Hello again!

Good morning all. I am almost done with "The Story That Never Ends!" I hope to finish it today! Yeah! Then I can start to edit it down. I have been busy over the last couple of days. I also started another story, a new one that came to me the other day. What if a cop who is tracking a serial killer, sets the killer off making the killer target the women in the cops life, his ex, his mother, his two sisters, anyone the cop has ever cared at all about?

I've rewritten the beggining four times now. I get up to about eight pages, then scrape it for another take , another set up. I think I've got it now although I'm only up to page six, so that could change easily enough. LOL

Overall, I'm very happy with Firey Strength aka "The Story that Never Ends." I don't know as there's much to cut out really. The story spans several months and includes the recuperation of a battered woman. There are a lot of little side tracks but those will be tied up in the end easily enough. The only thing left to write is the outcome of the trial. The decision from the Alpha Jury about whether Andra will be allowed to live or be killed.

Well I'm off to write. Hopefully I'll get it done this morning!

Lori

I'm done with the class!

Well not exactly. I do have to finish my until planning and then teach it to my seventh graders. They'll love it when I tell them I'm changing the way I teach to try something a little different. I have to go to a presentation class in October to present my unit and any student work that proves how well the unit went or didn't.

I'm happy to have the rest of the summer, 3 weeks, to finish "The Story that Never Ends" and get it into Wings ePress. Hopefully they'll want it, if not, then I'll rework it until they do. Determination is the first ingredient to success, right?

Did you know werewolves were real? Well not in our world, but in my stories, they are. They aren't man eaters (not since the Middle Ages anyway. LOL) They are born with an altered genetic code that is passed on from father to the seventh son. Obviously they have to have big families! There are also bears, jaguars, lions, leopards, jackals, wolves, coyotes, hyenas, cougars and tigers. Time and death have taken a toll on all shifters. There are only about 500 or so left in the world.

The League of Packs governs the secret and keeps the order between the packs. They stay alive as long as the "Normals" think they are legends from old. The League settles disputes between shifters. Obviously the League is out to protect the lives of the shape shifters. If a "Normal" kills a shifter, there isn't even a trial. The "Normal" is killed and the police chalk it up to a random act of violence, a freak animal attack or such.

Fiery Strength is Kegan and Andra's story. Andra kills her abusive husband in self defense. The Northern Pack, Andra's father's pack, comes to her aid. Kegan is one of the pack members, who has against everything he knows is right, has fallen in love with her. Can he save her? Can they live happily ever after? That's the basic premise to the book anyway. There are many smaller subplots that carry through all four of the books, but you will be able to read one without the others.

I guess that's all for now. Mom Nancy asked for the name of the book, so here it is with a little about the book too. I can go on forever about my books. For me, the characters are very real. Writers are now nodding their heads in agreement while non writers will think I'm crazy. LOL Oh well. I write because I have to. I'm always thinking of story ideas. I have a long list of stories I want to start and or finish. I won't bore you with those.

Lori

It's Friday!

Good morning! I've been up for an hour or so, but I was reading my email which has been bursting at the seams. I had a 120 messages and I checked it three times yesterday as I sat in class. I only have a half day left for my class, then I'll go back and present my teaching unit to the class in October.

You know, I try to match kids up according to strengths and weaknesses for group work. The stronger students help the weaker and both benefit. I'm famous around the school for saying, "I don't care if you're not with your friends because at your job, you will have to work with people you may find it hard to work with." I'm working with a lady on the unit for the class. I have the DEEPEST respect for the woman. She works hard, is brilliant, and she actually understands this new system for designing teaching units. I'm very sincere in what I said above. The fact is that we have VERY different learning styles (She needs quiet and I need to ask a lot of questions especially when I don't understand.) Well, you can see the conflict. She has been ultra patient with me.

I've tried very hard not to bother her but then I can't meet my own needs for learning. I end up sitting there frustrated. Anyway, maybe I need to rethink my own grouping of students. Maybe both students are too frustrated by to learn what they need. I'll have to think about that.

I haven't taken a class since college and I've forgotten what it feels like to be totally, to not understand what I need to do. I've forgotten what it's like to have to wait for my turn with the professor. I've forgotten how hard it is working with a small group when learning styles vary so much that it interfers with learning. I'm frustrated and I'm a grown up. Now imagine you're 12 and you have to be at school when you would rather be four wheeling, playing on the Internet, or watching TV. Guess if nothing else, I'll try to keep that in mind when school starts again.

As far as the unit design, I'll learn it eventually. There are a lot of parts and once I have made all the connections to the different parts, I'm sure the steps will make sense and become easier with practice. Hmmm... kind of sounds like the way math is taught. Guess I'm learning more than a new way to design units. Imagine that! I hope this can help me remember what those 12 year olds are feeling when they step into MY classroom.

Morning!

I have two days left in the course I'm taking. It's a class to better equip me to teach gifted and talented kids. This is a new program for our school district. I'm excited about it too, if not overwhelmed. The system I'm learning is Universal Design. The planning will allow me to meet the needs of everyone in my classroom. From the academically challenged to the gifted. I like the plan and LOVE the way it connects learning to other subjects. The more connections the more pertainant the information and the better the child learns it.

Anyway, Universal Design takes TONS of planning time especially when you are learning about it. The finished unit, in the long run saves you time though and you get depth in the education instead of surface information which allows more learning to occur. I'm going to start with the unit I'm working on then expand the units until I have eveything I need to cover done. It may take a year to get it done, but I think it will make me a much more effective teacher. The kids will learn more and feel more successful and that is why I teach. I want to be a part of the kids preperation for life. I want to help them achieve thair goals.

No, I'm not a first year teacher. I've been teaching for nine and while sometimes I feel like banging my head against the wall, over all I still have hope for the future. The upcomming generation is bright and totally digital. There's no telling what this generation will be inventing or discovering when they grow up.

Have a great day,
Lori

Good morning! I slept in a little this morning. I ususally get up at 3 am so I can get a couple of hours of writing in before school, but now that it's summer, I've been sleeping in a bit. I'm finished one graduate course last week and started another this week. So much for the misnomer of teachers not working in the summer! LOL

I've been writing my lastest book for a little over a year. Around my house we've been calling it "The Story That Never Ends." I'm attempting to write a set of four stories that have a lot of the same characters, but are stand alones instead of a series. That means you can read one without having to read the others and not lose anything. "The Story That Never Ends" is the second of the four. The third is about halfway through the rough draft. The fourth is still in my head. The first one will be published at Wings ePress this coming February.

Anyway, "The Story That Never Ends" is 139,000 words and I've still got the climax and the ending to go. I'm going to have to trim some out again. I've done an edit already to trim some of the story and got rid of about 5,000 words, but still need to do some more. Might make the story too exhausting for the reader though since there is a lot happening in the story. I'll have to ask some of my writing friends to read it through and let me know what they think since I'm too close to the story.

I write romances. I know a lot of people frown on them, but I like them for their escapism. The good guys always win and love conquers all. I want to read to forget my life, my stress, for awhile. I don't need to read about poverty. As a teacher in a small town in Maine, I see poverty. Watch the news, you see it. I read for pure fun and delight.

I may do little reviews of the books I read here too. I don't know yet. This is a little weird. Writing for myself but knowing that anyone could stop by and read it. I guess I'll shut up now. I'm avoiding "The Story That Never Ends" and I have class all day today too. Thanks for listening.

Hello

Hello all! I'm new to this blogging thing and I'm afraid I won't have too much to say. LOL Oh well, let's see what happens.

Lori