Even More Book Reviews!

So here are a few more book reviews, mostly dating back into August and early September when I had my Kindle Unlimited account and took a rest between finishing up teaching my Fan Fiction summer course at Brave Writer and starting the new school year....


Darcy Goes to War: A Pride and Prejudice Re-Imagining by Mary Lydon Simonsen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Set during World War II, everyone at Longbourn is doing his/her part in the war effort. Elizabeth drives a lorry, delivering food and supplies where needed. But Elizabeth refuses to fall for anyone when men and dying left and right; the death of Jane's fiance (who was also Elizabeth's childhood friend) taught her that. But what can she do when fighter pilot Darcy starts pursuing her? Set during the rocket attacks in Britain in the days before the attack on Normandy, this book is historically accurate and emotionally compelling; I simply could not put it down!!



Love Never Fails: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Jennifer Joy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another lovely variation of Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice. In this variation, Mr. Bennet passes away the morning of the Meryton Assembly; thus, the Bennet women are in mourning and do not meet the Bingleys or Darcy. However, Darcy met Mr. Bennet the day before his death and is carrying guilt regarding the elderly gentleman's passing. Darcy writes a letter that Mrs. Bennet, thinking it a bill, burns. Elizabeth turns down Mr. Collins' proposal despite the fact that marrying him would allow her family to continue at Longbourn, but Charlotte, when she accepts Mr. Collins' offer of marriage, persuades him to allow the Bennets to remain at Longbourn at least until their year of mourning is over. Mrs. Bennet, indignant at Charlotte's acceptance of Mr. Collins and declaring that Longbourn is no longer their home, quits the estate practically overnight, selling off her husband's library (which grieves Elizabeth to no end) to finance her and the older two girls' stay in London while bringing Lydia with her as well; the other two girls remain with the Phillipses. Once in London, the fireworks begin.... ;)

An enjoyable variation of Austen's famous novel, and a delightful summer afternoon read!



The Resolute Suitor: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Don H. Miller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A delightful and dramatic variation on Austen's Pride and Prejudice, The Resolute Suitor introduces a very resolute Darcy who, despite Elizabeth's refusal, continues to pursue her. Elizabeth is slowly introduced into the ton and becomes a fixed figure there, and finally she and Darcy become engaged. However, tragedy strikes, and life changes for all of the Bennet girls...and that's all I'm gonna say for now. But it's good. Really good. Unable-to-be-put-down good. Yep. This one is a keeper.

In the hundreds of variations of Austen's novels I've read, I've discovered that some of the most profound versions have been written by men, and Don H. Miller is at the top of that list...along with Austen Variations' Jack Caldwell.



Rumours and Recklessness: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Nicole Clarkston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wonderful variation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Rumours and Recklessness starts with a tragic accident at Longbourn that changes the situation of all of the Bennet family on the morning after the Netherfield Ball. This alteration causes the party at Netherfield to not leave, as occurred in Austen's novel, and Elizabeth, practically forced into a marriage she does not want, rebels at the highhandedness of the men who visit her at Longbourn during this difficult time. Will Fitzwilliam Darcy be able to win her heart and hand after all that's happened?

I thoroughly enjoyed this variation of Pride and Prejudice. In fact, I don't usually give 5's to books that are not classics in their own right, but this book was practically un-put-downable. I had to force myself to hide my Kindle out of sight so that I could devote time that I would rather be reading to actually teaching my online classes.

And as I read the author biography at the end, I was thrilled to discover that she is also a homeschooling mom and is also an ardent admirer of Elizabeth Gaskell as well as Jane Austen...just as I am!

So Rumours and Recklessness provides a wonderful excursion back to the Regency era, allowing us readers to revisit our favorite (and not-so-favorite) characters from Austen's most popular novel and enjoy the humor and romance that makes us adore Austen's books and characters so greatly. Read and enjoy!!



Hope For Mr. Darcy by Jeanna Ellsworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I always love Jenna Ellsworth's variations of Austen's novels; they are well-written, romantic without being too detailed, contain great character development and exciting plot twists, and contain subtle Christian themes.

