Thursday, December 07, 2006

Movin' Along

I hope everyone took a minute to remember Pearl Harbor. I brought it up to my homeroom class this morning and we got into a great discussion about war and how there's never just one reason for it.

I'm feeling better about my non-finaling (in this latest contest) manuscript. A friend of mine made a comment that I hadn't even thought about. When I told her the judges' reactions to my characters, she said, "Great!" I just stared at her like she had five heads. She went on to explain, "Your job is to make the reader feel something. They got invested enough to dislike the characters." Kind of odd thinking, but I like it!

Oh! Another co-worker read my Author in Waiting page and asked to read one of my manuscripts over winter break. (I gave my co-workers Tami Dee's website address and told them all about it during our last staff meeting.)

I put the Christmas tree up last night and went Christmas shopping tonight. By no means am I finished, but when I got tired I just came home. That was pleasant. AND I only bought one thing for myself-a Celtic CD.

I'm grading, planning and meeting with parents. I'm not even thinking about writing. That much. I started a new book from one of the kids in my 7th grade class. It's called The Cay and it's interesting enough to keep me reading. I read about 60 pages today during study halls and while my other classes were reading their books.

Tomorrow is Friday and I've got 2 weeks left before winter break! Yay! I cannot wait. Plus, this weekend is my niece's birthday (she's 5 and the only girl, I've got 6 nephews) and our staff Christmas party. Then I also plan to finish my Christmas shopping.

Oh! All is well with the family drama, at least for now. Hopefully it will remain so through my Christmas visit.

Happy writing, reading and holiday preparing!

3 comments:

Bailey Stewart said...

The Cay - I think that won a Newbery Award.

Sounds like a busy weekend coming up - Happy Birthday to your niece. I have 4 nephews and 1 niece, so I know how special they can be.

I used to write a small town newspaper column and one time I wrote something that angered a reader enough to write a hate letter to the editor. I was told then that the mark of a true writer was someone who could write something that makes people think, react - whether it be positive or negative. So your friend is correct.

Kari Lee Townsend said...

busy, busy. And yes, any reaction means the writing is strong.

TJ Brown said...

My daughter is in the middle of studying world war II in Modern World History. She actually finds this bit fascinating.
Teri