This sums up my approach to teaching, especially my first year.
Now that I’m in my third year . . . no, this still rings true.
(I do think about it, really, but it’s impossible to judge just how a lesson plan is going to go. Every single day . . . impossible.)
Get the prequel The Walls in the Middle of Idumea here!
Yes, my attempts at measuring portions to lose weight showed up in my writing. As you can tell, my diet hasn’t been going well, especially during the Christmas season.
Get the prequel The Walls in the Middle of Idumea here!
Need a free gift? The prequel is FREE now through Sunday on Amazon! The Walls in the Middle of Idumea is a great place to begin the series–not too long and daunting, and the storyline is accessible to new readers. Pere Shin is one of my new favorite characters–come get to know him. He’s unlike anyone else you’ve read about!
What readers are saying:
“The Walls in the Middle of Idumea is a great prequel and supplement to the rest of the Forest at the Edge series. Trish Mercer is still one of my favourite authors, with her skill for weaving humour, sadness, truth and hope together to create an incredible story. This book works perfectly on its own, but I also really enjoyed the references to characters that become a big part of the rest of the series.”
“. . . like all the books in this series it is entertaining, uplifting, and wholesome. There’s an actual story and it manages to be compelling without anything graphic. Highly recommend all of her books.”
“Pere Shin was a fascinating and, yes, a flawed protagonist. He sensed that a grievous wrong was perpetuating in the mansion and took the steps that his heart and gut feelings pressed upon him. Integrity wins.”
It’s free right now–get it!
I’m a mother of five boys. Injuries just happen, especially if there are several boys. Before they’re reached their teenage years, each of my sons has been clanked and clonked and dropped and slammed multiple times. Even my quietest, most sensible son has had stitches for splitting open his thigh by merely tripping over a wheelbarrow. (I saw it happen, otherwise I never would have believed it.)
It’s remarkable how much damage can occur to/by boys simply by running to the kitchen when dinner is ready. My youngest son is now eight, and even though he’s fairly mellow, there will be injuries before he’s an adult. I keep my insurance card handy at all times.
The Walls in the Middle of Idumea will be a FREE DOWNLOAD this weekend. I’ll let you know which days!
I really enjoyed Pere Shin, and I hope he tells me more stories so I can write another book about him. He feels like a friend I’d forgotten about and recently found again.
In many ways, this description of Pere reminds me of my job. Sometimes after a class I feel a little like this. (I’m an introvert at heart; teaching–which I love–is also exhausting!)
And, to be fair, I think a few of my students think this about me as well:
The Walls in the Middle of Idumea will be a FREE DOWNLOAD this weekend. I’ll let you know which days!
Yes, another food-based analogy, because Pere Shin is diet-driven.
The insult referring to someone as “milquetoast” (an old cartoon character name) never made sense to me.
But to equate someone to oatmeal? What could be more bland, lumpy, tasteless, and disappointing?
(Seriously, I don’t mean to belittle oatmeal. It can’t help being so blah. I do like it, though, when it’s made one part oatmeal+one part brown sugar=one “healthy” breakfast.)
The Walls in the Middle of Idumea will be a FREE DOWNLOAD this weekend. I’ll let you know which days!
Sadly, I create “fantastic dishes” only by accident, or when I’ve picked up take-out from our favorite Mexican restaurant. I’m no Banu Shin, luckily for our waistlines.
I wrote The Walls in the Middle of Idumea when I was trying to cut out fats and sugars from my diet. I think all of that showed up in Pere Shin’s multiple food metaphors. (I’m still struggling to cut down those foods, and now I really want gingerbread cookies.)
The Walls in the Middle of Idumea will be available as a FREE DOWNLOAD at Amazon this weekend–I’ll let you know when it’s available!
I can look back on key points in my past when I made decisions which changed the course of my entire life. There are never any trumpets heralding the moment, nor any flashing lights or squeals from a crowd. (But it would have been really helpful if there had been, either as a stamp of approval or a shriek of warning!) Then again, it’s fun to look back and realize, “Oh, so that’s where it all started. Life rather snuck up on me. Again.”
For the month of December, I’ll be posting lines from my prequel, The Walls in the Middle of Idumea.
If you haven’t read the series, this is a fine place to begin (and it’s the shortest book, if that’s important to you).
If you have read the series, it’s a fun insight into characters you already know or have met only briefly. (And it’s still the shortest book at 188 pages, which drew a few complaints, but I’ve got plans for even earlier prequels which will be much longer, so hold tight.)
Next weekend, it’ll be a FREE DOWNLOAD through Amazon. I’ll let you know when those free days are here. Snatch up a copy for yourself and everyone you know for Christmas! (They’ll never need to know you got it for free.)
I’ve never understand why people want to be “in charge.” They must think there’s great status, or acclaim, or money.
