Sunday Coffee

It is Sunday evening and I should be grading papers. All day long I did battle with a headache. I tried giving it caffeine and feeding it, and that seemed to help. Watching back to back episodes of Cranford was comforting too, despite a general feeling that I was being too lazy by half.

Yesterday I went to Savannah for the day; I attended a workshop in the morning at Armstrong Atlantic University, then went back in the afternoon for my interview and informational meeting for the Summer Institute of Coastal Savannah Writing Project. I'll be spending the month of July at the Institute, a daily commitment.  That is a huge commitment for me, as I will end up with only about a week off this summer.  But I'm really looking forward to the Institute, as I have only heard good things about The National Writing Project and their institutes. Everyone I know who has attended an institute says it was life-changing.

For more about The National Writing Institute, here is their web page.  The National Writing Project is a program which trains teachers in writing and the teaching of writing. These teachers go on to share this training in the classroom, and by training other teachers. The Coastal Savannah Writing Program is relatively new--it is in its second year--and I'm really excited to have this opportunity.

Since there wasn't time for me to go home between the morning workshop and the afternoon session, I went down the street to a Books-a-Million.  Sometimes I go into a bookstore and I'm just in the mood to find something new, but I don't know what.  I'm like:  Hey, bookstore, surprise me!  I really didn't need to spend money on books or anything else, but my self-control wasn't operating yesterday.  I came home with:
The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Burning Bright by Ron Rash
The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw

You may recall that I bought two books last weekend. Not good.

This weekend was Persephone Reading Weekend, and I'm sorry to say that life got in the way of that plan.  I will still read The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and maybe post about that next week.  I also need to post about If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black, which I finished last week.

Are there any teachers out there who have participated in the National Writing Program? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Do any of my gentle readers experience a sudden loss of self-control when entering a bookstore? Do you ever scrutinize the shelves for that book that is just going to speak to you?