Over the past couple of weeks I have found myself getting overwhelmed by good things. It’s a foreign feeling, and what tends to happen if I dwell on them is that my brain shuts down and I start to hear excited dolphin sounds.
New Job: New Outlook
I have had 4 different jobs in the last 2 years. Online, to in-classroom, to another school, and then back to the school I was at before I went to online. It’s been like riding the teacups at Disneyworld. Now that I’m back I’m in a position I’ve been looking for (teaching AP Statistics and Precalculus) and I am working to help the programs grow. I hopefully have new textbooks coming for next school year, I’m excited to see my very first AP pass rate, and in two more years I’ll be able to become an AP grader – teachers who are paid to travel and grade ALL THE THINGS for ten days in the summer.
I feel settled and happy where I am right now. The husband also teaches where I am, so that’s good too. It’s a good situation and I am hopeful that it will continue to be into the future.
Fantasy Novel: Stage Two
I AM SO EXCITED TO SIT DOWN AND REVISE!!! I’m bringing in outlining and research and expansion ideas to really bring this first book of a series (at least a trilogy) to a place where I might feel comfortable querying either at the end of this year or early next year when agents open back up after the holiday.
I know what this book is going to do. I know where I want it to go. I have a clear vision and I am itching to sit down and work with the dough. I’ll do a little over spring break, but I don’t want this to be a stop and start process, which means I have to wait to really get into it until June. BUT I DON’T CARE I AM SO EXCITED IT IS WORTH THE WAIT.
Professional Development
After such a positive experience at the AWP Conference in Tampa last year, I booked a flight and hotel room and will be heading to Portland, Oregon at the end of March. I’ll get to see one of the largest bookstores in America (I’m looking at you Powells!) and I have already earmarked revision and querying sessions in my conference schedule on the AWP app. I’ve also looked on Google Maps around my hotel and have found several restaurants that I will be ordering food from. Plus I just like staying in hotels, and I’m excited to fly after not having flown since our trip to London back in 2015.
International Affairs
When the husband and I got married he wanted to have kids and travel the world. After a conversation about realistic goals, we decided that saving to travel the world was the most important goal. We visited London in 2015, and since then have been working hard to save up to go to Paris next. 2019 is the year! We’ll be flying to Paris at the end of the year. I found a perfect hotel in the city – close to a Metro stop and right across the street from a grocery store – and there is a great selection of flights to choose from when I have to book them at the end of March. I’m really looking forward to eating everything and seeing Versailles and the Louvre.
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Despite there being many positive things for me to hang my hat on there are still a lot of struggles that we are working through. Progress is a positive thing, though, and I wanted to spend some time celebrating that.
You have probably noticed a dearth of personal posts here as of late. Between my job, my mom, and that creepy foot fetishist I have shied away from being personal or opinionated here anymore due to its public face. I’ve been dialing back things to being mostly just reviews – book, movie, or otherwise.
If you are interested in keeping up with my life, I have been making more personal style posts behind a paywall of sorts on Patreon. Patrons as low as $1 a month can see more personal posts and starting in the next month or so will also have access to my first attempts at flash fiction and short stories. I want to earn your patronage with more than just book reviews, and this is how I plan to do that. I even have a type of serial in the works, where you would get bits of story either weekly or monthly, so we’ll see how that goes.
As always I am thankful for your readership and these posts will always be ad-free and free overall. But remember, if you read my work and you feel like contributing towards my financial well-being, you are more than welcome (but not required!) to avail yourselves of the links included below. I am working on saving for travel to both the AWP conference in San Antonio and the BookExpo in New York in 2020, as well as an updated computer to move my writing out of Google Drive and into something more sophisticated like Word. Any contributions you make will help bring me closer to those goals.
Two new reviews are coming your way next week! Have a great weekend.
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