Charlene Mattson's Blog, page 2
February 22, 2014
Week 1 of teaching down.
I finished my first week of teaching, phew! It was mostly pretty good, but also kinda rough-mostly exhausting because of the new routine.
I'm up at 6:30am to get ready to go so I can walk down at 7:30 to be there by about ten to eight. Then I prep for class until 9 and then I'm teaching from 9-12. 12-12:30 is technically lunch, but since there is no place for teachers to 'hide' yet, I usually spend half that time simply helping the stragglers, answering questions, and then gulping down lunch in 10-15 minutes. Then it's back to teaching from 12:30-2:30 and then another two hours after that of helping one of the students get caught up. I'm hope by about ten to five, make supper, take care of the kiddo and then rinse and repeat for the week.
So exhausting.
But at the same time, there were so many 'ah-ha!' moments when students achieved things, so much laughter and joking to break tension and so many people looking relieved; it was nice. I enjoy helping people learn :D
Week 2 begins on Monday. This coming week should be easier as most of the class will be doing their own thing, but who knows? It could throw me a curveball. That's why I have a frozen lasagna in the fridge.
William has been taking the change in an all right fashion-he mostly behaves for my sister. However, he has been clingy and he keeps telling me he misses me. :/ Hopefully he adjusts.
~
Writing has halted completely. I might bring my manuscript to work on my flash drive so that when I'm not helping students, I can work on it a bit. I've got to get back to it! On the other hand, other ideas are creeping around in my head, so that's nice.
The whole week is kind of a big blur at this point. I have to mark finals next week and total everyone's grades for my boss. Hopefully everyone passes! But for now, I'm mostly...
What's on the Shelf:
I had to take 2312 back to the library today because I know I won't get to it until it's due. Sigh. I'll have to take it out later.
The Devil You Know, by Mike Cary
Passage, by Connie Willis
Editing:
Stalled due to work. We'll see what happens next week.
I'm up at 6:30am to get ready to go so I can walk down at 7:30 to be there by about ten to eight. Then I prep for class until 9 and then I'm teaching from 9-12. 12-12:30 is technically lunch, but since there is no place for teachers to 'hide' yet, I usually spend half that time simply helping the stragglers, answering questions, and then gulping down lunch in 10-15 minutes. Then it's back to teaching from 12:30-2:30 and then another two hours after that of helping one of the students get caught up. I'm hope by about ten to five, make supper, take care of the kiddo and then rinse and repeat for the week.
So exhausting.
But at the same time, there were so many 'ah-ha!' moments when students achieved things, so much laughter and joking to break tension and so many people looking relieved; it was nice. I enjoy helping people learn :D
Week 2 begins on Monday. This coming week should be easier as most of the class will be doing their own thing, but who knows? It could throw me a curveball. That's why I have a frozen lasagna in the fridge.
William has been taking the change in an all right fashion-he mostly behaves for my sister. However, he has been clingy and he keeps telling me he misses me. :/ Hopefully he adjusts.
~
Writing has halted completely. I might bring my manuscript to work on my flash drive so that when I'm not helping students, I can work on it a bit. I've got to get back to it! On the other hand, other ideas are creeping around in my head, so that's nice.
The whole week is kind of a big blur at this point. I have to mark finals next week and total everyone's grades for my boss. Hopefully everyone passes! But for now, I'm mostly...
What's on the Shelf:
I had to take 2312 back to the library today because I know I won't get to it until it's due. Sigh. I'll have to take it out later.
The Devil You Know, by Mike Cary
Passage, by Connie Willis
Editing:
Stalled due to work. We'll see what happens next week.
February 15, 2014
Those Who Do, Can Teach (or something)
I start my teaching job on Monday.
I feel like I should be nervous, but either I'm still in a food hangover from yesterday or I've actually prepared (nearly) enough to not feel nervous. It's a peculiar feeling as I'm nearly always nervous about new things (sometimes devastatingly so) and this time, other than a slight nervous butterfly and a slight headache (food hangover I'm sure), I'm not very nervy. Oh this will likely change Monday morning when I'm actually going and again when I'm facing 10 pairs of eyes, but at the moment, I'm kind of excited about it. Nervous, but excited.
I finally broke through the wall of editing for Glass Slipper. Man that was awful. Now to put all the pieces together again so that it becomes a coherent story! I was doing well, but this week I was prepping to teach and one of the lessons took me three days to figure out and left me drained and exhausted. Glah. Hopefully I can teach it in the one day it's allotted without falling over! Thursday-as usual-will be an awful day, lol.
It's also a slight peculiarity that I've been fielding questions about Kellan Publishing and trying to set up interviews on the radio for myself and one or two other local authors. So strange, but I guess I've been doing marketing writing for the better part of six years now, so shouldn't I be used to it?
I guess not so much. But it's kind of empowering at the same time.
So I guess the moral for this week is to take control, be prepared and take a chance. Kind of my motto for the year!
