9/2914
Tired from day. First sections at Mendo were a bit rough but I recovered. Like this feeling of having finished a novel. Am I completely done, no, but I’m sipping these bubble to celebrate the 7th year, marriage, for Alice and I, and to the book being done. And what do I have at the end, resolution? Not sure, but I have something. A book at the very least. My intensification with education and classroom presence will define me, my story, my path, take me to the Road. Wrote two standalone pieces in the library today, before the 6PM section– whoa, can’t concentrate as much as I’d like, looking very much forward to the new coffee types I bought yesterday while on errands, buying gifts for Ms. Alice as well as little Kerouac.
whoso the Lit Mag back in my thoughts.. I need that to stay relevant and current and published. Driving home from SRJC tonight I thought about submissions and publications and the “prestige” behind having one’s submissions published. But what if I start my own magazine and publish mySelf? It that any less “prestigious”? IS there magazine more… I-don’t-know-what than mine? Too tired to stress now. And I’m still beat from the race yesterday. Running only 3 miles tomorrow. My 2nd half-marathon is only 13 days away. Have to stay current with my mileage. And I will, I’m sure.. just have to enjoy my run, consider it a standalone piece like both of today’s library pieces.. oh that library.. my place, my home, my church. All mine. And I want to instill in students the value of finding your own answers. 10:22, I need sleep, obviously. Wonderful to have the little Artist back in home, with me. Again I think about calling in sick tomorrow. Should I? It’s just a thought. Why not. I don’t need that hassle, that inconvenient clamor. I immix my hypotheticals.. and just think before sleep, a dream before a dream and then within one. I win, as always.
9/30
7:02AM, early start, all melodic, little Kerouac playing with the new trucks, contruction genre, I bought him the other day. Step one in my teaching expansion, into high school honors and AP, draft a 100-150 words letter that I’ll email any contact I can locate; principals, VP’s, admissions, HR, whatever.. research reading strategies, teaching philosophies, even teaching blogs.. everything. And this all comes from that conversation Alice and I had on the way to the furniture store in Rohnert Park, Sunday, and reflecting more on the Wolff short ‘Garden/Martyrs’. I have to martyr myself in a certain vein. And I will move swiftly, more than you’d expect.. and I’ll also open myself to tutoring, the only paycheck conventional I want to receive is one generated from educating efforts. I need a new little notebook. The red one’s full. Had one of my cinnamon dolce coffee cups this morning. I woke at 5-something and was already thinking of it. Not as delicious as I’d hoped, so now I switch to my beloved Verona blend.
I’ll use the new Comp Book to log my teaching ideas. I even went to Stanford’s website last night, the Education Department– my approach is preparing students for college, college-level English, and simply having them more comfortable with the act of writing– THEIR writing! This has to be one of the most screaming ideas I’ve ever had, and it comes so timely. Need coffee–
Yes, and the Verona blend has much more texture and torque than the cinnamon nonsense. I just bought it to try. Now I feel the engine, my Creative growls, nova-ing. Almost done with cup2 already. 7:27, should get all in position.. you know how Jackie can get when it’s time to go to school. I’ll be sneaking books into– no, keep all in the car, and take an early ‘M lunch’, make sure you have the following fulfilled:
teaching notes
Wolff story read
500 words [not project specific]
arrange Spring ’14 notes into novel
read New Yorker issue–