To all those who once served, or still currently serve, in any of the armed forces, thank you for your contributions to the safety and well being of our country.

Yesterday was the last day of school for the 2008-2009 school year. Now we get a week off before starting the summer school program. I'm not quite finished with my checkout forms, but all I need is my final room and book inventory stuff. I also want to give my room a good defragging, since I had piles of old papers from not just this year, but the previous year as well. I got about halfway through yesterday, and I'll finish up this morning so I'm ready for next year.

I'm not exactly sure what all I'll be doing this summer. I will have a week-long meeting with a state committee that is reviewing the state standards for English Language Learners, and I'm pretty excited about that. I've been grumbling about the standards since they came out, but I've grumbled even more about the whole "jump-through-the-hoops" the state is requiring of these children. I don't think we'll be addressing the latter, at least not officially, but anything, however small, that I can do to help our students succeed is okay with me.

After my week on the committee, I will be working with incoming freshmen to introduce them to what high school is like. Another teacher, Tammy, will be team-teaching the one-week course with me. I was supposed to work with her for two weeks, but this committee thing came up and as it is a great privilege for someone from my remote district to be invited on it I chose to miss the first week. Sorry again, Tammy!

Then I'll have a few weeks that I can use to visit family and friends before heading off for San Diego the first week of July. I need to call/write/email/contact my cousins there and see if I can drop by for part of the time to visit. I'll be a delegate at the Regional Assembly for the NEA (teacher's union), and it is my first time to go to a national type meeting. I'm totally excited, even though sometimes I take a stand diametrically opposed to the majority of my union on some of the issues that come up.

After the RA, I get to have a couple more weeks of vacation time before we have to report back to work. We start back at work the last week of July. In today's economy, I'm just glad that I was given a contract and can continue to work!

I've been actually writing, both in edit mode and in create-a-new mode. But I decided I'd like a little input, mostly to know I'm not alone in this sort of effort.

So, here's my poll. Be kind, it's the first time I've tried this function myself.

Poll #1386494 When writing...
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I feel most competent in the area of

I work best when

Choosing more than one answer is acceptable, as are comments. I lurve comments....

1. Spring weather is very variable. Since the equinox, we've had snow, rain, wind, dust, and heat, not necessarily in that order. The one thing that marks it for me most personally is that here in the valley I live in, the Russian olive trees have gone into bloom, and that means my allergies have returned. So I have my Claritin and lots of nice soft tissues and cough drops. And I'm praying the allergies don't develop into a sinus infection.

2. Another key ingredient in spring, at least at the high school, is the number of students who have already "tuned out" for the rest of the school year. They're here, they're moving around, but they aren't thinking about school at all. They're thinking about their boyfriend/girlfriend, they're thinking about going down to the canyon, they're thinking about pretty much anything but doing their schoolwork.

This would be less of a problem if this wasn't also a key time for state-level testing.

3. I've been a bad daughter. Haven't talked with my dad for several weeks. I meant to call him this weekend, but I got so busy I didn't. I'll call him tonight (I know he is busy in the mornings, so I doubt I'd get to him until I get off work). I love my family, but I'm such a poor correspondent! I keep making promises to myself that I'll call, or write, or visit, or something, and then don't follow through. Sigh.

4. I have put my writing on hold for a few weeks while I get some other, more urgent, stuff dealt with. I'm hoping by May to be back in the swing.

5. Enough about the Obamas' new puppy, for goodness' sake! I'm glad they have it, but I certainly don't think it's headline stuff that they have a dog now. I'm more excited that the captain was rescued (though I regret that some of the pirates were killed) than I am that Senator Kennedy provided the puppy for the Obamas.

I usually pride myself on being able to put myself into the heads of my characters. I like to think it makes me more able to make them real people, even those who appear for a brief sentence or paragraph. Yet I have some areas that apparently I'm blind to.

For example, in my current WIP, I have a male character. I try to make him think the way I think a man thinks, but apparently men think of sex more than I do. At least, that's what a couple of my (female) beta readers tell me. Now, I realize that men and women do, to some extent, have differing priorities, but surely not so much as all that. I can understand the adolescent fixation on sex, what with having to deal with newly raging hormones, but surely eventually even men outgrow that particular thought process?

This particular story isn't about sex. This particular story is about exploration, about one's past catching up with one, and about growth. I don't particularly want to put in gratuitous sex scenes. I don't like reading them in other authors' works; I certainly don't want them in mine. Sexual tension, perhaps, but not the act.

Ah well, I'll work it out. Eventually. Maybe. Meh.

I was reading through my notes for my third-in-the-trilogy story, and I have hit a road block. I want to show (rather than tell) how sensing other's emotions has had an impact on my MMC. I can tell easily enough, but it's hard to show it.

I'm trying to think of actions that would indicate reactions to people, without repeating things like blinking, staring, wincing, and so forth. I have him blink too much, I think. Or wince. I'm really tired of him wincing, actually--he's not the wincing type!

So, my writerly friends out there--can you help me with a few other ways for him to show his reactions? I don't want to just write "He felt her surprise" or He sensed the other's anger."

