seat of my pants

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you! Today is Labor Day, the last day of summer vacation for my boys. They’re not happy about this. They love summer and all its possibilities. My boys love the lack of structure that summer vacation brings, the spontaneity of being able to pick up and take off at a moment’s notice. I loved that too back when I was a kid, and I have to confess, I still do.

As I look back on my life, I realize I’ve always had an aversion to structure. I see it even in my writing. I’m a “seat of my pants” writer, which means that I don’t follow an outline. I sketch out my characters and then I figure out how I want my story to begin and end. From there, I let my characters take the wheel. It’s fun to write this way, because it’s exciting to see where the story goes.

I see this in my youngest as well. He has faked being sick so that he can stay home from school. During one of those sick days, he wrote a thirty-two page story about tornadoes. He was in first grade at the time, but it was amazing to watch him do this. Each page had a couple of complete sentences and illustrations as well. He stapled the pages together and handed it to me, wanting me to read it. He was so proud and I must say so was I.

I’m excited for this new school year. I can’t wait to see how my boys grow and develop. My oldest has more confidence and that does my heart good. I hope my youngest will develop that same kind of confidence. I hope it comes with age.

With my kids in school, I’ll be able to devote more time to my writing. I’m working on a Young Adult Coming of Age Novel and I’m really enjoying it. My beta readers have given me the thumbs up on it, which makes me extremely happy. It has a great message for teens. One that I wish I had learned in my teen years.

Labor Day is kind of like a new beginning for me. I imagine other parents feel this way with the new school year looming. I’m more motivated during this time and I believe this has to do with all those years in school. We’re conditioned this way from Kindergarten on. It makes me wonder about the whispers I’ve been hearing about year round schools and online schools for elementary and middle grade children.

I wonder what will happen to our educational system if these online schools take off. Will it have a positive effect or a negative one? I can see where online schools will save money, because there won’t be a need for those brick and mortar buildings anymore. However, I wonder what the effect will be on the learning process. I wonder if it will make our kids too passive, sitting in front of a computer to learn.

Going to school offers quite a bit for kids, in my opinion, there is the social aspect of it. If we convert to online schooling, will our children miss developing the social skills that they will need in future job markets?

Thanks for stopping by and reading my Labor Day Ramblings. If you have any thoughts you’d like to share about online schooling or anything else for that matter, I’d love to read them. So, leave a comment and share your thoughts.

I was invited by my friend, Jodi Desautels, to participate in a “blog hop interview.” Jodi sent me some interview questions, which I answer here on my blog. Following my answers, I tag 3 other writers who will, in turn, answer questions on their blogs next week. It’s been fun checking out the Blog Hops to see what other children’s authors have posted!

Jodi posted her answers to the questions at her blog, What’s New With Jodi Desautels on July 22nd. If you like, you can leave a comment on her blog and tell her that you connected to her through my link here!

http://authorjodidesautels.weebly.com/1/post/2013/07/author-blog-hop-for-childrens-authors-mg-authors-and-ya-authors.html

Here are my answers to the questions that I chose from the list:

1. What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a Coming of Age Young Adult Novel and I’m hashing out an idea for the fourth Super Spies book.

2. How does it differ from other works in its genre?

It’s my hope that it’ll be not only entertaining but an inspirational story as well.

3. Why do you write what you do?

When I was a young girl, I wanted to be a detective just like Nancy Drew. Then I realized I would love to be a writer. This revelation occurred when I was in fifth grade and I started writing my own mysteries then. However, I didn’t seek publication until I was home with my kids. That’s when the Super Spies series was born.

Right now, I’m taking a break from the Super Spies and trying something a little different. I’m writing a Coming of Age novel and I’m really enjoying it. I love the characters and the bobbing and weaving that they do in their prickly relationship. I can’t say more than that. 😉 I don’t want to give too much away. I write to inspire young girls. I want them to follow their passion and dream big. 🙂 That’s why most of my main characters are strong girls.

4. How does your writing process work?

I’m a seat of my pants writer. Plotting ruins the creative process for me. I usually know the beginning of the story and how it ends…and in the middle I let the characters take over. That’s how I get so many surprising twists and turns in my mysteries.

The one negative that I’ve found is that I have a lot of editing to do when the first draft is done. But I don’t really mind that either because I enjoy taking a scene and making it stronger and more emotional.

Below are the three authors that I tagged and their posts will be up August 5th.

Sara Stinson: http://stinsonsara.wordpress.com/

Cordelia Dinsmore : http://cordeliadinsmore.blogspot.com/

J. F. Jenkins: http://adragonslove.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post today! 🙂