Ironically, pursuing a graduate degree in writing has assured that I have not written a single word in over three months. This, of course, does not count the toss-off paper my history prof assigned so he could have at least one grade for us before the term ends. Nor does it include the massive interpolation of Plato’s theories of Forms as it compares to the Logos of St. John’s Gospel for my "Ancient World" class. While both of these exercised a reasoning muscle I had long ago allowed to atrophy, neither will be added to my resume.

One course which did provide some genuine writing was the "Nonfiction for Children" course with Dr. Mona Kerby. This was an online course, sadly, and I would have greatly enjoyed face to face interaction with my fellow writers and Dr. Kerby. I did learn a great deal, every bit of it useful information. (I feel certain I will never have to defend St. John to a sophist anytime in the future.) We studied the catalogs of various publishing houses, as well as the few children’s periodicals still in publication. Then we wrote and submitted.

Meanwhile, the chance to teach writing at the community college has helped me add to the family budget while polishing my grammar skills. I won’t say it polishes my writing skills because what I teach is very formulaic—teaching to the test in the most blatant manner! But it is an easy gig, now that all the planning is done, and next semester should be much more flexible.

One thing I was able to do these past months was to read many Newbery-worthy books. Gary Schmidt’s Okay for Now still has my vote for the gold medal. In fact, I went ahead and purchased it for my collection—that is how confident I am that it will win something. I was very excited to see that Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai (also one of my favorites this year), won the National Book Award, and the runners up included the nonfiction Flesh and Blood So Cheap, and Frannie Billingsley’s Chime, as well as Okay for Now. These were all books I enjoyed immensely, and have high hopes for them in January. I especially recommend listening to the audio book of Chime. It is exquisitely narrated. I haven’t read the other runner-up, Edwardson’s My Name is Not Easy, but that is on my list for this holiday. Newbery season is creeping up, but I feel pretty confident this year. I will not be caught off guard!

Speaking of my Newbery collection, I was able to add three just in the past week or so. Honk the Moose! Can you believe it? It is a well-loved old copy, but such a cute story! I nearly squealed when I saw it on the shelf at Wonderbook. In fact, I probably did squeal. Then the other day I found The Golden Name Day by Lindquist, and Like Jake and Me, by Mavis Jukes. So the collection is shaping up, although I still have about 108 titles to find—not including the ones about to be announced.

Back to work for me. There is one more set of journals that need to be graded. And of course, there is Plato.