What's Up Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014

What's up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers keep in touch with each other. If you'd like to participate, sign up on the linky at one of their blogs, and use one of the cute WUW buttons provided. Thanks!

I've been longing for this day! It's been a while since I had time to participate in WUW, and I've missed you all so much! Reading your blogs and your comments is such a fun part of my week.

WHAT I'M READING

Reason #2 that I've missed you: I'm in a reading slump. All of the books I picked out at the library by myself were dumb. Ooh. Except The Screaming Staircase. That was good stuff. Kind of a horror middle grade/YA crossover thing. But my list of TBR books has shrunk alarmingly. I can't wait to see what you are reading.

WHAT I'M WRITING

"This is the book that never ends..." Not true! I'm almost done editing Pyromancy Part 1. I honestly can't wait, even though Pyromancy Part 2 is right underneath it, ready for edits. I should be finished with Pyromancy Part 1 by the end of the week, and the betas are right behind me, so I can jump right into applying their stuff when I'm through. Part 1 should be out in January!

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

I've been working as a teacher in an elementary school resource room, and you know what? Those kids work dang hard. They inspire me. I taught 5th grade reading in one room and 5th grade math right after it in a different room, and those kids would beat me there and be working on their daily math before I even walked in the door. And they didn't stop! They would be working their tails off when I said "You can clean up now." That inspires me.

So does this post by Glennon Doyle Melton: I couldn't find it on her blog, only on her facebook page, so I'm posting the whole thing here. But the blog is amazing anyway.

Here is what happened: All of the middle school kids were running. Sweaty, near tears, their legs pounding the pavement, hurting, pushing- in FRONT OF THEIR PEERS AND CROWDS OF STRANGERS. Kids have more courage and vulnerability in their LEGS than most of us adults have from head to toe. Can you IMAGINE? The BRAVE this takes?

And the fast ones finished one at a time and everyone was cheering and cheering and then the middle ones finished in packs and then the slower ones finished a few at a time and then nothing for a while.

And then the last ones came around the bend. One a time. Alone. Pushing. They were hurting. They wanted to quit. They were maybe even a little bit embarrassed. But as they moved closer to the parent spectators- the cheering got LOUDER. LOUDER, even - than it was for the fast ones. Because everyone just KNOWS IN THEIR BONES that it is AWESOME to finish first but it is INSPIRING to finish LAST- to FINISH when you’ve got no chance in hell of winning. THIS is the stuff that makes spectator’s hearts explode with tenderness and love and admiration and hope for all of us. THE LAST ONES. And so these last ones heard the cheers and their heads lifted and their pace picked up ever so slightly.

And then this:
Those fast ones? The ones who finished minutes ago? They gathered together. And they jogged directly toward the last one, who was still running. And they loosely huddled around her. Blue jerseys surrounding her blue jersey in more blue. And they matched her pace. And the fast ones ran alongside her and they chanted her name and they celebrated with her when she finally crossed that finish line. The fast ones and the last one FINISHED THE RACE TOGETHER.

You guys - the fast ones just UNDERSTOOD. They understood that the race was the hardest for the last one but that she DID NOT STOP. And so they understood that SHE WAS THE HERO OF THE DAY. All of them understood that We Belong To Each Other. And that regardless of where we finish: LOVE WINS.

I SAW this happen today. It is now my life metaphor for EVERYTHING. We finish together. The fast ones wait and surround the last ones and match her pace and cheer her name. That’s it. That’s the whole ball game, folks.

The kids are all right. The kids are freaking AMAZING.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

I've been working as a long term sub in a resource classroom, and Friday was my last day. I miss it. I miss it even though it made writing nearly impossible, and even though it made my schedule absolutely crazy. I miss the kids, especially the ones that I know are missing me too. But I am excited to have time to blog, and time to write, and maybe to clean my house, or return some library books on time. And hopefully I get to go back. Not that I want the poor regular teacher to have any more problems in his life, because he's had more than his share this year. But still...I would like to go back. Fingers crossed.