This is me, after 4 days of teaching, trying to write a blog post. Yeah, I’m wiped.
But I do know this. Today is the last day to enter my 100 BLOG FOLLOWERS CONTEST! Up for grabs are:
A manuscript critique from yours truly
Upcoming new releases from Sourcebooks:
· Beautiful Dead: Arizona by Eden Maguire
· The Secret Society of the Pink Crystal Ball by Risa Green
Signed copies (from PAYA) of:
· Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron
· The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard
· 13 to Life by Shannon Delany
· Shade by Jeri Ready-Smith
· Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert
Email me with your QUIZ answers by today to be entered to win! (Today is very loosely determined as occurring before I wake up tomorrow.)
The first week back to teaching has been kind of a blur. Here are some of random thoughts regarding the year so far:
1. I have a lovely 5th grade class, and I already knew a lot of these students before we even started the year. My daughter is in this grade, so some of the girls in my class have already been to my home for birthday parties – including pool parties and sleepovers. (ie: these kids have seen me in my bathing suit and/or pajamas) I foresee conversations like this occurring: “Where is your math homework? You’ll be in for recess if you don’t turn it in – and oh, by the way, can your mom pick up Gina after Girl Scouts on Monday?”
2. We Hear the Dead showed up in the Scholastic TAB Book Club order for September, which caused a lot of excitement in my building. In a school, I’m not sure you really count as “published” until the book is picked up by Scholastic – LOL!
3. No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman is as big a hit as ever as my first class read aloud. I never get tired of reading it! I adore Wallace Wallace and his revolt over reading “Old Shep, My Pal!” Favorite line in the book: “Go to the library and pick out a book with an award sticker and a dog on the cover. Trust me, that dog is going down!”
4. The teaching day can be exhausting and overwhelming, but it doesn’t quite drown out the clamoring voices in my head – the characters demanding to be heard and written about. By the time I get home every afternoon, I’m ready to burst – but with the Daughters and the Dog wanting dinner, it’s hard to concentrate on anything until late at night.
5. I might need to give up sleeping. See #4.
6. Thank God it’s Friday – even if there is a hurricane on the way.
7. If this blog post doesn’t make any sense … see picture at top.
that’s very cool Scholastic picked up your book! Congrats. I”m reading it right now. Just got to the part where Maggie meets Dr. Kane…
OMGosh, Dianne…Scholastic. Very cool. I can imagine how wiped you are. One of my good friends and neighbors teaches 1st grade. She looked sooooo tired yesterday. Phew….plus, it’s like 100 degrees here right now; most school aren’t air-conditioned, and they are built of brick. The heat is really weird.
Dianne! I’ve finally finished WE HEAR THE DEAD. I know I’m a bad, bad, bad, bloggy buddy. Still, there aren’t words to express how much I love Maggie and Elisha’s romance. I honestly wasn’t that into the first part of the book, but Elisha! Woo!
Congrats on being picked up by Scholastic–that is so cool! And I hope Earl leave you in peace to enjoy your weekend. 🙂
hi miss dianne! i gotta say that picture just says everything on how youre feeling. you shoulda just posted the picture all by itself and said Thank God it’s Friday – even if there is a hurricane on the way. and then say im sleeping through it. ha ha. i hope you dont get that hurricane and get blown away. i hope you get lots of rest and have a real happy weekend. you gotta take care of you.
…hugs from lenny
I hope you get some rest. I know what you mean about voices in the head. I’m now thinking about writing my WiP from two POVs. LOL.
Congrats on Scholastic. Awesome.
Have a great weekend!
Dianne–Wow, you are in a Scholastic Book Club…So you’re worth points to teachers…(LOL…that’s secret teacher language…When students order books the classroom teacher gets points for each book ordered and then she/he can order free books for her/his class.) VERY EXCITING!
Enjoy your long weekend! Try and at least rest on one day. 🙂 Be safe.