Category: Justlife

Birthday Weekend Coffee Share

I am excited you have joined me for coffee today. It is Father’s day in the US and my birthday. I think we will have some birthday cupcakes this morning to celebrate but no singing.

I am having a Butter Brew coffee with a shot of espresso for the occasion. What would you like today?

If we were having coffee, I would tell you this week has been full of ups and downs.

To read the rest of this post please click here. Please comment and clap (I believe you can clap up to 30 times).

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by Categories: Gatherings, Justlife, Mywriting, NANOWRIMO, Questions, Reading Life, Short Story, Slice of Life, Weekend coffee share, Writing Challenge, Writing Exercise, Writing Group, Writing Prompt, WritingLifeTags: 9 Comments

#WeekendCoffeeShare #Sunday June 9

I am so glad you are joining me for coffee today! This post is inspired by Eclectic Alli. My summer has officially started and I am feeling amazing! Let’s take our coffee and go for a little walk and then we can sit under the trees as the time stretches on.

You can read the rest of the post here. Please clap and comments if you enjoy what you read!

What will you tell me as we are having coffee?

by Categories: Gatherings, Justlife, Mywriting, Questions, Reading Life, sarahselecky, Short Story, Slice of Life, storyaday, Weekend coffee share, Writing Challenge, Writing Exercise, Writing Group, Writing Prompt, WritingLifeTags: , , , , Leave a comment

#WeekendCoffeeShare #Sunday June 2

I am so glad you are joining me for coffee today! Today feels special today because it is my second day of summer vacation. This does not mean that I am out of work completely. There are some workshops and training I will be going to but I do not have to drive into work every day. To be home is glorious. I appreciate this schedule change. It usually takes me a week to recalibrate myself but I do not think I will have that issue this year.

You can read the rest of the post here.

Please clap and comments if you enjoy what you read!

Happy Sunday! If you would like to support me additionally you are welcome to buy me a cup of coffee: http://ko-fi.com/tammybreitweiser

What will you tell me while we have coffee?

by Categories: Gatherings, Justlife, Mywriting, Questions, Reading Life, sarahselecky, Short Story, Slice of Life, storyaday, Weekend coffee share, Writing Challenge, Writing Exercise, Writing Group, Writing Prompt, WritingLifeTags: , , , , Leave a comment

#WeekendCoffeeShare #Sunday May 19th

Today please join me for a coffee. We have some catching up to do!

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I was a guest blogger on Teachwrite’s blog on Monday. If you missed that post you can read it here. It is called Ten Minutes of Truth.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I am still writing everyday with Storyaday May. This week my stories got a little dark and a little emotional. It is not a bad thing, but it was surprising to me. Here are some of my favorite prompts this week:

Day 19: 3 Perspectives

2019 Day 17 -Aphorisms

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I am using Sarah Selecky’s writing prompts every day. It is pushing me to think differently about stories somehow and I am pleased with them. Some I will revise and submit and others I will expand. I am considering her Story Course for my birthday. I would love the benefit of mentors but the price point is not one I can swing right now.

If we were having coffee I would tell you I was a little disappointed I wasn’t able to earn a scholarship to a writing conference. It happens and I will still keep writing. I was hopeful this time. I threw my hat into the ring so I am pleased with the effort.

If we were having coffee I would tell you my students did their Living History event on Wednesday. Children from the elementary school come and learn how to dip candles at our station. There is a fire where we melt the wax and my 8th graders do a skit to explain the process. They really did a great job and led the little ones well.

While we are having coffee, I will tell you the Bradbury Trio challenge is going strong as well. I am hoping the input of great writer words will influence my writing and help me hone my craft. I need to make sure I am savoring the writing and not just ticking off the poem, essay, and short story for the day. I was doing that with the books I was reading just to get the number. It doesn’t make it satisfying if I do it that way.

Do you need a refill on your coffee? I am going to get another.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I received my Small Beer Press publication on Saturday. If you have read my blog at all, you know I adore Kelly Link and her writing. One speech I watched she spoke about horoscope stories she had written for a friend’s Kickstarter. I found the booklet of stories for sale and have been reading them over and over. I will use it as a model to write my own.

If we were having coffee I would tell you I am nearing the end of the school year. The 31st is my last day. I have some training this summer but not too much. I am going to be teaching a workshop on Better Conversations at the end of July. I have a flash fiction writing class at the beginning of July I am super excited about as well. My birthday is in June too so that will mean a good dinner!

