How to use this Page

Elora Writers' Festival invites entries for their 6th annual writing competition. Prizes: $100, $75, $50 (Adults). Age categories: adult, teen (13-19), junior (12 and under). Submit: Short story/personal essay (2000 words), poetry (75 lines max), or one-act plays. Entry fee: $10. Open theme. Deadline: May 8, 2009. More details...

Orca Book Publishers (BC) seeks submissions for high-interest novels with contemporary themes, written expressly for teens reading below grade level. More details...

Pandora's Collective (BC) invites entries for their annual poetry contest. Submit poems 40 lines max. Prizes: First (adults) $100; first (teens) - $70; first (children) - $40. Entry fees: Adults - $5/poem; Teens (14 to 19) - $4/poem; Children (13 and under) - $3/poem. Deadline May 15, 2008. More details...

Elora Writers' Festival invites entries for their 5th annual writing competition. Prizes: $100, $75, $50 (Adults) and $75, $50, $25 (Teen and Junior). Age categories:adult, teen (13-19), junior (12 and under). Submit: Short story/personal essay (2000 words) or poetry (75 lines max). Entry fee: $10. Theme: A Harvest of Words. Deadline: May 2, 2008. More details...

Ever heard of it? One of my 8th graders has it. It's sort of like EXTREME shyness. The student simply is not capable of speaking in a crowd, or even one on one. It's highly stressful. It's a condition that can sneak up on a parent. You simply think your child is shy, then as they hit higher grades, middle school, class changes, more teachers, more classmates, you realize something is wrong.

So we're working with my student. She's brilliant, and makes exemplary grades. I love to make her laugh in class. But she won't talk. She won't answer roll.  She's meeting with teachers after school. Today we tried this really, really cool game. I had to share in case you know someone who suffers this affliction.

The game? Taboo! It's so fun. This student, being gifted, is highly competitive. She, her gifted teacher, my daughter and I teamed up to play. It was incredible! A major breakthrough. It's normally very difficult for her to even say yes or no. She nods. Today, she was giving clues to my daughter. By the time we finished playing, a couple of hours later, she was fairly relaxed. I'm SO proud of her! She's an  amazing young lady.

Taboo. Really. If you know someone who suffers from Selective Mutism, share this with them!

Hubby and son are both camping this weekend. They were both invited to experience the Order of the Arrow ordeal. Cool, huh? So, meanwhile, daughter and I are hanging out watching Hannah Montana together. We're highlighting her hair. This is a first. She's not nervous at all. Me, that's another story. I've never done this before. A girly-girl, I am not! We rinse in about 5 minutes. Wish us luck!

Oh...and a teen girl should never have to shop in the shoe section of Walmart with a mother who is displaying waaaayyy too much above her rear belt line. And I'm not talking underwear. I wish. Needless to say, we didn't spend more than a few seconds looking for flip flops. Ewww. Poor girl.

I hadn't been out to the theatre in a while, but the marvelous Liz G. had a spare ticket to Next to Normal at Second Stage Theatre, and so I took her up on her offer of a night out. I doubted I would care much for the play, but it's been a few months since I've seen a live stage production, and my addiction is deep enough that I was in severe withdrawal.

My problem when I see new plays is that I tend to blame all faults on the script. I first noticed this back in college when I was reviewing for NYU's Washington Square News, every new (and generally painfully awful) play seemed to me to suffer from atrociously cliched and/or banal and/or pretentious and/or halfbaked and/or insipid scripts. In a city where so many actors, designers, and directors go perpetually unemployed, it was rare to see a show that was particularly badly acted, directed, or designed. Or it may be that my own focus on playwrighting caused and causes me to locate faults in the area I know best.

