Yippee!

I passed my 2nd attempt of my online test for work. Whew! Am I glad about that! I got off the computer last night and studied the practice test for a good long time. I guess it paid off.

I finished reading On a Highland Shore. Have I told you lately how much I love Kathleen Givens? I laughed, I cried, I feared and I so didn't want the book to end.

I'm lining up my first interview! One of the ladies in the Celtic Hearts group has a section on her website for an author in waiting each month. She asked for volunteers and I jumped right in. I'm up for December. I'll give you more details as I get them.

Next week we have benchmark tests (basically to see if we're teaching what we need to and to help us focus our lessons for the next quarter or so), so I'll be able to get caught up with my grading and planning and I won't have to bring stuff home!

Saturday I go on my 1st field trip of the year to the Austin Celtic Festival with about 6 other adults and 9 kids. I've tried to create a 6th grade clan in my classroom as a way to get them to bond and look out for each other (it's not working as well as I hoped yet). We have Scottish clan gatherings once a month where I bring in some Scottish food or videos about Scotland. We also play team building games. So, I invited them to the Celtic Festival. I've wanted to go to this for a few years, so I'm really looking forward to it.

This weekend I can get back to work on FP!!!!! By the end of the weekend I hope to send my 1st 3 chapters to my CP. Then in the next few weeks I plan to start another agent search after I finish my GH entry.

The Austin RWA retreat last weekend at a nature park was truly spectacular. I got there about 5:30 Friday. We picked out our bunks, unpacked and gathered for dinner. We played a couple of games related to GMC and famous movies. Then we watched Romancing the Stone. After that, several people went to bed and I wrote for a while. That night I only wrote about 2 pages, but the ideas had already started to flow.

Saturday we got up fairly early. (It was hard not to when the mattresses squeaked everytime someone moved a limb!) After a lovely breakfast, we had some free writing time. I pulled out my headphones (the ancient ones with a cassette holder and big clunky earpieces), my fictional village map, and my notebooks. I got in such a groove I skipped the critiquing session where people got together with one of our published authors to talk about their work. After a good lunch, we all went back to what we were doing. Some people took breaks and walks. Others got back to brainstorming and critiquing. I threw myself back into FP. We stopped for a catered dinner, several drinks, a few checks on the Texas Longhorns football game and a campfire. I roasted marshmallows for the first time in years! Then we all went back inside- some to bed, others to write. I wrote some more into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday was an even earlier wake-up. We packed, ate and continued our writing. I ventured outside to sing to a song I hadn't heard in months and that brought a smile to my face. I sat in a rocking chair with my Scottish cloak on and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on my skin. About noontime we left to go our separate ways. When I got home I was so relaxed from the entire weekend, I almost took a nap!

I haven't touched FP since mainly because I had to focus on that test for the day job. Several of us are hoping that retreat will become an annual event. It was heaven. Hopefully I can recapture some of the magic this weekend as I continue revising my soon-to-be award-winning manuscript!