If we were having coffee I would tell you I finished reading a novel. I have not been ticking off the books like I have in the past since I am focusing on the Trio. I would recommend this book.

It was well written and there were some surprises at the end. It was a Book of the Month Club selection several months ago.

What will you tell me while we have coffee?

Here is the link to Eclectic Alli and her weekend coffee post and link up.

by Categories: Gatherings, Justlife, Mywriting, Questions, Reading Life, sarahselecky, Short Story, Slice of Life, storyaday, Weekend coffee share, Writing Challenge, Writing Exercise, Writing Group, Writing Prompt, WritingLifeTags: , , , , 8 Comments

A Trip Down Memory Lane…Kinda #SOL19

Every Tuesday I post a slice of life and share in the challenge at Two Writing Teachers.

Lately, I have noticed shadows of things that I thought were new to my life but actually are not. It is amazing what reflection can bring forth.

I think of myself as a reflective person, and not just at the end of the school year. I always want to learn and become better and reflection is a large part of this process in my opinion.

With my discovery of short stories and I being creative soul mates over the recent last couple of years, I did not think that I had that much experience with short stories before. I had no recollection of reading many of them in high school other than The Celestial Omnibus . I do have a special place in my heart for this story, which is why I suspect it stands out.

Yesterday, while looking for something else, I stumbled across my ELA folder from school. In my corporation, writing samples were saved in a district folder that followed you from elementary to senior year where it was given to you unceremoniously. I have kept it all these years.

Curious, I started thumbing through it and was reminded of papers I wrote for Macbeth and for Of Mice and Men…then I stumbled on papers in connection to short stories.

One is WINTER DREAMS by F Scott Fitzgerald. I printed it off and began reading. I don’t remember reading it at all! It was a trip down memory lane – slight skewed.

I wrote a paper about Judy Jones and her many personality aspects. It isn’t the most riveting paper I must say. I had strong opinions and did not like this character much at all!

I look forward to finding new stories to read that I have read before. It will be like the first time…again.

by Categories: Justlife, Mywriting, Questions, Reading Life, Writing Challenge, Writing Exercise, WritingLifeTags: , 4 Comments

#WeekendCoffeeShare #Mothersday

Today please join me for a coffee at a little diner that looks like we have gone back in time. The mugs are ceramic and thick. The booths are red pleather. There is a buzz in the air that is snippets of conversation from babies to retirement age and the smell of strong coffee.

While we are having coffee I will tell you this past week was full of testing, late nights, and writing.

While we are having coffee I would tell you Storyaday May is going strong. I have written everyday and it is going well. I am following the prompts from Julie and Sarah Selecky. Most days I am able to combine both into one story which makes me happy and satisfied for some reason. I also was able to come back to my manuscript and start to write some stories that will be embedded into the novel. At my writing retreat in Feb. I was able to outline the whole book and see where there were holes and alignment issues. my brain is starting to plug those holes as I write which is exciting.

While we are having coffee I would tell you I am enjoying my writing community. I am checking in with the group every day. I have a few people I talk to more often with email or private messages. Monday night was our video meeting and it was nice to do some timed writing sprints with people around the country. I was also able to check in with a small group on Friday as well which was a great vibe.

While we are having coffee, I will tell you the Bradbury Trio challenge is going strong as well. I cannot pinpoint works this week that have stayed with me. I did relisten to The Ormulu Clock by Muriel Spark.

While we are having coffee I will tell you testing has gone on all week. I had my regular group two days and then on all the off times I was doing make up tests. It gives me time to write by hand since I cannot be connected to technology. I welcome the tech vacation every year at this time.

While we are having coffee I will tell you I had a good coaches meeting with one of our consultants. She is always motivating. We talked about goals and reflecting. The year is not over for my building yet so I am not quite in the end of year mode.

While we are having coffee I will tell you I am back to running. I am having some complicated feelings about the activity to be honest. I was hard core before for various reasons but now the motivations for the runs are different. I had a glorious run at the national lakeshore on Friday and ran down a new trail which was beautiful and sandy. I even ran along the water which I have not done in years. the stairs took me to overlook the park too.

Trail 7

Do you need a refill on your coffee? I am going to get another.

While we are having coffee I will tell you I am tired but am not dwelling on it. Sunday is Mother’s Day. I have complicated feelings about this holiday. I will spend some time with one of my sons and enjoy that. The rest of the day I will deal with my memories. Maybe it will end up in a story.

