I promised to write more about these firsts. But it seemed like I should really wait until after Zeb's birthday to write about all of them at the same time. The last couple of weeks have been crazy.
There was Zeb's first day of high school. Now as my oldest child, he gets the special honor of doing everything in our lives first. He was the first one to go to preschool. He was the first one to go to kindergarten. He was the first one to go to high school. Of course there were many other firsts that Zeb did. And most of these firsts brought me to tears. So as we were getting closer and closer to this first day of high school I was expecting to be crying as I drove away from his school.
These things don't exactly make me sad. There is a part of me that is sad at these milestone points in our life. My time with my children in my care goes by so very quickly. All moms say this, but it does seem like yesterday when they were babies. And now he is off to high school. These things are sometimes hard for a mom to get used to. But they are also happy things. My son is an amazing person. I am so excited for him in this new stage of his life.
This post seems to be mostly about Zeb. Because also this past week we went and got his learner's permit. He had driven home from school a few times now, at least part of the way. He wants to stay out of traffic so I don't make him drive until we are out on the quiet roads.
Wow! Lets see how many changes and emotional things we can pack into one week. Of course we end this week by celebrating his 15th birthday.
The girls also started school this week. But 5th and 8th grade, I have done both of these at least once before. So they were much easier to handle. Though I already look at Ella and know that in a few short months, 10 or so, I will have two children in high school.
Don't Blink!
If I do, the next four years are going to speed by and it will be my baby starting high school and Zeb off to college. Slow down and enjoy every moment we have together.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Firsts or 837
There are several 'Firsts' that I could write about today. But I think I will for the most part try to stick to one of them. Then I will save the others to write more about later.
Today was Zeb's first day of high school. Believe me, there are many things to tell about this. It was a 1/2 day with only the new 9th graders. It seems that he had a good day. But this is not what I am going to be writing about today. I think I will save that for tomorrow after he has gone to the second 'first' day of school... the one where they have already met all of the teachers and are there with the rest of the students.
The first I am going to write about, actually happened because it was my son's first day of high school. Since it was a half day, I decided to to hang out in town while he was at school. I had a bit of shopping that I needed to get done. And, I thought I would spend the rest of the time at the library doing some writing. This is not something that I had ever done. I had thought about it. But I normally go to the library with my kids. So there hasn't been a good time for me to try writing there.
The funny thing about this plan is that it didn't work out for me. The library doesn't open until 10. I got there a half hour before this, hoping that it would have opened at 9. So with all of this extra time I had to come up with something else. I didn't really just want to sit in the car and wait. So instead, I went across the street and got a cup of coffee and sat down to write. This was also something that I had not done before. Normally I do my writing at home. Once in a while I have written at the park while my kids were playing. And as I have gotten more and more brave about writing in public places, I have over the last two years started writing at my kids' basketball or volleyball tournaments (between their games of course).
I did not know how easy it would be to write there with people coming and going. There was music playing. So many things that could have been a distraction. But I sat there and started to write. It was very nice. Then after putting 837 words down in my notebook, it was time to pick my son up from school.
Today was Zeb's first day of high school. Believe me, there are many things to tell about this. It was a 1/2 day with only the new 9th graders. It seems that he had a good day. But this is not what I am going to be writing about today. I think I will save that for tomorrow after he has gone to the second 'first' day of school... the one where they have already met all of the teachers and are there with the rest of the students.
The first I am going to write about, actually happened because it was my son's first day of high school. Since it was a half day, I decided to to hang out in town while he was at school. I had a bit of shopping that I needed to get done. And, I thought I would spend the rest of the time at the library doing some writing. This is not something that I had ever done. I had thought about it. But I normally go to the library with my kids. So there hasn't been a good time for me to try writing there.
