Tag: vacation

Summer Will End Soon

Summer is winding down fast. I am starting to look at doing beginning of semester stuff (although it is a bit early) and my annual trip to New York State to do moulage is looming. I know my days of leisure are coming to an end.

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In the meantime, however, I might as well enjoy. Writing and resting are the order of the day. (Except for today; I have a couple school-related items in the afternoon).

I wish I could store up rest. It doesn’t work that way, but at least I can store up the memory of rest and let it sustain me.

That Annoying Nightmare

In the nightmare, I am new at the college, which is supposed to be the University of Illinois or SUNY Oneonta (both places I’ve worked), but looks like neither of them. I am halfway across campus from where I should be, and I have a class in twenty minutes. But then something goes wrong — I don’t have my computer or my class notes or I have to come up with a lecture in the next few minutes. I can’t find my office or, for that matter, the classroom because I haven’t been there all semester. I have no way of telling my students that I’m going to be late.

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I suspect the dream is shaming me for being unprepared. But it has nothing to do with being unprepared. Right now my workload is light and I’m on top of it, being summer “vacation”. I just did my grading for the day. I will write later, after I water the plants on my porch. I might go out to Starbucks. I don’t have any “work work” I can do right now because my research is on hold till fall and I already have fall classes put together.

I suppose I feel guilty for relaxing. This is definitely part of what is known as the Protestant work ethic in the US — we have to be working or else we’re debased. I think I’ll put my feet up later and thumb my nose at the nightmare.

What I am Doing for My Summer Vacation

First, it’s not really a summer vacation. Although I’m on a 10-month appointment as a faculty member, I also work over the summer doing internships. It’s not a big deal, though, doing internships — it’s mostly monitoring the students through assignments and touching base with them, and going on site visits. I don’t get a lot of money for internships, because this year I only have ten or eleven interns.

Other than internships, I hope to write. A lot. I have a book that wants to be written, and it’s starting to get interesting. I will have to edit it good so that I think it’s interesting from the start, but I’m in the ‘getting things down on paper’ stage. I wonder if I have more books left in me, and I realize I’m sitting on at least two ideas. So we will see.

I’m also gardening the best I can. I have a tangle of seedlings in the grow room that I have to put out to harden off soon. I would say most of what I’m planting is herbs, because my sister gave me a ton of herb seeds for Christmas. And I like fresh herbs. There will be a few vegetables because they are nice to eat. I’m hoping I can motivate to weed like I’ve had trouble with just about every year I’ve put in a garden.

I hope to do a writing retreat in KC sometime. Ideally (a hint to my husband) a trip to The Elms, a massage, and some grotto time. I would settle for a trip to 21c, some Broadway Cafe time, and a quick visit to see some kittens at Whiskers Cat Cafe. Or someplace totally new, as long as there’s a coffeehouse nearby and some decent places to eat.

Nothing fancy on the plans here. I just hope to have a good summer.

The School Year is Almost Over

This school year (do you call it that when it’s teaching college?) went by very fast. There’s a pile of grading standing between me and the end of the year. Some of it I will get done this weekend; the rest during the week while I am giving final exams. I will get through grading, and then on to the summer.

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I think I will have 10 interns this summer. That’s not a lot of interns, but it will keep me busy. I will have time to rest and write in between internship supervision. I already have prepped my classes for fall while bored in my office, so I’m ahead of the game.

I need this break. It has been an intense school year.

Summer Vacation is So Close

If I get through the next two weeks, I tell myself, I’ll be scot-free.

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It’s that time of the semester. The last week before finals, and I have two major assignments coming in on Friday. And two essay exams the week after. And then summer and internships.

Summer and internships are a lot easier, because my time is more my own. I have paperwork, grading, and internship visits, but I have more freedom to schedule them. And I have time on my own.

Maybe I’ll get something written.

Last Day of Freedom

It’s my last day of freedom, and I am going to use it to accomplish absolutely nothing. I’m going to store up on rest as if it was a rare commodity (which it is). I got all my work done on classes early and even have my schedule for my door prepared. (Oops, it’s not quite done; guess I have a bit to do).

This week will be easy; inservice and meetings tomorrow, followed by the next couple of days of work-at-home. The fun starts next week as we start classes.

I’m not ready for this!

Of course I am. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. I got this.

Thoughts on the Road (about writing)

We decided to stay in Des Moines overnight to break the trip back into a couple of days. Des Moines is a comfortable big city; I could live here. Richard, on the other hand, is worried about the snowy weather, which we are not having right now. It’s 46 degrees out and perpetually rainy. We’re waiting out the dense fog advisory south of us, so we’re at a Starbucks so I can write.

I’m bouncing ideas off Richard for a future novel in the Hidden in Plain Sight series. Apparently six is not enough. I like the characters in the series too much to quit writing. Right now, it involves the desert commune, Hearts are Mountains, and threats to the Archetypes there. If you’re preternatural beings with lots of power, this shouldn’t be much of a problem, right? But there’s the part where you don’t want to reveal your true, near-immortal identity. And the part where you used to be guardians of the humans, charged with keeping their ancestral memories, but as guardians you also can’t allow yourselves to be killed. The threat extends to the first child born in the commune, and the collective is immoderately protected of him… The story needs much more thought, but leave it to say there are problems with just killing the aggressors, and problems in not killing them. This is just an idea. There are other ideas, and we have another 2.5-hour drive to come up with them.

It would be nice if this story idea would break my writers’ block. I have been taking a break from writing because it’s not coming easily for me. I’m fighting the usual misgivings that come with being a writer. I have heard I would have these misgivings even if I were a writer on a contract like few lucky writers are.

Does the world need to hear my stories? Probably not as much as I need to tell them. But I always keep hope.