BOO! HISS!

I don't wanna go back to school tomorrow! Waah! Boo!

Yesterday I did some vague preparation for the week, by finding some great story-writing-tip sites. Printed out a bunch of stuff to help me help the kids. I found some really good stuff. What I really would love to do is write my own short story. Then they can watch me rewrite and edit, so that they can get some ideas of how it's actually done.

Here's what I really need to focus on: taking my sweet time in the classroom. That last week, where we worked on the basics of writing dialogue the whole time, really showed me that if they get to keep practicing things, they will actually get it. So that's what I need to do. A workshop topic of the week, if you will. I think this week I will continue with what I started before break: using descriptive language, in dialogue, and also in setting, action, and plot.

Or I should start focusing on the elements of fiction. We need to do some character development practice (not like I have any clues how the fuck to do that myself, let alone teach it!), and some plot work, at the very least. I suppose that could come after the descriptive language. Hm. Or actually, it probably makes more sense to do the fundamentals first and then revise it with descriptive language. Fuck. That's more complicated and more work for me. Dammit.

I still have to form the groups for literature circles. I'm really dragging my feet with this shit. I've been anxious to get it started, but I'm not motivated to do all the necessary work for it. FUCK.

Yesterday seemed to mark the end (finally!) of the phlegm stage of this month's Monewts, but I'm still becoming more and more congested. Dammit. It was tough to sleep last night, because I couldn't breathe through my nose. Then I have to try and breathe through my mouth, which causes nasty-tasting cotton mouth...and I'm also always a tiny bit afraid of creatures that would be able to crawl in. Yeeech.

I realized that for nearly the past week, I've only slept five hours a night. No wonder I've been utterly exhausted! The jetlag and timezone adjustment, plus my natural nightowl tendencies, and social opportunities, have joined forces, not unlike Captain America, but significantly less benevolent, to create a terrible pattern of sleeplessness and malaise. Again, BOO! HISS!