In any case, once again, I thought most of the problems with the show were at the basic level of the script (well, libretto, lyrics, and music in this case). The actors didn't seem quite warmed up in the first ten minutes or so, but once they found their footing, they performed with real precision and intensity, which is what made the play bearable for me -- much as I liked the idea of a musical about a manic-depressive woman and her family, the story was so predictable and uninspired, so sentimental and cloyingly movie-of-the-week in its development that it's a wonder I found the experience of watching it basically painless and occasionally pleasurable. While certainly some of the pleasure did come from scripted moments -- if he can repress his schmaltzy tendencies, Brian Yorkey has the potential to be an extraordinary lyricist, since a few of the songs have clever and affecting lines -- most came from the sheer energy of the actors, all of whom throw themselves into the material with more gusto than it deserves.

The last play I saw directed by Michael Greif was Rent, a show I basically loathe (for many reasons), though the slickness of direction that bothered me so much with Rent works better here, with a story of upper-middle-class anxiety. The set is the sort of scaffolding thing that was new and interesting in the '60s, but it works well enough here, and is served particularly well by Kevin Adams's lighting. The costume design is contemporary, of course, and the characters go through an awful lot of outfits -- the actor in me was cringing at the amount of quick-changes.

As we were talking about the show, Liz and I started wondering about the audiences that producers of new musicals must be trying to reach. It's nice to see a musical where the characters sing lines with the sort of profanity that everybody uses casually these days, but it's strange that the music sounds like it was written in the late '70s -- really, many of the songs could easily pass themselves off as trunk tunes from Neil Diamond or Anne Murray. Meanwhile, the story is one that is probably dear to the hearts of suburbanites: family dysfunction, lots of pills, kids who are over-pressured to get into Yale and so end up doing lots of pills themselves, etc. From a producer's standpoint, it makes a lot of sense to put such a show on the boards, because the audience that is going to pay $80 for a ticket to a play in NY is the kind of audience that is likely to have good memories of Neil Diamond and Anne Murray songs and is worried about all the prescriptions in the medicine cabinet. Indeed, the audience at Next to Normal seemed to truly love the show, and quite a few people gave it a standing ovation. (I don't say this as a criticism, merely an observation. Some of my best friends have fond memories of Neil Diamond and Anne Murray songs and have way too many prescriptions in their medicine cabinets. They, too, deserve musicals.)

The sad effect of all this on the American theatre is that it makes something like Threepenny Opera, a play that will reach the 80th anniversary of its premiere this summer, seem breathtakingly radical still.

But it was good to get out to the theatre again, something I need to do more often. (I'm sad that Soho Rep's production of Sarah Kane's Blasted has been postponed to October -- I had been looking forward to seeing it this spring.)

Liz brought me goodies, too, which made me tremendously happy, including the manuscript of a new novel by a writer whose first book excited me quite a bit and copies of The SFWA European Hall of Fame and the late, great Avram Davidson's Adventures in Unhistory: Conjectures on the Factual Foundations of Several Ancient Legends, a book that is an utter delight and belongs in every household. Really.

Now I must head off to more peregrinations and intemperate thoughts, some of which I am certain I shall share. Until then... Read the rest of this post

So... it really does get cold in Florida. Sometimes it gets colder than it's supposed to. Like, instead of 35, the temp plummets to 29! And sometimes hubby forgets to put the tarp over the water pump, and doesn't turn on the heat lamp, and doesn't leave the water drizzling from the faucets.

So that when wifey (that's me) gets in the shower in her normal sleep deprived state, she barely makes note of the low water pressure. She lathers her head with shampoo. Except, when it's time to rinse, there's no more water coming out of the shower head. None. At all. Zip. Nada.

Of course, the entire rest of the household is still asleep. Wife yells for hubby. "I need your help." Gallant hubby shuffles to the rescue. "What do you want ME to do?" Umm...bring me bottled water, and close the bathroom...." Too late. He's gone. "....door. You're letting the heat out."

He returns with five or six small bottles of water. It takes a total of two for wife to decide 1) she doesn't have nearly enough bottles of water to get the soap out, and 2) it's freakin' cold!!!!!