What's on the Shelf:
First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
Editing:
Slowed down again. Hopefully I can find a routine soon.
I feel like I should be nervous, but either I'm still in a food hangover from yesterday or I've actually prepared (nearly) enough to not feel nervous. It's a peculiar feeling as I'm nearly always nervous about new things (sometimes devastatingly so) and this time, other than a slight nervous butterfly and a slight headache (food hangover I'm sure), I'm not very nervy. Oh this will likely change Monday morning when I'm actually going and again when I'm facing 10 pairs of eyes, but at the moment, I'm kind of excited about it. Nervous, but excited.
I finally broke through the wall of editing for Glass Slipper. Man that was awful. Now to put all the pieces together again so that it becomes a coherent story! I was doing well, but this week I was prepping to teach and one of the lessons took me three days to figure out and left me drained and exhausted. Glah. Hopefully I can teach it in the one day it's allotted without falling over! Thursday-as usual-will be an awful day, lol.
It's also a slight peculiarity that I've been fielding questions about Kellan Publishing and trying to set up interviews on the radio for myself and one or two other local authors. So strange, but I guess I've been doing marketing writing for the better part of six years now, so shouldn't I be used to it?
I guess not so much. But it's kind of empowering at the same time.
So I guess the moral for this week is to take control, be prepared and take a chance. Kind of my motto for the year!
What's on the Shelf:
First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
Editing:
Slowed down again. Hopefully I can find a routine soon.
February 8, 2014
Trying Again (argh)
I'm constantly giggling/rolling my eyes at myself for this: I don't blog very well.
Or, you know, at all.
I feel as though I should be blogging more. I'm a writer (reaaalllly!) Professionally speaking and passionately speaking. But I just have problems blogging about myself.
This actually dates back to childhood. I had a diary, but I was slightly sporadic about it. My Grade 3 teacher was at odds with me and my parents because the journal assignment was supposed to be giving us the chance to talk about ourselves and instead I made up stories. (My life was boring, what can I say? My mom is still rolling her eyes over the whole thing-she said the teacher should have just been happy I was writing and what I was writing was a sight more interesting than 'yesterday I went to the park. It was fun'.)
The reluctance to write about myself has continued to adulthood. Get me to write about anything from the history of silver to the best hotels in Cambodia and I'm good. Ask me to write a paragraph about myself and I will probably give you the deer in the headlights expression.
Yeah, that expression.
This means that I have a hard time with this whole blogging thing. So I'm terribly sporadic. But I keep trying! I should get brownie points for that.
Someone harass me about it. Ask me questions or something. That might work.
Books on the shelf:
Chosen, by Benedict Jacka
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Splintered by A.G. Howard
First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Manuscript headway:
Editing. O so much editing. And revising. I discovered a terrible plot hole which was so terrible that it was causing other plot holes to follow. Like earthquakes. I know how to fix it, but actually implementing the fix is another matter. le sigh.
I'm hopeful that if the job as an instructor sticks, I will be working kind of two weeks on, two weeks off thing where I teach for two weeks a month and then the other two weeks is devoted to my freelancing (er, for one client) and manuscripts. Then things will move along briskly.
Or, you know, at all.
I feel as though I should be blogging more. I'm a writer (reaaalllly!) Professionally speaking and passionately speaking. But I just have problems blogging about myself.
This actually dates back to childhood. I had a diary, but I was slightly sporadic about it. My Grade 3 teacher was at odds with me and my parents because the journal assignment was supposed to be giving us the chance to talk about ourselves and instead I made up stories. (My life was boring, what can I say? My mom is still rolling her eyes over the whole thing-she said the teacher should have just been happy I was writing and what I was writing was a sight more interesting than 'yesterday I went to the park. It was fun'.)
The reluctance to write about myself has continued to adulthood. Get me to write about anything from the history of silver to the best hotels in Cambodia and I'm good. Ask me to write a paragraph about myself and I will probably give you the deer in the headlights expression.
Yeah, that expression.
This means that I have a hard time with this whole blogging thing. So I'm terribly sporadic. But I keep trying! I should get brownie points for that.
Someone harass me about it. Ask me questions or something. That might work.
Books on the shelf:
Chosen, by Benedict Jacka
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Splintered by A.G. Howard
First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Manuscript headway:
Editing. O so much editing. And revising. I discovered a terrible plot hole which was so terrible that it was causing other plot holes to follow. Like earthquakes. I know how to fix it, but actually implementing the fix is another matter. le sigh.
I'm hopeful that if the job as an instructor sticks, I will be working kind of two weeks on, two weeks off thing where I teach for two weeks a month and then the other two weeks is devoted to my freelancing (er, for one client) and manuscripts. Then things will move along briskly.
December 28, 2013
Well... Guess I'm Here!
