I always teach in the summer. ALWAYS. This summer, though, due to lack of enrollment, that is not the case, as mentioned in a previous blog post. Now, I'm more than halfway into this "first summer I have not worked since I was 16 years old" and here's what I have to report:
- It is quite easy to get lost in your head in front of a computer when you do not have any hard deadlines.
- If you write enough prose poems in a row, everything you write, every email, Facebook status, blog post, seems like a prose poem.
- Writer's block doesn't happen to me when I don't have a million papers to grade, a million emails to respond to, a million questions to answer. That's right. I have conquered him, that mean old Block. Apparently, all it takes is some free time. Who knew?
- Gardening is fun. I mean, really relaxing and fun. My porch currently looks like a suburban jungle.
- Anyone who tells you they do not start preparing for their Fall semester courses until the end of August is a damn liar, or, alternatively, my nemesis. My unfinished syllabi are already haunting me in my sleep.
- Life at the university goes on when I am not there. Really. I went there a week or two ago for a technical training session and I got a parking ticket. Business as usual.
- There are two ways to get your work published: Write a lot and submit a lot. There is no easier way.
- Apparently, contrary to mid-semester belief, my house does not clean itself. And the more time I spend in it, the more I realize what needs to be done. I bought 9V batteries for smoke detectors today. Okay, so maybe I have a little bit of writer's block.
- Every now and then, I check my email for no reason at 11:00 on a Sunday night and feel a pang of sadness when I see I do not have 75 students freaking out over an assignment due in an hour and I have no one to comfort, no one to console, no one to direct. Then, I realize that I have no one to comfort, no one to console, no one to direct. And I smile.
- Finally, and most importantly, I love my job. I think about it when I am not doing it. But this summer at least, I love poetry more.