Wife tries to ring out as much soap as she can, dries the soap off her skin, wraps her still soapy head in a towel, dons her jammies, robe, and slippers once again, calls and wakes her retired parents across town, and drives over in said jammies, robe, towel and slippers, to parents house to finish her shower.

Wife is careful not to speed, although she does wonder if the local police would really be mean enough to add a ticket to her morning. No, they'd probably get a good laugh and repeat the story all day. "There was this lady with a towel around her head, frantically trying to hold her robe together while rummaging through her glove compartment looking for her registration..." Hmmm...can you get a ticket for indecent driving?

Yes, I was a half hour late for work.

I'm watching the weather tonight before I go to bed.

Kids should be going back to school tomorrow. Of course, I'll have to get up at 6:30 to make sure they get up in time to either catch the bus or have their daddy take them in. I know, I know. Why can't he do it? Let's see. Maybe it's because he can get up, eat, shower, and be ready to leave the house in 30 minutes, tops. Maybe he really doesn't know I get up an hour before he does just to make sure the kids are up and ready. Maybe he doesn't realize that my daughter turns into Hannah Montana while she's brushing her teeth. Maybe he doesn't realize how long it takes her to decide how to wear her hair...that's before she brushes those teeth. Maybe he doesn't realize that she has to get dressed three or four times before she's finally ready. Sigh...

Son ended up with bronchitis. He was given a kick a$$ Z-Pack. His fever is gone. Daughter should have gone to school yesterday but I didn't wake up till almost 7:30. See above. So she stayed home and coughed all day long. But no fever. She's also on antibiotics. Me? My fever is staying between 101 and 102. One more day I tell myself. Surely I can go back to school Friday. I may need to visit a doctor myself. We'll see. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to naps without listening to kids fighting over TV/Computer volume in the background.

Daughter's antibiotics helped her kick the bug. She went on her field trip today and was/is fine. Hubby stayed home today. He's better and hopefully will get to go back to work tomorrow. Son? I'm not sure if he'll be going to school tomorrow or not. Me? My turn. I've already called in sick so they can get a sub. Uck.


Ewww....gross froggy! I'm not THAT sick. Just fever and cough.

Seventy-five percent of the Rensbergers are sick. I'm the lucky twenty-five percent that's not. So far. Hubby got it first, mostly fever with cough. Then daughter complained of a sore throat. Son was dizzy. Yesterday early evening, hubby took a nap. Son took daughter Gatorade for me while I dealt with a sick, throwing up, geriatric cat. Son's temp made it above 102. Daughter threw up twice. Her temp had me calling the doctor to see if I needed to take her to the hospital. Luckily the meds brought it down. Fever broke at 104.3, scary. We're alternating Tylenol and Motrin to keep fever at bay. She has a field trip tomorrow. She'll have to miss it. Hubby's already missed work last week. I went to my classroom this afternoon and left emergency plans for three days. Here's hoping that I manage to stay well.

This is one nasty bug. Hope all my friends in LJ land are staying healthy!

before I drag my sleep-deprived self to bed. For those of you who use flash drives, jump drives, zip drives, whatever you want to call them....I have three words.

BACK THEM UP!!!

I always back up my writing. That's important. But I didn't back up my work flash drive. Plugged it in this morning. Nothing. My computer wouldn't even recognize that something was in the USB port. ANY of them. It wouldn't work on two other computers either. I have all my grades on it, lesson plans, assessments, just tons of stuff. And it's not backed up. Fortunately, we have a brand new math teacher this year that I've been sharing the assessments with. He's going to email them back to me. And of course, I have all my grades in my actual gradebook, the old-fashioned way. But what a pain. Our tech guy took it away today. He's going to run it through a program and try to recover the data for me. In the meanwhile, I thought I'd just give you all a quick heads up.

Ok...off to bed. Nighty-nite!

