"Just" a teacher.

Over 300 women were nominated for "San Diego Woman of the Year". I was honored to be one of those named a finalist. There were many women there that I was in awe of - and I'm just a teacher. I know I do much more than teach and I see myself as much more than a (math/computer science/high school) teacher. But when asked the general question "What do you do?" I say, "I'm a teacher." (And wait for the conversation to continue to share the other parts of me). The point is, as a teacher, we aren't viewed as a "mover and shaker" of society. It's not an occupation that people are "impressed" with. Sure, they're amazed that there are those of us out there that willingly "put up" or "deal" with kids (especially teenagers), but it's definitely not the same reaction that I got when I was an engineer. (Frankly, I work a heck of a lot harder as a teacher than I ever did as an engineer for A LOT less pay.) As much as I do things because it helps students and don't need outside validation to know in my heart it's the right thing for me to do, it's nice to get from time to time. A little appreciation and recognition for things you would gladly do goes a long way to recharge your heart and soul. 

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest

Last month I submitted my entry into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. I was hopeful – why else would you enter in a contest unless you hope to win – but didn’t want to obsess about it. Thankfully, the following weeks after were crazy busy for me and I didn’t have time to dwell on it at all. In all honesty, I forgot about it because I was so preoccupied with all my other various commitments and activities. Then I got an email from them saying the entrants who were moving on to the next round were posted. I clicked on the link. Eventually, I got to the pdf that contained the writers who moved on. It was in alphabetical order – by first name. At first, I started scrolling down. Then I thought, this will take me forever to scroll to the “S”s. I had to suck it up and do a search for my name. So, I hit -F and typed in my first name. I’d know instantly if there were any Shirleys in the second round once I hit return. No hits would mean I didn’t make it. Any hits could mean it was me, but then again, it wouldn’t necessarily be me. One was found. It was me! I was so excited and relieved. I had to share the news… with my class. I happened to see the email when I had just assigned my class a practice problem to try on their own. I wound up interrupting that independent thinking time to share my news because I couldn’t contain myself. I saw it as a life lesson… you never know unless you try!

Worlds Collide

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted here. I really didn't mean it to be that way. School kicked into gear, I worked on finding a cover for book 2, had various board meetings (I'm on three different boards), Nobel Laureate dinner, presented at a conference, threw my neck out and couldn't move for about a week, my brother got engaged (and had an engagement party), flew to San Francisco and Washington, DC for three different things, published Winter Solstice (Book 2 of my series) and oh, the holidays were in there somewhere. Dang, no wonder I'm tired and I didn't get a chance to blog. The good news is that I juggled it all - sometimes barely - but I did.

And through it all, I wrote. Okay, maybe not here. But I did continue writing my book. Now, I'm entering in my actual busy season - science fair season. There's fall, winter, spring (which is part of science fair seasons - regional, state and international - for me) and summer. Now that I think about it, that makes is apropos that my books (thus far) are season-related.