I’ve decided to “kill off”, this blog. It’s been really useful while it lasted, but I don’t have the time to devote to it anymore.

I’m still blogging at www.thehomecorner.blospot.com so I might see you there.

Thanks for reading.

Sarah xx

Is the WORST bit of being a supply teacher.

This is how it works… You phone your agency and tell them when you’re available to work the following week. You wait for the phone to ring with bookings. You get despondent when the phone doesn’t ring and when it does, you’re a bag of nerves in case it’s the agency offering you actual work (it never is, it’s always a recorded message trying to sell you something or offering you a way to get out a your debt crisis).

When you don’t get a booking on a day you’re available, you then have to fill that time with housework and exciting things like doing laundry or those little jobs you always put off ‘cos they’re just so awful/boring to contemplate.

It’s even worse when you’re starting out in a new place, because the agency doesn’t really know you and neither do the schools, so you’re just waiting for that lucky break, where you can get your foot in the door and your name known for being a great asset.

Yep, waiting by the phone is just dreadful, but the phone actually ringing fills me with dread

Wow, where did this month go?

I met with the teaching agency I’d discovered through a recommendation on a web forum I use, and they were very happy with my prospects of getting some work. They checked through my references and it only took a little over a week to get my registration all sorted.

So far they’ve not offered me any work, but because I don’t drive and also need some notice so I can arrange childcare before and after school, I’m a bit of a tricky cow to sort out.

Writing is much the same at the moment. I’ve no commissions in the bag and – despite pitching regularly – I’m not having any luck getting anything accepted by editors.

If it wasn’t for the school PTA – of which I’m Vice Chair – and running around after the DH and DS, I don’t know what I’d do.

Hey ho, yes, working life is a bit of a drag at the moment, but I’m trying to keep positive.

I wrote a few days ago that I’d filled in some forms to start the ball rolling to get back into the classroom as a supply teacher. Today, after several attempts to get someone at the agency to return my calls, I was told that they’re not actually doing any new registrations until January!

Apparently, they received lots of applications over the summer and are waiting to clear all those before they take any more. My advice would be that they maybe say that on their website!!

Anyway, I’ve found another possible agency and have made the initial contact, so let’s hope that they prove a but more proactive and positive in their dealings with me.

I have to admit that the air was just a little bit blue after I put the phone down, because I really thought getting registered would just be a formality.

Watch this space to find out how my search for work pans out…

Which for those of you who don’t know is National Novel Writing Month takes place for the whole of November. The idea is that you write a complete first draft of a 50,000 word (or more), novel in just 30 days!

A few of my journalist and writer friends have done it before and this year I thought I’d have a bash too.

In true Sarah style, I have no idea what I’m going to write about, but I basically have to write 1,666 words a day, every day in order to complete the task!

Really, I’m doing it more to get into the discipline of doing it, I really doubt that the end product will ever see the light of day, but it’s the process that’s important this time.

I’ll keep you posted.

PS for those of you who’re also taking part and want to Buddy me, I’m SarahCru.

I’m amused that my decision to return to supply teaching 2 years or so after I moved to Lancaster has caused absolutely no comment among my family and friends.

The simple truth is that I enjoy supply teaching. I enjoy the challenge of going in to different classrooms and year groups and teaching for a short time before moving on. Some might say that I don’t like the routine of planning and paperwork, and – to be fair – I’ve been there and done that on a few occasions when I’ve taken on longer cover jobs, and it’s nothing to write home about.

Anyway, as I concentrate more on fiction writing and art and craft work, I’ll enjoy being grounded in the real world through teaching and Scouting.

Of course, there’s an element of paying my own way about it, but it’s also about having a wider circle of people touching my life.

I’m hugely looking forward to getting back into the classroom and sharing my enthusiasm for learning and discovery. Obviously though, on my first day I’ll be feeling sick as a dog as a start and will need headache pills as I finish!

That’s what journalism is for me. I’m not going to make big bucks doing it – even in my busiest years I’ve only made a couple of thousand. But as a hobby, providing a few extra quid, it’s an enjoyable diversion.

And so, I’m not stopping, I’m not giving up on journalism, but I am giving it the place it deserves in my life.

I’m also going to be giving time to other writing too, fiction and blogging. Confining myself to one kind of writing has left me pretty stunted.

I predict much more enjoyable times ahead, because I wont be constrained to a narrow view of what my life’s about.

And it’s to STOP making plans. No plans, no lists, no distraction techniques to stop me from actually doing things.

I used to know – in my head – what chores needed doing in the house, what meals I was going to put on the table each day and what ideas for features I was going to pitch to editors. Then I started making lists and trying to live by them and all the spontaneity went away and with it a big chink of creativity.

So, I’m going back to my old ways, to a broad plan for the months ahead and a more relaxed approach to how each day develops.

I’d like to get back to living a life rather than living a plan.

So, once again 2 weeks have passed since I wrote anything on this blog.

The Book Fair, J’s IEP review and the PTA meeting have all come and gone. Art class continues to be good and I’ve surprised myself at how well my drawing is coming on.

I survived the Scouting Leaders camp – though I will NEVER be Gill Scrambling again (more on that another time).

I was 41 yesterday, and for the first time ever I forgot it was my birthday until half-way through making breakfast. The day pottered quietly to its end and we’ll celebrate properly on Saturday.

I have more blogging to do in the next few days about how work isn’t going and where I’m planning to go next, so – as ever – watch this space.

I’ve bagged 2 commissions in the last couple of days and I’ve made a good start to my art class.

I’ve got Cub camp this weekend, so I need to build up some reserves of energy (and remember to take headache pills with me this time).

As my art was much better than I was expecting, I’m feeling like doing some drawing through the week too.

With school now back in full swing, I’ve got a PTA meeting, the Book Fair and J’s IEP review to look forward to in the next week or so, so things are really getting back into full-swing.

I really must get a new bike helmet so that I can get back out and about and peddle my way to something resembling fitness.

Oh yes, and the garden REALLY needs some attention to, so that I can make some space to plant some spring bulbs.