Heptadecagon

It's that time: the point in the year where I need to face up to whether nor not I reached some of my writing goals and what my writing goals will be for the coming year. Last year, I had this to say about what I'd do with respect to writing in 2016: So what's to be done for the coming year? Instead of individual goals, per se, I'm going for one word to encompass what my year will be. And that word? Revision.  Revision of The Chocolate Garden , a short story called "Personal Chaos," After We've Fallen , blog posts, you name it, if it needs revising, I'm going to consider tackling it. I haven't quite figured out what will get revised first yet, but I have time to think that through. Was I successful? I didn't revise The Chocolate Garden  much, if at all, but After We've Fallen experienced extensive renovations. I also started the "Draft Makeover" series for the blog posts (meaning I've revised several posts), AND, I revis

This past Tuesday, the kids and I ventured into the basement and began to clean house. We started with the bookshelf that housed the games, many of which we hadn't reached for in years. "Keep or donate?" I'd say as I held up a box. Much of the time, the kids yelled, "Donate!" and a pile of very nice toys began to grow in the middle of our air hockey table. We moved toward the next shelf, and the next, and by the time we'd made it through the blocks (keep), the dinosaurs (also keep), and the dress up clothes in the old white dresser (donate), we'd collected all of this: It's not the greatest picture, I admit, but if I had been planning on putting the goods in my car--a Honda Pilot--said goods would have filled much of the back seat. We then headed upstairs to my room, where we gathered another group of items: piles that Aaron had removed from his room as well as clothes from Melina and the twins. After we were done, I looked at all t

Margie had expected her sister, Carol, to call. It was Christmas Day after all. But as the hours went by, and the phone stood silent, the realization that her sister had once again snubbed her began to take root. Why? What had Margie done? Those thoughts tumbled through her brain as she gathered her cup and saucer, poured the water she'd boiled over the tea bag, and sat down at the kitchen table. There, she spied the photo book she always liked to look at on holidays. The photos--all worn and faded at this point--reminded her that life hadn't always been so colorless and that at one time, she'd been happy. Or at least she thought she'd been happy... The trill of the telephone pushed through Margie's thoughts and her hands trembled as she reached for the receiver. "Hello?" Margie had forgotten to look at the Caller ID before she'd pushed the TALK button. "Margie, it's me, Rita." Margie's shoulders relaxed and she leaned back

~Henry Page, Our Chemical Hearts (by Krystal Sutherland)

She didn't understand the fuss behind the Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas controversy. For years, people had been shouting out Merry Christmas! to her best friend--a Jew--and he'd never said a word. Just pasted a smile and shouted back, Merry Christmas!  "It's the spirit of everything," he'd tell her when she asked if he was annoyed. "They're simply wishing me good vibes. Why should I complain about that?" Why should he indeed? She knew a few folks who would complain. Put the Christ back in Christmas , they'd say. But what about those who simply celebrate secular Christmas? Or Hanukkah? Or a whole host of other winter time holidays?  Happy Holidays , she thought, pretty much covered everyone, so she'd be sticking with that phrase, thank you. After all, it wasn't always about her now, was it? Math had never come easy to her. Never . She'd probably struggled to put two and two together at some point in her life. And here she wa

On 2/11/13, I wrote the following in the first draft of this blog post: "I gave my first exam on Saturday, and much to my surprise and delight, the students did well. Very well, in fact. The exam wasn't the hardest I've ever given, but it certainly wasn't easy. But it was a first exam. It served its purpose: to let me know what sort of class I have." I laughed as I read that paragraph, for two reasons: 1. I'd forgotten that I taught a couple of Saturday courses a few years ago. 2. I'd forgotten that the students who take Saturday courses tend to do better in my classes. I've put a lot of thought into that second statement over the last couple of years. Students who take Saturday courses tend to do better in my classes . Why might that be? I teach the exact same way to each and every set of students, and usually, we have exactly the same amount of time to cover our material. What I figured out, though, is that the students who sign up for Saturday

Yesterday was a fantastic day. Full of errands, but the sun was shining, so I couldn't complain. Until I could. Because as I sat at the dining room table taking care of this and that and the other, this song came on. And now, I can't get it out of my head. You're welcome.

