We Don’t Quit

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.“Ernest Hemingway

“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.” Ernest Hemingway

I call this time of day late Sunday night but most of you probably refer to it as early Monday morning. I’d like to say that the reason I am consistently awake at this hour is because I am doing something important but that is questionable.

It would be fair to say that part of the reason I am awake is because I am following Uncle Ernie’s advice and I am bleeding. No, it is not because I headbutted the typewriter, punched the wall or did anything that would cause my blood to flow freely from places it is not supposed to flow.

There have been moments where I considered it, but I am not that much of a masochist.  If anything you could say that my biggest challenge right now is finishing the damn novel. I have most of the pieces together but I haven’t quite got it the way I want it to. Not going to give up because we don’t quit.

The Second Week of Middle School

The second week of middle school begins tomorrow and I am curious to see how it goes. Overall the first week went much as I expected it would go. It wasn’t perfect but it seemed to go pretty well.

However my son is less than anxious to go back and I admit that I have some concerns. The challenge is trying to figure out what is really going on.

Most of my son’s friends are still enjoying summer vacation so after having heard about beach trips, swimming pools and general free time it is natural for him not to want to plant his butt behind a desk again.

When we add in that he is attending a new school that has almost six times as many students as his old school it is not unreasonable to expect some bumps in the road. What I didn’t expect to hear about were as many behavioral issues as I have.

I went to public school my entire life so I am not unfamiliar with what happens there. What I haven’t been able to figure out is is this is a normal and reasonable amount of school mischievousness or not. He is not used to seeing students openly defy the teachers.

This week we’ll pay attention to what happens. It is not time to freak out but if he is in a class where the teacher can’t handle the students then I want to move him.

He is in public school for a host of reasons including exposure to the real world but that doesn’t mean I am going to let the real world wreck his education.

Although it is only fair to admit that I was known for raising some hell in school so maybe the sins of the father are being visited upon the son.

Either way it doesn’t matter. I was pleased when he told me that “we don’t quit” and that he plans on going back tomorrow.

Nope, that is not a door at my son’s school or my daughter’s. Did I mention that my girl, the dark haired beauty who is determined to make me lose all of mine is having a field day in school.

She marched into class that first day and took the place by storm. Ok, that is an exaggeration because she was just as nervous as her big brother, but she has acclimated quite quickly.

Some of that is because of her personality and some because her school is only twice as big as the old one.

I need to clarify one thing, I don’t compare my children. I don’t need or want them to be the same. I want them to be who they are going to be. I want them to live, love and learn.

The bit about comparing is important. When the day comes that they read my words I want them to see that I am consistent. They’ll know that I wasn’t kidding about some things. I love them differently, furiously and equally. That is what fathers do.

Frankly that girl of mine has provided me with so much blog fodder I don’t know what to do. Been trying to figure out what is reasonable to share and what isn’t, there are boundaries in blogging.

The End Is Coming

The end is coming for this damn novel. I am going to figure out how to tie everything together in a way that makes me some what happy and then we’ll see what happens.

If you want to get some sense of what that might look like keep reading over here. Got to run now, it is 1 am and I am bleeding from my eyes.