I have my toes crossed! Heh. Heh. Meanwhile, I've had waaayyy too much coffee today. I can't sleep. I took my daughter and two of her friends to see "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" at a dinner theater. They loved it! I drank *ahem* three, THREE cups of coffee. That's not including the two cups I had this morning before church. I've played with MySpace and decided to keep my layout. I've played with site counters and decided to play with one I'd already signed up with a week or so ago. For now. Till I figure it out. Then I'll try a different one. I even worked on my YA for a while.

Now I HAVE to try to sleep! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................  

Go Jaguars!!!!!!!!

Anyway, for those of you who are trying to get rid of clutter, mental and physical, this year, take a peek at this article in the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/health/01well.html?no_interstitial

Before I think about resolutions for 2008, I thought I should see how I fared this year.

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables.
Nope. Don't think I did that. But it's a worthwhile effort. I'll keep that one for 2008. I have a cruise in June for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, AND my 30th high school reunion!

2. I resolve to make more time to work out ...
Nope...at least not till the last month or so. But, (see above), I'll have to stick to this one. The Y recently started aerobics classes. I used to LOVE aerobics and tried it again. Ummm...my poor knees. And jumping jacks? I've had two kids! Ya know? Soooo...I've discovered YOGA! I really, really, like it. And the instructor promises I can lose weight doing it. Three times per week. I'm committed.

3. I resolve to submit more.
Boy, am I glad I listed this one! In my post a year ago, I listed that I'd rec'd 22 rejections since June of 2002, which included the "mass mailing" of atrocious submissions when I was a newbie and just didn't have a clue. This year I've sent out 27 submissions! Wahoo!!! Of those, 5 are still out, one, making the rounds of editors! I've gotten some awesome, encouraging rejections in the process.

In 2008 I want to maintain this. I don't want to mass-mail willy-nilly, but I want to be aggressive in the submission process. Stay on top of them better. Follow up. (I just discovered a submission that's been out almost a YEAR that I'd forgotten about.) I will also continue to read/review books to better target my submissions. BTW, writing reviews has made writing the dreaded synopsis SO much easier!

4) I resolve to write more.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Maybe not every day like all the experts tell you. But I did a pretty good job of using the time I had this year. As a teacher, I have those breaks. Especially summer. During the year, I tend to do more revisions, crits. That's the mode my mind is in. I have to have time to decompress to be able to create new stuff. During the summer, I had that time. I had only three chapters of Vanishing Teachers written at the beginning of the summer. I wrote, revised, rewrote, and finished it. I plotted out a new YA. I started a sequel to Black-Eyed Susans. And, after an awesome rejection that really helped me figure out how to make BES stronger, I'm thick in the midst of revising it. I've already cut about 5000 words from the beginning of the book. I still need to write three more chapters for the middle. Then I'll let it rest and submit it again, stronger, and better! And, if I'm very lucky, I might get to write another Squirrelly book! I won't count those nuts yet....

5. I resolve to become more confident using technology.
Success here too! I've become much more comfortable using html. I have this journal, as well as a MySpace. I'm using
clickers almost every single day in my classroom. (Teachers...check this out! My students LOVE them. I do too!) Next on my list is a website. I'll have to do some research on that one. Or maybe I'll wait till I get the coveted book contract. Not sure.

So, year in review....I'm doing GREAT on  my professional goals. It's those personal goals I'm not doing so well on. So, for 2008:

6. Continue working on those professional goals.

7. Focus on the personal goals.
I owe it to myself and my family to work toward personal health and fitness.

8. Learn better money management.
This year I promise my husband that I'll take a more active role in our family finances. I wish to also be in better fiscal health by 2009.

9. Unclutter my life.
This year I want to get rid of things that are clutter. Not just the obvious house clutter. But also those things that clutter the mind. Stress from family issues with my brother and niece. I can't change anything. Let it go. Job stress... I can only do so much. I am only one person. Do the best you can, let the rest go. Taxi stress... you know, teen schedules...again, I'm only one person. I can only do so much.  Let the stress go. Enjoy my teens. Unclutter my home so I can feel at peace.