The funny thing about this plan is that it didn't work out for me. The library doesn't open until 10. I got there a half hour before this, hoping that it would have opened at 9. So with all of this extra time I had to come up with something else. I didn't really just want to sit in the car and wait. So instead, I went across the street and got a cup of coffee and sat down to write. This was also something that I had not done before. Normally I do my writing at home. Once in a while I have written at the park while my kids were playing. And as I have gotten more and more brave about writing in public places, I have over the last two years started writing at my kids' basketball or volleyball tournaments (between their games of course).
I did not know how easy it would be to write there with people coming and going. There was music playing. So many things that could have been a distraction. But I sat there and started to write. It was very nice. Then after putting 837 words down in my notebook, it was time to pick my son up from school.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Terror or Excitement?
Last week was a first for me. Now that it is over and I have had a few days to think about it, it seems hard to describe.
This week started on Wednesday for me. See, on Wednesday, July 31st, one of my short stories was on the top of the queue in my writer's group. This was something I have never done before. I have only been a member of this group for a couple of weeks. I had been just been learning really how to write critiques on other people's stories. I am not sure if that was even getting easier. But now, here I was putting my words, my story, out there waiting for someone else to tell me that it sucked!
Well, of course I was not hoping to hear those words. Nor was I really expecting to hear them. I assumed that even if it did suck they would try to be nice about it. But Wednesday night as I saw the email go into the inbox about the stories that I could read this coming week, I knew that mine was among the list. I almost wanted to close that tab on my browser so that I couldn't see if there was new e-mail waiting for me. But, I left it open. That was hard.
In the morning when I saw a couple of new e-mails in the box I almost didn't read them. My stomach hurt. I was truly afraid to see what those messages held. If I had been writing this post on Thursday, you would have been hearing something completely different. I opened the first few critiques and read them. Of course they found typos and a weird homophone mistake (as soon as I saw that I thought "WOW, how could I have missed that one?") The perfectionist part of me took control. I mean I had looked over that so many times. Who had gone into my file and put those mistakes back in there? Or worse yet, "I can't believe I sent that out for other people to look at with mistakes in it?"
Each of the critiques that came back with those sorts of things really bothered me. But over all they weren't saying it sucked. Again, I didn't expect that. Still, Thursday night, I wasn't feeling all that happy about reading the critiques. It felt like a very uncomfortable place for me to have put myself. This is the sort of thing I spend a great deal of time trying to avoid.
Then on Friday, I tried looking at it in another way. By now all of the silly mistakes that I NEVER should have allowed had been pointed out to me, most several times. So I could mostly skip over those parts of the critiques. I sat down and actually spent more time looking at the other things that these writers were suggesting. When I did this, I saw several ways that I could make my story better. That this thing that had been terrifying to me, well, it was actually very helpful.
When I read over my own words, I know exactly what I mean. I know where I am going with this. But when someone else is reading them, well, if there is a hole or something that doesn't make perfect sense, they can see it. And if I can then go back and make these places more clear, the story will be even better.
By Sunday, I had decided that I loved reading the critiques. When I saw a new one in my inbox, I would call my kids over and we would read it together. Melinda, my youngest, was the most excited to hear what others had to say about my story.
After most of the critiques were in, I sat down with my kids and asked them what they thought? Because of course I can't do or change all of the things that were suggested. I wouldn't even want to. But some of them suggested almost opposite things. I wanted to hear what my kids thought. If any of the things that those critiques had said were things that I should change. Of course, Ella and I had already talked about a couple of things. So she brought those up again. Melinda told me that I shouldn't change anything. That the story was perfect just the way it was. I laughed and pointed out a couple of the typos. She smiled and told me that maybe I could change those things.
