Packet in the Mail

Revised and revised and revised my pieces before sending them. Every time I tried to close the envelope, I would spot another place for improvement. Oddly satisfying -- at least I can see it now. Also less oddly satisfying to have it off my desk and in the mail. It's Friday so I plan to give myself the weekend off (though it's impossible not to read now I'm so into the big pile beside my bed. This week, William Maxwell, "So Long and See You Tomorrow" -- a book from another generation, another world. Sad.)

Bad Momma

Was almost late picking the kids up from school because I was lost in an ecstasy of revision!

Summer's End

We adapt, we evolve, these are the lessons of a summer as a student & mom. Somehow I managed to get at least as much work as I needed done by reading at night and typing madly with Pokemon screeching in the background. Not teaching helped. Children also maturing.I am learning patience with them and myself.
I have a new teacher, Dinah Lenney, and am thriving under her guidance. Her reading recommendations are especially wonderful. I have been immersed in the likes of Jo Ann Beard, Abigail Thomas and Mark Richard, and have found them all thrilling. Yet I know I too can write like this -- this is the great leap for which I've been waiting all these years. Now I just need to find my story & to learn about how to organize my material better, where to cut. Always learning, and loving it.
About to send off my August packet. I've made it this far. And the children seem fine!