Six done, two to begin...

April 3, 2023

Done. The satisfaction of completing any manuscript is delicious – having four done is infinitely sweeter. Serendipitously, Kirsi Salonen completed the art for the cover of Harmi’s Song, book four: image provided. I love Kirsi’s creativity.
 
The weekly blog became a fortnightly one last week for several reasons:

• Illness in the family
• Birthday party week
• Editing like crazy

 
The illness matters are on the mend so no drama there. Turning 68 is more of a drama – how did I get here so quickly? You know about the editing from previous blogs.
 
The next process for The Last Wizard books involves:

• Sharing with a couple of beta readers for an overall feedback cycle
• Making my first approach to a publisher for the project

What happens in both cases will be part of the content of future blogs.

So, what now? Well, crazily enough, I am going to work on two projects simultaneously for a while to see how the writing and passion for each project develops.
 
Project One:
The first is a novel – Australian content, contemporary, men’s issues, drama. I’ve mulled over this one for several years and, as time has passed, the material I want to explore becomes increasingly relevant. The scenario, in short, is created around a group of men in their fifties and early sixties who played basketball together as young men, but have gone different ways since their twenties. They agree to reunite after many years apart for a Masters Games and get together on a houseboat for a weekend to become reacquainted. Events unfold from there.
 
Project Two:
Forty years ago I began drafting a guide for people new to teaching, or considering teaching as a career. Plenty of research shows that teachers either burnout of leave the profession in the first five years, nearly always because what they are told or think teaching is about is nothing like the reality. All the hype about improving teaching methodologies and philosophies and academic and political claptrap give the impression that teaching is basically learn some stuff, teach it to children, assess it, do some professional development to prove you’re improving too, and you’re done. Move on. In fact, teaching is so much more than that and I want to publish a layman’s guide that refers to everything no one is taught except on the job – yard duties, reliefs, attitudes, paperwork, relationships, extracurricular, personal life, stressors etc etc. Again, people who know me know this is a passion. The final work is not meant to be an academic textbook, although it will necessarily contain research. I’m hoping it becomes a resource people read to understand what it really means to take up teaching as a profession, and shift thinking when it comes to the endless and often empty and pointless debates about teacher workloads and conditions away from lies and ignorance (breathe, Tony, breathe).
 
Today, the new projects begin: one for morning writing sessions, one for afternoon writing sessions. Lunch will be head reset time.