The Legs

Husbandman  was mowing the lawn this evening last when this snake stealthily and swiftly wrapped around his left leg.  We couldn't persuade the snake to release him.  Come to find out,  the snake was squeezing Husbandman's leg with a surprising amount of force, preventing Husbandman from finishing the mowing which was a drag because he only had a small bit of lawn left to mow.

We sat on the deck together, the three of us, for the better part of an hour, when a baby rabbit caught the snake's eye.  The rabbit was munching grass, nary a care in the world.  Our snake who we had started calling Legs, slithered off Husbandman's leg and headed to the rabbit.  Legs never made it over to the rabbit who hopped away in a flash when he sensed something was amiss. Legs slid back to the deck, but by that time, Husbandman and I had gone inside to eat some peach cobbler.  Legs spent the night on the deck in a state of what can only be described as despondence.  We wish we could think of a way to help Legs.  After breakfast, I'm going to suggest that Husbandman head over to the pet store to get a snake carrier.  Then maybe we'll invite Legs to drive to Georgia with us, so he can meet my parents.

The Conference

Photo Credit:  Anastasia Gruper.  Thanks @agruper!

ILA 2018 has come to an end.  I'm still here in Austin.  I was going to venture out to see the bats tonight, but you know what they say.  If you can't stand the heat, stay inside the air conditioning.  So that's what I'm doing.

But that's neither here nor there.  Let's not judge me for making the lesser choice.  Let's focus instead on the conference and my many accomplishments.

The conference has been quite good.  My session went well and that was a big relief. It was delightful  talking about Back and Forth with Katie Wood Ray.  The people at the session were supportive and enthusiastic. Go EDITOR MINDSET!

Other highlights:  I listened to 5 great authors on an LGBTQIA panel. I could have listened to them all day long.  I also heard a funny session about punctuation and bought a hefty book called #Patterns of Power that will help me with teaching about apostrophes this year.  I also spent some time analyzing a poem with a group of peeps. I also talked with some fun people at the Heinemann reception. Also, I went to a 2 hour session on sketch noting and comprehension that was fascinating.  I also heard a set of inspiring keynotes from Cornelius Minor, Aden Gonzalez and Nadia Lopez. (FYI: Those peeps are doing some very cool work).  So, in the end, ILA2018 was all fabulous. But come to find out, the thing is, there's no place like home and I'm ready to get back to my tribe.

The Clickiness

So today I got on a plane and flew to Austin, Texas.  First thing I did when I got here was check into my pleasant hotel.  Then I went to get my badge.  Then I went back to my room to keep practicing my talk.  This talk's been giving me grief, but it's not really the talk's fault. I just keep getting distracted by stuff.

My mood brightened when I discovered a little shop in the lobby where you can buy sandwiches and bottles of WINE!  Once I feel like I'm 100% ready for tomorrow, I'll relax and watch TV and enjoy the fruit of the vine.

My room overlooks a beautiful outdoor pool.  I'm tempted to make my way down there, but every single person, save one,  is part of a cool in crowd group, also known as a clique. There's one guy who is not mingling but he's talking on his phone while he stands in four feet of water. I feel sorry for him.  It's best for me to stay up here and practice the talk again.  Then I'll catch up on The Bachelorette and imagine how great it's going to feel tomorrow night when the talk is over.

The Annoyances

I'm sitting in a coffee shop, surrounded by men and women chatting.  Several have  sweet lilting voices that are getting on my last nerve.  I wish they would go away. Zip it, people.

Tomorrow I go to Austin.  I don't feel ready for the ILA Conference and as usual I've turned the talk into a ridiculous chore that still isn't quite done.  Surprise, surprise.

On the good side of things, our trip to Oregon was fantastic.  We ate at amazing restaurants, visited beautiful parks, hiked to  stunning waterfalls, stared at sea lions and sea stars along the coast.  

We talked about things that annoy us at our jobs and 20 Something led us in a goal setting session. In short, #VisitOregon

The Editor Mindset

Toward the end of the month, I'm going to Austin to talk about Back and Forth at the ILA Conference.  I'm working on the talk and as usual, I'm getting down to the wire.  I got brave last summer and asked Katie Wood Ray to present with me.  KATIE WOOD RAY, people! As you undoubtedly know, she's a famous writing workshop guru who has written many amazing books for writing teachers.  She's also an editor at Heinemann.  So I thought it would be great to have a real editor sharing thoughts on the editor mindset as I share ideas from my editor mindset work with the Thirdlander authors of Popcorn Press.  I'm still surprised that Katie said she would do this.  How nice is that?

I need to get this power point done so I can send it her way before I leave tomorrow for Portland.  I'm pretty sure I can do it.  I keep getting stuck because I can't stop looking up new information about editors on the internet.  This Harper Collins site, "Inside the Archives" has great letters to Ursula Nordstrom, my favorite editor of all.  It's so addicting.  I can't stop reading letters from Arnold Lobel and E.B. White and John Donovan. I'm having fun working on this talk.  I'm not sure too many people will love the editor mindset as much as I do, but as you know, I myself find it completely fascinating.

