Where Will We Be?

Tags

faith, kids, life, musings., New Year's Eve, random, resolutions, teaching

Fireworks over downtown Nashville, TN KC Hopkins

The last day of any year is a time of reflection. We look back at the year and analyze it. Some focus on the good, others focus on the bad. I choose to focus on neither. This year, I will be focusing on a journey.

Last year at this time I was a grad student who was beginning to think she had gotten in over her head. I was also working at a wonderful elementary school teaching struggling readers surrounded by my friends each day watching them work small miracles all day long.

Today I sit here no longer working, still a student, but finished with my coursework, and facing a semester of student teaching with a new group of kids and faculty. What a difference a year makes! If this year made that much difference, I wonder where will I be this time next year?

Will I be teaching? Where? What grade? What subject(s)? Will I be happy there? Will we finally be climbing out of the financial hole we have been digging for the past several years as I have been in school? Will my kids finally understand the sacrifices? Will my brother’s new baby be a new niece or nephew?

Only time will tell. All of these questions will be answered, for better or worse. Focusing on good or bad in the past does not change it. Looking forward, making plans, and having faith that it will all work out the way it is supposed to is how I plan to spend my New Year’s Eve.

How will you spend yours?

Bazinga!

Tags

children, family, funny, humor, kids, life, parenting, random

This past Thanksgiving, my brother and his wife announced the May arrival of a new little bundle of love. They already have one little punkin’ boy who has dubbed me Auntie Penguin. Now, he likes to play hard to get with his Auntie Penguin when she wants a hug or to steal some sugars from his little face, but that’s ok. He tells his mamma that he loves me and I know he does. So, of course we were thrilled for Number 2 to be on the way.

Maybe it’s a little early, but it IS the holidays and the new bambini is with us in a way, so there will be gifts for that one too. I was so excited to find the perfect little toy for the sweet new addition. It’s a monkey that is laying on it’s side sweetly sleeping. It has lovely nature sounds and even some lullaby music to gently calm your sleepy newborn. It also lets you record your own voice. I decided to go ahead and do this before I wrapped it up.

So, what should Auntie Penguin record? A loving message? Not quite the style of this sarcastic aunt. But then I remembered that my sister in law used to say she wished I was around more to sing to my nephew since I can sing and she can’t. Ah ha! A song! It has to be the perfect one to play over and over to a slumbering little bundle of cuteness. But which one?

Why, there is only one perfect choice: Soft Kitty

Bazinga Number 2! Auntie Penguin is starting you off right.

 

Photo credit: thinkgeek.com

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

Tags

funny, humor, life, R.E.M., random

…and I feel fine. Thanks R.E.M. That will be running through my head all day.

On another note, looks like it will be a great weekend for checking out some doomsday preppers’ garage sales. Last minute holiday gifts should be easy to find. Hope the folks on my list like industrial sized Spam.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Baker Shot nuclear test 1946

Starting A New Chapter

Tags

Anthony Bourdain, journey, life, random, school, teaching, writing

While it seems strange to be doing this after years of doing some form of teaching, I am officially moving on to student teaching. I left my reading interventionist position at the elementary school I adore this week. It was really tough to leave the sweet kiddos and my coworkers that I am blessed to count among my friends. I had a tremendous foundation there thanks to some remarkable mentors who supported me through grad school.

But now, I am finally finished with my coursework (insert happy dance here) and am ready to student teach. It seems odd to me and others I worked with that I am even required to do this given my work experience, but there you are. The state cares not. I will say that I am more than a little pleased with my assignment. The teacher is fun and excited to have me in her classroom and the principal of this new school is a former assistant principal from the school I just left.

I am looking forward to this adventure and know that each experience makes me a better teacher. There is a bit of sadness, yes, as I leave a wonderful school, but much excitement too. And the stew of emotions is flavored lastly by a pinch of apprehension. With the stakes raised more than ever in regards to teacher evaluations and standardized testing, I am walking into a fourth grade classroom hoping I have what it takes to help the students rock that test!

If nothing else, the experience will give me much to reflect on and write about!

“The journey is part of the experience – an expression of the seriousness of one’s intent. One doesn’t take the A train to Mecca.” – Anthony Bourdain

Glutton For Punishment

Tags

life, musings., publishing, writing

As a writer, I have come to realize that this is a very sadistic thing to do. We pour so much of our lives and all of our hearts into projects that are as precious to us as our children. And yet, no parent would send their babies out into the world to be given almost certain rejection. And not only do we do it once, we keep doing it! We hope that one day, someone sitting before a computer in an office somewhere in the vast publishing machine will love our precious one as much as we do.

Sadistic. Yes. However, it is a necessary sadism. If we did not do this seemingly cruel thing, there is less chance the world will come to love our work as much as we do. Rejection hurts. No question. What we do with that rejection, however, defines us as writers. Are we able to see that the rejection has little to do with our actual work and more to do with the massive slush pile on the poor editor’s desk? Are we able to see that perhaps we did not research fully the agency or publisher we sent it to and could have saved ourselves the rejection in the first place? Are we able to see that what we have written has merit and that we must keep plugging away until the time and place are right?

Each time we set ourselves up as a glutton for punishment, our skin gets a little thicker and our drive a bit stronger. We also polish our work and hone our craft. In short, we grow.