The week to critique my story is now over. It has been for two days. I have saved all of the critiques in a file. I guess my next step is to read over them again. Then decide just exactly what I am going to do with my story. There are several things that I am very excited to work on. These things, I believe will make my story much better. I am thankful to all of those who took the time to critique my story. And I am very thankful that Jay MADE me do this, even though he knew I really didn't want to, even though I was sure that he was wrong and it was a terrible idea up until Sunday night when I realized that I was very excited to read each new critique as they came in. I am almost ready to put a different story up in the queue. Hehe.. But I want to look over it very carefully before I do that. So maybe it will have to wait until I get back from WorldCon. But if I haven't done it by then, I will do it that first week. Now, I think it is time for me to go and critique someone else's story. :)
This week started on Wednesday for me. See, on Wednesday, July 31st, one of my short stories was on the top of the queue in my writer's group. This was something I have never done before. I have only been a member of this group for a couple of weeks. I had been just been learning really how to write critiques on other people's stories. I am not sure if that was even getting easier. But now, here I was putting my words, my story, out there waiting for someone else to tell me that it sucked!
Well, of course I was not hoping to hear those words. Nor was I really expecting to hear them. I assumed that even if it did suck they would try to be nice about it. But Wednesday night as I saw the email go into the inbox about the stories that I could read this coming week, I knew that mine was among the list. I almost wanted to close that tab on my browser so that I couldn't see if there was new e-mail waiting for me. But, I left it open. That was hard.
In the morning when I saw a couple of new e-mails in the box I almost didn't read them. My stomach hurt. I was truly afraid to see what those messages held. If I had been writing this post on Thursday, you would have been hearing something completely different. I opened the first few critiques and read them. Of course they found typos and a weird homophone mistake (as soon as I saw that I thought "WOW, how could I have missed that one?") The perfectionist part of me took control. I mean I had looked over that so many times. Who had gone into my file and put those mistakes back in there? Or worse yet, "I can't believe I sent that out for other people to look at with mistakes in it?"
Each of the critiques that came back with those sorts of things really bothered me. But over all they weren't saying it sucked. Again, I didn't expect that. Still, Thursday night, I wasn't feeling all that happy about reading the critiques. It felt like a very uncomfortable place for me to have put myself. This is the sort of thing I spend a great deal of time trying to avoid.
Then on Friday, I tried looking at it in another way. By now all of the silly mistakes that I NEVER should have allowed had been pointed out to me, most several times. So I could mostly skip over those parts of the critiques. I sat down and actually spent more time looking at the other things that these writers were suggesting. When I did this, I saw several ways that I could make my story better. That this thing that had been terrifying to me, well, it was actually very helpful.
When I read over my own words, I know exactly what I mean. I know where I am going with this. But when someone else is reading them, well, if there is a hole or something that doesn't make perfect sense, they can see it. And if I can then go back and make these places more clear, the story will be even better.
By Sunday, I had decided that I loved reading the critiques. When I saw a new one in my inbox, I would call my kids over and we would read it together. Melinda, my youngest, was the most excited to hear what others had to say about my story.
After most of the critiques were in, I sat down with my kids and asked them what they thought? Because of course I can't do or change all of the things that were suggested. I wouldn't even want to. But some of them suggested almost opposite things. I wanted to hear what my kids thought. If any of the things that those critiques had said were things that I should change. Of course, Ella and I had already talked about a couple of things. So she brought those up again. Melinda told me that I shouldn't change anything. That the story was perfect just the way it was. I laughed and pointed out a couple of the typos. She smiled and told me that maybe I could change those things.
The week to critique my story is now over. It has been for two days. I have saved all of the critiques in a file. I guess my next step is to read over them again. Then decide just exactly what I am going to do with my story. There are several things that I am very excited to work on. These things, I believe will make my story much better. I am thankful to all of those who took the time to critique my story. And I am very thankful that Jay MADE me do this, even though he knew I really didn't want to, even though I was sure that he was wrong and it was a terrible idea up until Sunday night when I realized that I was very excited to read each new critique as they came in. I am almost ready to put a different story up in the queue. Hehe.. But I want to look over it very carefully before I do that. So maybe it will have to wait until I get back from WorldCon. But if I haven't done it by then, I will do it that first week. Now, I think it is time for me to go and critique someone else's story. :)
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