Back to School 2021

Well everyone, it’s September (by a couple days already)!

CW warning: I tried to separate out topics, the start of the post focuses on writing & my personal job stuff. Back-to-school during a pandemic discussed at the very end of the post, with a header to warn of change of topic. Reference to recent weather events in post.

So, I haven’t quite finished my two project-goals for this summer, which was a completed Draft 3.5 of Disappearing Isle, and a short story from the perspective of Anne, Jessica’s adoptive mother from Demon in My View. They’re still in progress, once I get a chance to get back to them.

If I return to publish in Nyeusigrube in the near future, Disappearing Isle is the most likely tale. It focuses on a descendent of a’ona’Alain, prince and heir to the empress of the falcon shapeshifters, and Keyika, the magic-less falcon who came to the aid of characters in Bloodtraitor at the fall of Midnight in 1804. (How’s that for vague phrasing to minimize spoilers?) Disappearing Isle takes place in modern day, after the events of Promises to Keep.

The short story is the start of a dreamed-of collection of tales from the perspectives of characters not often heard in YA: the parents who were off-screen, ineffectual (or deceased) most of the time, and characters outside the scope of the story who had no idea what really happened. Jessica’s mother Anne is the first I considered, but if I have time to keep working on it, I would like to introduce you to Risika’s and Alexander’s mother Lila, Sarah’s father, and Sandy, a childhood friend of Turquoise’s.

But first, to get into why I got sidetracked, beyond the fact that summer is just too busy:

I start a new job on Wednesday, September 8th!

It is with deep ambivalence I leave my current position, a special education teaching role I have loved and had great pride in since I started at 2013, but a role I could not afford to ignore was posted online a couple weeks ago. I applied… then realized all the materials I had on SchoolSpring—my resume, license information, certifications, and recommendations—were out of date so I needed to frantically update them.

My first interview was interrupted by a tornado warning, and my follow-up micro-teach was almost washed out by a hurricane, but they must not be superstitious because they hired me anyway. (If any of you were caught in the storms recently, I hope you’re safe and able to get what you need to recover; my job interview was a temporary inconvenience and anxiety, but I know many people suffered very real disasters.) Since then, I’ve been frantically navigating the logistics of wrapping up at one job, covering the first week of classes because I was giving notice so late, filling out new-hire paperwork including insurance information for the new job, scrambling to locate a new childcare option for my youngest who previously had daycare at the old dayjob, scheduling fingerprinting required to move back to a public school teaching position, prepping materials to leave for the incoming new staff, and all that other goodness. The one serious plus? I’ve been so hyper-focused on all that, the PTSD-anxiety-attacks and nightmares have really taken a backseat!

So if I go very quiet online in the next few weeks, know that I am probably swamped getting my feet under me at the new position. I have faith in my ability to do it, but I’ll admit I’m nervous— I’m switching from a small private special education school to a public school with an incoming freshman class twice the size of my entire previous high school, and my role will be very different. (No, I will not be saying where I’m working. If anyone wants to update my Wikipedia, you can say a public school in Massachusetts.)

(CW:pandemic/climate below)

I tried to keep it out of most of the post… but obviously, going back to school during a pandemic is fraught. The high school where I was working had a positive case among a student in-school the very first day we were back. Thankfully, we have a highly vaccinated population, and social distancing and mask mandates, so hopefully the spread was limited. I was not a close contact only because they switched my schedule due to my upcoming job change.

Everyone I know who works in a school has had at least one positive case in the less-than-a-week back; my wife’s school (elementary, population too young to be vaccinated) has had one reported every day, though only one who was in the building the day they tested positive.

We’re in Massachusetts, one of the most vaccinated areas in the country. We’re masking and social distancing. And it’s still scary, especially as a mother of two children too young to be vaccinated.

My heart goes out to all of you having to navigate this anywhere, but especially in areas with even less protection, less government support. If your community is battling Covid and now you’re also flooded out, your power’s out, or your entire school is shut down for who-knows-how-long due to illness or climate disasters: I see you. Take care of yourself, your loved ones, and your community as best you can.

Take care everyone, and stay safe as we begin school year 2021-2022.