It's Spring (Maybe?) and I Need a Break

After work today, Spring Break begins for my school. Not a moment too soon.

In the last couple of weeks, I've been through state testing, a last-gasp-of-winter snowstorm, a leaky classroom ceiling (still!), and the staff restrooms (adjacent to my classroom) requiring a massive toilet-removing plumbing-exploring procedure to return flushability to our lives. Oh, and other than the state testing, that was all in a matter of two days.

My nose needs a vacation more than anything.

My trusty laptop also croaked after over four years of working hard—fortunately not so badly that I couldn't get all my files off, and everything important was backed up. (In honor of my five novel protagonists, the replacement laptop has been named Nezra.)

Despite all this, I'm actually in a pretty good mood. I finished the draft of my seventh novel Wednesday night. (Uh, that sounds like a lot. Three are a trilogy. One is last year's NaNo.) My students handled the chaos in the classroom pretty well. We're down to T-minus-three-weeks until Mindy McGinnis invades the southwest. And like I said, vacation starts tomorrow afternoon.

So, my plans for the break? As usual, head up to my folks' place for a week. Do some editing. Critique Mindy's sure-to-be-mega-awesome revision. Prepare for the aforementioned invasion.

And pray that my classroom isn't soaked to the core when I get back.

But it occurs to me that I haven't been on a vacation in so long, I have no idea what the last one was. Maybe the time in grad school I spent Easter weekend with a classmate's family on the other side of New York state?

When Mindy and I get together, I suspect there will be some plotting about a future invasion, heading farther west ... and involving another certain critique partner.

Anyone else have Spring Break coming up? Any exciting plans? Or are you looking ahead to summer?