Much like Georgia McCall's Obligation and Redemption, the Christian themes are at the heart of the novel, but not in a clingy, saccharine-sweet manner. And while these themes pervade the novel, they add to the plot and the character development rather than detracting from it. For the most part, I have not been a fan of Christian romance novels, but Hope for Mr. Darcy was a delightful read. Much lighter and more accessible than McCall's novel (which I just finished reading before starting this book), it doesn't have the depth and angst of Obligation and Redemption, but Hope for Mr. Darcy, like all of Ellsworth's books, is a wonderful variation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice and should be enjoyed by all devotees of continuations and variations of Austen's novels, whether the readers are Christians or not. And I am looking forward with great anticipation to the second and third volumes in this trilogy series.


The Mistress of Longbourn by Jann Rowland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very interesting variation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, The Mistress of Longbourn finds a very diminished Bennet family. An epidemic struck the village of Meryton, taking the lives of many; hardly a family was left untouched. But Longbourn received the worst of it: the only survivors were Elizabeth, whose strong constitution allowed her to be the only one at Longbourn to fall ill and survive (although her convalescence was lengthy), and Kitty, the only one in the household to never fall ill. With their Uncle Gardiner in London as their guardian and their Uncle Phillips in Meryton to watch over them, Elizabeth and Kitty grow close during their year of mourning. Elizabeth learns to run the estate and Kitty the house, and with wise decisions thanks to a wonderful steward who marries the replacement housekeeper after Mrs. Hill's demise (as well), Longbourn is thriving.

And then Netherfield is let by a single man in possession of a good fortune....

A definite twist or three from the Austen's original, I found myself unable to put this book down. It was well-written, with delightful character development and plenty more twists and turns along the way as Elizabeth, now the mistress of Longbourn, has plenty of admirers to deal with.



Happy Reading!

Friday Quick-Takes Vol. 6

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This morning is a non-quiet quiet day. School today is an outdoors thing, lessons with Dad as the three boys help him split the last of the seasoned oak before Keith's brother comes to fetch his splitter tomorrow. So while outdoors this November morning, the splitter roars and splutters, ripping wood apart, and as boys hand unsplit logs, guide, stack split wood to season, I sit inside, in relative quiet, surrounded by Word and words--Word to drink in, ponder, apply--and words to birth, arrange and rearrange as I attempt to learn, attempt to write, attempt to stretch into this gift of word-wrangling. So it's a non-quiet quiet day for me, one that will bring us warmth throughout winter days as wood is stacked high, as boys work muscles instead of brain cells this day. They can make up math later....

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As I read the newest Culture Post ("The Work of the Poet") on High Calling, I was struck by the selection from Ordinary Genius that L.L. Barkat quoted in her post, and I copied it carefully into my quotation journal. It seems eerily fitting for this month of writing daily poetry--a reminder and a challenge for us who desire to write:

Did you think writing great, or even good, poems would be easy? What feeling of accomplishment would you get from doing what is easy, what anyone can do without trying? Athletes train relentlessly to become stronger, faster, better. Dancers attend class every day, and rehearse long hours in the studio....If you thought poetry was different, this is your wake-up call. — from Ordinary Genius

Wow. What an incredible reminder and challenge for us (me) who merely "dabble" in poetry. "Dabbling" isn't enough--it's not going to make us great poets, or even good poets, or even poets at all. We (I!) need to develop this craft according to this "wake-up call" and be more deliberate in how I approach reading and writing poetry.

I'm "awake" now.

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Speaking of poetry, you may have noticed that I'm a wee bit behind in writing a poem a day for the November PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge at Poetic Asides, so I'm using this morning as a catch-up day. I spent the last two days buried in a teetering stack of essays to be graded for my co-op writing classes for high school students, so this day I emerge (before I have to offer feedback on incoming MLA research essays today for Brave Writer) to write a poem or three. In fact, you may find one buried here in this post. One never knows... (she hints mysteriously).

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And still speaking of poetry, I have been overwhelmed by the response this week to my poem "Do You Remember?" I posted it on Poetic Asides on Writers Digest for the Challenge and linked to it at the Culture page of The High Calling as a response to a call for catalog poems. I have rarely received so many comments here, and rarely such positive ones. I'm sure people are simply being polite, but I'm thrilled that they would comment at all. I also took "Do You Remember?" to our small town's Writers' Workshop meeting on Tuesday, and one of the poets there said it's the best work I've done so far. I'm thrilled, and I pray that God will continue to nurture the growth of this gift in me as I take up the challenge to truly WORK at becoming a crafter of words.

