So, I’ve been pretty quiet on the writing front this year, as I have just finished my first year as a high school English teacher. Let me tell you, my level of respect for writers who hold down full-time jobs has increased exponentially.
Most of my time outside of the classroom was spent either, doing things for in the classroom (like marking, or planning, or laminating…so much laminating). Or literally just staring at a wall because I am so tired and my brain is just mush. Seriously. MUSH!
While this year has meant that not a lot of work has been done on my novel, or anything book related really, it has given me a better insight into the teenage mind and an appreciation for their taste in fiction. I set up a class library in my room for students to use and I often found myself doing a double take at which books they preferred over others.
For example, my year 8 students went through a fad of reading The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Now
I have nothing against that book, but
when I read it in year 10, I
found it rather boring, not something I
expected half my year 8 class to go out of their way to read.
Another example is that I managed to acquire the full set of Vampire Academy novel because
Vampires are on trend right? I don’t think I
saw any of my teenagers read those books.
In fact, most of the books they read were
either about one of the World Wars, Historical Romances, or ones with TV shows
based on them. Certainly makes you think about
what they find relevant and interesting. (And makes me think my next project will be a historical
romance).
Even through all that, the few students that I mentioned my novel too really liked the idea of a cyborg gladiator that rides dragons, so I guess I’m doing something right.
Hopefully, next year will be a little less full on and give me some time on the weekends to work on my writing. After all, how can I teach good writing, if I myself don’t practice it at home?