I printed every minute that I was in the office today and all yesterday afternoon (once our weekly unit meeting was completed).

I am trying very, very hard to have everything ready for the expo next Wednesday by this Friday. I don't want to be scrambling around next week. Monday will surely have some important task needing doing that people forgot about, and Tuesday evening will be filled by the unit meeting and my teaching the second workshop on Multicultural Literature. Wednesday, I have to have the display set up by 8:00 AM. So, for me, Friday is my deadline for getting everything done.

However, I just found out that I need to put together a submission to ABC's Extreme Home Makeover Edition for one of our families. I need a killer essay, a compelling video, great photos, and a 20-page (I am hoping much of it is legal-ease) detailed application in less than 48-hours.

But what about my printing? I want to scream...

The frustration of this day was alleviated somewhat by working with my writing student on her scholarship essays and by playing B in Scrabble.

K had another round of applications in which she had to create the most creative and compelling answer to sometimes uninteresting questions in 500 words or less. In working with such constraints, I encourage writers to first draft the answer that they would like to give, heedless of word count. Then, the real writing begins as you have to start removing words in such a way that your answer is actually enhanced as you fit it to the word limit. We had just a great time finding 96 words to eliminate from her essay when 5,000 words would not even have been sufficient to telling the remarkable tale of her grandfather and her Italian ancestors. You remove words that then requires you to add more. You go up and down, up and down, trying to get to that perfect essay. I tend to check the word count a bit obsessively during the process, but K does not mind. A writer at heart, she understand the thrill of the challenge and does not begrudge my constant monitoring of the amount of ground gained.

As for the Scrabble of late in my life, would it be bragging to post to the world that I got a 140-point Scrabble word? It was "germiest," played on two triple-word spots. It was a great moment for me. I have had bingos popping into my letter selection quite often of late. I am enjoying the ride, but B is not so happy with my winning streak. I know it won't last, so I am trying to savor every moment without alienating my dearest B.

~~~~
Note: Someone called me to let me know that my references were being checked...