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Today (or at least this weekend) I need to scrape together the younger two boys' grades for our first quarter of home schooling. We've been enrolled in Heritage Christian School since we started this journey in 1997, and I appreciate the accountability they offer us, as well as the fellowship, the high academic standards, and the social aspects of school especially for the high school students. I only have to submit semester grades for my high schooler from which the school creates high school transcripts, another important service HCS offers. Yesterday we attended our co-op Class Days in which I teach two high school writing classes, one college prep and one honors, while our high schooler takes biology lab (a double-period class) and fine arts. Our middle schooler is attending classes is General Science (mostly a lab class), chess, and PE, and our elementary schooler is enjoying Lego Engineering, PE, and California History (a class required by the state of California). It makes for a busy day, but overall, I feel that our young people have an excellent balance between the academic and the social aspects of school through our at-home school and the Class Days.

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My kids can barely wait for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 a week from today. I've been able to watch a few snippets from the film on Mugglenet (which E of course forces me to follow on Twitter!). E has tickets to the midnight showing next Thursday evening with a bunch of girls in her dorm. Since she is working on a large MLA research paper on Harry Potter for her Freshman Comp class, she could call attending the film "research," but we all know she'd be there in a heartbeat anyway. The boys and I are taking the slow track approach, planning to see it on Friday morning while most students are at school. I'm buying tickets today. :)

The looooong wait is almost over!!! Yay!!!

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And, finally, last but not least, I thought I'd post my Nov PAD Day 10 Challenge here as it's a short but sweet little tanka. We were told to compose a love poem, and as I felt some trepidation on posting something so personal online, I'm keeping the longer poem I wrote in my files rather than sharing it publicly. But I also wrote this tanka which is not so personal, so I don't feel weird about posting it here where students, family, friends, and others read my work. So here's my little love tanka for my husband who cooks for us when I can't (which is 99.9% of the time):

As you set down plate,
fragrance of roasted garlic
rises to my nose--
hunger twists my heart wildly
and I know that I am loved.

So have a wonderful weekend, everyone!



Wishing you all precious autumn days,

Friday Quick Takes Vol. 5

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As you know, I've been participating in the November PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge hosted by Poetic Asides on the Writer's Digest website. This morning I took the time to read through many of the poems posted yesterday. Immediately I shrunk, becoming in my eyes incredibly small and insignificant. It takes bravery and faith to post work to a distinguished group of poets. I feel like a scruffy alley cat in the company of Literary Lions. Why, oh why am I even bothering to write and post poems to this erudite group?

So I can learn. So I can improve. I remember my advice to so many students over the years, advice gleaned from Anne Lamott in her lovely and wise writing book Bird by Bird: You have to write crap before you write good stuff. So if I want to write well, to write really good poetry, I'm going to have to thicken my delicate skin and put my best out there, reminding myself that every poem represents an opportunity to see clearer, delve deeper, express better, word wiser.

Will you help to remind me, too?

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I am in serious countdown mode here. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 will be released in two weeks. We are sooo excited! Elizabeth has tickets to the midnight showings with some girls from her dorm; they've already reserved a Zip Car (a small set of "green" cars that students may rent by the hour to go places since freshman aren't allowed to have cars unless they're commuting). I have plans to take the boys (and Keith, if he can manage his schedule) to an early matinee on Friday morning while most students are in school. We did this for the last release and the theater was half-empty. The commercials on TV are so exciting, too. Plus, this scene was released yesterday on Facebook: The Seven Potters.

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In addition to waiting for the release of Deathly Hallows Part 1, Elizabeth and I are eagerly awaiting the DVD release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in a month...December 4, to be precise. We always buy our Twilight DVDs at Target as they have a special three-disc edition with lots of great extras. We'll each need our own copy (as we had to do with New Moon) since she'll keep hers in her dorm room (along with half of my DVD collection). Eclipse is my favorite book of the series, and thus far it's my favorite film, too. Filming for Breaking Dawn started this month in Brazil and will return to film in Louisiana (where they started rehearsing in October) later this month (Elizabeth keeps me apprised of such news) and will be released in two parts in November 2011 and November 2012.

