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What Jane Has Been Up To:
April-, 2010
Click here for all blog links
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Requiem for a friend (full article)
Our visit to the Galapagos (brief blog)
Galapagos photo gallery coming soon
2010 Blog: January through March, April through ...?
2009 Blog: January through April, May through Dec
August 29, 2010
New audio programs finally done!
There’s a long list on the whiteboard in my office that includes a bunch of projects I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. One of them involved converting the TeacherTapes program (Being a Successful Teacher), which had previously only been available on cassette to a downloadable mp3 file.
I had been thinking and talking about putting the audio track out on CD (well, actually, two CDs as the 90-minute program wouldn’t fit on one unless I cut stuff out, which I really didn’t want to do) and never got any farther than the idea until, in Sept. 2008, someone at a seminar in upstate New York picked up the cassette and asked if the program was available as an online download.
Duh!
So now the tasks of converting the files to digital audio tracks and further converting them to mp3 formats, uploading the files, and adding the products to the product page on this site. In actuality, the whole thing took very little time, although testing the page and getting the links to work right required a bit of work (over the course of about two days, maybe), so looking back, I’m wondering why it took two years to finally add the product to my bookstore.
Another product I had sitting on my desk for well over a year was the four CD set with the live, full-day audio program on Practical Strategies for Working Successfully with Difficult Students, which I presented for BER several years ago. Another one of those not-sure-why-it-took-so-long projects, but I’m happy to say that I am finally able to offer this full-day seminar-in-a-box. It even comes with a copy of my resource handbook (similar to the downloadable handbook available on this site).
A Light Calendar for Now... and some more new stuff
I think that the Universe knew I needed some down time. Even after nearly three full months at home, I’m still feeling a bit of the mental and emotional exhaustion that shaded my blog entries, journals, and conversaations for the past several years.
I have done two presentations since I got back from Singapore at the beginning of June and have really enjoyed the work tremendously, so I’m still quite enthusiastic about the work I’m doing. It’s just been good to have a break from the travel and deadlines that overwhelmed much of the past decade or so. (I’m certainly not done, not by a long shot, and am, in fact, quite happy for the work I have on my calendar, but these stretches at home have been immensely enjoyable and restorative.)
In the interim, I’ve agreed to a few local presentations for three organizations I wish to support. And the rest of my time has been split between visits to the gym or pool (or both), cleaning my office and studio, and work on new products—I’m almost done with the first revision of Parents in a Pressure Cooker, and am waiting for my co-author to have a go at the chapters I’ve sent her.
Other items on the list include three other audio presentations (for teachers and counselors); converting video tapes to DVDs; a CD and downloadable version of several products (“Pads” on the Back—hopefully in English, Spanish, and French—the now-out-of-print TeacherSaver Memo Pads and Booster Shots certificates and related awards, and a copy of the article “Positively Positive!”); a collection of six parenting booklets (as downloadable PDFs or an eBook); and a series of podcasts and interviews. Updates as progress occurs.
July 25, 2010
Work on this site
I have spent hundreds of hours in the past month or so going through this site, pulling out old pages, fixing broken links, and adding new content. Because a few people wrote to let me know they were having a hard time finding my calendar, I am in the process of putting a link to that information on every page. (I really appreciate this feedback, as it’s critical to improvements I would not know to make otherwise.)
In the spirit of spring cleaning, I’ve also been going through my library and have started pulling out books I no longer need. Some have been with me since before we moved here in 1980, and were hard to part with. Still... it’s time. I’m going to offer these items to site visitors and have added many of these books to the Sale page. The prices are great, especially since some of the books are very hard to get, and very VERY expensive if you can find them at all.
Passing the Plate
Developing and maintaining this site has been a special passion of mine for the past 13 years. I’ve tried to make it as user friendly as possible and to provide a ton of FREE material to anyone who finds their way to these pages and can use the information.
The work on this site has involved thousands of hours over the years (and anyone who has ever developed and maintained three versions of a Web site with hundreds of pages and links knows I’m not exaggerating). I’ve also invested thousands of dollars—in training, support, and software, as well as hiring people for translating some of these pages into (so far) French and Spanish.
