A More Personal Side of My Life
Unlike my other posts and pages, this section is a little more personal and reflective. In addition to archives of journals sharing what I was up to from one year to the next, I have included a few holiday letters, photos and memories of special friends (critters and human), some travel notes, and links to other sites and experiences related to getting specific books published (or not!!).
| archives/journals | holiday letters online | special friends | travel-related | miscellaneous |
Journals: What Jane’s Been Up To
In 1998, I started keeping an online journal on my original website. Follow my personal experiences and perspectives as my business and life have evolved since I started this website. This is where I share goals and ambitions, progress on projects, travel notes, and feelings about whatever is up in my life at the moment.
2022: Updating and reorganizing the site, adding new content, making the retirement a bit more official, and working on the next books. A visit to my mom, my first trip out of state since Nov. 2019, and finding a surprising amount of joy in just being home!
2019 – 2021: Turning 70 in the middle of a global pandemic as my books were practically flying out of print brings many changes to a career I still loved. Shifting into semi-retirement, clearing out inventory, and restructuring what was left of this business while getting a much needed rest.
2017 and 2018: My first job in South America, adding a fifth continent to the resume! Catching up with changes in publishing and website technology, letting go of still more pieces of my business and work, and dealing with family issues.
2016: Changes in work situation and priorities, building a new foundation, letting things go, and a furry new addition to the family, after all this time! (Includes updates from 2014 and 2015 as well.)
2015: Finishing the book, sending holiday cards out in July, starting to declutter the house and office (drawer by drawer, shelf by shelf), my first lace knitting project, another Geek cruise, and finally, the release of The Perfection Deception after a long, winding journey.
2013-2015: This stretch of time is almost entirely devoted to the twists and turns involved in writing The Perfection Deception and detailed in this blog post.
2014: A fresh start on the perfection book, a bunch of road trips (east and west coasts), some good speaking engagements, and an amazing week in Cuba. A shift in priorities and I’m starting to wonder how long I can keep up the work.
2013: Writing like crazy! Getting the perfectionism book off to a rocky start, writing a short book on classroom management for ASCD, and other writing projects under consideration. In addition, the podcasts take off, I’m doing the newsletter on a regular basis, I make “Pads” on the Back templates available on the site in 40 languages, and continue converting the old website into WordPress. A busy year, with a mention about my speaking engagements and early rumblings of retirement.
A Very Digital 2013: Written soon after the holiday, and after week of converting hundreds of web pages from an earlier version of the site, trying to keep up as features of the old site were quickly being deprecated, while my hands were almost too sore to type anymore!
December 2012: Staying Positive in the Face of Negativity and Horror: Processing the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, with some tips for coping.
November 2012 (Seattle): Reflecting on priorities and opportunities after my first speaking gig in 7 months.
2012: Two trips to France (for fun), a new website—version 4—on Word Press, some writing, speaking, podcasting, with a bit of dancing, Yoga, and knitting thrown in.
2008-2011: Still to come (Converting from an older version of this site.)
2007:
2007, Part 1: A wonderful break, some time to play, fun on the road, a Danube cruise with my mom, and a few thoughts on my addiction to technology.
2007, Part 2: Plans for a Mediterranean Cruise, my first 1Phone, getting the rights back to Daily Riches (with plans to bring out my own version of the book as Magic, Miracles and Synchronicity), learning Italian, and two new books for Corwin!
2006
2006, Part 1: Reflection on last year’s goals and some new ones, book signings, and a high school assembly! Plus a Mexican Riviera “Geek Cruise” and a third edition of 21st Century Discipline.
2006, Part 2: Progress and unexpected problems (rights ownership) with 21st Century Discipline, a trip to Scotland, vacation on Maui, and home to snow!
2005
2005, Part 1: New Year’s goals and resolutions, High School’s Not Forever, new contracts for 21st Century Discipline and Being a Successful Teacher, managing my schedule (Jan. 1 – Mar. 9)
2005, Part 2: Intense work and travel schedule, speaking at a conference in London, and a brief rant about tension and negativity in the ranks, hostile teachers, and the general state of the teaching profession (Apr. 7 – May 26)
2005, Part 3: Production and release of High School’s Not Forever, first feedback, hair crisis, a Baltic Geek cruise, home to fill pre-orders for the new book (June 11 – July 18)
2005, Part 4: More schedule concerns, new publisher and new book contract, travel and health, out-running a hurricane, home for the holidays (July 30 – Nov. 18)
2004
2004, Part 1: Starting work on High School’s Not Forever, more links, photo gallery, Rx: Handwriting revision, new jobs and travel, a Web page for Shadow, health on the road.
2004, Part 2: Continued updates on High School’s Not Forever, plans for a dedicated website for that book, Caribbean Geek cruise, and holiday greetings
2003
2003, Part 1: A January update on various products in development, closing out the distribution of resources by other authors, with the focus on the development of a second version of this website.
2003, Part 2: Entries from the last half of the year detailing my second MacMania Geek Cruise (Hawaii, Kiribati), switching to Dreamweaver (from GoLive), version 2 of this site, and the initial work on High School’s Not Forever.
2002: Speaking in Helsinki, side trips to Tallinn (Estonia) and St. Petersburg (Russia), and my first MacMania Geek Cruise (Alaska).
2001: The completion of Creating Emotionally Safe Schools,my CNN interview, reducing our catalog to my resources, developing the video series, starting with the Bureau of Education and Research, my 8th trip to Slovenia, and my goals for the coming year.
2000: With the entire year devoted to researching and writing Creating Emotionally Safe Schools, this is my shortest blog to date, written almost halfway through the book that was “eating my life” at the time.
1999: Learning website design and construction (first version of site), updates on my writing and new catalogue, the official launch of Father Sky Studios (revised website still in development), and plans for an upcoming trip to New Zealand and Australia.
1998: The completion of Daily Riches (now Magic, Miracles and Synchronicity), first engagements in Athens and Singapore, first bead classes, Parent Choice awards, fifth trip to Slovenia.
Special Friends
Photos, video, and a special blog about some of the remarkable beings who have been a part of my life.
My Enterprising Friends: Geeks on Board. OK, Star Trek fans, here are two photos from the 2002 and 2003 MacMania Geek cruises with some people you might recognize.
Special Critter Friends: Special posts to honor the animals who have been a part of my life— including much-loved pets and a couple brief encounters.
Chelsea • Shadow • Shadow Remembered • Chaco
• Jerry bonds with puppy (Meeting his brother’s new puppy for the first time)
• A gentoo penguin checks out my shoes (Meeting penguins up close and personal, Falkland Islands)
Special Travel Blogs:
Where in the World is Dr. Bluestein? Check out my progress on my bucket-list goal of visiting 100 countries, along with a tribute to my wonderful 7th grade geography teacher and friend who inspired my love of travel and curiosity about the world.
A Week in Havana. An enriching, educational, and culturally fabulous people-to-people trip. I have some photos and our itinerary listed separately to share the art, music, history, economics, and culture we encountered. Oh, and the cars, too!!
Miscellaneous
Father Sky Studios: Beads, clay, paper, glass, and fiber! Jane’s studio work. (A new version of this site still under consideration.)
Writing about perfectionism. How an invitation to co-author a book turned into a solo project with a different publisher over the course of 2013-2015 (as listed in the blog links above).
Whatever happened to 21st Century Discipline? A bit of a nightmare journey that turned an intention for a third edition into The Win-Win Classroom.
Pre-publication progress report for High School’s Not Forever from 2004-2005.
© 2012-2022, Dr. Jane Bluestein
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