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My MLA Research Class at Brave Writer is getting into the nitty-gritty now. The class lasts six weeks; after today we'll have only two weeks remaining. Today is the due date for the students' outlines, and next week they'll be writing their rough drafts which will be due next Friday, with their final drafts due the next Friday on November 19. They will then e-mail the final drafts to me, and I will grade and return them via e-mail within a week or so of the last day of class...which means over our Thanksgiving Break. They may be returned a little later, actually, this time since...

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My sister and her family will be coming down from Montana for Thanksgiving Week. Usually my parents fly up there, but they thought it would be more fun (and less expensive) to have them travel to Southern California. So my sister (the youngest of the three of us; I'm the oldest), her husband, and their two kidlets will be here from the Sunday before to the Sunday after Thanksgiving. They'll stay with my parents at their house at the beach. Keith has been remodeling their mountain cabin in case we decide to celebrate the holiday there, but my parents are thinking that it will be far easier to have everyone at the beach. I prefer the cabin myself, but I understand the logistical nightmare of hauling an entire Thanksgiving dinner plus everything needed for six people to stay in a 600-square-foot cabin for several days 60 miles. Either at the beach or in the mountains, Thanksgiving will be a fun family day. We also have plans to use our Sea World passes to take all the cousins to the marine park sometime during Thanksgiving Week.

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I have joined a wonderful group of women writers this week. I spotted the group badge on someone's blog and checked it out; I think I really like it. She Writes is a secular group of writers which is fine by me as I belong to quite a few Christian groups as well, including A High Calling with amazing poets like L.L. Barkat and writers like Marcus Goodyear, plus a group of women bloggers at Gather in Spirit. And of course I do post along with the communities at A Holy Experience, Conversion Diary, and Elizabeth Esther. So, it's all good.

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I am so excited about a development at our EV Free Church, Lake Murray Community Church. Our associate pastor has asked for volunteers to form what the Anglicans call "a lay readers group." Basically, someone volunteers to read Scripture each Sunday after practicing together in a group so that the verses are read well and clearly, with appropriate expression. Keith and I are both going to attend the first meeting this Sunday after the second service. Keith has a lovely, resonant voice, and I just love to read Scripture aloud (which is why I hang out with the Anglicans so much!). Last week when I told him about the reading group, Father Acker (rector of Alpine Anglican where I attend on Friday mornings) joked that Lake Murray is becoming more Anglican all the time...what with weekly Communion, our celebration of Advent, etc. I hope he's right. As the evangelicals become more liturgical and as the liturgists become more evangelical (as Alpine Anglican is doing), I pray that many, many good things will happen.

Wishing you all a blessed weekend,

Seven Quick-Takes Friday

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It's been a busy week. I was down sick for most of it but somehow managed to pull my stuff together enough to teach my two high school writing courses at Class Day on Thursday...which was the first day I had been able to eat my usual breakfast of yogurt with granola and toast. Seriously. But despite spending my afternoons this week watching Season 2 of Grey's Anatomy on cable, I did manage to pull together a few Quick Takes for you.

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Okay, I've decided that there is no possible way that I can possibly do NaNoWriMo this year. I will be dealing with the most intensive part of my online MLA Research Essay Class at Brave Writer in November, so I just can't see being able to write 1700 words each day. What I need to do is edit what I have written in the two past challenges. And write my MLA book for Brave Writer. And keep editing the Book of Common Prayer project. So I think my plate is simply too full for NaNoWriMo this November. Sigh of sadness....

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But since I can't handle NaNoWriMo this November, I've been considering a slightly different challenge. Robert Lee Brewer, editor of The Poet's Market, is hosting a Poetry PAD Chapbook Challenge for the month of November. Resembling April's NaPoWriMo, this challenge involves writing a poem a day in November, revising the poems in December, and submitting them in chapbook form in January. I'm quite seriously considering doing this challenge instead of NaNoWriMo. I don't have time to write 1700 words a day, but writing a rough draft of a poem each day...THAT I may be able to manage this November. I have only written one poem since July, so perhaps jumping back into composing poetry might be a good thing...a very good thing.

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For a fun Halloween poetry adventure, check out The Poetry Haunted House at The Academy of American Poets. It's a fun literary tour through some rather spooky poems and places.

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Ruminate Magazine is looking for some short fiction (like 140 words) on Sound and/or Silence. Here's more information on what they're looking for from their Facebook page: Ruminate Magazine Short Fiction Challenge.

