Total Immersion into TeenWorld

For the past three days (and nights), I've been completely immersed in teen world: Forty-three teens ranging in ages from 13-15 on a field trip to Disney World. And let me tell you, I'm completely exhausted.

You may know I teach 8th grade, so I'm surrounded by teens all day long and am pretty aware of teen life (they don't whisper as quietly as they think they do, and I hear a LOT). But, on a field trip away from parents and school, it's a totally different experience. We drove down on a bus, traveling at night (this is NOT fun--try getting enough sleep to function the next day on a bus. Not pretty.) and jumping right into the fun at the World of the Mouse (we did all three parks--the Magic Kingdom itself, Epcot and Hollywood Studios). Mornings, we learned about physics & design, technology, and careers. Afternoons, we got to play in the park and, during that time, I was immersed in TeenWorld.

I had a group of 13 guys and girls in the morning and 10 girls in the afternoon. While the morning ran rather like school, the afternoons...well, they were quite different. Even though the girls chose to be in this particular group before the trip, they weren't all friends. By the second day, they'd broken into several distinct packs: four friends who thought they were totally hot stuff, three relatively "normal" girls, one who wanted to be with the boys (two in particular), one who hung with a lot of different groups though she preferred to be alone (not allowed in this case--rules were that she had to be with at least one other person when not with me), and one who refused to leave her mother's side (her mom was a chaperone). But these weren't necessarily cliques--they were more fluid than that.

It was fascinating to watch the dynamics of the different groups over the course of the three days because they shifted constantly. Crushes developed; hearts were broken. Guys got into arguments over things that seemed life-or-death, were ready to kill each other one second and best friends the next. Girls judged, hugged, supported, flirted.

There's an amazing amount of gossip within teen-world. For example (one of about a zillion from those few days, trust me), because the girls had to complete a scavenger hunt in the afternoon, I chose two leaders for the day (one for the map and one to run the camera). It was pretty random, since I only knew three of the ten of them. But one of the girls (who didn't raise her hand when I asked for leaders, btw) got all upset because she was getting "bossed around". Then, when we split up, she gossiped to everyone she ran into about how horrible those girls were and how they kept trying to boss her around. Some listened, some didn't but the gossip still spread. Amazing.

Everything goes so very fast in TeenWorld. An hour there is like a couple of days in the adult world. Lives completely changed within half a day. It was an experience and, even though you may curse me afterwords, I highly suggest if you ever get the chance to chaperone an overnight trip with teens and you write YA or MG, you do it. It's not just people-watching, it's learning about teen lives in a way you've never experienced. Even if you live with a teen (hang in there, parents--the terrible teens don't last forever), it's so very different when they're away from their everyday structure of family and school.

Now, excuse me while I go take a nap. Teen life is exhausting.

And lo, down came the snow...

And it stayed. My adopted state of South Carolina got lots of snow on Monday (well, lots for us--about six inches). This heavy snow was topped off with a sprinkle of freezing rain, just enough to form a nice crust on top of all that snow. Then it melted a bit and refroze, with a thicker layer. And then again and again.

Mini Southern SnowGirl

My poor little state was paralyzed. We don't have many plows, and the ones we do have are makeshift trucks with plows strapped on. We have a few spreaders so some major streets and highways got a coating of sand, which helped a little.

Four snow days. Four. Of course, there's a good reason for that. While much of my district is suburban, there are a lot of rural bits with dirt roads. No plows. No sanding. Just pure ice. Yards turned into skating rinks from all the melting and refreezing. Not pretty. However, I am so not looking forward to making up those days. *shiver* Eighth graders. Testing. Spring. Hormones. Very, very ugly unless we have little breaks from each other every month. *double shiver*

There's still snow and ice on the ground and it's Saturday. While some of you may be shaking your heads and saying, "Well, duh, it's winter. What'd you expect?", I have to tell you the snow usually melts within a day or two. Driving around, I feel like I'm back up in Chicago after the first storm of the season.

