Monday greetings to you all:

I had a power weekend in many ways, where I was filled with energy from 20 other teachers on Saturday during a 7-hour writing workshop–our first of 21 that will conclude on July 20. There is no greater feeling than being surrounded by like-minded folks who have strong, healthy attitudes about teaching, writing, and the the teaching of writing. We meet again in two weeks, and I already know that it will refill my energy banks until our next gathering. They really kick off on June 25, when we’ll see each other daily, Monday through Friday, for four straight weeks.

Nothing like it. This will be my third time leading this experience, but every time I do this, I end up feeling like I am being led by 20 great, inpsiring writers/educators into a new school year with limitless potential.

Then the family went to see Shrek the Third late yesterday afternoon. The girls loved it, but it was The Boy’s first movie in a theater, so he was a little freaked out by how dark it got at the beginning of the movie. He settled down for a while, and he made it until about 20 minutes before the movie ended. I’ve offered free movie passes to my wife so she can watch the entire show with the girls and without interruption…I hope she takes me up on my offer.

I’ve got a lot to do today, but I’m afraid the motivation’s just not there. I have a meeting in 15 minutes, and I have to prepare a final evaluation for my end-of-year conference this afternoon. None of this is getting done, though.

I feel like I need me-time, just to sort through all that’s happened in the last month. We put ourselves on auto-pilot so easy, and when we take over the wheel, we sometimes think the goal is to keep driving in the same direction, at the same speed. What’s hard is to get us to cut the motor entirely, to drift, to spend some time off the road, to stop and get out, knowing that we’ll have the power and the control to get behind the wheel again when the time is right.

That’s what I need to do. I know that.

But if it is what I will do, I’m not as sure.