of in recent years, I know I’ll still slip from time to time. For that, I apologize to anyone I may have irritated by stupid little comments I probably found more amusing than they did.
So like what you like, people. Own it proudly. Listen to your music, watch your movies, read your tabloids if they enrich your life in any way decide is meaningful. I promise to do my best to steer clear of cracking any jokes about your choices, as long as I can still listen to my progressive metal, play my video games, see my Marvel movies, and watch “Big Brother” three nights a week in the summertime.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Day 17: Confess Your Unpopular Opinion
A few months ago I saw a hashtag for “Confess Your Unpopular Opinion” trending on Twitter. I read through a lot of the tweets that followed. They almost seemed like people coming together and forming a support group and sharing things they'd been afraid to admit before. In that spirit, here are some of my opinions that I’m sure will be unpopular with certain circles. Just remember: They are just my opinions, and nothing anyone would need to take personally. You can agree or not.
Outside is nice, but I prefer inside. Outside is where you find the skin cancer and Lyme disease.
Sometimes movies are bizarre and confusing because they were made by lazy storytellers, not brilliant ones. This happens frequently with independent movies.
Sometimes movies are bizarre and confusing because they were made by lazy storytellers, not brilliant ones. This happens frequently with independent movies.
“The Big Bang Theory” is nothing but a collection of one-dimensional cartoon characters exchanging cheap one-liners.
Just because things are out of fashion doesn’t mean they don’t have value: I still get a daily newspaper, I still carry cash, I still buy entire albums instead of streaming music, and I think "Saturday Night Live" is still worth watching.
Baseball is boring.
I have nothing against the Beatles. But I have nothing for them, either.
Too many teachers don’t read enough, which is sad.
Unless it has enough extra ingredients to pass for a Dairy Queen Mini-Blizzard mixed in, coffee doesn’t taste very good.
Linkin Park’s album “A Thousand Suns” is a masterwork of its genre.
I disagree with the idea that “boy books” are the only way to get boys interested in reading. Boys are not so hopeless or special that they deserve their own genre.
People in Minnesota take hockey way too seriously. Youth hockey is less of a sport and more of an athletic cult.
Chris Hardwick is intelligent, hilarious, and remarkably insightful.
Video games are a legitimate art form and are too often used as a scapegoat for everything wrong with kids today.
Country music could cease to exist tomorrow, and I wouldn’t notice.
I don’t get the appeal to fishing.
"The Hunger Games" would have been better as just one book instead of a trilogy.
Kids can get through life just fine without sports.
Neither onions nor cilantro serve any real purpose.
Trying your best to reach a goal doesn’t guarantee you’ll ever reach it.
My school is not beyond hope.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Day 16: Two Things About the Blog
I've noticed in the past couple of weeks that the 'Summer Vacation' hit count is closing in on 15,000. To help explain why this is at all noteworthy to me, here's a (slightly edited) passage from one of the posts I wrote during last year's May daily posting marathon:
Let's have an informal little contest. If the person who reaches that magic number of 10,000 thinks to check the hit counter and lets me know they were the one, I will grant them one blog-related wish. I'm not putting a lot of parameters on exactly what that means, so this wish will have to be something within reason....
Some quick math: The hit counter is now close to 15,000. A year ago it just went over 10,000. The thing of it is, it took me a full SIX YEARS of maintaining this blog to reach that 10,000 mark. Now I'm about to cover half of that distance in a fraction of that time. When I started writing this, I never meant it to be anything more than a different way to exercise the Writing Brain. Back then it was rare that more than a few people other than me would even look at any of these posts. Knowing there's any kind of an audience building is a nice little gratifying celebration, especially since just over two years ago I had all but decided to shut down the blog for good, until I was talked out of it.
Landmark numbers are incredibly important to me; this is something that will be addressed in more detail in a post next week. Reaching a new landmark number on the hit count isn't something I'd describe as parade-worthy, but it's certainly a nice moment. Therefore, just like last year, I'm going to build something of a contest into that approaching number. If you're the person who reaches that magic number of 15,000 and you think to check the hit counter and let me know you were the one, we'll talk about some wish granting yet again. I'll push it even further this time, and make this wish granting either blog-related or not, as long as it doesn't break any laws or moral codes or anything. I'd hope one of the people who read 'Summer Vacation' regularly might reach that number, because I feel a reasonable gesture of appreciation on my part for that kind of support would absolutely be in order. This open-ended wish fulfillment could be a specific blog post, something else writing-related, something to do with school if that lucky hit came from a co-worker...I'm open to discussing whatever comes up.
Okay, so I did title this TWO points about the blog. The other one is that my annual Q & A post is coming up in a couple of days, and I'm looking to collect as many questions as I possibly can. It's always been a fun post to write, especially when I get questions thrown at me that I wouldn't normally think about, or things that make me consider a topic from a new viewpoint, or if the questions are just random or bizarre (have you seen some of the online exchanges I've shared with my cousins?). I usually don't even shy away from things that get a little personal, because those are always easier topics to write about than talk about. Since most of, if not all of, the people who read this post will likely find it through Facebook, it'd probably work best to leave any questions you have on comments to the link you followed here.
So come on, everyone! Like I saw someone post on Instagram today, it's a great week to have a great week! Let's play and have some fun! Please??
Let's have an informal little contest. If the person who reaches that magic number of 10,000 thinks to check the hit counter and lets me know they were the one, I will grant them one blog-related wish. I'm not putting a lot of parameters on exactly what that means, so this wish will have to be something within reason....
Some quick math: The hit counter is now close to 15,000. A year ago it just went over 10,000. The thing of it is, it took me a full SIX YEARS of maintaining this blog to reach that 10,000 mark. Now I'm about to cover half of that distance in a fraction of that time. When I started writing this, I never meant it to be anything more than a different way to exercise the Writing Brain. Back then it was rare that more than a few people other than me would even look at any of these posts. Knowing there's any kind of an audience building is a nice little gratifying celebration, especially since just over two years ago I had all but decided to shut down the blog for good, until I was talked out of it.
Landmark numbers are incredibly important to me; this is something that will be addressed in more detail in a post next week. Reaching a new landmark number on the hit count isn't something I'd describe as parade-worthy, but it's certainly a nice moment. Therefore, just like last year, I'm going to build something of a contest into that approaching number. If you're the person who reaches that magic number of 15,000 and you think to check the hit counter and let me know you were the one, we'll talk about some wish granting yet again. I'll push it even further this time, and make this wish granting either blog-related or not, as long as it doesn't break any laws or moral codes or anything. I'd hope one of the people who read 'Summer Vacation' regularly might reach that number, because I feel a reasonable gesture of appreciation on my part for that kind of support would absolutely be in order. This open-ended wish fulfillment could be a specific blog post, something else writing-related, something to do with school if that lucky hit came from a co-worker...I'm open to discussing whatever comes up.
Okay, so I did title this TWO points about the blog. The other one is that my annual Q & A post is coming up in a couple of days, and I'm looking to collect as many questions as I possibly can. It's always been a fun post to write, especially when I get questions thrown at me that I wouldn't normally think about, or things that make me consider a topic from a new viewpoint, or if the questions are just random or bizarre (have you seen some of the online exchanges I've shared with my cousins?). I usually don't even shy away from things that get a little personal, because those are always easier topics to write about than talk about. Since most of, if not all of, the people who read this post will likely find it through Facebook, it'd probably work best to leave any questions you have on comments to the link you followed here.
So come on, everyone! Like I saw someone post on Instagram today, it's a great week to have a great week! Let's play and have some fun! Please??
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