Wednesday, August 27, 2014

What's Up Wednesday--the back to school edition


What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime and, Erin Funk, to help writers connect. ***Please remember to link to their blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons provided.***

WHAT I'M READING

Wait a minute. I didn't read anything this week! Well, that's not quite true. I am reading Understood Betsy with my youngest daughter. It's a novel written in 1917 by the woman who brought the Montessori method to the U.S.  It's the story of Betsy, who is extremely overprotected until she is sent to live with her aunts and uncle who have a farm in New England. It's the story of how she blooms as she learns to think for herself. It's in the vein of Little Women, which I'm crossing my fingers she'll let me read to her next. 

WHAT I'M WRITING

I could just say "ditto" to last week. Editing Pyromancy, making progress, blah, blah, blah. It's alternately depressing and then exhilarating how little changes can make such big ripples. Depressing because I don't want to change things I like, but exhilarating because when I do, it makes the book so much better! 

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Some quotes:
  • If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. (Antoine St. Exupery)
  • I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim, or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is." (Kurt Vonnegut)
  • To live a creative life, we must give up our fear of being wrong. (Joseph Chilton Pearce)
  • The earth has music for those who listen (Shakespeare)

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

My youngest two kids went back to school today, and my oldest two are still asleep. It's lovely to have the house back to myself, if only for an hour or two. Still, it is bittersweet. My oldest is a senior in high school this year. I told her not to do it, but she didn't listen, and grew up anyway. :(
On the plus side...possibly my "what I'm writing" section will get more exciting now.

12 comments:

  1. LOL. Those rebellious kids. There's no stopping them once they start to grow, eh? I think that's the thing I'm dreading most, my littles getting so not little that they move away. *deep breath* I still have a few years.

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    1. I wish I could tell you not to worry about it, Crystal, but worry. It comes so fast. :)

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  2. How are kids going back to school already? I can't believe summer is over! Hope you get lots of writing done this week with the kids back to school!

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    1. We were one of the later schools to go back, I think. Summer is too fleeting.

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  3. What great quotes! I loved the one by St. Exupery.

    Enjoy the quiet moments. They make the ones filled with happy kids' raucous noise even more special. ;)

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  4. Progress is good! Hope the return to school inspires lots of writing :D Have a great week!

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    1. No tons of writing, I'm afraid. But I'll save that for my next post.

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  5. I hope your daughter lets you read LITTLE WOMEN to her next! It's one of my favourites. My mom read it to me when I was six, so it's always been very special to me. I find it interesting that you're reading a story about the Montessori method of education. We homeschool, but I considered Montessori as well because I really liked its philosophies. I hope the editing will be more on the exhilarating side than the depressing side this week!

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    1. My older daughter loved Little Women so much that she stole it from me and finished it on her own. My younger daughter is not that kind of girl, so I'm looking forward to finishing it with her. :) You should try Understood Betsy. If you can get past the occasional moralizing, it's a very sweet story.

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  6. AWESOME quote collection ;-) Love.

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