But it’s responsibility, criticism, and working far more hours than one will ever be compensated for.
That is, if the leader in power is doing things right.
I suspect most who crave power are intent on doing things wrong; they want people to praise (worship) them, they want every convenience and toy available, and they want no one to stand in their way.
Those who are power-hungry are simply toddlers. You can tell by their tantrums, their screaming, their raging, their demands to get whatever they want, and everyone else can just shut up.
The first time one of my toddlers screamed at me in a fit of fury to “shut up!” I was at first astonished, then I burst out laughing. My toddler responded by screaming more and more, until I put her into time out so that I could try to stop laughing.
Worryingly, adults who demand power and influence, and throw tantrums when the don’t get it, are much harder to put in a chair in the corner. Nor are they nearly as funny. I rarely find myself laughing anymore.
I’m deeply concerned that someday they may get exactly what they want, through their manipulative bullying tactics. And the last thing they’re going to be concerned with is their responsibility to others. They want the power to serve themselves.
Such “toddlers” in power would be a terrifying thing. That’s why we all need to act like grown ups and not give in to the tantrums around us.
“If they can’t manipulate me—and they’re discovering quickly that I’m no Stumpy—then they’re going to discredit me and try a new tactic. Call me paranoid, but since I don’t know who’s working for whom—and if anyone is actually on my side besides the enlisted men who I bribe with snacks—I can’t trust anyone,” Pere confided.
“Oh,” Relf said, his voice small. “That’s why you didn’t want me to speak until we got home.”
“Exactly. There are spies everywhere, son. Walking casually past, following a few steps behind, waiting in a shrub. It’s also why I don’t employ servants, or want to move into a larger home where we would need servants. Trust no one, Relf, not even your servants. They’ll bring you your meal with a smile one day then stab you in the heart the next.”
“Pere!” Banu exclaimed. “That’s not fair! My friend is a servant.”
“And maybe we’ll employ her when all of this mess calms down. Until then, I stand by what I say, Relf. If not the servant, then the relative or friend of one. Remember that anyone in power is a target for anyone without power.”
~The Walls in the Middle of Idumea, available now on Amazon and here.
“You’re disappointed in me,” Pere concluded. “Well, it won’t be the last time, I’m sure. Being a commander, or even an adult, doesn’t mean we know always what’s right. We have to trust the nudges to do what we believe is right. And I think as long as you try to do the right thing, it will eventually turn out. It’s when you stop caring or don’t want to get involved and let anything happen—that’s when everything crumbles. General Stumpy was lazy and selfish. He allowed for all kinds of injustices and cruelty to flourish. The only example I have to follow is his; whatever he would do, I try to do the opposite. It’s all I’ve got.” ~The Walls in the Middle of Idumea
Too often I’ve publicly offended others who have come after me online–publicly and privately. And because I’m extremely non-confrontational (oh, how I wish I were like Mahrree!) I retreat, and decide to hide in the corner of my closet where I can never say or do anything stupid ever again.
Obviously I’ve not done well with self-banishment, because I’m still here. (Each self-imposed exile lasts no more than three days, because I can’t keep still.)
Lately, though, I’ve realized that retreat is selfish, feeling sorry for myself when I’m “picked on” is childish, and lurking in the background when things just aren’t right isn’t right at all.
Someone has to say something; someone has to gently, kindly, firmly even stand up and say, “No. I cannot agree to this and will not submit to that.” Maybe because it’s the stories my parents told me of growing up in Nazi Germany are haunting me again, or it’s the examples of bullying and name-calling in the holocaust novel I teach my 10th graders, but increasingly I’m seeing the need for us to stand firm in our beliefs, to let people know what we think, and, if nothing more, demonstrate for others that we will not be intimidated.
Recently on a group discussion online I saw a woman relay something that happened in her church that alarmed her. She immediately wrote, “Not to say that this is wrong . . .” And honestly, I don’t know what she said after that because I HAD to write: “No, this IS wrong, and we shouldn’t be afraid to stand up and say so!”
Immediately I worried that I might offend, but I thought, No–I shouldn’t be afraid, either! Within minutes the response to my comment was overwhelming–in the affirmative. Comment after comment said the same thing, citing scriptures to back up what incorrect thing had been allowed to happen in the church, and the original woman who posted finally chimed in, after 50 responses with, “Thank you! I thought this was wrong, but I just wasn’t sure and I didn’t dare say anything. But now I will.”
It’s when we stop speaking out, stop standing up, and worry too much about offending the perpetually offended, that’s when it will all fall apart.
It may still all crumble someday, but not because we didn’t say something about it.
But I don’t think so. I think there will always remain pockets of strength that will withstand the oncoming anger (and, I beginning to suspect more and more, a future civil war) because we will be standing strong together.
New prequel is now available! Click on the image below to get it on Amazon, or read it here.
Forestedgebooks.com 