Future Books and Future Plans

My friends poked fun at me when I said, in response to the challenge to come up with a book idea in thirty seconds, that I had a wall full of ideas, and I could easily pretend I just came up with one of them. I got the whole "Oh, I just have so many ideas..." line.

Well yes, yes I do.

I don't have plans, but I do have ideas. The ones I really like, I make sure to focus on. They're a mix of fiction and non-fiction, and I don't know how many of them are actually good yet. I have to see how they pan out when I try planning them, when I try to find the story around the idea.

My general plan for the next couple of years with books looks like this:

- I want to release the third Modern Irish Myth book. It'll require re-planning, and writing from scratch, but it's going to happen. Then, the series will be put on hiatus.

- I'll be releasing a series of books set in an Irish college. To put it really simply, it'll be creating a fictional world around my own college experience, inspired by events rather than people. I'm fleshing out a lot of it at the moment, but it's been exciting me for a long time, now, and it'll be appearing sooner rather than later.

- I'll be focusing on a couple more writing books in the future. Some will be specific genre-related titles, others more broad, addressing all writers. Without just giving away ideas, that's all I can say.

- After my Masters, I'll be turning my attention to researching and writing about mental health. I want to make the material accessible. If my experience on teaching placement in 2013 was any indication of the trend, even the people who should know about mental health don't. This is something I've been wanting to write about for a long time, and for the time being it'll remain in my fiction, but in the future I'll be taking on a more proactive role in the field in Ireland - and maybe even abroad.

That's just the books, of course. There's a lot else to focus on in the future, which I can't really discuss until I actually get started (I have books on mental health, and have read a bit of some of them, so I'm not breaking my own rule there). This isn't just a secrecy thing. This is a hype thing. As in, I don't want to create any hype in my own head over this stuff.

Being a writer can be a scary thing, especially when public announcements are concerned. It's with that in mind that I'm keeping a lot of things quiet until I'm ready to talk about them, and why I haven't given any indication as to what's actually going to happen in my new books. For now, you'll have to do with the vague answers I can give, and accept the fact that new material is on its way.

Any Plan But a Lesson Plan

The one thing they don't warn us about in college is that lesson plans, being detrimental to banter, craic and "LOLs", can sometimes lead to this horrible form of procrastination in which the sufferer begins to plan everything. Except, of course, for the lessons. The psychosis is known to lead to planning away your youth until you're a withered old man or woman. More commonly, of course, the sufferer is left in a panic.

This, of course, leads to a number of stress related illnesses. Stress is known to lead to insomnia, lack of focus and a number of bowel movements that don't do well to describe. Add this to a classroom situation, and a student teacher may find him- or herself with a nasty case of God-knows-what, and failing to live up to their potential.

And why? Because, as a basic requirement, lesson plans cannot be done too far in advance of the class. However, given the nature of a teaching placement, designed to educate a student teacher in the ways of teaching, but not quite putting them into a full classroom experience in that we never truly know the pupils by the end of the period, it is impossible for the very basics of lesson plans to help.

How can a student teacher be expected to write up a number of lesson plans, never too far in advance, and still hope to maintain a shred of the necessary sanity to qualify teaching in a classroom? While it is capable to keep up with the workload, the real problem is starting.

Is there is a solution to this? Most likely. It would certainly help if one didn't ask so many questions. A proposed solution, of course, is to allow for a period of time, supervised and monitored, in which student teachers must draw up the first three lesson plans for each of their classes. In a supervised environment, with the lesson plans inspected and given construction criticism well in advance of the lessons, the student teacher - a strange specimen, half-way between qualified and stupefied - would be able to relieve some of the pressure.

For this to work, the environment in which the student teacher is being prepared ought to be made less stressful. While it is, of course, acceptable to assume that a degree of education must still take place, the way in which the student teacher is taught and assessed can be changed to allow for a different type of workload.

Back to my original point: planning. Lesson plans, being nigh-impossible to get to work on initially, lead to excessive planning. Holidays are booked, drink plans - a high risk social event so close to the teaching placement - are made and, in an extreme case, narrative plans are drawn out extending some years into the future. With so many plans being made - youth being wished away, while placement in a school situation wastes it away - it is not surprising that, given the insomnia and associated symptoms of stress, the student teacher suffers.

