Possibilities

Today is the last day of the semester. I’m relieved and happy to be done with the four day a week schedule and grateful for ten days off before I dive into summer school. I should be able to reestablish my writing routine and get the business parts of my plan taken care of in those ten days.

For the first time, I’m teaching a core class this summer. No creative writing. Not sure why. The inner workings of my department are a complete mystery to me.

At least it’s my favorite of the writing classes, because it’s writing about literature, but still, there’s a research paper in there and I need to teach MLA which is constantly changing. That’s okay, I just finished doing that class, so it will be fine. My class is full at 28 and I just have to wonder how many of them realize how much work we have to do in six weeks. Because I am trimming a bit, but not much.

I intend to stay on my writing schedule while teaching this summer. The last few weeks, writing has sort of fallen away as I geared up for the end of term stuff. I am so ready to immerse myself in my writing life again. Which reminds me…

Just received the most amazing schedule for this coming fall. Two literature courses. My dream come true. I really am looking forward to a break from teaching the core writing courses. They are required and some students resent that. The lit courses are elective, and I get more English majors. They actually like talking about stories and poetry.

 It’s a beautiful schedule too, first class doesn’t start until 9:30 and then the other one is right after it and I’m done by noon. The biggest news with all this is that one of the courses for next fall is Children’s Lit, which includes Y.A. Have I mentioned that I’ve been thinking about revising Gypsy and Traveling Girl as Y.A. novels?

Teaching a course that includes Y.A. is the perfect opportunity to really give that some serious thought.  It might just be the incentive I need to pull those manuscripts out and get busy.