The Challenges of Writing - Speaking to a 7th Grade English Class

A couple of months ago my 12 year old daughter said something that really touched me. She said that she had Googled me in class and that the entire first page was about me.

"You're kind of famous," she said and then clarified, "I mean famous for a normal person." I laughed at her observation and I was touched that a know-it-all pre-teen could be impressed by her "old" mom.

(Headshot I use in social media and one of the first images that comes up for me.)

 

Then a couple of weeks ago she came home from school and asked me for my email address. She said that her teacher was going to contact me about speaking to her English class. I don't know about you, but I consider that the utmost compliment from a pre-teen. She actually wants me to come to her school and speak to her class and she's not embarrassed.

 

I have that image from the movie Some Kind of Wonderful when the dad peeks into his daughter's classroom. He waves at her when she seems him and she lets out this blood curdling scream.

 

So with that reaction in mind it's kind of cool that my daughter actually volunteered me to come to her school to speak. I'm speaking to the class about the writing and editing process. Her teacher emailed me and then we talked on the phone for a while and bounced around different ideas about what I could talk about. We finally settled on this outline.

 

·         When I knew I wanted to be a writer

·         How I found my way back to writing with the 10 minute exercises

·         Reading my writing in public with NuestraPalabra (that really pushed me along-the importance of a support group for me)

·         Finishing my novel

·         Reading APE

 

·         The importance of getting a good editor, someone else to check your work

 

·         Revising and self-publishing

So here we go. That's what I'm going to tell those young minds next week. Writing is
work. Writing is a challenge. You have to work to get the words out and then to edit those
words until they sound right.

As I get close to revising my novel and getting ready to publish it I'm reminded of several
years ago when I first met Jennifer Lawson (The Bloggess) on the phone. I told her how
much I enjoyed her blog and her writing and she modestly told me that I was writing
about meaningful things and that she wasn't. That was so sweet of her to say that and so
sweet of her to actually read my blog and reference it on her blog sometimes, but the
truth is that she does write about many meaningful things. It's so amazing that in the
years since that conversation she has published a New York Times' Best Seller, Let's
Pretend This Never Happened. She has been on national television  shows like the Katie
show and she has led life-changing revolutions like "the traveling red dress."

We all have a story to tell. As the great Maya Angelou says, "There is no greater agony
than bearing the untold story inside of you." Jennifer Lawson has done that. She has told
us her story and in my own way I will attempt to do that with my novel.

(Please excuse the crazy alignment. Ever since I added the bullet points I can't get this to straighten out. Ironic, considering I'm talking about editing.)

 

 

 

 

First Week of School, Structure Again & Blog Themes

Every year I can't wait for the school year to end so that I don't have to wake up so early every morning all stressed out in the rush to get the kids to school on time. I look forward to the summer break. But as I get into summer I start to long for the structure that the school year provides. I look forward to Fall and Winter!

(Photo borrowed from Manteca School District)

This year the summer flew by. It seemed like I always had something going on and I rushed forward to reach our family vacation to the East coast right before school started. We had a good time and we had some challenging times but I'm sure it will be a vacation we will remember for a long time. Next one is to the West Coast.

I came back to the "Back to School" rush, buying them their uniforms and school supplies and suddenly here we are. They started this past Monday. I woke up at 6:30 every morning for a week and this evening I finally crashed and burned. I fell asleep for about 2 hours.

I crashed because of the structure. Every day I stayed up all day and I worked. I had a couple of meetings and I worked on a project that I'm finishing up. I didn't come home and take naps like my friends may have thought. I'm not going to say I wasn't tempted, but I didn't do it. The results were that I got a lot of stuff done but my fuel ran out around 8 tonight.

Now here I am awake at 2 a.m. and I realized that I started this blog a few days ago and forgot about it. I'm kind of tired but I took a shower and my hair is still wet so I'm going to wait a little longer.

One of the cool things I did this week was to go hear Gwendolyn Zepeda read her poetry. She was awesome as always and extremely entertaining. Whenever I listen to people like her and like Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess, I'm always struck by how funny they are and I wish I could be funny like that. But being funny isn't that easy. You either are or you aren't and sadly I'm not really. At least not like them.

