I have already been back at work three weeks and am half way to half term! My New Year has begun as frantically and hectically as my last one ended, nevertheless I have much more energy for my work. The real test of whether I am thriving yet will come next week as I have two formal observations. No doubt next week is going to be very stressful but these are necessary for the improvement of my teaching practice and accountability both to the school and to the students. After all it is their education that is at stake.
I have been endeavouring to improve my work/life balance and have made time of the evenings and weekends to continue writing my novel. It is coming a long well and I find myself frustrated that I do not have more time to spend on it. There have been so many things I have started over the years and never finished. When I was in high school I did Judo for about 16 months. Eventually I gave it up because I was fed up of being constantly bruised! Then on my 17th birthday I was given a spanish guitar and I was determined to learn how to play it. Despite trying to teach myself for the first few months using tutorial books and videos, I gave that up too because I got impatient with myself. Therefore I am determined to finish this new project and to have the willpower to see it through. To that end I have been reading around the genre and have bought several books by highly acclaimed and prominent Fantasy authors to help me with learning the conventions and register of the genre. Again, however, I just wish I had the time to read all these books. Nevertheless I have set myself a target of completing my story by the summer holidays in July/August.
Once I have finished the story, my ambition is to publish it. In March I am going to a conference on 'Getting Published' put on by the writers & artists association in London. I am very much looking forward to this as I hope to learn a lot about the industry and hopefully make some contacts through which I can take my finished novel to the next stage in the publishing process. Ordinarily I would not have such grand aspirations for my past times, but I really feel this is something I could make happen. I am confident in my ability to write and although I may never be a Tolkein or Rowling I believe my novel will be worthy of publishing. Conversely, come what may I am enjoying the experience and the project has helped me to have a focus outside of teaching.
My search for a new Church is on going. I went to a Baptist Church last weekend but did not feel sufficiently drawn to stay there, not until I have seen other churches first. I am eager to be settled, spiritually speaking and whilst it is not necessarily a bad thing to purely focus on your personal relationship with God, I do not wish to remain a spiritual nomad for much longer. Hopefully by February I will have found a suitable church, with people (hopefully of a similar age) with which to befriend, converse and support. Once I have found that place I will post a new blog.