Consequently, the student teacher is not graded as they would be if they were to be inspected with pre-prepared lesson plans and a less stressful lead-up to the teaching experience. No longer in even a relative state of ease, the results of teaching placement, unless in monitoring an especially helpful class group and stress-free lesson, are subsequently inaccurate. The best they can hope to achieve is to monitor the implications of stress on a student teacher and the way in which he or she deals with this stress and still manages to cope.

There is, of course, a nugget of helpful advice within these words: de-stress, stay calm, and pretend there's nothing wrong with you. You might even believe it.

Where Things Are Going

Since I've been back online, I've been working at getting my interviews with people - as I announced yesterday. I have five lined up. As well as that, I'll be doing something which will feature on Mondays, though that'll be delayed for a bit as I get my feet on the ground. The same as something which will take up Tuesdays and Saturdays. Wednesdays will be for reviews.

But that's just the blog point of view of things. I have so much more to do, aside from college work. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I have a few places to submit to. I also have plans to continue to work on Meet Sam, and work on a new book. I'll be working on them in rotation - one chapter of the new book, one fifth of Meet Sam. At that rate, I'll get that finished pretty early on while the other book will actually get somewhere in its writing. While that does also seem to block my progress later, I do have to then read over and edit Meet Sam again to make sure it's alright. Lots of work ahead of me...

When the new book is finished, or when I need a break from both books, I'll be working on a play. Or three. Or something. And in the midst of all that, and all my college work, I'll be writing stuff to submit to various magazines and reading books and all the usual stuff I normally do. I just plan on being busier than normal.

Aside from the blog and the books and the plays, I also want to work on screenplays. These will be for either television or films, I don't know yet, but they'll be the screen, anyway. There's a different feel to scripts in plays and films, so it all depends on what I want to write at the time - different ideas will need a different medium. I already have an idea for a mini-series, though I'm not sure how that'd work. I've to read up on that, still.

To get myself motivated for work, I've made up a list of things that I can write about when it comes to submissions - or just general ideas for work! One or two of them require invading the privacy of people, so I've to tread carefully about them and get permission where possible. Basically, it'd be impossible to hide the stories from people if I planned on doing anything with them, so there's no point pretending I didn't write them at all. The other stuff is just common sense, when it comes to the sort of person that I am - books, films, the Internet, religion, etc. Whatever can define me or my activities is what I'll be writing about. Hopefully a lot.

One thing I have to cut out of my life is games, though. Which is a problem, because I'm addicted to them. And when it comes to summer, I need to take something up, to occupy the time in which I need to unwind and a book or a film won't do. I'll probably take a friend's suggestion and go swimming a couple of times a week. I need to see what my working hours are like... or if I even have working hours. Obviously, if I can't afford to pay into the pool I can't go swimming! Sure I could walk, but it's not as good for you as swimming... and I could do with improving the fitness, a bit. Or a lot. I just can't go with That Guy I Am, because he's overly competitive and it just puts me off the whole thing.

So, I've one more week in college - with birthday "celebrations" in the middle of all that - and then I'm off for a week. That'll be the decider week. I have to do college work, obviously, but I also have a chance to get into a routine of doing writing! I'll have a few more weeks of college, then, and three weeks off before exams in May. But after them, after I've burned myself out academically, I'll be free for three and a half months... again. This summer, someone has to force me to write!

Once again, a thousand plans ahead of me. But I like where my head is at right now, so this will be good. I won't just give it all up again. Especially since I'm already suspecting the worst that could happen already. There's not very much that could happen that would catch me entirely off guard, anymore. (Like my shop closing...) I just have to let stuff go, and then I can get somewhere.

Plans

As many people know, I have plans. Many, many plans. Some of them involved many of my friends, some are mroe specific to particular people, and some have to do with the college as a whole. (Side note: I've discovered that much of what I talk about these days has to do with college; this is not an entirely negative thing. I refused to discuss exams, my results, or anything like that. My plans are more to do with the socialising section of the college.)

