Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Moving on

Time to move ahead. The new year, 2010 beckons and I want to make the last week of 2009 as productive as I can. So I'm not looking back, not regretting anything, and actually, I feel lighter, happier and more hopeful now than I have for months. Yay! I've turned the corner and things are going to get better. I know they will.

And as for the past, my Daddy used to say, "What goes around, comes around." I can't wait, grin.

Oh yeah, and beware of low leaping kangaroos.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Quote for the day

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -
for you'll be criticized anyway.
You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~

Sunday, December 27, 2009

One more thing...

Retraction: that standing invitation to come here? No longer exists. Especially for someone I've never met.

Taking back

Dear world. I'm taking back my life now. No more looking back, no regrets and no wondering what I could've done differently. I told a group of students this year that "You can only worry about what you can control." I'm hereby applying that to my life. I can't control other people's misperceptions or their tendency to twist or distort things I have said. But I don't regret what I said. And I'm not going to worry about them either. So there, too.

Retraction

If a person for whom I wrote a letter of rec to grad school now wants to "imagine she never met me," can I retract my letter?

Here goes:

Dear University History Department:

This is to inform you that I have never heard of this person. Therefore, I cannot possibly give you any sense of her academic abilities, her social skills or her potential to succeed. I have no clue why someone I have never met would list me as a reference, but there you have it. I cannot possibly write a recommendation for this person, since "recommendation" implies I actually know this person and she swears we have never met.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have created for you and your program. You may want to consider retroactively removing degrees from such people.

Sincerely,

The imaginary English professor who has never met this applicant

There. If I can't really do it, at least I can do it here.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Quote for the day


“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

Dr. Seuss

Oh, yeah, one more lesson

One more lesson-- the next time someone says "If things get really bad I'm going to sell everything, buy a rowboat and row out into the Pacific Ocean" my response should be, "Whatever floats your (row) boat.

After Christmas musings

Ah, well, learned a valuable lesson today. Never go out of your way to help someone because it will (and I mean will, not possibly) come back to bite you. Never mind last minute letters of reference written or newspaper articles proofread the night before they were due. Or offers to have a friend stay with you, or condolences given because a friend hooked up with a guy who turned out to be a thief and a drug addict. or critiques exchanged. Or suggestions of going to grad school-- even encouragement to go, attempts to find someone to be a reference for them. Right-- and then a slap in the face later.

So my New Year's resolution:

I'm not getting involved in any one sided friendships ever again. Not worth my time and frustration. I've got enough real friends to last me a lifetime.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Sarcasm becomes what?

As an avid user of sarcasm, I appreciate it-- to a point. However, even I have an upper limit on my tolerance of it-- especially on line. I hate being lectured to by people, especially people who either a) have a silly soapbox to stand on or b) have lived quite a few years less than I have. Advice is one thing. You can take it or leave it. Lecture-- that's another thing. As a teacher, I know what lecture does to my students-- their eyes glaze over, they fall sleep, they go check their Facebook pages. (Hmm, maybe I should, oh, wait, I'm not done). So if you're going to post advice somewhere, please, make it friendly, calmly worded advice. Lectures get you flamed or ignored or both. I don't have the time for that and I know a lot of other people who don't either. But hey, I don't want this to be a lecture on not lecturing, so if you wnat to annoy people, feel free. I won't be among them though.

On the plus side, it's the last day of finals week, which means I am nearly done grading student papers, and manly have to input grades and start prepping for spring (yes I'm going to start early this year-- but I say that every year, so I wouldn't be surprised if I don't get too far). So that frees me up to write, to get a tree (if there are any left) and to just chill and enjoy the season-- for a week or two. Then it's back to work.

Happy week before Christmas.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Finals!

Oh yeah it's that time again. Final exam time. For my students, not for me. I get to grade 'em.

The good part is, I get 3 weeks off afterwards. Can't friggin' wait.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Old friends, former friends

Reconnected with an old friend tonight and confirmed that a recent friend is no longer a friend. I've never understood how people can just decide to not be friends. Yes, friendships fade away gradually. But how do you wake up one day and say "I don't want to be friends with him/her any more"? That is just so foreign to me.