 

Photo: The Factory at Franklin, Franklin, TN KC Hopkins

iPhone At Last

Tags

Adnroid, Apple, apps, iPhone, random, teaching, technology

Well, my days as an Android gal are over. For what has seemed like a genuine eternity, I have wanted an iPhone. Today, I got my wish and a 4S thanks to a promo and my mom giving me one as an early graduation gift.

So, now that I have it, I need to know what cool stuff I can do with it. As a grad student and student teacher, funds are short, so what can I do that’s free? Got a favorite app? Is there something you just love about your iPhone that might not be a well known thing it can do? Are you a teacher using your Apple technology in an innovative way?

I WANT TO KNOW!

Share whatcha got with a newbie!

 

Photo: Apple Logo from the blog page: Creativity and Innovation by Keith Sawyer

Forums for Student Writers, Educators, and Authors

Tags

blogging, educators, forum, steampunk, students, teaching writing

Recently, at The Power of the Pen (Blog post below) I met the talented husband of a friend of mine. Lenny Ramirez is a writer of some pretty cool stuff including a graphic novel and some steampunk, but beyond that, he has also set up some new forums. Working in education, he and his wife, Kristen, have a great sense of what kids love to read and write and know that young talent needs good mentors. In that vein, he has created a group of forums for student writers, educators, and authors.

Students can get feedback and share what they are working on as well as a forum for writing prompts posted by educators. The forum shares a homepage with forums for teachers and authors with the idea that teacher and writers will be cruising the posts and giving feedback and inspiration to each other s well as the students. And, there is a great place for authors to share what they are working on and events they are attending.

All in all, it is a great start to what will be a fun resource for students, teachers, and authors alike. Come join us and see for yourself what we are up to. Join the conversation and share with anyone you know who would love to be a part of it. I love this idea!

To join in, check out Lenny’s website and click on the Forum page in the menu.

Photo: The Factory at Franklin Franklin, TN KC Hopkins

What I Meant to Say Was….

Tags

funny, humor, life, random, writing

There are times in our lives when we wanted so badly to say something to someone and didn’t. Something stopped us. Fear of rejection, fear of repercussions, or simply the fact that we weren’t raised in a barn. Whatever it was, we relive those moments in our minds and tell ourselves what we should have said then. In our minds, we tell off the jerky boss or the prima donna in the next office. We tell someone we have a crush on how we really feel or we deliver a perfectly timed insult to the witch with the backhanded compliments. We tell our mother in law where she can stick those apron strings she keeps dragging our man around with.

Whatever it is, it goes unsaid but to ourselves. Until we start writing. Then, those words and others come flooding out of the mouths of our characters who have no consequences other than those we design for them. Through them and the situations we create, we can live out those moments of unsaid rebukes to our heart’s content.

At the moment, I have a few of those characters going on and I am completely in love with them. While I am not always in total control of my mouth or my manners, I usually handle a situation with Southern dignity and grace with a smile sweeter than my tea while my mind is busy chewing out the person in front of me. My characters have mastered the art of wit and cutting remarks with an air of politeness that can quell even the prickliest shrew. Something I haven’t been able to do in real life as my mouth inevitably outruns my brain.

Given time and enough taps of the backspace key, even the politest of the Southern Belles can be a perfect bitch, bless her heart.

 

 

Photo: Franklin, TN KC Hopkins

What’s In a Name?

Tags

life, random, writing

What’s in a name? A lot, really. Your name is yours and no one else’s. In many cases it defines who you are. In writing, the same is true. We writers have a tough time with names. Sometimes, we think of the name first and then write a book around it. Other times, the name becomes more of a “working title” that just stays there because we can’t think of anything we like. That’s what happened to The World According to Max.

I knew when I wrote it, I would change it. But I never did. Until now. It’s hard parting with a name that has been comfortable, but then, as I send it out to agents and publishers, I have realized that the title being comfortable is the biggest problem. It’s comfortable. It’s common. It’s safe. Yes, it sums up the book and the general idea, but it certainly doesn’t grab your attention. And what I really need now from the publishing world is their attention.

So, over the course of some time, I will be changing the name of the book to:

Mushrooms In My Head, Dead Lions In The Yard

If you have read the book, you know where these came from. If not, don’t you really want to read it and find out?

The Power of the Pen

Tags

author, community, schools, student, writing

I am constantly amazed at the creativity and talent in young writers. They write with emotion and the abandon that only comes with youth and a lack of years worth of jadedness. One of my favorite annual events to attend as a writer is the Power of the Pen young writers conference that Williamson County Schools puts on for the gifted students in the county’s middle schools.

Local authors come together to serve as mentors for this sea of young talent at a day-long event. Students create a piece around the annual theme and it is critiqued by those with experience and objectivity. You might be wondering how these kids feel about the critique. Well, according to the amazing teachers who organize it, the students actually wish we were harder on them. Truly, these kids want to refine their craft and are looking to us to help.

It is an honor to be surrounded by fresh young writers, but it is also loads of fun meeting local authors each year. Some of us have begun to make a habit of the event, but others are new to our ranks. When the writers give their introductions and begin to tell about themselves, I am in awe of the talent in our community and begin to feel very pale in comparison. Like the students, I have learned something from the authors at each conference!

The Power of the Pen is fabulous. I can only hope that there are schools all over the country doing similar events, cultivating all that bright new talent!

More information on the WCS Power of the Pen can be found here.

I also made a new friend. Leoanrdo Ramirez, a science fiction and steam punk writer and graphic novelist, (not to mention the husband of a super cool friend of mine) joined the group of authors this year. Check out Lenny in his world at Leonardoverse.