So I’ve finally decided to pass the plate, as it were, making it possible for people who can do so and are so inclined to make a donation to support the continued development of this site. At this time, on the bottom of each of the free articles, excerpts, and handouts, I have included this image as well as a link for site visitors to donate $1.00 (or more, in $1 increments) to the shopping cart:
I’m trying to make this as low-key (and non-tacky) as possible. There’s no pressure, and I will continue to make this site available and add new information as I always have. Nonetheless, I would like to move in a couple directions, including adding multimedia and podcasts, and increasing the number of pages I have available in Spanish and French (and finish some of the work on the Spanish pages I currently have). Translating is especially costly and I could really use a little support in these efforts.
July 9, 2010
Summer in the city
What a wonderful change for me: For the first time in I don’t know how long, I’m home for the entire summer (well, from June 5 through August 9, the longest stretch in ages!) and I’m not working under the pressure of a book deadline. In fact, I’m barely working at all.
Instead of my usual flurry of activity and productivity, I’ve spent much, if not most, of the past 5 weeks watching World Cub soccer matches in between going to the gym and pool practically every day. (I noted in a Facebook post that the only exercise I had since this time last year either involved a keyboard or knitting needles. Not a good move on my part.)
I have things piling up on my desk and will have to get back to the administrivia sometime soon, but just haven’t had the desire to be down in my office, much less working on “desk” things.
I can’t seem to get on a schedule and nearly all of the gym classes are set for a time that just breaks up my day and any momentum I may have underway. As soon as I start working on something, it’s time to go to the gym, and for some reason, that feels like where I need to be right now. Weird.
Parents in a Pressure Cooker, v.4
I am working, here and there, on the revision of Parents in a Pressure Cooker. This was supposed to be a quick scan-and-go, get the old product into a new form. But as soon as I started looking at the material I had co-authored more than 25 years ago, I realized that some significant revision.
It’s always interesting to go back and read something I’d written years ago, and in this case it was not only the content and philosophy that have evolved, but my writing skills as well. (I say this with a huge debt of gratitude for every editor who’s been charged with untangling—or at least polishing—my manuscripts.) I am frankly a bit amazed that some of this stuff made it past editing, and I’m scrambling to make the writing more connected and coherent.
I’ve made a rough pass through the first ten chapters and have sent them off to my co-author for some feedback, wondering if maybe it wouldn’t be better to simply start from scratch on a new book for parents, something that probably will happen eventually.
June 14, 2010
Currently on my plate
I’m working on a number of projects with existing material: an audio presentation currently available only on cassette, a video currently available only on VHS, and a book and two workbooks for parents that have been out of print for about 10 years. Digitizing everything is a challenge, especially since each project requires different software and different processes, also different marketing, and I don't always know what I’m doing, or at least am doing a lot of things for the first time.
Parents in a Pressure Cooker, which I co-authored with Lynn Collins, first came out in 1985 as a hand-typed, coil bound, self-published work. With advice from a local bookstore owner to “hire someone to make it not look like it was put together on your kitchen table,” we had a designer and typesetter create what eventually became a very pretty, professional-looking, perfect-bound book.
Four years later, a slightly revised edition was published (along with a workbook for parents and one for teachers) by Modern Learning Press, a company that was sold in 1997, after which, as so often happens, our book was dropped from the new company’s product line and went out of print. By then, both Lynn and I had moved onto other things and although we had always intended to get back to these materials, it was only this summer that I have had the time and space to actually think about making them accessible again.
I’ve been wrestling with the degree to which my approach to adult-child power dynamics, motivation, and other related discipline issues has evolved and changed over these past 25 years. But although this resource contains language and concepts I no longer use, the basic principles will be accessible and helpful, especially for parents who are new to parenting resources and need help creating some kind of structure for raising their children.
I expect that I’ll add something to the end of the book about “next steps,” additional effective strategies I’ve since discovered, as ways to polish and finesse the skills recommended in this book. I’m hoping to be able to offer the book and the workbooks in two formats—as ebooks and as hard copies through a print-on-demand outlet online.
One interesting footnote here: The current owners of the company that initially published this book is the same one (School Specialty) that proved to be such a nightmare in trying to secure rights to a third edition of 21st Century Discipline. Although that chapter of my life has felt closed for a long time, it is especially nice to be able to report that the person with whom I checked to be sure we had the rights to these materials was completely supportive. In one phone call and one subsequent email, we have total clearance to do whatever we want with these resources.
