Less than 6 days

and still counting. Since I'm going into November with no outline, title, characters and just a hazy plot idea; well, the closer I get to kick-off, the closer I get to full hyperventilation mode. And I think this is fun???? Of course I do, it's the adrenalin junkie in me, writing by the seat of my pants terrorexhilaration thing going on.

It's a special one this year, I'm dedicating my effort this year to my friend who passed away unexpectedly last January. We had some big plans for '09 and were going to take our small community by storm, capture young imaginations and foster creative literacy like gangbusters, starting off our campaign with Nano '09 and building steam from there.

A few of the things EE and I had planned was holding a full noveling workshop for 3 of her english classes for Nanowrimo '09 and kickstart a local school but community driven paper at the end. There were other brilliant contests and ideas we were going to implement throughout the remainder of the school year but it was not to be.

EE got the flu. Then complications. She missed almost a month of school. Then, she thought she was getting better but she went to bed one night and died in her sleep.

She died happy and full of plans but they are plans I have no heart for after what the school did in the wake of her unexpected death. There was no formal announcement and high school students were told the news by their first period teachers. Elementary students were told nothing but learned the news from the high school students. My children already knew she had passed away but were stunned and hurt by the calvalier treatment of such a beloved teacher. I was so angry by the casual treatment by staff and faculty of the death of such a wonderful person it was the last straw and I pulled my children from public school forever more (much to their relief).

That's enough right there.

I'm doing it this year for me and EE and all our wonderful unrealized plans.

I really miss her.