I've been accepted as a Goodreads Author which is pretty cool and a nice way to reach out to more people! It's a nice note to add to my journey from a freelance writer with many unseen manuscripts to a freelance writer with one published book (and hopefully more to come!) I guess the whole journey...
Oh but wait, you may not know the whole journey! Well, it's not exciting, but it'll be quick.
For four years now, I've taken part in National Novel Writing Month as a way to kickstart my butt back to writing fiction in the wake of the birth of my son and running my own freelancing business (you can see why I needed to CARVE time out to write fiction!) The first two manuscripts didn't go anywhere (and the first one went missing), but the third one... ah, the third one became special. Borne from a panicked moment on about October 29 when I realized I had no ideas and I was watching my son play with his Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser and written in a month, I didn't expect much from it either, but I hoped.
In May of 2013, I was looking for work through Elance when I came across a job posting. A new publishing house was (and is currently! check out www.kellanpublishing.com) looking for authors. I took a deep breath, cleaned up the first three chapters of my novel and sent it off for review. Believe you me, I was shaking and the fact that I kept goofing up the Captcha seemed to me an ill omen.
But success! In early June, I heard back from the publishing house. They accepted my manuscript! In a frenzied six weeks (ye gods), I edited, cleaned up, patched and dragged a good friend in to edit the completed thing and sent it away. The result? The Curious Case of Prince Charming which is now tied to my name!
Back to what I was saying. Becoming a Goodreads Author is a nice tip of the hat towards this whole journey. It's not the end, but it's a great beginning and I hope that many others will follow with me! After a certain point, whether you want to write, draw, paint, do music, go to university/college, get a new job, get into a relationship (or out of one) or any other life change, you just have to take the plunge and do it! It's scary, believe me, and it won't always work out the way you thought, but it's better than doing nothing at all.
So much for words of wisdom. Here's an update on current and future projects:
-The Curious Case can be found in a variety of e-formats. No print yet-it takes the time and it costs more-but it should be out in a few weeks.
-Been working on The Glass Slipper Conspiracy which is the second book. It was done for NaNoWriMo 2013 and it needs a LOT of work, but slowly and surely, it will get there. Someday, there will be TWO books by my name.
-My mom read The Curious Case which freaks me out. I have a great deal of respect for my mother and my father-they are great writers, great readers and know very much what they like and are vocal about it (particularly my dad so I'm even more terrified of him reading it). My mom at least really liked it and our conversation clearing up a few points and adding to it has been inspirational for tweaking the plot of Book 3 and a book in the future. So thanks Mom!
I don't know what else to write here, so I guess... what would you readers like to see? Let me know!
Oh but wait, you may not know the whole journey! Well, it's not exciting, but it'll be quick.
For four years now, I've taken part in National Novel Writing Month as a way to kickstart my butt back to writing fiction in the wake of the birth of my son and running my own freelancing business (you can see why I needed to CARVE time out to write fiction!) The first two manuscripts didn't go anywhere (and the first one went missing), but the third one... ah, the third one became special. Borne from a panicked moment on about October 29 when I realized I had no ideas and I was watching my son play with his Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser and written in a month, I didn't expect much from it either, but I hoped.
In May of 2013, I was looking for work through Elance when I came across a job posting. A new publishing house was (and is currently! check out www.kellanpublishing.com) looking for authors. I took a deep breath, cleaned up the first three chapters of my novel and sent it off for review. Believe you me, I was shaking and the fact that I kept goofing up the Captcha seemed to me an ill omen.
But success! In early June, I heard back from the publishing house. They accepted my manuscript! In a frenzied six weeks (ye gods), I edited, cleaned up, patched and dragged a good friend in to edit the completed thing and sent it away. The result? The Curious Case of Prince Charming which is now tied to my name!
Back to what I was saying. Becoming a Goodreads Author is a nice tip of the hat towards this whole journey. It's not the end, but it's a great beginning and I hope that many others will follow with me! After a certain point, whether you want to write, draw, paint, do music, go to university/college, get a new job, get into a relationship (or out of one) or any other life change, you just have to take the plunge and do it! It's scary, believe me, and it won't always work out the way you thought, but it's better than doing nothing at all.
So much for words of wisdom. Here's an update on current and future projects:
-The Curious Case can be found in a variety of e-formats. No print yet-it takes the time and it costs more-but it should be out in a few weeks.
-Been working on The Glass Slipper Conspiracy which is the second book. It was done for NaNoWriMo 2013 and it needs a LOT of work, but slowly and surely, it will get there. Someday, there will be TWO books by my name.
-My mom read The Curious Case which freaks me out. I have a great deal of respect for my mother and my father-they are great writers, great readers and know very much what they like and are vocal about it (particularly my dad so I'm even more terrified of him reading it). My mom at least really liked it and our conversation clearing up a few points and adding to it has been inspirational for tweaking the plot of Book 3 and a book in the future. So thanks Mom!
I don't know what else to write here, so I guess... what would you readers like to see? Let me know!
