Sunday, May 18, 2025
1:28 p.m.
It’s a strange feeling, not having any to-do items pressing down upon me. Oh, there are chores; there are always chores. I’ve done a few already this morning, and there will be more.
But chores are different to-dos. With the class over, there is a calmness about the office today. I’ve started to clean up the desk, pull out the long-overdue backlog of snail mail, and refocus on reading that I’ve been wanting to do.
10:25 p.m.
Chores galore, inside and out. The place is looking better. Started working on the to-do items to wrap up Eryn’s college journey. Medical forms, vaccine records, insurance cards: all scanned in, uploaded, and submitted to Welch College, Eryn’s destination. I have several emails out to officials on this and that.
Her Saturday graduation at MTSU approaches, and time marches on, as the cliche goes. A little letter writing time, a few moments in front of the boob tube, and tomorrow becomes today.
Monday, May 19
10:23 p.m.
Catching up on letters continues. Going through stacks of unread newspapers; they built up while I was busy reading student papers. Now looking over a April 5 edition of The Wall Street Journal. Between teaching and writing, reading was on the back burner. I’m hoping for a better balance as I move forward.
Received an after hours email reply from someone at Eryn’s soon-to-be-college, in which the sender answered my meal plan question. Great! One less thing on my ever-aging mind. :-)
Tuesday, May 20
Lunch
A few fast lines while gobbling grub. Student class evals are in. I’m not sure how much faith I put into them since less than half the students bothered to complete them, but I do enjoy reading the comments, regardless of what the students may say/write.
In the free form narrative area, one student scribbled the following:
“While I understand the workload, it seems like a lot for a class that is mostly being taken by people who need the class as a colonnade not for their actual major. It’s a ton of work for a class that’s not actually your major.”
HHmmmmm. So, my takeaway is that if a class is not directly tied to a student’s major or minor, then the course should not be a lot of work?
The student is correct: It is A LOT of work. It’s a junior-level course, after all. And English 300 is the last of the university’s three required English classes: Eng 100 (Essay writing), Eng 200 (Intro to Lit), and Eng 300 (academic research).
What this student doesn’t “get” is that regardless of the major or minor, most graduates will write, write, and write as part of their occupations. Being able to do so clearly, with focus—giving credit where credit is due, is an essential ingredient to success.
Good group of students; I enjoyed working with them. :-)
Same Day, 8:39 p.m.
It’s Tuesday, and we all know what happens on Tuesday! :-)
My friend Charlotte shared the following piece with me today. Obviously, she knows how to get my attention! Click here to pop over to The New Yorker and read it.
Wednesday, May 21
10:00 p.m.
I don’t get to enjoy lunch on the back deck much these days. Always a chore to do, an errand to run. Today’s mild weather encouraged me to remain chore-free, stay home, and work on postcards on the deck. Slowly digging out of stacks and stacks of literary to-do items.
I’d like to have more afternoons like today. Mother Nature is on the edge of unleashing summer, and then the one place NOT to be in the middle of the day is outside. But for a few moments this week, it’s a treat.
Thursday, May 22
9:58 p.m.
This article ran in today’s paper, up in Louisville. Kathleen runs The Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, where I earned my MFA in Writing and learned how to write something worth reading. It’s a great read, and (so far) the article launches for free. Click HERE to give it a try.
Here’s an important opinion piece that ran in today’s New York Times.
Click HERE to launch and read it. I gifted the article, and it generated the link. Readers should not have to be subscribers to read it.
Another lunch hour spent on the back deck, reading and enjoying the temps.
Friday, May 23
10:58 p.m.
Tomorrow, our youngest child graduates high school. Three days later, she’s off to Quebec City with her grannie. That all happened sort of fast, “that” being her public school career. I remember a lot, especially the cold, dark winter mornings sitting with her in my then-car, which is now her now-car, waiting for the bus to pull up. She’d throw her monster boots up on the dashboard and complain about my generic, tree-shaped vanilla air freshener. Today, when she smells it, she tells me it makes her feel 13 years old again. So, I make sure to always have a fresh one tossed in the car someplace. :-)
Operation Catch Up continues, i.e.: me catching up on reading, answering snail mail, and whatnot. And while I’m working through these tasks, my mind is grinding on the next writing project. It’s either going to be a sequel to the novel OR a memoir, focusing on my time living and working in London as a young man in the late 1980s…with the larger theme of the value and importance of being and becoming a global citizen.
High School Graduation Day
11:30 a.m.
So….yeah, this is happening today. :-) The house is all abuzz with prep-apalooza.

7:35 p.m.
And, Poof: She’s out of high school!
After the ceremony, I told her that she survived twelve years in the Wilson County, Tennessee educational system. She laughed and reminded me that she’s about to go right back into it. She’s studying elementary education at college in the fall. :-)
And that, gentle reader, is another week in the literary trenches. Here’s to more progress in the coming week!
As always, Freckles sends her regards!
Congratulations to Eryn! And thanks for the shout-out. Glad you enjoyed the article.