Beth Revis's Blog, page 78

4: Last Month

Part four of a series.



You're scared to tell people you're leaving your job. But when it comes time to sign contracts, you ask for a conference with the principal. You tell him. He's surprised—he had no idea you wrote. He says you can have your old job back any time. You smile sadly.



You're not coming back. You've come to understand that you can be a teacher and a writer at the same time, but you can't be good at both at the same time.



You've made your choice.



When you tell your friend, ...

3: Last Year, and the Year Before

Part three of a series.



The whole while, you're still teaching. You write a book about some kids who find out their teacher is a witch, and really it's wish-fulfillment because you want to be the kind of teacher with a magic wand to fix things.



You wish you could fix more things. You report the bruises to the social service. You hold them when they cry. You send the pregnant ones to the nurse. You wish they'd listen to you when you tell them they're making a mistake. But they never do.



You...

2: Years Ago, Still the Past

This is part two. Check out Monday for part one.



You start writing another book. It's about your brother, but you don't realize that until the end.



In the spring of your first year teaching, you go to a conference. There's a pitch session at the conference. You practice for the whole month before that, in front of the mirror, while driving to work, in your head during your planning period. You make huge packets of samples, copies of the whole book on CD, business cards, signed bookmarks, an...

1: Years Ago, A History

This begins a series of posts that I'll be uploading throughout the week. I know it's long. I'm sorry. The others are shorter. But as I end one career to begin another, I'm very reflective about how I got here.



For your first career day at elementary school, you dress as a secretary because you like to type.



Later, you discover that you like to write stories. Your fifth grade teacher reads one of your stories out loud to the whole class, and you beam the entire time. Your sixth grade teac...

I Like to Watch Them Fight

I can't help it.



I like to see the fights.



I guess that's why I watch Real Housewives, too. That, and the husband and I like to make fun of the women. (Speaking of, OMG, how hilarious was it when Kelly couldn't even open the door?!)



ANYWAY.



There have been two great links lately of writerly insults and literary feuds.



As usual, Mark Twain tops the list. Via bookshelves of doom: The Fifty Best Author Vs. Author Put Downs of all Time. My favorite:

Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice,...

Widgets for You!

I am having trouble with my sidebars, and can't get these to post right there.



BUT.



I want to share widgets with you!





First: GoodReads has a widget where one simple click will add my book to your to-be-read list!

       



   



     

   

There's also this Widget, which shows the book directly:



.gr_container {
  font-family:arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;
  width: 250px;
}
.gr_book_container {
  border-bottom: 1px solid #d7d7d7; padding: 5px 0px;
}
.gr_book_image {
  float...

You

I'm exhausted.



I just tried an experiment--a whole series of reflective posts done in second person. They'll go up next week.



Meanwhile, I was reading the Elevensies blog and read the article on the Day in the Writing Life by Dawn.



And she posted something awesome.



Stickman in Fairyland!!!



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I like the Gnome Knee Biters and the Unicorn Stabbing the best.

Interview: Jacob Parker, author of Kestrel's Midnight Song

Jacob Parker is an author of a YA fantasy, KESTREL'S MIDNIGHT SONG, being released this year,

the maker of one of the best ranked book trailers, and... oh, yeah, he's still a teenager!



You can find Jacob online at his website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter, but here's a introduction to this innovative young author, who's also throwing a huge launch party with giveaways!







YOUIntroduce yourself to us! What's your book about? What are you doing to promote it, and why are you doing it?



I'm a te...

Hey, io9!

io9 thinks the League is cool!



HUGE thanks to io9 for linking back to my article on setting!



This totally made my day. For reals.

Today in Class: Prince of Knowledge

Kid 1: Hey, Mrs. Revis! Did you see Prince of Persia over the weekend?



Me: Yup!



Kid 1: Did you like it?



Me: It was okay...



Kid 1: Okay? Okay?! That movie was freaking awesome!



Kid 2: Yeah! That end was cool! I totally didn't see that coming!



Me: That's why I wasn't that thrilled with it--I totally guessed the ending. I figured out how it would end after, like, the first twenty minutes. So it wasn't that cool for me.



Kid 1: But I didn't figure out the ending. I was totally surprised, an...