new release – Writing and Martial Arts

I am, actually. I just miss you guys. I haven’t read blogs in weeks. So, if anyone is feeling hurt, it’s not just you. I’ve abandoned everyone, but here are some brief notes to let you know I’m still alive.

First, I had a sneaking suspicion that if I bragged about my second grade conquest, I would wind up losing that control. (Pride goeth before the fall and all.) The kids are having fun in my class, but that fun translates into volume. We did a review game where, whenever their team won a point, they cheered, loudly. So, so loudly. Hubby, the master of all things classroom, taught me some silent cheers I can show them instead. We’ll see if that’s fun for them too. But fun means my authoritative position has slipped. I will endeavor to get it back.

I’ve been subbing like mad still and enjoying it. However, last period Friday, near the end of class on a stupidly hot day, a seventh grader in the front row burped loudly and obnoxiously. I was done and not having it. “Out,” I said. “Just leave.” A minute later, he opened the door and asked, “Can I come back in now?” “Nope,” I said. No regrets.

Happy subbing highlights:

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I got the formatted copy of Wish YOU Were Here from the publisher and was given two weeks to check it over one more time.

Before this, I stressed over making changes for the final-final draft. After I turned that in, I was told to send in another copy if I made any further changes by whatever date it was. (Making a mental note to remember that’s an option when I’m stressing over Book 3.)

I waited until the day before this new date to look at my final-final draft because I never learn. Did I make changes? Yep! A bunch of them but didn’t have time to make it through the entire book. That bugged me.

But now I have a chance to make final-final-final changes, which meant repeated texts to Mark on a Saturday night, interrupting the MarTar Manor cards and cocktails tradition with my quibbling over commas and “in” vs. “into.”

It could have been super annoying, I’m sure, but Mark seemed to take it with aplomb. He even showed me a pic of what was spinning on the record player–Stone Temple Pilots. (I approved.) And I showed him a picture of my laptop with a shot glass of peanut butter whiskey propped dangerously above the keys. (He approved. Maybe not of the recklessness, but of the drink choice.) And this is why we’re friends.

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