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I ran across this fun little do-hickey on someone's blog who was getting ready for NaNoWriMo. I plan to download and use this little writer's friend to help me enjoy writing a little more. Sometimes facing a blank white page is a scary proposition, so we'll see how Focus Writer helps to conquer the fear of the blank page and get those creative juices flowing!

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Season 8 Finalists: Gretchen, Mondo, and Andy

Did anyone watch the Season 8 finale of Project Runway last night? I'm glad to see a woman win, but I truly hated Gretchen's collection. It was so...brown. And so prairie. And so dang depressing. As usual, the designer whose collection I liked the most, Andy, was the first out. I loved his delicate Oriental style and thought his silvery, glimmery collection was simply gorgeous. I vastly preferred Mondo's wacky collection over Gretchen's western casual...Mondo's clothing had such style, such joy, such panache. The judges fought long and hard over the decision, with Heidi Klum and guest judge Jessica Simpson preferring Mondo's collection while Nina Garcia and Michael Kors were adamant about Gretchen's work winning...and they prevailed. Ugh....

So (on this positive note), have a lovely weekend, all!

Wishing you all a blessed celebration of All Saints',

Fall-ishy Quick-Takes

It's Friiiii-daaaaay! Time for Seven Quick-Takes!

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This weekend will be a grading weekend for me. I have a double-stack of essays from my Advanced Writing Class and the first five-paragraph essays from my Intermediate Class to grade this weekend. So I plan to be turning up the music--most likely the soundtracks to the three Twilight films--and spend the weekend with my fountain pen and a teetering stack o' essays. What fun!

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I plan to also spend part of today and a little bit of tomorrow catching up on this season's House M.D.. Unfortunately, House conflicts with Dancing with the Stars on Monday evenings, so I've opted to watch ballroom dancing while texting snarky comments to Elizabeth who watches it on the big TV in her dorm. Our record thus far is 84 texts in two hours. My thumbs definitely are quite sore on Tuesday mornings.

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We're making good progress on the Book of Common Prayer project. We've received permission to use the English Standard Version Bible translation, published in 2001, for the Scriptures. We're still smoothing out language, fixing formatting and typos, etc. It's a huge project but it's incredible to be involved in something so amazing. It should be ready for printing early next year. Then comes our big prayer request: adoption by bishops. We're treading fine lines between original doctrine, traditional content, and contemporary language. We pray that it can at least be an interim BCP while the Anglican Communion of North America works on their version--or that they'll really like it and want to use it themselves. :)

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Image Attribution

One of my longtime prayers has been answered this fall. For the last ten years, I have been praying for a spiritual director/mentor, someone with whom I can share prayer requests and from whom I can receive encouragement, counsel, and advice. Our church of 17 years, Lake Murray Community Church, recently set up a Heart-to-Heart ministry for women, and I adore my new prayer mentor/partner. K is wonderful, a wise woman with two grown children (one in the mission field) and a love of deep, quiet places of the soul. We've e-mailed and talked on the phone as well as meeting in person twice; in fact, we met together only yesterday at a Starbucks. Each time we meet, we spend about two hours together, sharing, chatting, and writing down each other's prayer needs to pray about daily. I am so thrilled at the long-awaited answer to this prayer!

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The fall weather in Southern California has been, well, fallish. Often October is one of our hottest months, the month of devastating Santa Ana winds propelling brushfires through the county, like the ones in 2003 and 2007, both of which forced us to evacuate our home. But this past week brought us over 1.5 inches of rain--which is a lot for Southern California where even in the mountains, we're lucky to get 15-20 inches of precipitation per year. We've fired up the woodstove to heat the house a few times this week and last week, and I think we'll be doing so again tonight. The flannel sheets are on our bed, and summer sheets washed and packed up for the winter. I'm trying to ignore predictions of a Santa Ana next week and glory in true autumn weather this week.

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One of my great joys is listening to our middle son J practice the piano each morning before our home school opening. I have always wanted to learn how to play the piano as has Keith; we were both taught the organ in childhood. J had taken two years of piano then set it aside when we could no longer afford the lessons; he picked up guitar at that point with the Free Teen Guitar Class. But our piano teacher needed a writing instructor for her daughter, so we now barter lessons. While J takes piano lessons in the teacher's living room, I teach her daughter writing in the kitchen. Keith and I both enjoy J's exuberant playing each morning so much--it's such a blessing.

