Now Jarmila's taken Kavi for a walk, and I have a ridiculous amount of e-mail to catch up on, especially given that I couldn't send outgoing e-mail all last week. Yesterday was pretty much dedicated to prepping for the class I taught last night, which included serious grocery shopping (when I say I provide snacks, I really mean it -- we did an antipasto spread last night, olives and cheeses and meats and fruit, yum) and cleaning up the downstairs; Kevin kept things pretty much under control while I was gone, but mopping wasn't high on his list of priorities. Dog, fish, and baby got fed, and he even did all the dishes. For a week of single parenting, I think that's plenty. We had the nice cleaning people come for a thorough once over (which of course requires a first level of straightening and putting away before they even can clean) and the place looks like it's supposed to again. Yay.
Class went well last night, I think -- five mostly beginners joining us, along with three folks from the first session, I think. We reviewed critiquing guidelines and workshop format, talked a bit about who we were (in an identity context, as well as just doing intros), did a few writing exercises, and introduced them to point of view. Fun! Did I mention I love teaching? I love teaching!
I kind of wish I'd made time to do a POV recap for the Clarion class -- I'm not sure any of the other instructors are planning to cover POV, and I would like to make sure the students know how to tell reportorial from omniscient, for example, and know how to use a discreet use of past participle to slide into simple past, and know what it looks like when you have two alternating second person points of view, and know why you might want to try that despite its unfashionability, and know why third person limited is so much more popular than omniscient in the 21st century, and know how to manage many shifting limited pov's that jump around in time and space -- without confusing your reader utterly, of course. I love talking POV. Well, I'll just have to try to put it in the book, I guess, and maybe they'll read it some day.
Today: Answer e-mail, send assignments to my online class, run to Walgreens (diapers for Kavi, coke zero for Kevin), make curry for dinner (lamb curry, potato curry, maybe some saag). Make up a bed for Minal, who's coming into town for a conference and staying with us tonight. Should be an excellent day.