Anyway, let's get to a few updates...
1. Life Updates
I am still teaching and loving it. I just finished my second year teaching high school English and it is such a rewarding job for me. I truly love my students and my subject matter.
New news! I have been officially accepted into graduate school! I've already taken a few classes, but in the fall, I will officially be pursuing a Master's of English Rhetoric. I'm pretty stoked about it. If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you'll know this has been a goal of mine for a long time and that many people (read: ACTUAL COLLEGE ADVISORS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HELPFUL AND SUPPORTIVE) have told me that I wouldn't be able to do so. I'm happy not just to prove them wrong (though that's fun, I won't lie), but above all, I'm happy to finally follow through on a long-time ambition. I will still be teaching and will be going to school part-time.
2. Writing Updates (the best kind...)
Manuscript #2 has been complete for some time as many of you know. Many moons ago, I had some writer friends read it and give me feedback. Their feedback was fantastic, but due to time constraints, busyness, and general confusion about where I wanted the manuscript to go led to a stall in progress. I started by making the simple, mechanical edits. Then I didn't look at it for months. I tried fixing some major sequencing problems but just got frustrated. Then I started writing a sequel (because that's helpful, right?). Then a friend asked me to read their manuscript and how could I resist (It was fabulous, in case you were wondering...)? After a while, I finally figured out what I was doing. I began closing a major plot hole to which my friends had drawn attention. Then I improved the surrounding writing. Then I made a few other smaller improvements.
And now?
IT IS PRINTED.
Yep, I reached that critical moment. I printed it. I squealed over it a little and then got down to business.
And then what happened?
Exam season started at school 😓 It's impossible to get anything creative done when you have to write exams, clean your classroom, help students review, wrap up other end-of-the-year stuff, get gifts for a retirement party, and try to get enough sleep.
But now, it is summer, and for the first time since I started college in 2012, I am not taking any classes of any kind over the summer, so I actually have quite a bit of free time this summer.
So I will now read through it and make some final edits and then I will have some different friends read it. Some will be writers, some not. I want a lot of perspectives. Hopefully (she said ambitiously) I will really have something by the end of the summer and will feel comfortable querying in the fall.
WHEW
(giphy.com)Other writing updates:
Every November, there is an event called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). If you haven't heard of it, basically it's an event for novel writers. These ambitious souls set out to write a novel in a month (writing about 1,667 words a day, give or take). It has always sounded like so much fun to me, but November is possibly the worst month of the year as a teacher AND a student because that is the busiest time of the academic calendar, so I've never participated.
I've decided to throw convention to the wind. Who says I have to participate during November? Why can't I do it in another month? Sure, I won't actually be participating in the official NaNoWriMo event, but who says I can't follow the 1667 guideline in another month when I have time?
As the non-conformist that I am, I have decided to do just that. This June, I will attempt to finish that sequel I started (I currently have about 5,000 words). Sure, it will probably be pretty terrible, but it will be written, which is the very important first step. Plus, it'll be a fun experience and a way to keep busy this summer as well as flex my creative muscles. I'm looking forward to it!
Also, I am always submitting short stories to magazines in the hopes of getting one of them published. Fingers crossed!
(giphy.com)So those are all of my updates. Let me know your thoughts and have a wonderful summer! Maybe I'll actually post within a year this time! 😏
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