In his book On Writing, Stephen King talks about the time he spent teaching, and how hard it was to write after coming home from that job.  He says that “by most Friday afternoons I felt as if I’d spent the week with jumper cables clamped to my brain.” 

Yeah.  

People often tell me I’m nuts for teaching middle school, but it’s the best.  I absolutely love teaching that age group.  The amount of energy that 7th and 8th graders require is pretty insane, however – and that’s only the teaching part of my week.  There’s also being a mother and a partner, both of which are also full-time jobs.

The upshot is that writing has taken a back, back, backity back burner for the past several days. 

I also got a reminder this week of how lucky I am, and how little I have to complain about.  I took my son to a Make-A-Wish event at a local Barnes and Noble.  A fifteen-year-old girl with brain cancer had written a book, and her wish was to have it published.  She managed it, even while undergoing cancer treatment, and even though she lost her mother a few years ago to the same disease.  Unthinkable.  Amazing. 

The girl’s name is Stephanie Trimberger, and the book is called The Ruby Heart.  She did a book signing, and the turnout was huge, and she got her moment.  Stephanie signed my copy of her book to the students at my school, and I donated it to the school library and told my students about it.  During silent reading yesterday, I saw that one of my kids had checked The Ruby Heart out of the library.  

So that was a success too.  But that one was for Stephanie.