This is almost the exact opposite of my previous experience with this company. Perhaps it was just good luck to contact this particular individual (a different person from the one I dealt with there three years ago), although the contract was quite different and, probably more significant, that I.S.S. Publications, my company, had had the copyright all along. I’m taking this as a sign that my efforts to resurrect this book and these workbooks will be worthwhile, and that they will result in the availability of resources that will continue to help people, as they have done over the past 25 years.
TeacherTapes: Being a Successful Teacher has been available on audiocassette for about ten years. But as technology changed, fewer and fewer people even have devices that will play this tape, and I doubt at this point that we could even give them away.
I have these tapes already in digital format. I just need to have Jerry record a new introduction, add it to what I have, clean things up a bit, and put these up on my site.
Win-Win Parenting Video Presentation is currently available only on VHS tape. I have secured the rights to transfer these presentations to DVD. New territory for me, but I’m hoping to be able to make all my presentations that are only on VHS (there are two other products as well) available on DVD through this Web site.
June 7, 2010
An amazing month
I’ve been home for a day and a half. No heavy lifting; just sleeping, reading the stack of papers Jerry saved for me, and watching TV. I haven’t unpacked a thing, nor have I been downstairs to my desk yet. But I’m here for a while and will probably start in on both tomorrow, after a bit more sleep.
I’m tired, but a lot less so than this past month might have me expect. Even more than the physical demands, I’m actually feeling the emotional and mental astonishment about having crossed the equator and the International Date Line in the past few weeks, from my first trip to South America (and my first vacation in over a year) to my last two jobs—in the Canadian Maritimes and Singapore, places which, culturally and geographically, could not be much more different.
I’m grateful. I’m sure Delta Airlines and my credit card companies are grateful as well. In many more ways than one, these past several months (years?) have truly been a whirlwind, and this was a nice, if intense, way to wrap up this particular period of my life and work.
I have some nice engagements on the calendar for this fall, with a longer stretch at home than in quite a while, especially if you count time at home not scrambling to meet writing deadlines! So it’s high time to catch my breath, take stock, and see where I’m heading from here.
A time to clear
Before I left for Singapore, I spent a week going through drawers, my closet, and a few suitcases’ worth of clothes I had stored in the garage. As a result, I sent Jerry off to the Thrift Store that benefits our local Animal Humane with his car filled with stuff—mostly clothes, but also some work things, including three big display racks from conference exhibits we stopped doing several years ago.
Like the clothes I’d held onto a little too long, it was time to seal the deal on things that just aren’t a part of my life or my work any more. I can’t tell you how good that felt. And it feels like I’m just getting started.
May 27, 2010
Heading to Tokyo
At the moment, we’re just off the coast of Alaska, over the Bering Sea. It’s 7:12 p.m. in Albuquerque, 10:12 a.m. (tomorrow) in Tokyo, and 9:12 a.m. in Singapore. I think I’ve got that right.
We still have nearly six hours to go to Tokyo. A quick stop there and then I’m off on my third flight, a seven-hour ride to Singapore.
Life of a rock star...
Other than me and the flight attendants and some guy watching a movie, everybody is pretty much crashed out. I have no idea why I’m wide awake. I guess I’d be a little more concerned if I didn’t have another long flight ahead of me (during what my body currently understands as night time), or if I didn’t get in at 1:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. (Huh?) Or if I didn’t have two days to rest up before going to work on Monday.
I have AC power (Sweet!) so I thought I’d get some work done. Cleaning up a few pages on this site, coordinating the info on my speaking resume with the details I have on my “where Jane has been” pages here.
I had a really nice Japanese meal, a nice change from the usual airline fare. Nice and light (so I could SLEEP!) and quite tasty. The other choices looked good, but I wanted something I don’t ordinarily get.
May 14, 2010
A too-fast turnaround!
Not-so-smart move: Getting home after our flight from Ecuador (after stopping for dinner) at 8:30 on Tuesday evening and then having to take off for my speaking engagement in Moncton, New Brunswick (Canada) 10 hours later.
Seriously.
6:30 a.m., Wednesday, we’re in the car and on the way back to the airport. It actually took me until Thursday morning to get to Halifax (after a cancelled flight and 3:30 am wakeup call in Detroit after maybe four hours of sleep) where I picked up a car and had to drive about 150 miles to NB, this after not having driven for the past two months because of my ankle and compression boot. My driving angels were definitely with me.
