Cafe Post #22

My first years of writing has me reflecting on my first years of teaching. I'd forgotten those first years did not run as smoothly as my last. I was learning the basics, classroom and time management, preparing for curriculum night, and what to do when a child attacks you with scissors. By the time I'd taught for five years, these small details seemed flawless. (Well maybe not the scissors incident. Nobody ever gets used to that.) After the initial beginning years of teaching, professional growth took precedence. Students' needs and how to meet those needs through the art of teaching was my main priority. Writing parts of a new math curriculum for the district came second, but just as important.

In my last years of teaching, I had a large handmade banner hanging in my classroom that read, Learning begins with an open mindset, continues with hard work, and never ends. The students and I referred to it daily. I would have never posted a banner like that in my first years of teaching. If I'd had any nerve I would have hung a poster that read, HELP!

As in everything, there are always the basics, and my new career is not excluded. Writing a novel is exciting-publishing a novel is exhausting. I often remind myself of my last years of teaching so that I don't go crazy with these first years of writing. Maybe I've taken the long road to get to my point but hopefully, I've created a clearer picture of how I feel as a new author. Double shot of espresso, please!