Way Back Wednesday: It's (Almost) Flip Flop Time!

 It's that time of year again. No book coming out this summer, though. And my family won't be under the same roof, unless my daughter comes to visit or we go (again) to see her in her new apartment. Oh, and that three weeks between the end of the semester and the start of summer classes? Less than a week this summer, and my summer class is more than twice the size it was when this post originally ran three years ago.

Things change. But summer is still the time when my writing gets a boost. So, bring it on.

My schedule is about to flip flop and I couldn't be happier. Then again, how could anyone be disappointed in something that involves flip flops?

I love teaching. And if I had any doubt about that whatsoever, it disappeared when I retired from 27 years in education only to seek out more teaching opportunities. Initially, I sought them out as an additional stream of income and as something to keep me occupied and busy. 

Then, I landed a teaching position at the local college -- one that grew from a single class to a full-time job. But, as the plaque my husband gave me the first summer after I retired says, "If I don't want to, you can't make me. I'm retired."

And I want to. Teaching inspires my creativity and feeds my need to connect with other people. It also feeds the helping persona inherent in my personality (some might call her bossy...) and ingrained in my identity through more than a quarter of a century as a counselor.

Peggy Marco via Pixabay

But I also love writing. And during the school term, it's sometimes difficult to find enough creative energy for planning and preparing lessons and planning and preparing manuscripts. And so now that the semester is almost over, writing projects are once again taking their place at the top of my priority list. I'm looking forward to being able to spend entire days focused on all of the aspects of a writing career -- submitting, promoting and, of course, the writing itself -- for three glorious weeks.

Wait. Only three weeks?

In three weeks, summer session will begin. Though it's less overwhelming than fall and spring semester (one small class, compared to three classes roughly three times the size of a summer class), it will also need its place in my calendar. In addition, my daughter will be home.

And my book comes out in June.

Never a dull moment around here. Luckily, the flip flop in my schedule fuels the writing spark much the same way as a trip to the beach recharges my spirit. Coupled with longer days and my family all under one roof again, I'm ready.

Bring on summer.