*checks calendar
*checks Bullet Journal
*checks phone
So I’m late again.
Welcome to my Weeknotes for June 10 to June 16.
Sometimes it’s more important to get the thing done than when it was due.
For example, these posts!
In my head I imagined sitting down Sunday night, glass of whiskey on my desk, and contemplate the previous week. Looking for what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I could do better.
That hasn’t happened quite the way I hoped.
But I made a promise to myself to do these to reflect and grow. When I was teaching we had regular principal/master teacher observations wherein a someone (a principal or master teacher, hence the name) would come watch us teach a previously submitted lesson. They’d score us based around a rubric and from there we saw how we advanced and learned over the course of the year, from year to year.
Since freelancing and independent contracting don’t really have that (until the client isn’t satisfied with their job anymore and decides to cut you loose, but that’s after the fact) Weeknotes were the next best thing I could think of.
So, while this post was supposed to go up yesterday, and I haven’t done this in nearly a month, here I am.
Finishing it.
Project: BIANCA is going along fine. If I maintain a slightly above steady pace I should be able to finish the book by the end of June.
Just keep having 2,00 word days, man. That’s all you gotta do.
It’s definitely one of those stories that lets you ride along smoothly, characters take over and the pages fly by. Because of that, though, I become a little paranoid and stop every 2 pages to make sure what I’ve typed makes sense, which are the actions of a madman in the 1st draft.
I guess that’s what a 2nd draft is for.
Moving on!
I’m also working on my teacher recertification this summer.
Every certified teacher in the state of Arizona needs to complete 90 hours of professional development (I received mine 6 years ago. So, 90 hours/6 years – 15 hours a year.)to keep up with their license.
Many teachers get WAY more than that in a year, but since leaving the classroom I’ve been lagging behind, hence why I’m cramming webinar’s and PD programs as fast I can. You can learn more about that here.
It’s like I’m in school again. I love it.
I’ve been reading a lot of comics lately. While I’m in the middle of John Scalzi’s excellent The Collapsing Empire (GoodReads), I’ve been digging through a fat stack of graphic novels. Most of them are from the late 2000s to early 2010s, my original prime time of comic reading.
This was the period where I fell in love with writing and I thought I could rediscover, relearn in a way, why I loved the craft so much.
It’s been helpful.
Read what you want. Love what you want.
Started a new section on my website.
Since I get to sit at my desk for big parts of the summer and am not working either a) in my car, or b) some random coffee shop on the way to a client, I figured I could make more intimate, thoughtful posts about whatever. Books. Music. Writing bits.
Whatever.
What I write here is not my teaching, but my study; it is not a lesson for others, but for me. And yet it should not be held against me if I publish what I write. What is useful to me may also by accident be useful to another. Moreover, I am not spoiling anything, I am only using what is mine. And if I play the fool, it is at my expense and without harm to anyone. For it is a folly that will die with me, and will have no consequences.
Montaigne
Link to things. Always. Let people know who made the stuff you love. Trace it back to the source.
Set yourself up for success. Don’t overdo because you think that’s what other people do. Who are these other people? Imaginary dots in your head to make yourself feel worse when you don’t hit your mark.
Move the bullseye closer. Pierce it. THEN, move it back.
I’ll be back next week.
Thanks for reading,
Follow me:
Twitter: @robacosta
Instagram: @robacosta
Contact: robertmichaelacosta@gmail.com
Check out mine and Arnie Bermudez’s webcomic, The Juan!
Fifth Draft 
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