I'm so fail here....

I have finished my first draft of the first part of the trilogy. Yay! Not complete yet--not till I have a chance to do some editing (I already know of some I can cut and some I need to add), but the arc works, and goes into part two the way it should.

So to step back for a bit, give it a chance to settle, I'm starting on the final part of the trilogy. Well, starting to continue on it...I have about 100 pages but they're mostly scenelets and they need to be connected into a coherent whole. I've already deleted one entire scene, except for a few paragraphs I morphed into a different scene.

Such a great feeling to be able to say I've gotten this far.

I gakked this from hotarunokokoro. It is surprisingly accurate, except that this particular demon doesn't always stay an inner demon...

Your Cute Monster Says Your Inner Demon is Depression

You are both a realist and an idealist. You're able to see the world as it is - and how it could be. You dream big, and you never give up on your beliefs. You have big plans. Sometimes you build things up in your head. People think you're cute because you're determined. You're a fighter, and that's charming.

Thank God I was diagnosed and received treatment for it. I'm not "cured" but I have learned how to sidetrack it, how to derail it once it hits, and how to deal with it if everything fails and it still hits.

Today I get to go back to work after a 4-day spring break (I'm not counting the weekend--I always get weekends). This is the time of year when the kids either pick up, thinking "OMG it's almost school out and I'm failing and I don't want to have Miss B again!" or they start fading back, thinking "Who cares, I don't want to study, it's too nice outside, and my boy/girl friend is much more important that any of my classes." Come to think of it, that's pretty much how the teachers are thinking, too. Heh.

On the writing front, I have about 2 more chapters to go...one for sure, and probably one more to wrap everything up. The cool thing is I found an old note that I wrote with this ending in mind, and it gave me a whole "Oh! Yes! That's how it needs to go!" so I expect this last chapter (or two) to go rather quickly. Then it's a matter of editing so that it fits with the central story (which may mean editing the central story a bit, too), and then I can start on finishing the sequel. So go me!

I'm back from my trip to Phoenix for a meeting with my OES committee. I don't mind going to the meetings, but it seems to be a lot of travel for a 1-hour meeting. (In my case, at least. It's 10 hours round trip for me. I think the next farthest away has a 5 hour round trip.) The WGM insists that we have at least 2 face-to-face meetings a year, which really isn't all that many, so it's doable. But in this age of internet, really, do we absolutely have to have face-to-faces? Other than to prove we're really people?

That said, the drive was actually very nice. The weather was lovely, the traffic overall rather light (Phoenix on a Saturday noon is never light, but that's the big city for you) and I only had one time I had to stop for some reason on the interstate in the Phoenix area. The biggest problem with having a 7 hour drive in one day (I had made it partway there the night before) is that I would get sleepy behind the wheel, which is a Very Bad Thing. I pulled over four times (that's double what I'd normally do) just to get out and move around so that I could get rid of the sleepies.

Also as usual when traveling, I messed up my eating pattern, which messed up my blood sugars, and this morning, after several days of low blood sugars, they were way too high. So breakfast this morning consisted of two boiled eggs, no bread, but a small amount of apple juice (so I could take my meds). I'll be checking my Post-breakfast sugars in about 40 minutes, to see if I corrected enough.

I'm kinda sorta planning a short trip this summer so I can attend a gathering, though I won't be incredibly disappointed if it doesn't work out. If I do go, it'll probably end up costing about $1500, what with travel, food, and lodging costs plus possible buying and emergencies. Not to mention either boarding my cat or finding someone to keep an eye on him. I'll see what my finances look like after I pay my taxes.

If I can't afford it, oh well. I can have just as much, if not more, fun just visiting relatives and friends in the (relatively) nearby areas. It sure would be nice, though, to be able to travel as much as I liked, without having to worry about such mundane issues as where I'll get the money to do so.

Anyone have a rich uncle who could give me, oh, say, 100 grand, tax-free?

Heh, didn't think so.

I got another chapter in my prequel finished, so go me! I now have to kill off a major character (he has to be dead before the original story's start), and I know how it's going to happen...already wrote that part. I just have to figure out how to get him to where he dies. Then I have to have my protag recover from the trauma of the death, meet her previously unmet half-brother, and set her up to a point where only a few months separate the end of the prequel with the start of the original.

I didn't use to think I could effectively write "Scene X" first, then go figure a way to fit it into my universe. But now I find it's actually making the composition of the interim scenes easier. So I have about 4 scenes pre-written, as it were, and now just have to connect the dots. I figure about 4 or five chapters will finish up this prequel, and then I can work on the editing of it so that it smoothly matches my protag's past with her present. After I've done that, I can start concentrating on the sequel, of which I have about 5 chapters already finished (approximately 1/4 of the story) and another three scenes written that will need the dots connected.

I'm good at writing scenes; I need to improve on finales and on introducing necessary world-building without getting too much exposition so that the reader gets bored. I think (thinking back over the trilogy) that I have perhaps seven or eight spots that I need to split up so that the exposition isn't all in one chunk. The challenge when writing new worlds that are not earth is you want to let your readers know why this isn't earth and how it's different, but you can't drop the action for long or you lose your reader's attention.

