It’s been quite a while since I’ve done anything on my website. The months have passed, a whirlwind of changes–good, bad, and busy.
I haven’t written anything since last summer, when I started a serial LitRPG project called Secrets of Spritespring Hollow on Royal Road. The point was just to write freely and quickly, without worrying about editing and revising. Also, it was to try my hand at pantsing: seeing which way the wind would take my story without having a fully mapped out plot in mind.
It worked well for a time. I did end up getting stuck, just in time for the school year to start. I had accepted a position to work as a para in one of our school’s Pre-K classrooms since my job as a resource/inclusion aide had been cut. Not wanting to leave my school, I figured it was worth a shot. Being a para position, it wouldn’t pay much, but I’d still have quite a lot of time on my hands, and I wouldn’t have the responsibility of being a full-time teacher.
Well, that was a mistake. One for the ages. I am NOT a Pre-K person. My own children are now ten and twelve, and I’ve left my tolerance for those younger years behind. It’s one thing to volunteer in the church nursery once a month, but another thing completely to chase around 20+ four-year-olds all day every day. Sure, they can be cute. But they’re downright exhausting. And quite gross. The amount of snot and saliva I came in contact with each day was a germophobe’s worst nightmare. And it became my nightmare too.
I got sick. Majorly sick.
It was mid-October. We’d just returned from a camping trip in Arkansas. It was gorgeous, but I’d battled food poisoning there, waking up in the middle of the night and throwing up outside of my tent. Needless to say, when we returned home, I felt like I’d been put through the ringer. My shields had been breached, and my immune system compromised. But it was back to work, and back to those cute little germ-ridden preschoolers.
A week later, I was sick again. It felt like the flu. There was fever, nausea, body aches, and headaches. I spent the weekend in bed and had to take off Monday as well. When my husband came home from work, he found me sprawled out on the living room floor with barely any energy to move.
We went to urgent care, and I tested negative for Covid, flu, and strep. The nurse practitioner looked me over carefully and told me he’d test for one last thing: mono. It came back positive.
I didn’t know much about the disease, only that it’s notorious for spreading among teenagers who can’t keep their lips off eachother. But apparently it’s a quite common childhood illness that doesn’t look too different from the common cold. Once you get it as a kid, you generally don’t contract it again later. My best guess is that I picked it up from one of my students when I was handling their food and drinks. It wasn’t at all uncommon for parents to drop their kids off at school while they were still sick.
Anyhow, mono kicked my butt for a full month. I could hardly move for the first week. I spent all day and night on the couch, nauseous and my head constantly spinning. The next week I could move. I’d sit outside for a bit, but my head ached like crazy and I’d have to go back inside and lay down.
At this point in time, I’d already realized what a mistake taking this Pre-K position was. It wasn’t a good fit. It wasn’t mentally stimulating. It wasn’t a challenge. I had no say so over anything, and I didn’t enjoy chasing around small children, helping them to use their scissors, and trying to manage their tantrums. And I knew that any para position I took, no matter the school, would always be threatened by lack of funding.
So, I decided to bite the bullet and pursue my teaching certification. I didn’t know exactly what grade or subject I wanted to teach–though I did know I was elementary schooled out. The behavior at that level was ridiculous, and teachers didn’t seem to have any ability to get their classrooms under control. Their hands were tied when it came to discipline. I eventually opted for Core Subjects 4-8, meaning I could teach science, math, ELA, or social studies in middle school.
I had notified my team early on that I was planning on leaving after Christmas so that I could sub that spring and try to figure out which school, grade level, and subject I was best fit for, but the mono threw a wrench in those plans. I didn’t know how long I would be out–the doctor had told me at least a month–so I went ahead and put in my resignation.
I felt bad at first for leaving. But in all honesty, it worked out for the best. Once I was better, near the end of November, I was able to start subbing. In February, I’d taken a long term job as an ELA interventionist at one middle school, working three days a week. It was a great school, and I already knew a couple of teachers there. I was offered a job teaching 6th grade ELA, and I took it.
So, as you can see, I’ve been quite busy. Between the Pre-K work (which was exhausting), the mono, the subbing, the certification work, and now, getting things ready for the upcoming school year, writing hasn’t been on my radar too much.
But now I’m feeling that itch again. That urge to pick up my pen and get lost in one of my stories. I know I’m going to be pressed for time this next year. There’s so much to prepare for, so many lessons to design. Still, I’m going to keep writing. Maybe not as much as I did early on in the pandemic or when I was just a sub. But I’m going to write. A little bit at a time. Progress, even if it’s small, is still progress.
I’ll start updating my blog again, though I won’t pick up my newsletter until I have things to share. I need to connect with other writers again, and I need to get active on my socials.
Can I just say, though, before I go, that I’m so stinking excited to get to share my love of writing with the students who will walk into my classroom in August! We’re going to have a lot of fun together. I’ve got a million ideas for things I can do to bring writing to life for them, and I can’t wait to see all the stories, poems, and essays they create throughout the year!
