Still kicking!

So, there's this thing called Fall Semester that has been pretty much kicking my butt lately. But I'm kicking back pretty hard.I've got a great group of voice students at Earlham College where I teach two days per week.For the first time ever, I'm teaching a First-Year Seminar at Butler University. It's lots of fun, but lots of work. I've got a class full of intelligent freshmen who have been wowing me with the quality of thought and insight in their papers. For the most part, they haven't been wowing me with their writing (yet!), but improving their writing is what the class is for. So far, we've discussed myths and archetypes, the story of Cinderella in various versions, and elements of novels, dance, and music. We've watched the ballet Cinderella, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical from 1957 (they will see the 1997 version this week), and will see excerpts from Rossini's La Cenerentola. They've been reading Gregory Maguire's Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister which we will be discussing soon.Later in the semester, it's on to Carmen in various incarnations including the original Merimee novella, Bizet's opera, and a flamenco ballet.As for my own writing, I haven't got much done. I did some revision of "The Sunken Village," a flash-length piece I wrote while at TNEO that really wants to be a children's story, even though that's not what I set out to write. I know nothing about marketing fiction for children or how much I have to simplify the language to make it appropriate. It will probably stay at the bottom of my pile, which isn't difficult since the top of my pile isn't even doing much these days.I've got two pieces out in circulation now. I'd really like to finish revising "The Golden Larynx" and get it out the door soon. I've got a couple markets in mind for that one. Then, there's that pesky novella I've been promising myself I'd finish revising and submit for "Writers of the Future."Right now I'm so busy preparing for my class and grading papers I can't imagine how I will squeeze this in. But since I don't have any papers to grade this weekend, I'm going to spend some time working on my own writing for a change!In other news, I've lost 6 pounds and my knees seem to be doing a bit better. These two things are probably unrelated, but when facing knee issues, getting rid of excess weight is generally a good idea.