To see parts I and II of this story, go here and here . While the moment seemed to stretch indefinitely, Caroline knew it couldn't have. But during that time, when she stood on the steps of the church, tears staining her face, hands trembling, right after she'd whispered the words she knew Adam didn't want to hear, it was almost as if in the back of her mind, a clock began to tick. "I don't know" wasn't going to hold off Adam for long and he deserved more than that noncommittal answer. Even if he'd toyed with her heart, which she was pretty sure he had done, she didn't want to toy with his. "What do you mean, you don't know?" Adam's normally olive skin looked stark and drawn under the light of the street lamps. His hands shook as he placed the box back in his pocket and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "I..." Caroline wasn't sure what to say and tried again. "I can see it, Adam. I can see us g

Yesterday, we went to meet a new friend . We brought the friend home, and we're hoping that the cats will tolerate her. Say hi to Patty.

1. Entered in grades and had to assign far too many Fs for my tastes. 2. Made an appointment to go see this girl--see below--tonight. 3. Put together a presentation on the brain that I'll be giving to the third graders this afternoon. (I'm really excited about doing this!) 4. Spent a few hours watching This Is Us. The jury is still out on whether or not I'll finish out the rest of the episodes. 5. Thought very strongly about taking a hiatus from just about everything I can these days. I feel like the winter is already kicking me in the back end. And it's just started.

Sometimes, I just don't know what to say. That's still how I feel, four years after I first started a draft of this post. You see, four years ago on this day, December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza tore through Sandy Hook elementary school and single-handedly managed to cause the deadliest mass shooting at a school in the United States. Prior to the shooting, he'd killed his mother. Afterwards, he killed himself. I didn't address the shooting four years ago. It was too much for me to take in, I think. At the time, the girls were in fifth grade, Aaron in second grade, and Melina was in preschool. It wasn't as though the incident didn't affect me. It did. Too much, really, but I couldn't quite articulate how I felt about what happened, too many emotions were mixed together. All I could say, if I tried, was that I suffered from overwhelming feelings of sadness and anger.  But in truth, if there was (and is) something I should be long-winded about, it would be an episo

Draft Makeover #2. I had no idea I'd ever put this gem together. And by gem, you know what I really mean. In fact, I think I know why I never pushed the Publish button on this post. (First saved in mid-December, 2012. You'll know what 2012 was all about once you get to the sixth stanza.) Twas a Few Days Before Christmas With SINCERE apologies to Clement C. Moore Twas a few days before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse. The winter coats were hung by the back door with care, Only because I had just put them there. The children were supposedly all snug in their beds, While visions of iPods whirred through their heads. And Tim with a beer and I in pajamas, Had just settled down for a night without dramas. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, Tim sprang from the couch to see what was the matter. Away to the back door Shadow flew like a bat. Tim opened the door and almost fell flat.

If you live anywhere near me, you know it's cold outside. And when it's cold, I seem to find comfort in a bit of warm food. So you might wonder why I'm posting a cobbler recipe now, in the early part of December. No, I haven't made this recipe recently. In fact, I've never made it. But a colleague did, and I'm posting it so that I can remind myself how to find that bit of warmth I need right now. This peach cobbler was delicious and I'm thinking that this warm fruity dessert (with a dash of cinnamon if I add it) would be a wonderful addition to a cold December night by the Christmas tree. Crust Topping: 1 cup flour 1 cup sugar (my colleague cut it to 1/2 cup and it was sweet enough) 1 tsp baking powder 1 egg, beaten Filling: 2 T flour 3/4 cup sugar 4 to 5 cups fresh or frozen peaches  or blackberries 1 stick unsalted butter, melted 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 2. Combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a medium bowl. 3. Make a wel

Twelve weeks ago , I wrote my last letter to you. I'm flummoxed by that number. Twelve? As in, it's been three (!) months since I felt the need to address you? I thought for sure that you'd manage to do something to disrupt the teaching balance I'd found and cause me to write a letter sometime throughout this semester, but apparently, you did not. And here we are, in the final week of class (the countdown that began that first day is ALMOST OVER!) and I'm writing a letter to let you know something important: I will miss you. Gah! Did I actually just write that sentence down? [Pause, gulp.] Yes, I did. In fact, let me write it again, a little larger this time: I will miss you. I know, I can't believe it either. I was so sure last August--when the countdown to December 9 began--that the semester would be full of arduous days and complaining, both on my part and yours. And for the majority of the semester, it was. I heard about so many things from you: h

