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Some Sentiments About 20 Years at Stevenson
*** Last week I received an email from human resources about celebrating 20 years at Stevenson University. And I used to think the 13 years I spent at the Baltimore Orioles was a long time. When I taught my very first semester at Stevenson in January of 2000, I was pregnant with my son, Matthew, and was hired as an adjunct professor. Now, Matthew is a junior in college. When you look at it through that lens, a long time has passed. I moved into full-time teaching in 2008, when Stevenson changed its name from Villa Julie College to Stevenson University. Prior to my time at Stevenson, I began teaching…
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The Loss of George
* This week, I learned much too late of the passing of my favorite professor and one of the best people I knew, George Friedman. He passed away in late February. Every once in a while someone comes along and makes an impression on your life. That person, for me, came in the form of Dr. George Friedman, professor of English at Towson University. George, as I came to call him, was the singular inspiration for my first novel, Beneath the Mimosa Tree, which began as a short story in George’s class—Writing Creative Short Fiction—during my first master’s degree. When he returned a short story I wrote, and verbally told…
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Advantages & Disadvantages of Working from Home
✨ADVANTAGES of WORKING FROM HOME✨ 1-you can go without jewelry and shoes and no one really cares2-you can work during the day or night at whatever time works for your schedule or short commute3-you can take potty breaks whenever you want4-you can multi-task without anyone really seeing you do it5-you can play music while you work and not bother anyone6-you can stretch your back on the floor after sitting for so long at the computer at your leisure7-your walk to the cafeteria (your kitchen) is much shorter8-you can squeeze in an exercise when it suits your agenda that day9-you can take quick breaks with your family and eat meals together10-you…
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Podcast 13 – Ideas to Help Foster Creativity During This Crisis
It’s difficult to feel happy during a crisis when there is so much heartbreak happening on the front lines of this coronavirus pandemic. I know I’m feeling a little depressed by the situation and can only watch bits of news each day in order to carry on with the things I have to accomplish for my students and university as I teach from home. We are all doing the best we can, and being home hasn’t been all awful, but I do feel as if my creativity has been zapped a little. Do you feel the same way? Today’s Podcast 13 offers ideas for those of us writers who need…
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Interpersonal Communication Up Next
* This semester, I’ll be teaching two sections of Interpersonal Communication. I couldn’t be more pleased to reacquaint myself with this course, as I have not taught it in several years. This is such a wonderful foundational course in communication, and it is the basis on which relationships are built, caressed, fostered, and extended. The textbook for the course, The Interpersonal Communication Book, by Joseph A. DeVito, has offered new insights into the course whereby DeVito includes new information about how we communicate online (just as I am doing here). Online communication has become such a large part of our lives that it absolutely warrants attention. We have connections with…
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12 Tips for Being a Successful College Student
I’ve seen a lot since I taught my first class in 1993 at Anne Arundel Community College as an adjunct. As a professor at Stevenson University since 2000, and full-time since 2008, I can offer some tips to those of you who have children going off to college this year, those who are in college, and those who may be struggling in college for whatever reason. While this list is not foolproof and is certainly not complete (as I’m sure my colleagues could certainly add to it), the list merely serves as a guide for students who want to improve or are taking their first college course. Here is my…
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Year 19 and the Spring Semester
It’s hard to believe sometimes that 19 years have passed, but then I remember I have a freshman in college. I’ve been teaching at Stevenson University since 2000, when I was pregnant with my first child. I remember getting the job and being excited to be teaching at a four-year institution. I’d been teaching at well-respected community colleges in the area, and had loved my time with them. But teaching at Stevenson University (then Villa Julie College) was something I wanted to try. I had come to crossroads in my life. I had been teaching as an adjunct since 1993 and had left a full-time job in Baltimore at the…
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My Travel Writing Class and Their Work: Feeling Like a Proud Momma
* Wow. It’s hard to believe we have come to the end of another semester. My group of writers in our travel writing class published their stories today on our WordPress site called MORE THAN MARYLAND that I set up as a place to house of all of my All-Star Travelers who have taken the course at Stevenson University. As the students made some of their final presentations in class, a lot was discussed, such as what they learned from taking a travel writing course, which pieces from renowned travel writers were their favorites, how this course has helped them see travel differently, and what they will take with them…
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What I’ve Been Up To
*** It’s Monday, November 20, and I’m not as far along with National Novel Writing Month (#nanowrimo) as I would like to be. I’ve hit over 12,000 words, but if one is trying to finish a novel in four weeks, one has to do better than that. But there’s been a slight problem. Father time has keep me busy in other areas. Because it’s been so busy and I have not been fulfilling my obligations very well as a promoter of #nanowrimo, I believe I owe you the reasons behind why I have not held up my end of the bargain. Let me present you with my Three Main…
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Every One of My Books Has Killed Me a Little More
*** You see the title there, and maybe that’s why you clicked over to see what’s going on here. If you did, please know I didn’t say that quote. It was said by the famous late writer, Norman Mailer. “Every one of my books has killed me a little more, ” he said. I didn’t know the man. I’m not on par with him as a writer. I am not as prolific a writer as he was. And I certainly don’t earn my primary income as a writer as he did. And yet, I can totally understand what he said. As some of you who follow my blog…
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The Case for Teaching: Inspiring Students AND Inspired by Students
It’s Sunday morning, and I’m sitting on my porch writing this post and looking at this glorious day sipping my cup of coffee from my Yeti (which keeps it INCREDIBLY hot, let me just say). In a little while, my daughter and I will head to my parents’ house and sit by their pool and spend time with my brother and his family who are visiting. My son and husband will go play golf–a ritual they’ve tried to do on one day of the weekend. I love that they do this, as my son has one year left of high school before he enters college. I love my summers; they…
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Do You Write to Sell or Do You Write to Tell Good Stories?
Yesterday, when I was texting with a dear friend of mine who has been quite influential in my life and career, I shared with him that I was taking a break from writing for a bit. Which, as you know, if you’ve followed along thus far in my tales of woe, really means that I became burned out doing book promotion as opposed to book writing. Anyway, he asked me this question at end of our text thread: Do you write to sell or do you write to tell good stories? I looked at what he had written for a long time, pensively, unsure as to how I would answer…