What will you tell me while we have coffee?

Here is the link to Eclectic Alli and her weekend coffee post and link up.

by Categories: Gatherings, Justlife, Mywriting, Questions, Reading Life, sarahselecky, Short Story, Slice of Life, storyaday, Weekend coffee share, Writing Challenge, Writing Exercise, Writing Group, Writing Prompt, WritingLifeTags: , , , , 7 Comments

Weekend Coffee Share – May is HERE!

Today let’s have coffee at the table under the trees! I have a hammock for you and one for me for later if we want to move. I am having black coffee, as usual. What would you like from the cafe section of my kitchen?

Later today we are going to a White Sox game so I am very excited! The weather is supposed to be great.

While we are having coffee I will tell you this past week has been amazing for writing!

I wrote a breathless paragraph led by Kathy Fish in her Skillshare class. I am so glad I am able to learn from her now. If you have time, I would highly recommend the class. Skillshare is pretty easy to navigate. I have my longer class with her in July which I am anticipating happily but this is a good introduction.

I am writing a story a day. I have 5 including today. Today’s prompt is a 100 word story. This is harder than you think. I had 106 first and then I pared it down to 93. I worked it back up to 100!

I am writing 10 minutes a day with Sarah Selecky’s prompts which is stretching me in surprising ways.

I started on a specific writing manifesto.

While we are having coffee, I will tell you about some of the great reads from this past week’s Bradbury Trio.

Essay: To Grieve Is To Carry Another Time

Short story: Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver

Sarah Selecky’s short story: Go Manchura

While we are having coffee I will tell you I have had many creative sparks this week.

One is Jefferson Dinners.

Two is Ben Franklin circles.

Three is the NEW Moon.

Do you need a refill on your coffee? I am going to get another.

While we are having coffee I will tell you I am loving the Superstars community through storyaday.org. Getting involved with this group has been a great thing for my writing life! You can get involved in the challenge by commenting on each day’s prompt at the site.

StoryADay

What was the best thing about your week?

Here is the link to Eclectic Alli and her weekend coffee post and link up.

by Categories: Gatherings, Justlife, Mywriting, Questions, Reading Life, Short Story, Slice of Life, Weekend coffee share, Writing Challenge, Writing Exercise, Writing Group, Writing Prompt, WritingLifeTags: 2 Comments

Root Where You Are Planted #SOL19

Melody Warnick wrote a book called, This Is Where You Belong. She has a great newsletter you should sign up for too!

The book is about loving the place you live in and action steps to help you if you don’t. I currently am struggling with feeling disconnected and not in the right place. I read Melody’s book awhile ago and recently recommended it to someone who was feeling displaced herself which then became a self reflection that I needed my own advice.

I asked some fellow writers how they feel about where they live since I am not really loving where I am currently.

They said:

“I have roots in this place…it is part of me.”

“I love where I live…where I live now is where I feel I am meant to be.”

Another said her family farm makes it feel like it is part of her DNA.

I do not feel this way about where I live even though my town is next the town I grew up in. That might be because I have moved too many times over the past 5 years. Or that I have only been in my house since last September. Or that I still cannot walk around in my house in the dark. Or that there are some memories of the area that torment me. I am glad my friends are rooted in their homes.

I am a woman of action, so I have pulled out Melody’s list to work through this issue and see if I can make a change.

To Become Rooted:

  1. Walk more – this I try to do as much as possible. The kids and I go for walks, we have walked downtown, and I walk and run on the local bike trail. The town does not lend itself to walking anywhere as a destination, at least from the house.
  2. Buy local – this we do. We shop at the stores that are near us. The grocery store closest to us does not have the freshest product so we had to do more of the shopping across town. The local farm markets are opening soon and we will buy veggies from them instead of planting our own garden this year. This is a future endeavor.
  3. Get to Know Neighbors – my husband is better than I am at this. We do know them, and they have helped us out.
  4. Do Fun Stuff – We have gone to the library, the local cafe and the used bookstore. We do need to explore some of the restaurants downtown.
  5. Explore nature – the bike trail..I need to research if there are more parks that I am not aware of.
  6. Volunteer – I have not done this.
  7. Eat local – we like our local pizza place but we have some more exploring to do. Once festivals start we can explore that way too.
  8. Become more political – this one I have more issue with. I am not sure how I feel about it honestly right now.
  9. Create something new – I am always writing but will have to reflect about what this means connected to my town.
  10. Stay local through hard times – it is hard to abandon the town now even though I will admit my husband and I talk about this often. I will have to stop myself.