10. Show my husband more appreciation.
He puts up with so much, and supports my dreams. I need to reciprocate better. I'm want to spend the rest of my life with him. I want him to continue to want to spend his with me.

For the first time I can remember, we saw amazing colors on the way up to Argos, Indiana this year. I even had to call my mom and dad to exclaim how beautiful they were. I'm embarrassed to say how many pictures I took through the car window. The ones I'll share with you are at a rest area in Tennessee. I think.



Rest Area in Tennessee

It was great to see the Rensberger side of the family. We see the parents every winter in Florida, but this was the first time in years that all of the family made it, including the new great grandbaby! But the best part was the cooking. Here, my daughter is making pumpkin cheesecake! Nothing like being able to cook with Aunt Pat. She's the best!


The side bangs are new. Mom's getting used to it. :)

And Guess what! We had SNOW on Thanksgiving!!! All day long! The ground was too warm for it to stick, but it was fun watching it fall anyway. Maybe you can see it. Ignore the extra chins. I bumped the camera. ;)


It's not gray hair and dandruff! It's really SNOW!!!



Don't those poor cows look cold? No wonder they kept busting out. They were looking for a warm basement!



It's still snowing, but it's hard to see through the screen. But the pond is just barely starting to freeze.

We visited Lake Michigan in Michigan City before hitting the outdoor outlet mall. We started to walk all the way out to the lighthouse, till Aunt Pat told us we couldn't go up in it. It didn't take us long to turn back around and head to the car.


It looks like a post card. No, we didn't walk all the way out there.


It was blustery and brrr cold! But it's a beach! It should be warm!

I wanted to taste the water so bad. I know it's fresh water, but my brain insisted there must be salt! I was born in Carbondale, Illinois and was raised in the midwest. I moved to Florida in the 7th grade, (probably why I'm so mixed up), so I remember snow. But I never had to drive in it, or shop in it, or even shovel too many sidewalks. But I still get excited when I see it, and my kids love it. Florida welcomed us back home with temps in the low 80's.

Before I go I have to share something from today...


No....it's not a coon.

It's my daughter's kitten. Here's a better picture of her (with Rachel).


Rachel and her kitten, Reeses


And here's where she really was in that tree!



That little blob way up there? Reeses!

Yep. She climbed up on her own. No dogs. Not being chased. Just wanted to play with those leaves way up there. See the gray/blue color topped in black in the bottom left corner? That's our storage shed/barn. I'm guessing she was at least 50 feet up. And yes, she got down just fine. The kids spread an afghan between them. She climbed most of the way down. Fell about the last 8 feet and they caught her. Rachel didn't let her out of the house the rest of the day. Reeses cat-napped. Heh heh.

We may put up a Christmas tree without ornaments this year!

Hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was a blessing!

I'm bushed and heading to bed. But first I have to post. My kids both auditioned for honor band tonight. My 8th grade son made first chair trombone! He has a fabulous tone and apparently flew through the scales with ease. Although, he grins and says he missed a note in the Chromatic. My 7th grade daughter also made honor band. She's 7th chair flute. I'm so proud! She's actually an oboe player but we've had problems all year getting a playable oboe. She picked up the flute about 6 weeks ago to march in the homecoming parade. She's doing incredibly well.

I loved band. I'm so glad they enjoy it. Yep. I'm a proud mama. But I'm exhausted. I'm out. Night all. Sweet write-downable dreams to everyone!

***write-downable*** That's a knee slapper! Heh Heh.

My computer died several days ago. The blue screen of death finally got it. We had to order a new hard drive. We think we've got it fixed, but now I have to set up all my bookmarks again. Teaching is working me to death this year. I barely have time to read, much less write. I keep hoping it will slow down. But not so far. Meanwhile, at least now I can lurk when I have time. Forgive me if I'm not commenting. I'm so overwhelmed this year. I miss you all.