And I've said this before. I'm not brave like them either, especially not brave like Jenny Lawson who will say ANYTHING and I do mean anything. I want to blog like that. But I don't. I blog like this because this is who I am and I can't blog like Loida Casares pretending to be Jenny Lawson. It just wouldn't work. All of you who know me would be all, "Why is she talking like that all of a sudden." Yeah, that's not good.

Here lately I've also been hearing about how a blog should have one theme. Like Julie & Julia's blog was all about cooking. Then there are crafters and sex writers. I don't have ONE solid theme. I'm all over the place, but I kind of like that because really, that's who I am. That's why at the top of this blog I list all the things I'm passionate about. I like to blog about all these different things.

But I still worry that I'm supposed to be blogging about one certain theme and that if I did I would have millions of followers. What do you all think? My lovely readers who never leave me any comments. I know y'all are out there even if you don't comment. My Google Analytics tells me you are. Unless you just all happen to come across my blog because of my awesome Nike quotes and then leave.

So if you can, drop me a comment and give me your opinion. Should I stick to one topic, like the kids, the challenges of HISD, the challenges of having a son with Asperger's, my daughter who has been part of the Vanguard program in HISD since Kindergarten. There are a lot of things I can talk about or I can just stick to an education theme. Decisions, decisions....

World's Best Mom

We all know I'm the world's best mom. I do all kind of great things for my kids and as a someecard says, I "give them love, nurturing, and just as much dysfunction to make them funny."

The Kids with Copernicus, the Homicidal Monkey

So I'm at the Bloggess' reading at Blue Willow Bookstore on Tuesday night for her new book, "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" and my niece and the kids went with me. The kids were so excited when they saw that Copernicus had made the trip too so I took this picture of them.

A guy and a girl that worked at the shop were cracking up at their antics and because they knew who Copernicus was. I told them that yes I let them read The Bloggess sometimes, because I'm a bad mother like that, but I figure they will exposed to things anyway in life. They agreed and while I clicked the picture I heard them laughing at how silly my children are and I overheard one of them say that when they see kids with that kind of sense of humor it gives them hope for the future. Awww!!

I thought at first that they would hear Jenny read but as it turned out the reading was outside and only my daughter went outside with me to hear her for a few minutes. She cracked up loudly the whole time and people kept turning and looking at us because yes, my daughter is loud like me. Go figure! The kids then spent the rest of the time inside looking at children's books while I waited forever to get my book signed (yes that many people showed up to hear the Bloggess)

The next day we had a parent-teacher-principal conference. Afterwards I asked Seth to tell the teacher and assistant principal what we did the day before. I'm all thinking that it will make me sound like a great mother that I take my kids to hear authors read. (never mind that Jenny uses the F word a lot)

He told them that we went to a reading and I pulled up this picture on my phone. Then he tells  them that he had seen Copernicus and  they were confused and said that Copernicus had died a long time ago. So he clarified that Copernicus was a "homicidal monkey."

At that point they both looked at me with concern in their eyes and I knew then that they knew that yes, I am the problem, because I expose children to inappropriate things. I felt like saying, "Don't mind us, we'll be leaving now." I gathered up Seth and we ran out of there.

There's a reason why my kids have a unique sense of humor. When my daughter asked me today what was my favorite word my reply as I drifted off to sleep was, "Macabre."

Where Do the Days Go???

Seriously, where? I can not believe it's 4 p.m. and I haven't gotten anything written and I haven't cleaned my house.

It all started this morning when I woke up around 9 a.m. and realized that my sore throat had gotten worse. Rey went to play golf and I went back to bed around 10 for a little while, until my father came over and woke me up. I hated myself for sleeping the morning away, but I'm sure I needed it.

I went on with my day after he left but other things kept happening to interrupt it. I said I was going to write and then clean two hours ago and I am barely writing something. The day is gone and I haven't done a thing. Well, I wouldn't say nothing really. My dad was here, we read a Texas Monthly article together. We read my cousin Oscar's essay, "Imaginary Friends." I also told him a follow up story that Oscar told me after the essay was published. When your dad is 86, like mine is, those moments are precious because you don't know how long you'll have them.

I also cooked for my kids and their grandpa brought them "marranitos," gingerbread from his favorite Mexican cafe/bakery. They are gingerbread cut in the shape of little pigs. I used to love to eat them when I was little too, especially the ones my uncle made in his bakery.

