When I was a child, my cousins and I walked home from the bus on the last day of school shouting the following:

School’s out! School’s out!
The teachers let the monkeys shout
“No more homework! No more books! No more teachers’ dirty looks!”

I woke up this morning with that little ditty running through my sleep-fogged head. Last night I submitted my final assignment for my summer 2 semester. I’ve been in school since January without a break. Once the spring semester ended, I went into summer 1. That class ended and I went into summer 2. I return to the cyber classroom on August 25, the day before my boys begin a new school year. But, for now, I have the next two glorious weeks off!!

Here’s my to-do list:

*Catch up on paperwork…ugh!
*Do lesson plans for the fall
*Edit the rest of my novel so it’s ready for the ACFW conference in Sept.
*Do some painting outside
*Yard work
*Organize my scrapbook studio (this always makes my DH laugh)
*Enjoy myself!

In a totally unrelated topic…

Opening ceremonies for the summer Olympics in Beijing, China begin today. I’m not a huge sports fan, but the Olympics are amazing to watch. I admire the athletes’ discipline and drive to succeed.

This morning, Rachelle Gardner asked her blog readers, “So… why don’t YOU do it? Tell me… how is being a writer like training for an Olympic sport? How is getting publishing like going to the Olympics?”

So far, her readers have posted good responses. Here was mine:

Writing mirrors the Olympics in that writers and athletes strive for the gold. The gold could be the actual medal, winning a Rita or a Christy, or following his or her heart’s desire.

Ask any champion, athlete or writer, if he or she stopped training/learning/challenging once he or she won the gold and you’ll hear a resounding “NO!”

Like athletes, we writers need to hone our craft, stretch our writing abilities, step outside our comfort zones, and make sacrifices to win.

Winning is defined differently by each person. Some writers consider themselves winners if they touch the hearts of readers. Some writers don’t feel like they’ve won unless they’re holding that statue in their hands. Some writers move beyond the trophies for other goals. Maybe they won a Rita or a Christy or Book of the Year and now they would like to see their books made into a movie.

Recent headlines tell about athletes who have been barred from Beijing because of their beliefs. We, as Christians, will face persecution at times too and sometimes, we need to take a stand for what we believe, even if it means sacrificing the gold.