However, there was some good that came of these snow days: IDEAS. With not much to do except torment the dogs and watch daytime television (thank all that is good we didn't lose power!), my brain was searching for new. And found it! Possibilities include:
A high-interest historical, a bit guy-centric
A creepy/funny satire-type story
A romance
An action/adventure that involves treasure

If only I could clone myself so I could write all of these at the same time! Ooh, there's an idea. Clones...

The Bad, the Good, and the Staring

The Bad: My brain has been frozen lately. No new writing, no new ideas. I finished my zero draft of my YA action/adventure and am overwhelmed by the amount of work it's going to take to make it presentable. So, like my Mac, my little rainbow of doom has been swirling indefinitely (for those of you PC users, that's the same thing as the hourglass when it gets stuck turning and turning and turning...).


The Good: Until it became unstuck. I'm not sure what it was--a blog post I read, something someone said, something I saw on TV--but the rainbow of doom stopped swirling and let me click on a new document (okay, enough with the computer metaphor, I promise). Ideas, they are a-flowing! Holy cats, I do love a good brainstorm. Hopefully, there will be something in the storm that I can use--what am I saying. Of course there will be! (see, resolution of the year: be more positive)


The Staring: My pup, Finnegan, has gotten into the habit of sitting on the ottoman and staring at me. Sometimes, it's because he wants to snuggle. Sometimes, he wants to go outside and patrol his yard (and probably eat whatever the cats left for him. Or anything else he can find out there because he's a fuzzy trash can. Yes, he's disgusting.). Sometimes, I'm certain he stares because he knows it freaks me out. 

Finn of the Cocked Head and Princess Fiona.

Dogs. They're totally weird.

2011 To Do List

I love lists and am a list-maker at heart. So, I enjoy making New Year's resolutions but, as it happens with 99% of my other lists, a lot of it carries over from one list (or year) to another. I do have some new to-do's to add to the list but many of my resolutions are carry-overs from last year (oh, and the year before...and the one before that...).


This year, I will strive to:

• Write daily, even if it's just a blog post. I'm not setting a word count goal but I really need to get in the daily writing habit, not just writing when inspiration hits. This is one of my biggest goals this year and one I really don't want to let slide.
• Find a crit group and/or some crit partners. I do have a couple of beta readers (finally!) but I need to find some people who can delve a bit deeper into my writing and who I can do the same for. Which brings me to my next goal...
• Be braver. I need to put myself out there--on Vera Kay, comment on writer's blogs, wherever--but I want to dive deep into the writing community, not just skate along the surface. I'm committed to my writing and want to take it to another level. I've written several trunk novels and I want to come out of the trunk, so to speak.
• Make my writing blog more interesting. I'm aiming to post two to three times a week about a variety of topics. I'd like this blog to be fun and interactive (I love comments and need to be better about responding!), something people enjoy reading. I do not want to be a Gloomy Gus and whine about how hard writing is (even when it is hard)--and, I swear, I can be funny, damnit!
• And finally (urg, this one follows me from year to year...as it does with many people), eat more healthfully and exercise consistently. Yeah, I know, you're surprised by this one, aren't you? Stuffing my face with cookies and avoiding veggies has done nothing for me. Time to get more serious about it--just because I'm a single chick who hates to cook doesn't mean I can't find ways to feed myself like an adult (I can't have cereal for dinner every night or depend on frozen meals to get me through). And I really need to get fit. I do enjoy running but, again, it's all about being consistent. Which is hard for me.

Well, that's it. Nothing on my to-do list is impossible. I just need to do it. And that's the rub, isn't it? Life intrudes on good intentions and it's so easy to fall back into old habits. But I'm hoping, by putting my list out into the blogosphere, it will keep me on track and, even though most of those to-do's will follow me into upcoming years, I'll get what I need to done.


To all of you out there, Happy New Year--I wish you the best of luck in all you wish to achieve this year!
Happy Reading and Writing in 2011-
Mary