I went over to read The Bloggess because I always like to read what's new with her and I was so touched by her blog about people in need and people who reply. What struck me the most was that she said that traffic had not gone up on her blog. Most of the people posting a need and those responding with a gift are her regular readers. I just find it awesome that she was able to create such a great community of readers. I only wish that people were willing to give and to share like this all year long and not only during the holidays.

I'm getting closer and closer to my vacation, which coincidentally is also when I'm having my little surgery. THAT is going to be interesting and painful post-surgery I'm sure with that thing hanging out of me for a couple of days. I AM NOT looking forward to that part of the surgery, but I am looking forward to the results.

On a good note I'll be off from work a total of seven work days with two weekends. That's 11 days in a row to relax, write, and to finish Seth's baby book. Yes, his baby book and he's six, going on seven. That's my life. Procrastinator is my middle name. Hopefully I will catch up on the baby book and writing during my days off.

Swine Flu and More Exciting Matters

OK, so what's up with this crazy swine flu? I was reading about it this morning and all worried about the fact that there were three cases in San Antonio and then later I read that there was a case in New York and I'm all, "Forget about it! We're doomed!"

The Bloggess is reporting that Hailey got scarlet fever and I'm all worried thinking that we're getting these old crazy cases of epidemics coming back and then there's SWINE FLU! What's up with that??

I'm thinking about all this in the back of my mind, yet I still took my kids to the Children's Museum to check out their new wing. A children's museum, totally full of germs. Believe me, I did think twice before I took them there, but I had already told them I was taking them to the infested place where children pass along all their germs.

Afterwards we went by Fiesta to pick up a bunch of stuff I forgot yesterday, like light bulbs and chocolate milk, and I see that my daughter's eye is all red. I was all radical on her, "What's wrong with your eye?" and stuff. She said her eye was itching so she just scratched it and I'm convinced that she picked up some crazy virus at the Children's Museum that she's rubbed into her eye. I'm sure it's going to spread to her other eye and then on to the rest of the family. Is this how swine flu starts? Lovely...

So no, I'm not paranoid about the swine flu, why do you ask? Life is too short to worry about that kind of stuff. Well, too short if you don't believe that you are going to live forever like me, but that's a whole other conversation for another day.

Anyway... oh yeah, my house is a complete mess, but I took the time today to take my kids to the Children's Museum of Houston, I picked up my dad from a random bus stop on his way home and brought him to my house to hang out for a little while AND I watched the second half of Game Four, of the Rockets game against the Trailblazers with hubby. So there! Lot's of quality time at the expense of my house cleanliness. Oh well! The house can always be cleaned, but family time is precious... That's what real life is all about, swine flu or not.

The Bloggess is like Oprah

First of all I love hummus. I don't know why I'm telling y'all that, but I felt compelled to share that about me. Today I bought a hummus mixed with black olives at Kroger. I'm also currently in love with cranberry juice and vodka. Don't ask me why, but I am. I figure I might as well ward off any urinary tract infections while drinking.

Another thing is the love just keeps coming. I have had so many visits to my blog just because Jenny, the Bloggess, mentioned me on the Chronicle's Good Mom/Bad Mom. Today I had at least 4 visits that came from that referral, that I can see. I can't see all of them if their info is protected. Yesterday it was around nine. The first day it was more than twenty. CRAZY! Being mentioned by the Bloggess is obviously like Oprah recommending a book or like, endorsing someone for the Democratic nomination. So just for today I'm putting double spaces between my sentences just for her.

I head a hilarious segment on NPR today about the new IKEA opening up in Brooklyn. Apparently the IKEA is providing a free ferry ride across the water and it drops you off right in front of the IKEA. The reporter was interviewing New Yorkers on the ferry. I don't know why I enjoyed that so much but I did.

I e-mailed my cousin Cindy on the drive home and asked her if she had gone to the new IKEA in Brooklyn yet. She said it barely opened today. OH! I guess I was in the know because I listened to NPR on the drive home. I actually learned something because I listened to the radio instead of talking on the phone all the way home. I forgot my earpiece at home today and I don't talk on the phone without it while driving. I just e-mail people.