New Beginnings and Pumpkin-Spiced Everything! – Senior Editor, Melissa Libbey

 

Hey there Sick Lit Mag readers, it’s back to school time!

 

That might not mean much to many of you.

Either you are out of school (and have been for years) or you don’t have kids in school or maybe you do, but they are done with school.

I get it, why should you care that it’s back-to-school season?

Here is why.

Back-to-school is a feeling; not an actual event. The summer winds down, the days grow shorter and the air gets a bit cooler. There is this sense in the air of change.

Every year when I went back to school I felt like I had a clean slate.

A chance to be different or do things differently. That is still true this September. Because you know what? I’m going back to school. But this time the tables have turned! Now I am in front of the classroom instead of sitting in a desk.

And I’m freaking out!

Will the students think I’m too young? Will I be an effective instructor?

I have changed my syllabi many times and done tons of research on lesson plans and how to effectively teach grammar and syntax. I think I am a great writer but how do I translate that to the classroom? These are the questions I have been asking myself.

But then I thought, I have been doing this all summer!

I have been reading your work. I have been giving the contributors advice and feedback on their writing and I have personally worked with a few of you to turn your submission from a rejection to an acceptance. I have become really proud of that!

That’s what I want to do with my students, encourage them to keep trying. I learned that from all of you and for that I want to say thank you!

So although this year back to school actually means me walking in to a classroom as a teacher for the first time it can mean anything for you. Maybe you want to change your look. Maybe you want to read that book you have been putting aside for months. Maybe you want to write that flash fiction piece that has been in the corner of your mind forever. Get it out on paper, pick up that book, and cut your hair or go shopping for a new wardrobe. There’s nothing else like September that screams, “TIME FOR CHANGE!”

Fall isn’t just about buying school supplies, buying a new pair of jeans and consuming pumpkin spiced everything. I personally will be drinking tons of pumpkin tea and making my famous pumpkin butterscotch cookies; I LOVE pumpkin. Fall is about taking yourself more seriously now that the fun summer months are over.

Sit down and write a poem about the change of the season. Write a fiction piece about going back to school or starting a new job. Write a creative non-fiction piece on a major change in life. Whatever it is just remember that September can stand for so much more than dropping your kids off for their first day of school.

 

Happy fall everyone and get writing!

 

Best,

 

Melissa