So, in my new life as a work-from-home Mom, I have tried to find some new outlets for creativity. I love what I do, don’t get me wrong. I love the days with the kids, I love working with teachers thorugh phone and Internet on their research. But all of these things leave me doing a lot of giving and very little receiving. One thing that we encouraged the teachers in the Creative Music Project to do was to be sure to refill yourself – feed your soul, if you will. As teachers (and Moms, I will argue) we often give ourselves away until there is nothing left for us.

After this summer adrift, and starting this blog, and some receiving positive feedback from my family and friends (“hey, that was funny!”) I decided to enroll in a creative writing class through Miami-Dade College’s Center for Literary Arts. What the Hell, right? It’s a once a week class for eight weeks, non-credit, just for fun. I cleared the calendar with the husband, and signed up. A few weeks ago I got a call from Miami-Dade College, that I was enrolled, and they had my schedule ready for me. Sure, whatever, right? Then I was informed that I would need to come to campus to get my new School ID card and parking pass. What??? A school ID? Whoo-Hoo!! I’m a coed again – student discounts here I come!

So, I have this plan to re-do my college experience a fourth time. No, it really doesn’t involve keg parties, but the first three times were too, um, academic. I think I’m going to take Steve Jobs advice and stay thirsty. Wait, or was that the Most Interesting Man in the World’s advice? Anyway, I think it is good advice and I’m going to choose classes that I want to take, and not classes that someone else has prescribed for me to meet my required course of study. I am going to drop out of their plan so I can drop in to the classes that intrigue me. Like this one.

The class I am enrolled in is What’s Your Story: Writing Memoir. Mostly I chose this class since I have a blog, and am fairly used to writing in the first, and very opinionated, person. During our first writing exercise last night we were instructed to write for 5 uninterupted minutes about “Who We Are and Why We Are Here.” While I won’t share that with you (read: bore you with it), when we all read got to read them out loud for feedback – a humbling experience in it’s own right – I couldn’t help but giggle a little when the instructor chimed in with “you have such a well defined writing voice, full of attitude. You’re a little bit of an attention whore.”  Um……..ok, really can’t argue with that. If you write a blog that you think people will read, then you are inherently an attention whore to some extreme. I just didn’t realize that I was that blatant. But hey, there are worse things, right?

So, why am I telling you all of this? Well, this was my homework.  And writing for myself is a joy and a pleasure, but sometimes I prefer things a little kinkier and I like to do it in public.

And THAT is how I get your attention.