(I thought it was kind of crappy of the Halifax Hilton Garden Inn, where I had a non-refundable reservation for the previous night, to refuse to let me check in for an hour or two to get some sleep that morning. Yes, it was close to regular checkout time, but I’ve never had a problem getting an extended checkout time and an hour or two would’ve been all I needed.)
Apr. 30, 2010
An excerpt from my vacation blog
I wrote the following after a few days on vacation. It feels significant enough to share here as well:
It’s been really nice to have a break from work. I still feel the past few months in my nervous system, and I realize that it may be a little while before that changes. But... I haven’t worn makeup since we got to the islands, haven’t even tried to style my hair (humidity takes care of that), and I just realized I have my tee-shirt on backwards.
Nice.
I’m surprised that I’m not really missing contact with the world. I’m anxious to share the photos, videos, and experience with family and friends, but all this can wait, as can anything related to work. I’m starting to realize that I no longer want a life I can’t get away from once in a while. For now, I’m perfectly content to watch the sun reflect off the ocean and just sit. And be.
For a brief vacation blog with some details and a few photos from the trip to the Galapagos, click here. Photo gallery coming soon.
Apr. 18, 2010
Filling book orders
We have gotten a big stack of orders for Becoming a Win-Win Teacher and are so excited about getting this book out into the world. If you have ordered a copy, be assured that your book will go out as soon as we get back. If you have requested an autograph, I will be signing books as soon as I get back from my speaking engagement. Your book should go out no later than May 10. Thank you for your order.
While we’re away...
I’m hoping to actually have a bit of a break from work during the time we’re away. Nonetheless, I will check voice and email while I’m gone and will be able to receive calls on my cell phone (505-250-3965) at least some of the time I’m gone. I do expect to be able to get online without any problem while we’re in Quito, but I doubt we’ll have much in the way of phone or internet access while we’re in the Galapagos.
Please know that I will return calls and answer emails at my first opportunity and, as mentioned above, will fill orders as soon as we’re back in the office. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Apr. 1, 2010
Gone to press
Yesterday, I got an email from my editor’s assistant letting me know that Becoming a Win-Win Teacher has gone to press, meaning that everything that goes into the preparation of a book like this is done. The writing, done. Editing. Permissions. Corrections. Fact checking. Indexing. Acknowledgements. More editing. Done, done, and DONE!
It means that I put away all the files and disks and research and books, clear some of my office space that has been cluttered with project-related piles for more than two years, and sit back and wait for the books to ship...
Now what?
...and figure out what to do next. Not that I don’t have plenty of ideas and options. It’s actually a matter of what to do first. But I’m in no hurry to jump into another book (or at least into another book contract with deadlines and all), although, God help me, I’ve got something brewing. Maybe. I’ll keep you posted.
Promise.
What’s calling me even more (and more than cleaning and straightening my office and studio, which is essential, and which has been forestalled by this fractured ankle nonsense), is developing some new audio and video stuff. I’ve been wanting to do some podcasts and may have some time to start thinking about that now.
Also some downloadable versions of products, including some old books, games, and stationery items. Time to crank up the old scanner! Again, stay tuned. There’s a lot of good stuff just needing to be digitized and uploaded! Very exciting.
Birthday coming, and a vacation!
April is always a fun month for me. There’s something about getting to this month that validates successfully getting through the winter. Even if the weather still isn’t all that spring-like yet, you know it’s just around the corner! (This winter has been particularly challenging, so I’m especially glad to be looking toward spring.)
There’s a sense of renewal and rebirth and deliverance, and with another birthday coming up in two weeks, a feeling of completing another cycle. (Although have you noticed that this seem to be happening faster and faster all the time?)
Plus, we’ve got a long-awaited trip to the Galapagos coming up a week later. My purchases for this trip include a tee-shirt from Cafe Press with a picture of Darwin that says “Viva la Evolution” and a new Flip video camera I just ordered from Amazon today. (If the iPad 3G were ready, I’d be taking one of those along as well.)
2010 Blog: January through March, April through ...?
2009 Blog: January through April, May through Dec
Other “Highlights” pages: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. For an index to all blogs, photos, and other personal information, click here.
Jane’s current Blog.
About Jane home page (bio, intro, other professional information).
My Calendar
Click here (or on the image to the left) to see my schedule. Click here for a map with links to dates that I will be in your area.
