100th post

It's my 100th post, readers! Thanks for sticking with me so far.

When I lived and taught in Massachusetts, the fall semester always began the day aftar Labor Day. Thus, I treated Labor Day like New Year's Day. I made resolutions and set intentions for the coming school year. I bid my summer goodbye and looked forward to the smells of school supplies and the hallways in UMass Dartmouth. I suppose that's why it's taken a little longer for me to get mentally back to school here -- it's just not time yet.

So we're here on the eve of Labor Day. Maybe I can make some resolutions and set some intentions now:

• Be more present to students.


• Be more present to my writing.


• Find a better sense of balance (and post about it).


• Keep this blog interesting, engaging, and interactive.


• Promote my novel.


• Finish my other novel. (That goes for my nonfiction book, too.)


• Upkeep my website (I've been neglecting it).


• Constantly be present to and celebrate the process, the craft, and the joy or writing.


• Read more. The pleasure reading, I mean. That includes audiobooks. (I just love being read to!)


• Keep learning about the business of publishing.


• Promote myself.


• Create and activate the workshops I have in mind (there's nothing stopping me but my own resistence).


• Smile. Smile a lot. Smile on the inside.


• Eat. Pray. Love. (Yes, I'm ripping off Elizabeth Gilbert's book title. But I'll plug it as I crib it, because I just finished reading it and really enjoyed it.)


• Get out of my own way.

Anyone else have a new-academic-year's resolution? Please share!

And thanks again for reading. When I began this blog, I figured it was going to be just a more socially acceptable way for me to talk to myself (ha!). But you've all read and responded and gave me things to think about as well. This has become your blog as much as it is mine.

Here's to the next 100 posts!

Namaste.

the buds of a literacy narrative

I've kicked off my semester w/ two texts: Frederick Douglass' "Learning to Read and Write" (from the Narrative) and Sherman Alexie's "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me." My intent (well, I have many intentions) is to get the students thinking about their own experiences w/ learning to read and write so that they, in turn, can write their own literacy narratives. We did some freewriting in class about it today.

I have written about this so many times, and yet it never ceases to bore me. I owe my start to Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and my sister. Sesame Street and The Electric Company were groundbreaking in their day, and I was blessed to be a part of that pioneering generation (I even own the vintage DVDs!). My sister filled in the spaces by playing "school" and "library" w/ my twin brother and me. She even had, what seemed at the time, to be a mammoth chalkboard. On that board she wrote the names of our sibs, pets, Dr. Seuss-inspired words, etc., and taught us what they were. It wasn't long before my twin brother and I were reading The Cat in the Hat on our own, before entering kindergarten. At the time, such a feat was uncommon. "Library" consisted of us selecting a book and reading it to ourselves-- it was her way of getting us to be quiet.

My aptitude and amusement for reading and writing was further fueled by my sibs and parents reading to me frequently. I still love being read to, to this day. It's one more reason why I enjoy audiobooks.

I wonder, had I not been born at that time, had I not been surrounded by a family for whom books were not an aversion (although I wouldn't say it was their passion--music filled that top honor), had I not been nurtured w/ narratives during my youth, would I be the writer and reader I am today?

The sad thing is how many of my students write or talk about that one-time childhood pleasure, or the very excitement of being able to sound out the words or put the letters together, and how school snuffed the fire right out of them. Me included. I went through a reading dormancy, beginning around age thirteen up to about age twenty-two. That's a long time. All I know is that when I finally awoke, I was hungry.

How is it that our school system makes reading, and learning, a distraction and a burden rather than a desire and a motivator? Why do they so successfully turn us off rather than turn us on. Oh, there are a few teachers who manage to spread their enthusiasm, but sadly they are in the minority. Besides, even their fires are snuffed out by the extinguishers of standardized testing and mandated reading lists of the same old stand-bys from when I was a student. Something seems very wrong about that to me.

Am I wrong? Am I ignorant to the public school system? I hope I am. I hope I am way off base. But so far, I haven't seen evidence to that. Not when 90% of my students report that they dislike reading and writing. 90%, folks. I'm not exaggerating.

The older I get, the more comforting a room full of books is to me. I don't want to lose that feelng.