This is the first post encompassing my draft makeovers . I think the date recorded by Blogger indicated that I'd started it sometime in late December, 2012. That seems like a lifetime ago, but as I sat down to read the draft, I realized that while some things have changed since four years ago, much of my life (and the life surrounding me) is still the same. And if I could talk about standards then, I can probably still talk about standards now. At school, we throw that word and variations of it around quite a bit. We need to have "standards" for the classes, or a "standard" comprehensive exam for everyone. Is the new instructor teaching to the "standards" that the college expects? Standards, standards, standards. We're so worried about them in the business and academic setting, but what about elsewhere? Well, every once in a while, I think about whether or not I'm living my life up to the standards for which they are set.  And then I think,

I have yet to determine what my writing goals will be for 2017, so I won't bore you here with my ramblings on that topic (but expect a post soon). But my semester ends this Thursday, so I'm hoping that I will find a bit of time to get back to regular blogging until the insanity of Christmas hits. After that, of course, all bets are off. My plan for this month, then, is to take a page from Kelsey's playbook and go back through my blog drafts and finish some of what I have already started. Clearly I didn't take this photo. I found it elsewhere and then again here . That task won't be as easy as it sounds, though, because I have 133 drafts sitting in my folder. Can you believe that? I started something 133 times and didn't finish any of them. I find that number somewhat disheartening, because I'm the sort of person who likes to finish what I start. But my guess is that some of the posts are early incarnations of posts already published. At least I hop

Here we are--December 1, 2016--and NaNoWriMo ended as of 11:59 p.m last night. Just like last year, I managed to finish my 50,000 words by November 14, only two weeks in. And just like last year, I couldn't walk away from the draft. I felt compelled to add a few more words here, and tweak a few places there, until I made it to the same word count as last year: 61823. You know this already and I know you know this, but for any new readers (Ha! Like that will happen!) I'm providing some much-needed (and maybe unsuitably placed) backstory here. I think I've now solidified the fact in my mind that I can write a draft of a novel in less than a month, which means that next year, if I participate in this fun game, I need to find a new challenge. What is that challenge, you ask? Some would think that I'd up the stakes and say to myself, If you can write a draft in two weeks, why not one week? But as crazy as you think I am, I am not that crazy, nor do I have the lati

There's something about symmetry, and because I have updated most other days of the month, I will at least pretend to update you on my NaNoWriMo progress (or lack thereof). Actually, I made myself stop writing yesterday so that I can hold off the rest of the words for today. That way, I won't go even one word over the same count I made last year. I can't even remember how many words I wrote yesterday, and that's okay, because what I'd really like to do is simply ruminate on some other things. Like... Haven't seen a good ole Chameleon in a while. I felt like this back on November 14. I love the color here, but I see a lot of chaos, too, which is disturbing. These represent the people I live with. Guess which one is Melina?

How did my day go? Seriously, you can't tell me that these posts are even interesting anymore. If I do this again next year, I'm either going to come up with more creative updates, or I just won't update you at all. Instead, you can flounder in your curiosity about how I fare until the bitter end. Ha! As if. Back to the task at hand... The kids were back in school today. I was back in school. I had work to be done and as I said yesterday, I didn't really have any plans to add more words to my story. But plans...well...they're made to be changed, right? And asking me NOT to do something is the same thing as challenging me to do it, and so, I wrote. Not a lot, mind you, but I did add 597 words to the story. I also figured out that I'll need to add a few more (757 to be exact) to match up with my word count for next year. So, that's the plan for the 29th and 30th days of November. I guess I won't need to update you now on those two days, will I?

How did my day go? I'll tell you. These updates are getting to me, partially because I think my computer is on its last leg, and I'm too cheap to buy myself another one. I know, I know. That thinking is really idiotic, because I use this computer ALL THE TIME and much of what I need to do in my daily routine (update grades, edit a profile) involves my computer. So I either need to get on the "buy a new computer" bandwagon, or I need to park myself elsewhere for much of the day. Which would mean getting a full-time job, and I'd have no time for any of the editing and writing I wanted to do if I do go get the full-time job. (Who would hire me, anyway? That's the subject for another post, my dears.) Sounds like a complaint, eh? It's not. I'm just stating a fact. Even with the computer issues, I managed 2003 words yesterday and I might be calling myself done. Do I really "need" to write 30 days in a row just to add a few hundred more words to

