LET OP! + KINGS
First off, thank you all VERY much for your kind & thoughtful suggestions on classic kids' SF for my Hollins student. She got a big bang out of it, and a considerable reading list. And her new chapters are Divine!
The Spirit Spoke through me in Class yesterday: I realized that a student's newest chapter (turned in for class crit, for a revision she's been struggling womanfully with) was actually the beginning of a whole new book, and paced about, waving my arms & explaining why - and invited the rest of the class to "witness" with me - make suggestions for how it might work, and generally expressing suitable enthusiasm. Poor Student looked more and more pale, and scribbled madly - finally I stopped and said, "OK. DEEEEP BREATH!" --
And the rest of the class breathed in, while she continued to scribble....
"Not you!" I snapped at them - and we all broke up, bless them. Except her? I'm not sure she ever got her breath.... (Honey, if you're reading this: One page at a time. Keep breathing.)
And now, my Facebook report, in case you do not indulge:
For once, I got dinner on the table in plenty of time for Delia to eat before she goes to teach her 6-9 pm class at Hollins University Graduate Program in Children's Literature! Yay, me! Time management not my forte - but I can learn! I made Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice) - from a mix we bought in Holland ehrm some years ago - threw it in the bag when we left, since clearly NYC has enough Ethnic Food Delights in walking distance that we were never going to be desperate enough to open it. Not bad. The most hilarious part is that I went online to see if I could find the Dutch instructions & translate them - and found 3-4 English translations already up there! What a world. I remember the time we were sojourning in Amsterdam & spent hours with a Dutch-English dictionary to translate the final instruction on a box of Frozen Indonesian marked HET OP! (VERY IMPORTANT!), only to discover it was "Be sure you get all the bits of food out of the corners of the box!"
I should also note that we're pushing back release date on THE FALL OF THE KINGS audiobook for Neil Gaiman Presents - had a feeling we might. It was supposed to launch next week, but it's such a complicated tome, with elaborate music cues & sound effects and a cast of thousands (not to mention the Burning of Atlanta - no, wait, that's a different epic---) - anyway, to Do It Right we agreed to give it a bit more time. I think you'll be pleased with the results - Sometime in August, for sure.
It is hot down here at Hollins - but not as hot as NYC! Ha ha everyone who said, "Ohhh, summer in Virginia; won't it be hot down there?"
Ha ha.