How did you learn to read and write? Share a memory with me, please.
With thanks.

the irony of being a fan

Ok, so here's how much of a fan geek I am. I heard on NPR this morning (and that right there outs me, doesn't it) that Aaron Sorkin is working on a new project involving social networking via the internet and thus got himself a Facebook page. And so, what did I spend the rest of my get-ready time this morning doing? I thought about ways to Friend Aaron Sorkin w/out presenting myself as a fan geek; only to actually log on to Facebook later, do a Friend search, and find out that while he does indeed have a page, he has dismantled the Add Friend link. Smart guy. Stupid me. (I guess this means I can keep my West Wing flair.)

But Aaron is definitely on my list of people I want to meet and have a conversation about writing before I (and they) die. Seriously. From one writer to another. Celebrity-ism and fandom aside. And the thing is, I believe that's entirely possible. Either I'm deluded or an optimist (and not a stalker). But I suppose when you try so hard not to be a fan is when you act as idiotic as one. So the thing to do, really, is to take him off the pedestal. He's a writer, pure and simple. He puts one comma in front of the other like anyone else.

Besides, maybe Aaron will look for *me* on Facebook and Friend me instead... (ok, now *that*'s delusional...)

marinating

I've been trying to figure out what to post these last couple of days. Even now, I've just erased a post I started looking at the rhetoric of the DNC speeches (the post bored me). But the truth is that I don't have much to say lately about the subject of writing, or at least there's nothing pressing me. Maybe it's because I'm trying too hard. Maybe it's because school is taking precedence (and already I have things to say about that, but I never wanted this to be a composition teacher's blog, so I've refrained from sharing), and already the other things are falling onto the back burners. Maybe I just plain have nothing to say right now.

I haven't been writing very much lately. Or have I? I'm writing in my personal diary. I'm composing in my head. I'm reading my students' writing, and thinking a lot about what they have to say so far, and how I'd like to respond. I'm thinking about my writing projects that I haven't touched in a week, either because I'm blocked or because I'm busy or because the info is "marinating."

Marinating is good though, isn't it? Doesn't it make food taste so much better, especially the longer it marinates?

So stick w/ me, folks. I'm sure my posts'll get quite tasty when I'm ready to get cookin'.

on the burners

So, I don't wanna jinx anything, but I've got a possible publisher for my nonfiction book -- a start-up, independent "company" who shares similar values and goals as me. While they're getting their business off the ground, I should get crackin' and actually finish the book.

Then, of course, there's my novel. Still have to get the bio-photo in place (I dropped the ball on that one and let school prep, etc. take the front seat. as usual), have to get a test copy and make sure it's professional looking, and I haven't even begun to think about promotion.

Plus, there's the current novel. Still lots to do. My writing partner has another break, but she also has more boards or something to study for. Plus, I've got school now.

Then, it turns out that A and I came up w/ a kick-ass idea for a webcast show that I'm not ready to disclose details on. We're still in the talking-brainstorming phase. No idea about the hows or wheres or whens yet. But it's exciting.

Did I mention I've got school now?

I suck at time management. Always have. I guess now's a good time to practice yet again. Don't get me wrong -- all these things are wonderful and exciting and this is what I mean by a full-time writing career. It's just that two full-time jobs are hectic, and getting paid for only one of them is a little frustrating, and, well, I'm glad I'm not a mom. But, also on my to-do list is to change my thinking and my attitude about the very things I've just moaned about in this paragraph. This is can-do. These things will make money. The scales are tipping.

Did I mention I'm glad I'm not a mom?

Now's as good a time as ever to get cookin' (where's my planner book?)...

Post-post (ha! get it?): Good grief, I just scrolled down and realized I pretty much wrote the same post last week (see rollin')!
Hmmmm... can you tell what's been on my mind?

go wolfpack!

Lordy, am I tired.

Oh yeah. It's back-to-school time.

JT and book-tv

If you can, check out John Taylor's latest blog entry on the DuranDuran.com link in my bloglist. Maybe it's just my personal connection to him that makes his blog entries so compelling to me, but the boy can write! Not only that, but he's very giving of himself in terms of what he reveals in his prose. The more I read his blogs, the less he sounds like a pop star and the more he sounds like a musician (although, make no mistake, he's got quite a grand life, that one).

In about an hour I am going to meet my friend and colleague at Bruegger's Bagels (oh, how I miss Long Island bagels!) and we are going to do some "get rich quick" brainstorming on how we can combine our talents with technology, and not in the academic field. With the success of Stacey's How to Publish a Book website, we got to talking about how we can augment that site. It was actually something he said that really got my wheels spinning, "Look at how the Food Network started out and where that is today." Can we do the same w/ books or writing? Can we make it more entertaining? That's what A and I are going to find out.

Ideas, anyone?