Pumpkin Turns Into Carriage

In the fairy tale Cinderella, a pumpkin is transformed into a carriage. I feel a little like that pumpkin today... or maybe more like the carriage! This was my first day back at MarianopolisCollege after an eight-month sabbatical. And, as it turns out, I didn't forget how to teach!

I only had one class this morning, but lots of paperwork and organizing to do, too. My first class happened to be "Writing for Children" -- as you can imagine, it's a class that's very close to my heart.

We happened to talk about the subject of change this morning. One student, Alex, admitted she has difficulty with change, such as the upcoming change for her from college to university. I told the class that change is a major theme in children's and YA literature. I should have mentioned the pumpkin! But as I told the students, like it or not, we're always changing! 

In fact, at this very minute, I can feel myself changing back into a teacher! The challenge for me will be to keep my writing side alive. Though I love teaching, I also love to write. It is, as you can imagine, a bit of a juggling act to do both. 

But as I also said in class, I get lots of inspiration from my students. One guy in this morning's class told me his name was Matthew, but when I asked the students to write their names on a list, he wrote "Mathieu." I thought this was very cool -- and STORY-WORTHY. Maybe Matthew/Mathieu would be in a good position to write a story about a guy who lives in a bilingual family in a bilingual city. And maybe the guy can be going through some sort of... you guessed it... CHANGE!

Okay, time for the writer to take over. I'm just back from visiting my mum in the hospital. Looks like tomorrow she'll be transferred to a rehab centre, and if all goes well, she might be back in her own house within a week or so. Now I'm going to spend a little more time reviewing my manuscript. I'm nearly ready to send it off to my editor Sarah Harvey at Orca Books.

I wish you luck with your own busy week. Don't forget to keep your "feelers" out for amazing stories!