How did my day go? Overall, I cannot complain about the day I had yesterday. I slept in until almost 7 o'clock, ran for over an hour, met a friend for a hot beverage at Starbucks, and bought enough bags of melting chocolate to cover many pounds of pretzels. What I did not have, however, was my 5 a.m. writing and alone time, and by the end of the day, I could tell I was suffering (and I only wrote 1007 words). Thanks to my lack of alone time, each creak of the floor bothered me, the cacophony of cats' voices in my house irritated me, and I snapped at Melina when she was taking too long to put on her pajamas. All signs point to the fact that it is time for my kids to go back to school, and that I'll have trouble come winter break if I do not keep my early morning wake up routine. Lesson learned, I say, which also makes for a good day.

How did my day go? A little Christmas decorating, and 2024 new words. Not a bad day, if I do say so myself. Happy Saturday to you all!

How did my day go? When day 24 lands on Thanksgiving, you can imagine why I didn't get much NaNoWriMo writing done. But unlike last year, when I only managed 66 words on Thanksgiving, this year, I keyed in 1009 new words. I'm not sure it helped out Just Be very much, but I'm thankful I had the time to write for a little bit. I'm also thankful for my family, for my friends who are like family, card games that keep us laughing, and bellies full of wonderful food.  And on that note (and this time, just like last year), I thought I'd let someone else say a little something about gratitude. For it is important to be grateful every day of your life, not just on Thanksgiving Day. This year, we're going simple: When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. ~Willie Nelson

How did my day go? My 2016 NaNoWriMo novel, Just Be , happens to feature a rock star. He's not a rock star so much as a guitar god, I guess, and I have yet to really flesh that side of the story out. However, yesterday, as I sat at the computer trying to add a few more words to my story, this character--who is now named Matt instead of Trey--started speaking to me. In Richard Marx lyrics. Yes, FRN, he really did! So now, my novel might feature Richard Marx (or at least a few of his songs), and I'm thinking that it's a good thing...a way to remember the past and how much fun we had with good old  Richard. In fact, once I figured out what Matt needed to tell me yesterday, I began researching his lyrics, listening to his songs, and avoiding strange looks from my children. So on this day of Thanksgiving, one in which I find myself immensely grateful and satisfied with my life, I'm wishing you wonderful thoughts and many blessings. And so does Richard.

How did my day go? I had a good day, part of which I spent with the kids. Again. And that's because they are home. Which is a good thing, because that means I get to sleep in. Yes, I actually have slept in, past 5 a.m., each of the last few days. Plus, we've had some sun out here in many-times-it's-dreary-Ohio, which is about all I can ask for. (I guess I could ask for more writing time, but hey, we can't have everything.) So right now, as of this minute, I feel as though I'm walking on sunshine. Therefore, so shall you: And just in case you were wondering, I managed to add 1046 words to my story. It's still craptastic, but hey, it has a few more words to round it out.

How did my day go? Yesterday is a perfect example of why I hauled some butt early on in the month and got my words done. Because once the kids are home, and I'm still teaching, my time to write dwindles to just about nothing. So once again, I had a productive day, but not by way of writing (only about 360 words--maybe a little more but I inadvertently sent the wrong copy of my novel to myself after I worked on it at school, so I can't tell you how exactly many words I added). I also recognized that once NaNoWriMo is officially over, I will likely go back to taking a blogging hiatus. I need to reevaluate my writing goals for 2017, and I'll need some time to think. In the meantime, I'm also thinking about Christmas, and what I want, which only comes down to this: another dog. Here's a few pictures of some cuties that I'm eyeing:

How did my day go? Waking up to gloom and gray skies never makes for a good writing day for me. Instead of dwelling on that, though, I decided to get other things (and 570 words) accomplished. And no one wants to hear about that because it makes for a boring post. One of the "things" I did that you might be interested in is looking up a "love poem generator." Yes, I need some song lyrics or love poems and I figured someone out there could help me. Well, I found out that sometimes generators are not the way to go, as evidenced by this poem: Love You Always In summertime, our love is delicate , like lilacs floating in the breeze. In wintertime, our love is warm — it shimmers from heart to toes. If skies are blue, our love is joy — two people listening in the sun. If thunder rolls our love is blessed , a refuge from the falling rain. When spring flowers bloom, our love is bold, like crimson petals on the orchid . When autumn leaves fall, our love is

