Never Forget

I have agonized over this blog for quite some time.  Should I keep it, or get rid of it?  I was never real sure what I wanted to do with it or if I had time for it.  Every now and then something hits me and I have to go with it.  I asked myself what would be one thing I would tell my students.  It would have to be this message, "Write What You Are Passionate About".   Why?  They are always asking me why I wrote "Steps to Courage".

After 9/11 I was passionate about letting future generations of students know what it was like on that day.  As we have new generations of students who were not yet born then it becomes more important that we not only tell the events of that day, but share our knowledge of the causes.  We need to teach our children tolerance.  It is the lack of tolerance that led to this event.

I remember for the one year anniversary of 9/11 I had my middle school students write an essay about how they saw people showing compassion through adversity in the year that followed that tragic day.  I asked them not to look at the obvious, those who worked at ground zero.  I asked them to look in their neighborhoods, at school, and church and see how they and other's showed compassion.  It was important that we start it off with a discussion of how we had become a nation that had trust issues.  It was important to put into perspective how hate crimes begin and grow.  I was amazed at how my students responded.  I was amazed at how they looked at their fellow classmates and wrote about ways they saw them showing compassion.

I could not get the looks on my student's faces out of my mind after 9/11.  I could not forget Alyssa running down the hall screaming my name and begging me to turn the TV on because she had heard a plane had hit the Twin Towers.  I will never forget the questions asked and the discussion in class as we repeatedly watched the news footage of the attacks in Washington, DC and New York City and finally the plane in Pennsylvania.  My students put on a brave front trying to one up each other on what they would do if they were in the Twin Towers.  The topic became such a burning issue that it became a passion I had to research and write about.

It is important that I teach my new sixth graders, many who were not even born, about this day in our history. As a school that promotes cultural awareness it is important that we teach tolerance right in our classroom.  There are so many lessons to be learned from the 9/11 events.  How will you teach them?  What is your passion?

Great News

It is finished.  I have worked for almost three years trying to finish, and get published my book Steps To Courage.   This year I made a decision to  self-publish my book.  I sent it to a friend  of a friend to read and review.  She wrote back that she would be happy to put her name behind it.  She asked me to call her.  I still didn't understand what she meant.  I had friended her on Facebook, and I was reading books she recommended by others.  It wasn't until that phone call that I realized she was an agent and was offering to represent me.  Sometimes I feel like I am on the slow track when it comes to publishing.  She asked me if I had a second book.  Everyone thought there should be a second book.  It was already short on words.  One question made all the difference in my life.  She asked, what happened to my characters.  I spent my Spring Break writing that second half.  I've been editing for the last month and it is finished.  I received my proof and realized it still had some mistakes.  I am awaiting the time when I approve my proof and then can order my books.  I have started the promotion process.  My book trailer is ready.  Only a few more days I and will be able to put it up.