Random Thoughts on Summer 2009

Wow!  What a summer!  I managed to do so much--paint the walls and rip up the carpet, have bookshelves installed, teach a class...where did the time go?

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And I managed to take three trips this summer--to Houston, Austin, and Durango, CO.  I had fun with my family (color me surprised!).  I also enjoyed Dot and Pete's visit, as well as a visit from my sister, Lydia.

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Writing all of this down seems to diminish it.  All of these activities seemed more monumental while I was in the middle of them.  Funny how, when I look back, the work appears effortless, though, at the time, it wasn't to me.  I felt overwhelmed.  When I finished my tasks and returned home from my trips, I took it all in stride.  I have a house more to my liking (the outside needs work!), and I had fun in other places, too.

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It's almost time for the fall semester to begin.  I'll be teaching TWO freshman comp classes, a 105 hybrid and my 115 online.  I also have a 215 on campus and a 226 online.  This will be another semester when I'll grade papers constantly...but I've never been one to shy away from a challenge (summer proved that).

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Colorado--what can I say?  Exceeded my expectations.  I loved the weather--cool, breezy days.  And the thunderstorms were scary!  So here's a picture of what I loved about Durango (apart from my brother's family, that is):

How beautiful is that?  I took this picture while I was on the steam train to Silverton, CO, an old mining town turned tourist trap. I could fill my blog with pictures like this, but this gives you a good idea of what I saw everyday.

 

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Enough.  I've had a great summer, am almost sad that it's about to end, but I am looking forward to a new semester.  I'm going to try to enjoy the next two weeks; I don't plan to work constantly, but I do need to get my courses ready.

I hope everyone had a pleasant summer, too. 

A Totally Satisfying Turkey Day...

Greetings from Austin, Texas, the Music Capital of America! 

Unbeknownst to me, my daughter is no longer a strict vegetarian, so my Turkey Day wasn't all veggies.  We went to a nice gathering with tons of great food--turkey included--and chowed down.  I'm still full.

After dinner, we worked off the calories by bowling on the Wii.  It was fun, but just confirmed what a lousy bowler I am!

While my NaNoWriMo novel sits for a week or two, I have two other novels employing the same characters--one is complete, the other is about 112 pages and needs to be finished.  All are in great need of editing, so I've been working on the first two, but I also began another novel in the urban vampire genre, which is probably a bit overdone right now with Twilight and True Blood, but I have a different angle I'm working on.  I have about 11,000 + words (about 45 pages or so).  So, I keep writing or revising.  I'm getting myself in the habit of writing/editing about two hours every day--some days, I write longer than others, depending on what else I need to do.  But establishing the habit is the hard part, so that's what I'm working on--to get in the habit.

As a teacher, I have to be disciplined--those papers don't grade themselves, and I hate grading papers!  It's time-consuming.  My students often tell me that I don't need to give them the work, but, if I don't, I can't give them grades.  It's a no-brainer.  I can't grade them on personalities--that just wouldn't be fair to the shy ones.

I haven't been so disciplined with my writing--as a poet, I wrote when I had something to say, and only then.  I didn't constantly write poems, either.  But, with prose, I have to write to develop the plot and the characters--that takes more time, so I have to set aside the time to get it done.

Okay, my fingers hurt, as does my back, so I'm going to stop for now.  I've finished grading a set of essays and have been writing for about four hours--and this is supposed to be a break!  But, I guess, writers never stop writing.

Hope you've had a restful and yummy holiday.