And a huge thanks to my writer buddies for the birthday surprises tonight! You guys are my sea of calm when I feel like I've been hit by a tidal wave at work. You help me stay focused on the dream. It will happen one day.

Can you see it? Is my writing all shiny and glittery now? Yep. I thought so. Now if I could just eek out some time to work on my new YA.

I brought home my Alg. One and Pre-Alg. texts tonight. Yep, did lesson plans. I was supposed to either go to my writer's meeting or to the hospital to see Mom. She got her second knee replaced today. She's doing great! Even answered the phone when I called and was fairly lucid. Amazing. I was going to go see her tonight, but have a very sore throat. It's been going around at school. She doesn't need that, nor do my writing buddies. I should have stayed home to read, or write, but no....I did my lesson plans. Have I told you that work is killing me this year? I'm so overwhelmed. And I''ve been teaching for 18 years! LOTS of changes. I just hope the students will truly learn more this way. Time will tell.

Geez, I'm rambling. Just wanted to pop in and crow about the new laptop keyboard. Yay, hubby!

When your husband is using your laptop, don't let him put his cup next to the computer because if you do, he just might accidentally tip it over on the keyboard. And even if he catches it really, really, fast, the liquid will fry your keyboard, and you'll be stuck with no computer, or, if you're lucky, you'll have an old keyboard minus a few keys that sorta works until you can replace it.

Just sayin'... Read the rest of this post

I finished my revisions for Vanishing Teachers today. Now if I can just find the time to read it straight through. I'm hoping I'll be able to next weekend.

I got three rejections in the last two days. One was personal from an editor on a ms that I'd forgotten I'd sent her. The other two were on LJ. LOL. Really. See, some of my friends have been pruning, and I got pruned. It's ok. I understand. But I mention it just because I'm wondering if my reaction is a writer thing. I get friended and it's like, "Cool, they like my journal." Then once I'm back at school, rarely posting, and even more rarely commenting, naturally, I become a casualty of pruning. But, it's like, I've been rejected. They hate me. My journal is sooo boring. Are all writers this neurotic?

The kids are away for the weekend with family friends. I miss them, but I've gotten so much done. I'm going spend a few hours tomorrow doing more submission research and get my work back out there. I send stuff out and forget about it. Then I realize the rejections have been coming in, and I only have two or three submissions out there. I won't sell anything if I don't submit it. Back to the grindstone. Yep. My least favorite part of writing. I love writing, revising, reading, and critiquing. Researching agents and editors, not may favorite.

Have a relaxing Labor Day, everybody!

Whew! It's been a busy week! I even brought work home this weekend so I can give students their averages on Tuesday. Lots of changes at school that are taking tons more time. Hopefully, we'll see improvement in student learning as a result.

Meanwhile, my 13/yo son has decided NOT to play soccer. That's big. He LOVES soccer. But there's no team at our middle school or at his high school next year, at least not now. So he has to play rec ball. He was recruited to play on a traveling team, the coach a former Brazilian soccer player. It takes about 25 minutes to drive there. Gas is so expensive that I sit and wait in the hot parking lot till they're finished rather than return home. (Not much else to do. It's a small town, tiny library,etc. so I read.)So basically 3-4 times a week we'd be driving or at soccer practice from about 5:30 till 9:00. Once school started, even my son found it to be too much. He had no time to do homework with out staying up late and he was rarely home. It was a tough decision for him, and I'm proud of him that he could make it. He's now running cross-country (along with his sister) at his school. Practice after school every day till 5, then home. I'm so relieved that we'll be home more evenings this year.

This weekend I'll finish revisions of Vanishing Teachers, thanks to input from my critique group, and I'll prepare more submissions to send out Tuesday. If I'm lucky, I'll get to start on my YA that I've plotted out. I sure miss summer already. But I'm enjoying the interaction with students again. Especially my son!