How is it already almost September?

I feel as though I should and should not take stock of August.

Workwise, I had an enormously successful month, working overtime for the first two weeks of August at my SAT tutoring job and receiving my highest single paycheck to date, hooray.  I also got last-minute hired as a freshman composition teacher, and for the last week have been teaching three sections of “the rhetorical situation just means the circumstances that surround your writing.”

Readingwise, I’ve been far less impressive, having only read seven books so far.  I’m intending to finish up a collection of short stories today, but that still puts me lower than last year’s September, which had been my lowest book month prior to this one.  Why has there been such a dearth of reading in my life?  Because when I get home from work, somehow I always wind up staring at the TV, that evil, mindless, fascinating box.

Writingwise, I am even worse off than I am for reading.  I wrote a story of less than a thousand words one night on a lark, and since yesterday have written a couple of pages of a (gasp) non-science-fiction story that may or may not pan out.  I’ve only submitted two of my required five fiction submissions this month, so I should clearly spend some time on that.  (On the other hand, can I not give myself credit for a spectacular syllabus, which I wrote from scratch in six days?  Can I not give myself credit for unit plans and writing prompts?  Can I not give myself credit for assignment sheets and sample essays?)

Today’s plan involves writing, reading, and working goals: do submissions and play with new story, finish reading Best American Short Stories 2010, finalize tomorrow’s lessons, and teach SAT for a couple of hours.

I am a busy woman.

Who needs some tea.