Okay, some stuff is too personal/secretive (we like our secrets, we do), but I can fill you in on some of the other stuff; during the summer, I plan on going to the zoo. I know, adventurous. It'll be good fun, though. I haven't been since 4th year, and there are new animals since then! I might even adopt an animal! I'll see... It's on the "maybe" pile. Actually, might be related to one of the secrets. Need to see how things turn out.

Aside from that, nights out. I know, people do this all the time. Not me. I didn't have too many nights out during the college year, and by this time next year I hope to have changed that! I will be going out to gigs and whatnot, and hoping someone can do me the favour, if I end up going out in such a way that I stay in his place overnight, of keeping a spare t-shirt and a tooth brush in his house when we're out, so I have something to change in to for college the next day without having to go home... we'll see, anyway. He's dead sound, so he mightn't have a problem (most likely, he won't have a problem if he has no problem with me staying in his place overnight...)

I've started writing a new book, too. That's part of my summer plan - write it and edit it. That, and Meet Sam. Both are a bit of a riot. Lots of swearing and humour. The new one, Dignity, will have a few more innappropriate things, and is slightly biographical, if you can call it that. Investigative journalism meets narrative fiction!

Dignity, then, will play a role in September; I want to see if the college library will stock it and anything else students write. I want to start up a writers' society in the college and hope to inspire some courage in people to let their work be displayed for the whole student body to have access to. If it can be arranged, I'd like to get the books printed specifically for the library, using the society's funds. And I'll be ensuring copyright is protected on all these books, too. This will, hopefully, be the start of something big in my college! It's not just about getting the books out there; it's about getting people to have courage, to get their names out there.

I'm also planning birthday presents. Need to buy most of two of them tomorrow, with the rest of one being bought on Sunday or Monday. I have plans for two other birthday presents, too. All will be sorted out soon. These presents all kick ass, by the way. At least, I hope they do. One of them definitely does! The recipient will love it, just for the idea of it!

Okay, I literally can't say anything else without revealing at least one of the secrets. I need to make a phone/Skype call or have a face-to-face chat before I can even go into detail on any of this stuff. But I'm quite proud of the idea. Whether I can get the person I have to call to do it is another story!

What are your plans for the summer?

It's Hot Out

Record high temperatures of the year, and where was I? In work. I know. It sucked. Now, normally I don't mind my job. I actually rather like it, when there's something to be done. But after the trolley was emptied and the kids' section cleaned, twice, there was nothing left to do.

Add in the heat, and you lose not only fluids, but customers. I got home at four, not knowing whether or not I'd get a chance to get in the sun. I asked my friend Eithne is she was at home, in Offaly. No, she hadn't gone home. She was still in Dublin.

Naturally, we went for a walk in the park, and had a little chat. Well, more than little chat. We talked about all sorts of things; fights we might have to prevent, people who are annoying, people who are sound, things we have to try do with our time in future summers. Eithne's one of the people I know I'm going to be in touch with years down the line. I really hope she's not the only one. People like Liam and Aidan, who I've spent ages talking to of late, and all the brilliant friends I became close to at the start of the year, rather than just knowing who they were, a bit... I don't know what I'd do without them all. And there are so many of them! I'm lucky to have that job for all the birthdays! Third year will be expensive for all those - so many 21st birthdays to go to, presents to buy for them, drinks to buy for them...

But I still plan on escaping somewhere. America. I'd like to go to America. In the meantime, I have work to do back here. I need to get qualified to teach, and I need to get my novel sent off, and actually finished. The second draft will be longer than the first; I explained this yesterday, about how I was suddenly realising I had so much more to write on than I had for my first draft of Meet Sam. And on Monday, I have to submit my poems to a group of people down in Limerick. Hopefully they'll like a few of them enough to want to publish them. And hopefully they don't get too depressed by them all! Subject matter... lost love (result of death), suicide, crappy life, guilt and death. Not exactly the most inspiring bunch of poetry, though you might argue they inspire deep emotions of pain and sorrow. My friends joke, when I tell them about these poems, that I'm going to be the really depressing poet on the Leaving Cert somewhere down the line that they're going to be forced to teach about. I would love that!

Right, time to leave you and love you, my dear readers. There's tea to be read and a novel to be edited! Goodbye and God bless!