Writer-Teacher - Argh!

Being a full-time-and-a-half teacher plus a writer really makes life difficult, especially when you are coming up on midterms like I  am. It makes time management so important.

There are times I feel I am losing the time battle.

Yesterday (Tuesday) stands as a perfect example. I was up at 4:50 am to get some morning chores done, print a few things out I needed for school, snatch 20 minutes to write a bit on my novel-in-progress. Then it was out to catch my expreso (employee bus) at 6:30 to take me to school. Classes kicked off at 7:15a.m and ended at 2:30. After that, I had an additional class I am teaching for my International Baccalaureate students so they can prepare for their November exams. At 4:00 pm I was finally done at my school, but not for the day.

I grabbed a bus to take me to the nearest mall, where I slummed at the food court and graded papers, catching another 15 minutes to write a few words on my novel. At 6:00pm I was headed to the college where I teach a night class. After doing some prep work I did my teaching thing again until 8:30. At 9:30 I was finally home. I grabbed a snack and spent a little more time on the computer getting things ready for Wednesday's classes.

So today I am a tired puppy. I still have everything else to do except the extra after school class, so at least today I have a bit more time to update my blogs, and do a bit more work on my novel.

I expect at this rate I'll get this thing done in about 2015.

World Cup Final

Spent my afternoon at Wingers in Guayaquil, a sports bar down here in Ecuador owned and run by a gringo like me. Downstairs were the Spanish expat supporters and upstairs were the Netherlands expats. Since one of my fellow teachers is Dutch, we joined her.

Good food, and it was as much fun watching the fans of the two countries as watching the game. Pics to come.

Eventful Saturday

It is amazing at how much you can get done when you get down to it. Last night (Friday) I worked until midnight on my new novel I'm plotting out. At 5:30 I was back up to get things rolling, doing my morning house chores and preparing for a Saturday advanced student class I teach at my school. At 11:00 am I was done with the class and I ran some errands, then traveled to San Marino, a local mall, to sit at TGI Friday's and watch the World Cup match between Uruguay and Germany. Right now it is 2nd Half and tied 2-2.

Night Class

As if my schedule isn{t hectic enough, I've started teaching a night class at Blue Hill College. The good news is it{s Latin American History, which actually dovetails nicely with my history classes in the high school where I teach as well as the research I am doing for my book. Still, those extra hours pile up. I'm already starting to drag from the extra workload, and it{s getting tougher to find time for writing activities.

I{ll be soooooooo happy when my wife (who is on a trip to Las Vegas) comes hme Wednesday evening.

Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes!

Well, sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.

I've been toiling on a rewrite of an early novel of mine, trying to resurrect it. I've figured out why it doesn't work: I don't have enough research behind me to make it seem real. I need to go back and do more research, then come back and rework the novel to make it go.

Sigh.

The good news is that it is not time waisted. At least I know why it doesn't work. The trouble is the fix is going to take a lot more than I thought it would. The additional problem is since for the present I am living in Ecuador it makes researching things in the United States and Europe a little difficult.

Windshield wipers please, clean up the bugs.

The last two years I have been researching down here in Latin America for a book I'd planned that revolves around the Spanish conquest of the Incas. I had planned a final research trip to Cajamarca (Peru) in August to complete my preliminaries for the book, so I am changing gears. I'm putting the under construction novels in the drawer for awhile. I'm instead starting to do some detailed plotting and character development on my new novel. It has a working title of  "To the River Stained with Blood" which is taken from part of a quote attributed to the Huancavilca cacique Guayas just before he died.

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

There is just something wrong about awards for bad writing, but considering, okay.

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/