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Image Attribution

Keith has been experimenting with baking breadsticks lately. This week we had a lovely pot of chicken vegetable soup, so he pulled out a breadstick recipe and made some pretty wonderful breadsticks from scratch, with herbs and garlic and topped with melted butter and Parmesan cheese. Oh, my! Amazing.

So have a wonderful weekend, all! Enjoy your families and the beauties of crisp autumn weather, unless you're one of my friends from the Southern Hemisphere, in which case I wish you a lovely spring!

Fallishly yours,

After a Long Hiatus: Quick-Takes!

It's been a looooong time since I've done Seven Quick Takes, but I read Jennifer's at Conversion Diary today and just had to post my own quick-takes....

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I am soooo excited about Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which is due to be released November 19. If we don't do the midnight movie thing, we'll probably slip into a Friday morning matinee. Harry Potter film releases are one (minor) reason I adore home schooling so that we can watch matinees while the rest of the Potter fans are in their respective schools.

And here's the brand new trailer for Part 1.

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Speaking of movies, I am still sooo enamored of the third film of the Twilight Saga. Eclipse is my favorite of the four books, and after seeing it four times in the theatres (a new record...never have I seen a movie four times in the theatres!) So in addition to the countdown to Deathly Hallows Part 1, I'm also excitedly counting down the December 4 release of Eclipse on DVD.

So excited!

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It's TV week. The fall line up is debuting shows old and new. And I admit it: I watch a lot of TV. With my chronic health issues, I am good for only the sofa from about 5:00 PM onward. So...I watch TV. And movies. And read. But TV is just good stuff...the shows I watch, anyway. These are the ones I tend to watch:

Sundays: Paranormal State (when it starts in October!)
Mondays: House, Dancing with the Stars, Castle
Tuesdays: NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, sometimes The Good Wife
Wednesdays: Survivor, Criminal Minds, The Whole Truth (new)
Thursdays: Bones, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Project Runway, The Mentalist

(BTW, Jennifer Grey is my favorite on Dancing with the Stars. She can win this thing, especially with Derek as her partner--his first time with an "older" woman!.)

And on weekends I watch the shows that we tape when other shows are on, basically the ones that E asks us to record so that she can keep up with her favorites despite living in the dorms. I'm still acclimating to the balance between new and old. Two new ones I really wanted to watch are on at the same time: The Whole Truth with Maura Tierney (ER) and Rob Morrow (Northern Exposure, Numbers) and The Defenders with Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell (Crossing Jordan). I stuck with the former this first week and was totally intrigued.

The Rachel Zoe Project just finished this week. And I still have to watch the final few episodes of Rizzoli and Isles with Angie Harmon (Law & Order) and Sasha Alexander (NCIS) on TNT. Perhaps I'll do that this weekend....

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So to switch gears from movies and TV, I'm going to be leading the discussion of two very different books for Logos, Lake Murray Community Church's's monthly literary discussion group. Because only two of us could meet last month, we'll have a short discussion of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, followed by a discussion of Part 1 of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

Talk about two very different books--one about two sisters, one of whom has cancer while the other is her sister's donor, and the other about the allegorical journey of "Christian" on his way to the Celestial City. I think there are some very intriguing parallels between these two very different books written several hundred years apart....

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Now that my first essays at our co-op Class Days have been turned in, I'm back to grading papers for the first time this school year. It's been a nice break, but I'm actually itching to get back to grading...which I predict will last only until I've graded my first two, or perhaps three, essays...depending upon how many serious grammatical issues I find.

Grading essays is gut-work...rather like detective work, really--abeit not-so-glamorous. One can have all the rubrics at hand, but assigning an objective grade to a subjective piece of writing that both point out errors so the student can remedy them while encouraging the student to keep doing what is done well is a fine line to walk. And I walk it with a blue Waterman fountain pen which allows me to write copious comments in relative comfort. My new blue Waterman ink refills arrived yesterday at Staples just two hours after my last refill ran dry. Perfect timing.

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This weekend I'll also be tackling rough drafts from the Just So Stories I'm teaching at Brave Writer this fall. They'll finish pouring in today, and then I'll make suggestions of areas to narrow (not so many of those) and of areas to expland and explain through the asking of questions.

