MONDAY BLUES

Remember the old song by the Mamas and Papas, Monday, Monday? That was one of my favorites when I was a college student. In fact, I liked just about all of their songs!

What is the deal with Monday, anyway? Life after a weekend, whether it was spent quietly reading in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate, or a physically-challenging hike, Mondays are hard to deal with.  Part of the reason is simply because of change. We mentally and physically change gears on weekends, whether we work outside the home or not.  Then on Monday, we have to change those gears once again. By Thursday, we are well into our work week and go with the flow. Friday is exciting, and we look forward to it as the last day of our work week before the much-anticipated weekend, where we have plans to do things not normally done on workdays.

People often refer to Monday blues, and there is some scientific data to back that up. Our bodies don't do well after sleeping late on Saturdays, spending the rest of the day running around completing chores or pursuing fun activities. Our family always attends church on Sundays, so we are busy with church activities until noon.

I am enjoying my retirement from teaching, I must say. Oh, don't get me wrong--I loved teaching, but it was quite challenging physically and mentally, and not appropriate for the older version of myself. I taught high school English, which included AP (Advanced Placement) senior British Literature, Honors English 12, On-Level English 12, and Creative Writing. Some years I taught Speech instead of the Creative Writing, and some years I taught 9th or 11th grade English in lieu of Senior English.

To paraphrase an old adage, "An English teacher's work is never done." I had the usual homework assignments to check, as well as essays, compositions, book reports, and research papers, a hefty load, and I spent a good portion of most weekends either grading papers or going to my classroom to work on lesson plans, grade papers, create tests and worksheets, etc. I am simply not up for that load now!

I miss the students, I miss decorating my classroom and bulletin boards, and I even miss my study hall students!  But my career now involves writing books, no easy task, but certainly less stressful than teaching high school English . . . most of the time. Writing, contrary to popular opinion, is a lot of hard work, and one has to love it in order to stick with it.  Deadlines loom, editing and proofreading await, and cover creation beckons me. Once I submit my manuscript, then I must check the proof carefully before submitting my book for final publication.

And that's just the beginning! There's the marketing aspect to publicize that the book is available for sale! I use social media quite a bit for that, as it seems to work for me. I have a Facebook business page, a Twitter account, this blog as well as another one, a website showcasing my books, a Pinterest page, and a monthly newsletter. Those are about as much as this one person can take care of on any given day.

I cannot finish this post without saying that I am so blessed and thankful to God for my many blessings from Him! He makes all things possible for me, and my life has never been the same since I turned it over to Him.

So, to check out my sites, here they are:

website:  www.MavisDukeHinton.com
Other blog: http://the-dachshund-escapades.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mavisdukehintonsbooks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/writer4dawg
Newsletter signup: http://eepurl.com/biq2s5
Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/mavisdukehinton/my-books/