puppies

So I took the plunge and filled out an application for a Newfoundland puppy. If I get one, shell arrive the second weekend in October. OMG! Look how cute they are.

http://www.bwkennelsmn.com/CurrentPuppies.html

Back to schoolwork.

And I have to get a ride in today. It rained cats and dogs yesterday (but no puppy fell my way except online), so I didn't ride. I'm in withdrawal.

School, riding...

So far, my students this semester ROCK!
I've had two really good classes--Children's Lit. and Composition, and both groups seem alive and engaged. My comp class had no trouble--each and every one of them--verbalizing something about which they are passionate. So Yippee for me.

Got done with the day and rode 39 miles. Then I went to Cub Foods in my cycling spandex! I'm sure that was a sight, but I didn't have a choice.
Now, dishes and get ready for tomorrow.

I'm still thinking, 24 Hour race. I'm still thinking I want a Newfandland puppy.

school, riding, and dogs

I miss my dogs. Snickers and TommyBean are ever present because they're NOT present at home. I miss them.

Rode 134 miles all total yesterday and today. A couple wonderful rides. I'm still thinking about the 24 hour race next June.

School starts TOMORROW. Wow. The summer was spectacular, but it still went too fast.
I'm almost ready, but I have more work to do.

setting goals...writing, riding...

I had a bad, discouraging conversation with my agent last week, and I've had a really hard time writing since then. Finally, today, working my butt off outside (mowing, trimming, pulling weeds) and indoors ( painted a room and shampooed carpets this week)...plus rode a couple hundred miles this week (have ridden over 500 so far in August, yippee!)...I finally started thinking in sentences and images again. So I sat down and wrote tonight. It feels good. Maybe I needed a break, but I had to love the words again, instead of thinking of selling books.

That's what this is all about: loving making pictures with words and shaping them into stories.
It's not about selling books, or we'd all quit in the middle of it.

And I'm also considering next summer's 24 hour race again. I think it's time to do it again. I'm riding well and lots. I need to not lose my fitness, so maybe this is the time to gear up and train. Hmmmmm.....

Random stuff

I got a new computer for my bike. It's Aug. 11, and I've ridden 383 miles this month. Not too bad. I think I'll get 5000 in again this season, which is my best summer for a few years.

I'm a great aunt! My brother is a grandpa. Ethan William Fjelland came into the world on Thursday. I'm headed to Iowa to meet the little guy today.

Watched "The Constant Gardner" last night with Tom. It's very thought-provoking, and worth the time. It's also very disturbing. I recommend it, but only if you want to think.

School looms ahead--and Children's Lit.

So, I dread the beginning of school all summer. But now that it's looming up a couple weeks away, and I started working on my brand-new class--Special Topics in Lit.: Children's Lit.--I actually felt a twinge of excitement to teach this fall. I'm pretty thrilled to teach this class, actually. If anybody out there is reading this blog, I'd LOVE to hear your favorite books from childhood, or from reading to your own kids. the class will cover everything from baby picture books to YA/crossover with adult, so I'm open to hearing about ANYTHING in that range.

sunrise, summer, and contemplating AllieCat

Not much better than summer. I have treasured every blue, green, and golden day this year. Still, as summer ebbs away and school looms before me, I have to say...it doesn't get much better than sunrise on Lake Superior. Had an interesting talk with my agent this morning. Makes me more than ever determined to get the AllieCat story out in the world.
I felt as if I'd been punched, beat up actually in a ring, left limp. So I stepped back, assessed the damage, and realized only a few vital organs had been involved, rode my bike sixty damn hard miles and know what I can change in my story from this conversation and what I'll insist on keeping until an editor actually buys the story.