This class is full of younger writers, ages 7-14, so I need to find the perfect balance between encouragement and requiring real improvement. So by asking questions, I can find that balance...questions like: "I love your main character. Bob is a hoot! Can you describe him for me a little more so I can picture him better in my mind?" and "I love the interactions between the kangaroo and the joey. Could you write a conversation for them? I'd love to hear what they might say to each other."

It's a gentle drawing-out of ideas from students who are not used to writing multiple drafts of a story. It takes some delicacy and tons of encouragement, but it works. But I admit it: my passion is truly for teaching high school and university-level students which I do at Class Day and will be doing with my upcoming MLA Research Essay course at Brave Writer which starts in October.

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I am addicted to Trader Joe's Maple Leaf Cookies. Sandwich cookies in the shapes of maple leaves, filled with vanilla frosting. Aaaaah...autumn decadence!

And YES, I know how many calories there are in each cookie. But I ignore it. Just this one time.

Wishing you all a Happy Friday,

7 Quick-Takes Friday

Okay, okay. I'm caving to the pressure. Jen at Conversion Diary and Kathy at 10 Minute Writer have both been posting these 7 Quick-Takes each Friday -- just short little blurts of posts on seven different random topics at the end of each week. Brilliant. Jen's idea, but it's slowly spreading across blogdom.

And I'm caving.

So, here we go......

1

Jeff Dunham is the funniest man on the face of this earth. I'm watching him as I type this and I'm having severe problems in not totally ROTFLOL. I never thought that a ventriloquist could be so hilarious, but I simply love his characters. Peanut is my favorite -- he's nearly as random as I wish I were. Walter's curmudgeon act is wonderful, even if much bleeping from the censors must occur. The new Christmas special is dang funny -- don't miss it if it happens to roll across Comedy Central during your watch.

2

Today we enjoyed a lovely Christmas party with our local homeschooling Park Day group. We haven't been able to do anything with them yet except for a field trip to the Star of India at the San Diego Maritime Museum, but I know many of the families involved. Having a homeschool group in our small town of 1200 is simply wonderful, and I'm replanning our schedule (as in skipping a chiropractic appointment after Mass) so that we can do more activities with the Park Day group. Sheri, my best friend here in town, opened her home and we enjoyed tea, coffee, and a lovely potluck lunch while kids jumped on the trampoline, ran around, chased the goats, played in the treehouse, made Christmas crafts, etc. Such a lovely way to finish up our homeschooling for the calendar year.

3

Grading essays is the bane of my existence. Truly. I adore one-on-one tutoring, I love being in front of a classroom. But a stack of essays waiting to be graded always seems to remind me of something extremely pressing I need to be doing instead, like trimming my toenails or plucking my eyebrows, Once I get going, I don't mind it tooooooo much, except for the students who haven't turned in their best work. Then I feel my frustration level rising as I mark the ninth sentence fragment or the seventh comma splice, not to mention the fifteenth misspelling. But when a student who has been struggling finally makes a breakthrough, it's sheer joy. I love teaching literature and writing ... so I guess if grading comes along with the territory, I'm just gonna hafta deal with it.

4

Tomorrow night two of my kids are going to be in our community's first Christmas play. Tomorrow we have to go set up the hall before the final rehearsal, and I was counting on our oldest son helping us set up two hundred chairs. But Number One son has spent all evening hanging over the toilet after getting sick three times so far. Why does it always happen that whenever we have a family event of some sort, one of the four children become very ill? It seems to be some twisted sort of karma or something. Not funny, Lord.

5

At Lake Murray I am somehow involved in all of our liturgical events. In February, I remind the staff of Ash Wednesday and Lent so we can send out a little blurb about Lent. During Holy Week I set up the Stations of the Cross in the sanctuary and *beg* for a Good Friday service. And during Advent, I get to line up the families to light the Advent candles. I love doing all these things because, as my regular readers know, liturgy is my life. But I don't attend the first service, so I'm always at a loss to ask people to light the candles and read the Scriptures for that service. Veneta, our church assistant and general go-to woman, is going to e-mail me some names, cuz I'm at a loss again. Yep, again....

6

You know, it's not easy to come up with seven random mini-posts when one is a linear thinker. I will have to think these little seven thingymajiggies out more in advance. I promise they'll get better. At least they can't get worse, right?

7

And yes, I'm still laughing at Jeff Dunham while I'm typing this. My ribs hurt. My throat hurts. My face hurts. Gotta love him... and Peanut. Lotion or no lotion.