This is the first summer in 4 years that I have not taken a college class and it feels freaking awesome! I need to get motivated and finish my masters degree but right now I am enjoying this down time. This last week we celebrated my son's 16th birthday, oh boy! It doesn't seem like he should be 16, at least to me it doesn't. We took him and a friend out to eat and then to watch the new A-Team movie. I have to admit the movie was better than I had expected it to be. It was a total 80s week around here as we watched The Karate Kid just a few days earlier.
As far as readings go...I have started a book to help me write a story I am working on. The book is called Disappearing Girls and it is about girls and depression. I really am excited to work on this particular piece of writing. The main character is a mixture of the many girls that have passed through my classrooms over the years. I just hope it keeps flowing like it is now.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Summer Reading
Okay my list of summer reading books is almost cut in half and with only 3 weeks until school starts again, I need to keep reading.
I finished The Bean Trees and really liked the story. I hope the students enjoyed it as well. I also reread The ABC's of Kissing Boys by Tina Ferraro since I won it from a YA Fresh giveway. I have to say I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. I took my niece to a bookstore to help her pick some preteen books to read and stumbled upon a new book by a new author Brent Crawford. The book is titled Carter Finally Gets It and it is the story of a young boy trying to navigate his way through his first year of high school. I actually laughed out loud during several scenes and my teenage son did as well. It is a good story with a great message.
I also did some professional reading about teaching reading and writing by Jim Burke over the summer and I am excited to start this school year. I feel like I have enjoyed this summer more because we finally took a real vacation. We went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and I worked on my novel. It was so inspiring to just sit on the beach and write my story. I finally feel like my life is starting to fall into the place after years of being in school, starting my teaching career, and trying to dig out of debt from being in school.
I finished The Bean Trees and really liked the story. I hope the students enjoyed it as well. I also reread The ABC's of Kissing Boys by Tina Ferraro since I won it from a YA Fresh giveway. I have to say I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. I took my niece to a bookstore to help her pick some preteen books to read and stumbled upon a new book by a new author Brent Crawford. The book is titled Carter Finally Gets It and it is the story of a young boy trying to navigate his way through his first year of high school. I actually laughed out loud during several scenes and my teenage son did as well. It is a good story with a great message.
I also did some professional reading about teaching reading and writing by Jim Burke over the summer and I am excited to start this school year. I feel like I have enjoyed this summer more because we finally took a real vacation. We went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and I worked on my novel. It was so inspiring to just sit on the beach and write my story. I finally feel like my life is starting to fall into the place after years of being in school, starting my teaching career, and trying to dig out of debt from being in school.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Details
The devil is in the details. That is so true. I have to have an exit interview to leave my old job and have them sign my license so that I can have them renewed by the state. I hate details.
Details can also be good. When my students write I find myself asking them for more details to help the story move along. I usually tell them to use their five senses to come up with those details. They hate details but I know in the end it will make their papers better, so I push for details.
Anyway, we had company over last night for dinner and it was fun. They are friends from Florida and we ended up watching Wild Hogs with Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy because my husband and the other gentleman couldn't stop quoting large sections of the movie. We had a blast and by the end we were all saying the lines. I love having friends who you can just laugh and be yourself with them.
I have been writing this month for Laurie Halse Anderson's WriteFifteenMinutesADay challenge but my book that I was working on is not going anywhere. I am stuck and I mean stuck. The whole time I have been writing this story the main female character has been talkking in my head (NO I AM NOT CRAZY) and suddenly she is gone. I don't know if she thought the story stunk and she didn't want to be apart of it anymore or if I just need to let this story sit a few months. I have never attempted to write before until this last summer and I feel totally inadequate in writing it now. I think I will just keep on writing down details until I find my female character again. If you hear her please tell her I am looking for her.
Details can also be good. When my students write I find myself asking them for more details to help the story move along. I usually tell them to use their five senses to come up with those details. They hate details but I know in the end it will make their papers better, so I push for details.
Anyway, we had company over last night for dinner and it was fun. They are friends from Florida and we ended up watching Wild Hogs with Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy because my husband and the other gentleman couldn't stop quoting large sections of the movie. We had a blast and by the end we were all saying the lines. I love having friends who you can just laugh and be yourself with them.
I have been writing this month for Laurie Halse Anderson's WriteFifteenMinutesADay challenge but my book that I was working on is not going anywhere. I am stuck and I mean stuck. The whole time I have been writing this story the main female character has been talkking in my head (NO I AM NOT CRAZY) and suddenly she is gone. I don't know if she thought the story stunk and she didn't want to be apart of it anymore or if I just need to let this story sit a few months. I have never attempted to write before until this last summer and I feel totally inadequate in writing it now. I think I will just keep on writing down details until I find my female character again. If you hear her please tell her I am looking for her.
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