The Quiet

Our good friend Kathala died last week.  This week we attended a visitation and a funeral. We went to the cemetery and we mingled with the flood of people who came to say goodbye.   There were tears aplenty.  There will be more to come. They come at surprising times.  The house is quiet now.

Almost every Friday afternoon for over ten years, I've had a date with Kathala and Sandra and Judith.   We'll still get together, but it won't be the same and we all know it.  We met at her house a lot of the time.  We talked nonstop for hours and hours and laughed and cried on repeat. She would never let us leave until everything was discussed in great detail.  Whenever anyone said anything about weirdness of the week, Kathala would pause in surprise and then say, "You know what?" and we would laugh hysterically in response.

Then she'd dive into her thoughts about why this weird thing happened or why it shouldn't have happened or why it keeps happening.  And today I'm just wishing I could hear her say, "You know what?" a bunch more times.

The Hotel

 Husbandman and I are staying at a pleasant hotel called Graduate Minneapolis.  In the room, there are artifacts representing people who are from this fine city.  We have a large oil painting of Loni Anderson and a jacket (framed behind glass) that once belonged to Herb Brooks.

I'm familiar with Loni Anderson, though I never knew she was from the Land of Lakes.  Loni Anderson has spoken out against cigarette smoking because both her parents died of emphysema.  I support Loni Anderson's work on this important health issue.

I had never heard of Herb Brooks before, so Husbandman filled me in on some of his big accomplishments.  I've spent some time learning about him on the internets.  If I have to look at his jacket upon waking up each morning, I should know a bit about the man.  It's just common sense.

Herb inspired many ice hockey players to do their best and to play with heart.  He told people to be "uncommon" because common people go nowhere.  He also said that "Legs feed the wolf."  Not sure what that means, but I'm ready to ponder this potentially inspirational idea throughout my day.

The Acknowledgements

Lisa Jewell wrote this acknowledgement of her editors and their "brave and clear minded" work on revision suggestions for her book,  Then She Was Gone.  KC sent me this photo.  It's a good addition to my collection of authors' grateful writing about how editors make significant impact on their stories.  If you find one of these, please send it my way.  Thanks, friends.

The AED

Saturday's CPR training went well.  Come to find out, I didn't need the first aid part of the class, so I got to leave early.  I know how to do CPR and I also know how to use an AED.  AED stands for Automated External Defibrillator.

I'm now obsessed with locating the AEDs in all facilities.  At the airport yesterday, I pointed out the AED to Husbandman.  "If I need to start doing CPR on someone around here, I'm going to need you to run over here, open up this box and pull out this AED.  Bring it to me at once. Also, call 911."  Husbandman's response didn't inspire confidence, but I'm sure he'll do the right thing when the time comes.

I know where the AED is here in the hotel.  Unfortunately, it's downstairs in the lobby which is going to be a hassle if someone up here on the sixth floor needs CPR.  Sidenote:  Husbandman and I are spending some days in Minneapolis.  Fun times indeed.  Just spent 3 hours straight talking to KC and we didn't even get through 30% of the stuff on our talk about list.

Anyway, I was considering buying my own AED because what if the one at a location is out of batteries or is damaged in some way?  Also, I may want to carry around a small disposable razor because if I'm doing CPR on a hairy chested person, I'm going to have to remove that hair quickly so the AED nodes can adhere to the skin and administer the shock efficiently.  Come to find out, an AED costs about 1,400 dollars.  So I'm holding off on buying my own at this point in time.  In the meantime, I'm constantly keeping my eyes peeled for the AED nearest me and I strongly suggest you do the same. If you're nervous about using an AED, don't be.  Once you turn it on, the machine tells you what to do one step at a time.

The SAVING

So, today is my day for a 5 hour CPR class.  My teaching license has expired and I must revive it if I want to continue educating our nation's youth, which I do. Part of being professionally developed is knowing how to save lives, so I accept that I must now leave my coffee cup and head to the YMCA.   And yet, I wonder why it takes 5 hours to teach CPR?   A few squeezes to the diaphragm.  A few pounds to the chest.  I could probably get this done in 30 to 50 minutes.

I actually saved 20Something's life once, using my CPR skills.  She was choking on an apple.  Maybe if I mention that to the instructor today, she'll realize that she can proceed at a faster pace.

I am sad to be losing 5 hours of my weekend to CPR training, but I'm also excited to hone my life saving skills.

The Club

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I hosted the book club last night.  We discussed Woman in the Window, a fast paced thriller with some good surprises.  If you want to read that book, you should.  The author was an editor.  He has since quit his editing job and is now just a plain old writer.  I wonder what it was like for him to work with an editor to revise.

I picked the book this month, so I was a little nervous that we wouldn't have a ton of talk around it, but as usual, we did.  This book club of mine really talks about books, which is quite nice.  I've been in book clubs that didn't like to discuss books too much and that got on my last nerve.

Mitzker's in Croatia and Slovenia and she is taking some awesome photographs.  Check out her blog over here.