Hopes And Dreams And Goals And Aspirations.

In my 'other' life, I'm a High School English teacher. In addition to this I've recently qualified and taken on the role of Careers' Counsellor as well.

And so I've just spent the past few months counselling hundreds of teenagers regarding their future careers and course selections for next year.

Interesting, to say the least.

I love working with students about their hopes, dreams and ambitions. And I'm constantly amazed at some of the futures these students aspire to. Some, of course, are obvious. Some are complete surprises. And then there are those that I suspect are probably unattainable.

How do you gently suggest to a student that reaching their goal is impossible without crushing their spirit and aspirations? Simple. You don't.

You encourage them to reach that goal, while pointing out the practicalities and difficulties, and advise them to have back-up plans. As you do with every student. You never know, they might make it.

I've been heartened by the number of students who want to go into creative areas: photography, sculpture, painting film-making and, happily, writing. And of course these are some of the career paths where success can be quite limited. A back-up plan is vital.

A couple of these kids have been aware that I write and asked me about my experiences. It's been kind of humbling that a few have even read one of my stories.

Who knows? Among this group of teenagers with dreams and hopes and wishes and aspirations, there might be another Stephen King. I look forward to that.

Reports.

Tuesday afternoon around 3pm I suddenly encountered Con-lag. It was like a sudden wave of weary hit me - a lot like jetlag, but I hadn't been near an airport. I made sure I had a good night's sleep, and by Wednesday morning I was ready to go.

But then I had a whole lot of marking to do as we reach the end of the term, and all those reports to write. Ask just about any teacher, and you'll find reports are the bane of their existence. These days, in a world of information overload, reports have too much information, too many numbers and letters, too much superfluous comment. Most parents want to know:

1. Is my kid working?
2. Have they submitted all assignments?
3. Is my kid behaving?
4. What is their grade?

Instead we have pages of commentaries and recommendations and little charts and numbers. The parents I've spoken to would like it clearer, and the ones who choose to come along to parent/teacher interviews get a nice simple breakdown of where their child is placed in terms of the course, and where they are heading.

But we play by the rules mandated by the Department, and it's all over for another term.

Now, back to my writing - when I find some free time.

It's Getting Warmer.

So I came home exhausted after spending the week at a school camp with 35 or so teenagers. The kids weren't the exhausting part - they were great - it was all those wonderful activities.  I abseiled, white water rafted, rode horses, clambered around high ropes courses, rogained - and a whole lot more.

And then I got home o spend the weekend working in the garden and around the house. At least I had fabulous weather for it all.

So here's five albums (in no particular order) to play on a very warm, pre-summer day.


1. English Settlement - XTC
2. Abbey Road - The Beatles
3. Larry Norman (Starstorm) - Larry Norman
4. Making God Smile (Beach Boys Tribute) - Various Artists
5. Gold - Ryan Adams

Time For Writing.

Parent teacher interviews have once again come and gone, as has all the hard marking at the end of Term 3. And now I'm on holidays for two weeks.

I've got lots of writing to get on with since I've been neglecting it a little recently. I did a major rewrite last week for Paul Haines, my mentor, and had another read of it this morning before submitting it. Amazing how many times you can read and re-read something and still discover errors at the last minute.

One of my favourite tricks, and one I've been advising my students to do, is to read it out loud. That's when you really notice mistakes, lack of flow or even places where the rhythm doesn't work.

I have two rewrites to do this week, a story to complete, and about three to start.  My head is swimming with ideas at the moment (and yes, I've been writing them down) - and I'm especially keen to try and sell another story. By the end of the week I should have another three stories out on submission.

I'm really looking forward to this week.  Gotta love them words.

Trudging Through Slush?

I recently had a couple of people suggest I take up slushreading for a magazine. They told me how much it would help my writing by not only seeing the mistakes that other people make but by seeing how well other people write. They also told me how much it had helped their writing.

I understand what they're saying, but I don't have time to take on slushreading.

As for seeing how well other people write, I do that anyway. I read a phenomenal number of books and subscribe to three or four magazines. And as for the mistakes side of it, well hey - I teach English in high school.

I love my writing, but I'm a little concerned I can't devote enough time to it now - never mind taking on the responsibilities of slushreading. I have the greatest respect for people who are prepared to take on this task - and this is despite the completely inane, childish and unsophisticated comments I've received on stories from a couple of them. (And I must point out it was only a couple of them.)

Also bear in mind that as a writer I'm frustrated by the amount of time some of these markets take to reject a story. I've got one story now at its third market - the first two submissions took eight months each to respond. And as I currently don't have enough time to take slushreading on properly, I'd feel guilty about contributing to delays for some other writer.

Over this current two week period I have around 105 essay to marks, 50 short stories, 50 posters and two novels to read, study and be ready to teach next week. And that's on top of the normal preparation I need to do for my classes. And somewhere in between all that I'm also trying to have a life, write a couple of my own stories, edit a couple more that need it, and research markets and submit.

I think I read enough examples of both good and poor work to more than make up for it.