How did my day go? Yesterday, the 19th day of November, was full of friends. We attended a bar mitzvah, and spent much of the day outside of the home. In between the partying, I managed to put away a few clothes and write 313 words, but the words are not flowing for this story. I cannot find my muse, so to speak, and I know where it is hiding: in the music that still needs to be added to the story. You see, my character, Matt (he used to be named Trey) is a rock star. But he's not really a "rock" star--he's the sort who picks up a guitar (acoustic or electric) and the women swoon. Think Niall Horan or Ed Sheeran, only American and a little bit more rough around the edges. I'm not sure why he came to mind that way, but he did, and any time I hear a song I think he'd sing, I write it down. The problem is, though, that the music I see him singing needs to fuel his character more than it does and I just don't know how to get there. I think if I immerse

How did my day go? I slept til my alarm rang... I didn't have to rush to work... I volunteered at the library for the kindergarten class... I had an interesting experience at the grocery store... I wrote another exam... And I logged 312 words for NaNoWriMo .

How did my day go? It was a day full of writing! Yes, it was. But not a day full of writing for my novel. Instead, I wrote a lovely summary of cell metabolism for one of my classes that gave me 485 words. I can't count those words for NaNoWriMo, though, and that's okay. And because the day was, in general, very full of everything else, I'm still very tired. I'm hoping for a good stretch of writing time sometime this weekend. I will, of course, keep you posted. (So how many words did I chart for NaNoWriMo on Day 17? Fifty-six. Yep, only 56. That's a record.)

How did my day go? Honest to goodness, I haven't had a headache like this since I was diagnosed with a sinus infection back in 2008. And, I think the headache is directly correlated to my time in front of the computer screen. So, I tried my best to not spend time in front of the computer, which means my word count suffered: 306 words yesterday, and that's all! However, I had a productive day on other fronts. I put the finishing touches on an exam, graded a few papers, tweaked an existing essay, and entered a contest . I also met an old friend for lunch, and it was as if we'd seen each other just last week. I love friends like that. So here's to a new day of writing and whatever else you might want to do. Good luck!

Here we are on November 16--a little over halfway through November mind you--and I'm writing once again a sort of recap of NaNoWriMo . To some of you readers out there, a recap might sound odd. Why in the world is she writing a recap when the month is only half done? For those of you keeping up with me, you know it's because I'm finished with NaNoWriMo . I bypassed the 50,000 word count goal on November 14th and now? Before I dig in and add a few more thousand words over the course of the next two weeks, I thought I'd spend some time encouraging my friends and DaytonWriMos to keep going. Because sometimes, a little pat on the back and vote of confidence is all the encouragement a person needs to move forward and make progress. So here we go... You have almost two full weeks left to this challenge . Two weeks means 14 days, and at 24 hours a day, we have, effectively, 336 hours. That's a lot of hours. And you and I both know that we don't necessarily need

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 14, 2016. 1916 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: A s predicted in the previous post, I finished up yesterday. Distracting thought of my day: I wrote a draft in two weeks, again. I'm not bragging. The story stinks, quite frankly, and it needs so much by way of revision, that--should I decide to follow up and revise--it will take years to do so. But it's a good thing that I am, for the most part, done with this challenge. My head is ready to explode from too much computer time, and my house needs a good cleaning. I'll plan

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 13, 2016. 3259 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 14, 2016  Distracting thought of my day: I will finish 50,000 words by the end of the day. And right there--how that 50,000 words came to be--is a story in and of itself. It's something I'll be thinking of and I'll try to write it up for the mid-way point post for tomorrow or for my NaNoWriMo wrap up at the end. The bottom line: writing a 50,000-word novel becomes an obsession for me and my OCD. All the other details will have to wait.  So what's on tap for th

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 12, 2016. 5832 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 14, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark. Yes, it's that time of the year again, when we start making that treat. I made a batch to bring to a friend's house. The girls made a batch, too, since I was taking the batch I made to that friend's house. You can make a batch as well, since I posted the recipe back in 2014. You can thank me later.

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 11, 2016. 6089 (Beat that new record from the 8th.) 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 15, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: Fortune cookies. At one point, my characters order Chinese food and laugh about fortune cookies. My plan is to have Timmy help me write my own fortunes for the novel, but in the meantime, I spent a few minutes looking at this fortune cookie database . A few, very appropriate fortunes popped up: The leader seeks to communicate his vision to his followers. You are the master of every situation. Ta