And I just want to say a public thank you to my beta readers--you have been a huge help by giving me feedback that's more than just nice words to make me feel good. I realize that one chapter needs more conflict--that's where the editing comes in and I've already got some ideas on how to fix it percolating in my brain.

I remember being at a beach, playing in the sand. I remember the sensation of water rolling over me, the taste of salt water, and the gritty sand. I apparently was submerged by a wave and managed to swallow some of the seawater. From family history documents, this happened when I was about 2 1/2.

I also remember being in the hospital once. I remember the sensation of moving and watching the ceiling lights go by and the elevator door opening. I was three, and my brothers and I were all in to get our tonsils taken out (they did things that way when I was that age). It's the only time I was in a hospital as a patient until I was in my thirties.

No work today...well, no work I get paid for, anyway. Housework, yes. There's also a possibility (not a certainty) that tomorrow we will have another, or at least a half day.

One thing I still need to do is put up the cover on the inside of my wall that blocks the wind that comes through my swamp cooler. At least this year I have an exterior cover, so that blocks some of that cold wind. I was hoping it would be all I need, but apparently not.

Also I'll be wrapping presents.

We have a major weather system moving through our little corner of the world. Yesterday the school went to a "half day" (that means the kids get to go home early--1:35 instead of 3:40), even though we're supposed to be giving finals. Then towards the end of the lunch period, they announced that Wednesday would be a snow day, and so no school. So I get to stay home today and actually get some housework done before I leave for my vacation. I'm currently watching the news, and it looks like tomorrow will just be bringing more snow, so it's quite possible that I won't be going to work tomorrow either. Unless they decide to make it a "delayed start" and give us a chance to give the second half of our finals.

Either way, looks like travel anywhere for a few days at least will be problematic. I looked out my windows and it's definitely snowing heavily right now. I love the snow, so long as I'm not required to drive in it.

And they say we're having global warming.....

Mountains. The ocean is nice, but I love the mountains.

All righty, I think I have figured out how to add the NaNo ticker to my LJ...we'll see if this works.

I managed to get my 8K in very early this morning, so I'm back on track with my desired 2K/day goal. I'll need to get a bit ahead, as I don't think I'll have much time on Friday to write (will be out of town) so I want a buffer of at least 1K so I'm not frantic on Saturday or Sunday.



And follow the link for ( my exerpt for today. )

Yes, I voted. But this story's not about me.

When I reached the table where they were checking bona fides, a family of three who were in the other line were discovered to have been in the wrong line. (Where my polling site is, they had two lines--one for those who live on the south side of the community, and one for those who live on the east side.) The checkers found the two younger people's names easily enough, and handed them their confirmation cards, but the third, the eldest (I would have put his age at about 70, maybe a bit younger but not much) had a slight problem. Apparently he had not registered, somehow, and was not on the "alpha list." So they gave him a different card and told him he could fill out a registration form and vote provisionally.

At this point I was pretty impressed. It was indeed heartening to see that they wanted everyone who could have a vote actually get to vote.

Then the shoe dropped. The gentleman said, in a very soft voice, "I can't read." My first thought was, He's 60-something and never learned to read? I hear about people like that but never did I actually meet someone who really couldn't. Oh, I've known poor readers, yes, but no one has ever admitted, in my presence, that they could not read at all. The lady at the table led him to a woman who's job it was, apparently, to serve as an interpreter (many semi-skilled English speakers at our place) and she helped him fill out his registration form.

Do we live in a great country or what?

On another front, it has always amused me that our ballots are printed in both English and Spanish, but the many indigenous peoples' languages are not represented.

On the NaNoWriMo front, I fell a little behind yesterday, but I fully intend to make up for that and still get in today's quota. It's my unofficial quota, since for NaNo all you really need is 1667 words a day, but I want to try for 2000. So far, after three days, I'm just shy of 5,000. So all I really need to catch up is a tad more than 3000 words. I can do it! I can! And I will!

Okay, I think I've cheered myself along enough...time to get writing.

My first day of NaNo has been a success. Slightly over 2000 words, so I'm on track so long as I keep up the pace. I had a little bit of trouble with the website, though. I did post my numbers, and an exerpt, but for some reason it wouldn't let my use their wordcount feature. I couldn't get the post posted there. Maybe today. I suspect it was very busy yesterday.

I'm going to post exerpts here that I'm particularly fond of, but probably not too frequently because I'll be too busy writing them! So for a first installment, follow the link.

( Dark Glass )

I hope all who are doing the NaNoWriMo had a successful start!

I won't be posting much this month, because the NaNoWriMo is upon me and I will be spending much of my time writing instead of blogging or playing computer games or grading papers or talking to people.

Maybe this year I'll actually win NaNo...the past two years I failed miserably, mostly because of health issues (first year I ended up flat on my back for two weeks...hard to type in that position, and last year I got a srsly bad sinus infection). So pray for my health, as that seems my biggest hurdle for getting this stuff done.

Okay, I'm off and typing!