But then again, this person was probably never a true friend to begin with. I'm just going to move on. I've got tons of other friends-- I don't need to regret losing one person off my list. There's plenty more out there to gain, too.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Random wondering

It's been one of those days-- I feel like I woke up and hit the ground running and it's not going to stop till I get home this evening. Between issues at the Writing center, web page stuff at work, worries over friends, trying to find time for my writing, wondering if I'll ever get published-- it's not been an easy week. I guess I need to work harder at taking things one day at a time, one issue at a time,. But it's frustrating to sit here and look back over my life and realize that so many people have been published when they were a lot younger than me-- and here I am still plugging along and trying to get something accepted. Ever time I submit, I hope that maybe this time will be THE time. And every time, I'm disappointed. But I;'m still in there trying and I guess that's what counts.

And I am working on not feeling just a twinge of envy at my other writer friends' successes. Anne Lamott suggests that this isn't good, and I know it isn't, but it's hard to help sometimes. But I;m working on it.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Monday on Friday

Yes, folks, it's one of THOSE days. It began this morning when the dogs woke me at 4:30 am. That's right, 4:30 am-- for breakfast? Rught, that's not even morning yet in my book. Then my printer spit out a bunch of sheets of blank paper instead of what I wanted to print this morning Our school e mail went off line for a while, meaning I couldn't get anything done. Class was a bit of a joke this morning and I can't seem to focus on writing-- instead I;m blogging, you see? Plus I have an all day meeting Saturday which kills my weekend (at least half of it) and a ton of stuff that a colleague wants me to do for the writing project site. I don't have time for all of this and for my writing, but I'm not going to let my writing slide. No way! I'll either have to create more hours in the day-- or start learning to say no. It's such a little word, so why is it so hard to say?

Maybe I need to get up at 4:30. Maybe the dogs have the right iea after all.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Monday

Oh, yeah, it's really Monday. but at least I managed to sneak in some writing time. I'm plugging away on my adult level detective novel and hoping all the while that I can find a publisher for it at some point. I usually write for children, but this novel's been simmering for a long time so here goes. But I'm not as familiar with the adult level markets or with how important it is to have an agent, so I'll have to dig into that once this is ready to send out-- which wont be for a while yet.

On a related note, I've become fascinated with one of my bad guys in this novel. This happens a lot. I'm not sure why I get that way-- enamored of the bad guy who's not really as bad as everyone thinks, who walks that line between good and evil like a tightrope. But he keeps bugging me so I'm guessing he'll end up part of this story. Whether I like it not.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Rainy Friday

Well, it's pouring rain and I'm procrastinating from heading back to my office to get ready for my 1:00 class. Normally, I like rain, but not when I have to walk from the Library to my office building in it. Especially since the construction here has left us with only soggy grass to walk on in places. Oh well. Guess I better run. But I wanted to update this, even if it's only with drivel.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Away for the duration...

Well, I'm in Pittsburgh where I grew up for the next 3 weeks or so. In a way I'm enjoying being back in my old stomping grounds and and in a way I already wish I was home. Being out of town means not having such things as my own study for writing (I'm doing my work in the pubic library most days) and not having my 2 four legged children with me. It also means dealing with my in laws, which is a lot harder when you're not 1600 miles away. On the other hand, there are more shops, coffee shops, bookstores and just things to see here than Minot will ever have. But then again, there's a lot more traffic in town with close to 3 million people in it. So there's good and bad. Plus it's hot and humid here-- not that it doesn't get hot in ND-- but the humidity is always a lot less there. And here, there's an infinite number of distractions (like wireless internet), which get in the way of my writing. So I don't know-- all things considered, I guess it's okay being here, but I'll be glad to get home.

Plus, it's tough trying to arrange things like masters' theses defenses back in Minot when I'm staying at a house with no hard wire phone and intermittent internet. Plus no sci fi channel which means I'll be four weeks without my fix of Ghost Hunters. : ( Unless I buy the DVD set-- now there's an idea...

But I guess I'll manage. Somehow.

Friday, June 12, 2009

All better now, I think

Okay, for a while, both my web site and blog were messed up, but I think they're better now. This is why published writers have web masters, grin. Anyhow, I hope to do better about keeping both updated-- after I get back from my 30 day trip to PA-- and no, not a vacation, either.

I may also think twice about using iWeb-- it's cool, but it's more work....

Go Pens!