Breathing through my nose again

Posted on the Squeetus Blog January 04, 2006 1:43 PM PST. 
After two weeks of illness, we're finally mending nicely, with just a
 cough here and a sniffle there. Poor Max got his first ear infection 
and my cold/flu turned into a sinus infection, then Dean got it as well.
 But all better now. It's such a joy to see Max able to play and feel 
good again, to just sit on the floor and play with his trains and run 
around the stool and laugh. I missed my happy little guy.
I'm doing a series of visits to a middle school this month, and today
 was my second visit. I talk about how I became a writer, about reading 
for pleasure, and how to write your own stories. It is often a joy and 
often exhausting. Today I had a strange experience - one of the worst 
classes in the world back to back with one of the best classes in the 
world. It was really intriguing to compare. The worst class was 
horrible! They didn't throw things or behave horribly or anything, but 
they just sucked energy. There were 3 or 4 very strong personalities 
(all boys for some reason) who were very negative individuals, didn't 
care about the class or me or anything really, and their presence 
completely intimidated all the other students to silence. No one spoke 
up. No one answered questions. I don't think those other students even 
realized how their intelligence and wonderful possibilities were being 
crushed. It was very sad. I've noticed that my readers, in general, tend
 to be rather sassy, so I don't think you guys would've responded that 
way. I wish I'd realized in the moment what exactly was going on and 
could call them on it, could send the negative influences into the hall 
and spoken frankly to the rest. I'll say it now. "Don't let them 
determine what you think and say. Speak up! Be proud of yourselves. You 
are bright and interesting. Poo on individuality bullies!" After that 
class I was ready to curl up and take a nap, and then came one of the 
best classes I've ever experienced. Everyone had ideas, no one was 
ashamed to speak them, everyone was supportive of everyone else's 
opinions. I was proud just to be with those great kids. Would that all 
classes were like that.
I just sent off my notes on the copy edited manuscript of river secrets. Huzzah! All the major stuff is done now. I'll look over it again after it goes to type setting to make sure there aren't mistakes, but I won't 
make any more big changes. I sent a ridiculously long email with last 
minute changes to the managing editor at my publisher, some 150 lines of notes. If you're curious, here's a chunk of what I sent. Things in () are to be cut and [] to be added. The first number is the page number.
17
 – line 17, “(For a moment,) The sound of two javelins and a fist took 
up the whole room, lonely and inviting at once. (At once) [Then] a 
clatter of replies tossed against the walls.”
19 – line 10, “he (could) hear[d] their voices”
20 – cut 2 paragraphs, from “Then his horse, Bee Sting,” to “-without drooling in my hair.”
20
 – line 5, “Morning, Enna-girl,” Razo said as he fumbled with a horse 
blanket. It was no easy task to saddle Bee Sting while the mare was 
nuzzling his pockets for stowed morsels.”
21
 – line 15, “with a pouch of stones[.] (and) Some of the soldiers mocked
 him for wearing a simple Forest weapon so openly[, but] none protested”
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