So I was thinking, does this same list of 10 apply to schools? Can using this same list meant for living in a town provided the same feeling of rooted-ness in a school atmosphere.

  1. I can walk more and interact with teachers in the building especially ones I do not talk to as often.
  2. I can buy from fundraisers and the 8th grade t shirt and spirit wear. It shows a person plans to stay if they buy the clothing with the school name.
  3. I can get to know the people in the classrooms next to my space.
  4. DO FUN STUFF – this we do not do nearly as often as we should. I need to plan some FUN at school.
  5. Explore nature is pretty easy at my school – we have a 100 acre wood and trails!
  6. Volunteer – I need to volunteer more for sporting events next year.
  7. Eat school lunch? Hmmmm, maybe not. Break bread with co workers – much more doable. Maybe I should organize a carry in and then we hit #7 and #4.
  8. Become more political – same as above. I do believe this causes more problems than solves…
  9. I created Workshop Wednesday, Short Story Club, and Genius Hour.
  10. Stay when times get tough. No explanation needed here – it applies.

How do you feel about this list? Do you have other ideas for feeling part of your town or school?

by Categories: Justlife, Mywriting, School Life, Slice of Life, WorkshopWednesdayTags: , 5 Comments

Weekend Coffee Share – Last April Sunday

It is time for our weekly coffee chat! I am so glad you have joined me today. Today let’s have coffee under the large tree out back. We will have a picnic with bread from the bakery and some cheeses. I will get some of the little fruit tarts for us too.

I am having black coffee. What would you like today?

If we were having coffee, I would tell you my school started state testing this week. It is a new system and a new test, but everything seems to be going smoothly. As a teacher it is never fun to test the kids, but necessary, as it is a mandate.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I hosted the intro meeting to my short story club with a small group of 7th graders. It was amazing and full of interesting conversation and observations. If you missed that post you can read it here.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you Friday I went to my last coaching training for the year with Jim Knight. I am lucky to be offered this training and am grateful. It has not only made me a better coach, but also has brought me closer to the other coaches I work with in the district. I met some people I would have not otherwise met too. Hope was the topic for the day related to being a better leader. I loved this training. There is a great checklist of items for me to focus on for the rest of this year at work and to begin planning for the fall. I wrote about it yesterday.

If we were having coffee I would tell you I have been exhausted this week. The schedule has been different and I have not been sleeping well. I slept a much needed full night on Friday and am taking the day off and not going anywhere on Saturday. The concept of burning out keeps coming up for me this week too. I have to be careful I do not allow myself to go into that spiral.

If we were having coffee I would tell you I was going to take myself on an artist date on Friday. Do you ever do that thing where at 7am it seems like good idea to plan something then when 3 pm rolls around it doesn’t sound that awesome anymore? Yeah…that is what I did. I was going to take myself to an independent bookstore or a cafe in Chicago before I left the city. I looked up a couple and had chosen The Book Table but I was so tired from the training that I changed my mind. THEN it took me 2 hours to get home when it should have only been an hour. UGH. I am not sure if it was the right choice or not. I felt like my next right thing was to go home and eat and sleep.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I have had many creative sparks this week.

One are the videos from Julie Duffy about preparations for StoryADay May. The prompts are free and there is support in the community. You can also set your own rules. I have been connecting with some of the new members to the Superstars group which has been fun!

A second creative spark is Number 26.

A third creative spark for me are the stories and poems I read this week for my Bradbury Trio.

A fourth creative spark this week is Sarah Selecky’s website. I am really contemplating her short story self guided course.

Do you need a refill on your coffee? I am going to get another.

If we were having coffee I would tell you I wrote everyday. I joined the Superstars group through StoryADay and am excited for a year of support. The prompts are amazing every day in May and then I love the interaction with the writers. Knowing that there is a core group of people in the writing group to chat with once a week is motivating as well. You can still sign up for Superstars before May 1st! You should consider joining us.

StoryADay

Thank you so much for joining me for coffee! I always enjoy our visits and today was no different. Let’s have coffee again soon!

Here is the link to Eclectic Alli and her weekend coffee post and link up.

by Categories: Gatherings, Justlife, Mywriting, NANOWRIMO, Questions, Reading Life, Short Story, Slice of Life, Weekend coffee share, Writing Challenge, Writing Exercise, Writing Group, Writing Prompt, WritingLifeTags: 5 Comments