How I Spent My Summer Vacation...

Elementary school teachers might spend the bulk of our days dealing with tattling, keeping track of who left to go to the bathroom and trying to unclog the Elmer's Glue cap but we have dreams too, you know!

If you're a teacher in the New York City area, you should, without a doubt consider applying to The Cullman Center Institute For Teachers at The New York Public Library.

For one glorious week, you and thirteen other lucky fellows will get to work on honing your craft as a fiction writer. Each summer has a little variation on the fiction writing theme and a different instructor leading the workshops. This year, I was fortunate enough to work under the brilliant Téa Obreht.

The day is structured as such:
1. Come in, get settled in your own, private, wood paneled, wifi equipped, view of 42nd street office.
2. Eat the free breakfast.
3. Spend the morning in an intensive workshop, reading, writing, talking.
4. Eat the free lunch. (We're not talking wraps here folks-there was a daily feast of sushi, Vietnamese, Mediterranean, I could go on).
5. Spend the afternoon working on your writing.

Oh also, you get at $300 stipend at the end of the week. As someone who gets bogged down during the school year with the work, gym, home, life grind and tends to let creative projects slip away, the fellowship helped me refocus on making writing more of a priority. I even finished a children's book this summer. (More on that later…)