I learned the other day that I passed the OPTE. I don’t remember what OPTE stands for (and am too lazy to look it up.) Basically, that was the last thing I had to do to move from a teaching license to a teaching certificate in Oklahoma. No change in pay or anything. It really just means I can renew my credentials ever five years instead of every year. At least on the surface. Of course, you want to be a certified teacher, not just a licensed teacher, because the certification means you’ve done everything you have to do to be qualified. And now I have.

I’m about to go earn a bunch of continuing education points, too. I don’t really look forward to it. But I won’t go into that now.

In other news, my oldest son will be taking his driver’s test this week. He’s had his permit for six months. He’s had his car for about a month. Now he’ll be able to drive. I feel so old! Really. It wasn’t that long ago I was getting my driver’s license. Well, okay, it was 1982, but … that doesn’t seem that long ago. I don’t want to be old enough to have a kid who can drive. On the other hand, I’ll be soooo glad I don’t have to go pick him up at work at 2:30 a.m. like I did this morning.

Conestoga is less than a week away. Are you coming? I’m really looking forward to it, and I have a pretty full schedule of events, what with Conestoga and the Fangs, Fur & Fey con-within-a-con (click the icon on the right).

I expect to have the first draft of The Fetch finished by this time next week. It’s been a long, strange journey for that book. I wrote most of it back in 1991, I think. I did about 370 pages, then just stopped in mid-chapter to work on something else. Now, I’ve rewritten up to the point where I stopped some 17 years ago. There’s a major event at the end of the book that I could have sworn I’d already written, but apparently I didn’t. However, in my hollow head it’s one of the most vivid scenes in the whole story. Weird. I’m not sure how I feel about this book at the moment. There’s something … like a disconnect. I’ve been working on it for quite a while, and yet I don’t feel a passion for it. When I was this close to finishing Ulrik I didn’t want to be away from the keyboard. Now … eh. But, my wife and critique group say they like it, so I guess it’s okay. I still like the concept, I’m just not sure I’ve pulled off my vision.

This is why I’ve come to love the editing process. I like having a complete, finished draft of the book done so I can sit down and read it from start to finish with a red pen.