The School Year is Here!

And here come the writers.

I hope that everyone has had a great summer. Now that we have things rolling along here at Hutto Middle School, it is now time to start planning for that eventful month of November. I already have quite a few kids that are signed up for this year's NaNoWriMo. Most are repeat writers, but I am starting to get the 6th graders interested as well. As donations and prizes start to show up, I'm starting to get more and more kids stopping by my windows to check out the goodies.

Thank you to Laura Kellner at Kikkerland Design for the boxes of Leuchtturm pocket notebooks (I had to specifically as how to pronounce the name. Try luke-term). Also thanks to Philip Wang and TWSBI for donating some great pens for the third year in a row! (I'll have pictures of those pens coming soon).

As promised in my earlier email, there were a couple of stories that I wanted to share. I'll relay one of those today and the next soon.

One of my former students (she is in high school now) stopped me one day during summer band and excitedly proclaimed, "I bought a fountain pen this summer!" While on a family trip to Colorado, this student visited an antique store with her mother, and there in the glass case was a fountain pen.

(sorry for the sideways picture)

It is an older style Tuckersharp lever filler, and it was the only thing that she wanted. We've discussed how to water test it for leaks, and how to fill it from a bottle of ink. When I get some time, I'll get over to the high school and walk her through the process, but I am proud to saw that there is a new fountain pen geek in the making. And without the support of all our sponsors over the years, it would not have been possible.

Thank you again for the help over the years. I honestly believe that I would not have been as successful if it had not been for all of you. If you can help out again this year, I -- and the kids -- would appreciate it.

Brent
brent.acuff@hutto.txed.net

Sculpting new geeks.

The last day of school. A joy for teachers; the bane of parents...

The last of the kids have brought their pens in for ink refills before the summer, and now it's time to get things closed up for summer. All of the kids are going through the end of day parties, yearbook signings, and good-byes for summer, but a few of the kids have asked to hang out in the band hall and work on their geekiness.

Killer Bunnies has been the favorite this week, but there are a few that have had a lot of fun with Munchkins. I actually have two versions in the box: Munchkin Booty (pirates) and Munchkin Bites (vampires & werewolves).

I have had a lot of fun introducing these kids to games that don't require batteries or cables. Honestly, I'm not sure that some of them realized games like these exists.

So now I have a new moniker to add to my list. I'm the guy who writes with "old" pens, and the guy who plays "old" games.

And I like those titles!

It's Gone... Again!

And once more, my beloved Fisher Space Pen is gone. Slipped out of my pocket sometime the last Saturday, and despite looking everywhere for it, no luck.

This particular pen was given to me by my father a long time ago. It's dented and scratched, there's some rust on the inside of the cap, but it goes with me everywhere (well, WENT with me everywhere...). This was the pen that was always in my pocket -- at the grocery store, beach, pool... You name it, that pen was there.

The Fisher Space Pen is one of those pens that I think everyone needs to own. It will write anywhere (come on... Anything designed to write in SPACE, will write anywhere). The bullet pen fits easily in a pocket and is always there when you need it. It is not the go-to pen that I pick up when writing a book or short story, but it is the workhorse that will do what you want, when you need it.

And it's gone...

I'll definitely be replacing my Space Pen at some point, but not before I head to the beach next Sunday (and it was going to be my beach pen...). The blue or black Field Notes Space pens are in the lead.

 In the meantime, I'll have to make do with something a little less than perfect for my pocket.

I'm a winner!

For someone who enjoys nice pens and paper, winning an "Ugly Pen Contest" is something of a love-hate thing. A while back, I came across a post from Pens Boutique on Facebook, asking their followers to submit their most ugly pen. The one with the most votes would win a White Leather Retro 51 Tornado. I scoured my school desk looking for something to post, and came across the perfect pen.

That's the "ugly pen" next to the prize Leather Tornado. The pen was given to me by my father who knows I love pens AND pirates. He is actually the one who started me on my pen obsession when he gave me a Sheaffer Prelude almost eight years ago. And what could be better than a pirate pen? 

Maybe three pirate pens (with the Tornado for reference). These three pirate pens live on my desk at school in their own special cup which read "Dead 'til I gets me coffee." (Yes, I have a thing for pirates. Unknow to me was all of the extras that were in the box with it! A special thanks goes out to Pens Boutique for the giveaway and all the extras.

My six year old daughter has already claimed one of the pink pencils (and her mom the rest...), and I'll use the extra winnings as prizes for my writing club. The blue Preppy pen is tagged for one of my wife's students who have been writing his own zombie story. I always try to encourage and reward young writers, whether they are my students or not. And thanks to all of you, I have been able to do that.

School is wrapping up soon, which means we are all in super stress mode trying to finish up. My apologies if posts are sporadic. I'll try to get on a more frequent schedule. 

Take care, and keep those pens fill with ink!

Edit: added clickable links to Pens Boutique

Current pen: Lamy Vista with ink converter and fine nib
Current ink: Noodler's Army Green (original version)

To be a writer, you have to read

I don't know of any author out there who would not agree with the above statement. Reading is such an integral part of being a writer that the two should just naturally go hand-in-hand. If fact, reading is one of the single most important resources a person can use to increase their success in school.

So in celebration of reading, what book is everyone reading? Current book? Favorite book of all time? Favorite series? Favorite author?

There is so much discussion that could happen when talking about books that we could go on forever. I'd love to hear what is on everyone's shelves.

Currently Reading:

"Taken" by Benedict Jacka, 3rd book in the Alex Verus series

I'm proud to say that a student loaned this book to me. I introduced him to the Alex Verus series by Jacka and he fell in love with them.

Favorite Book:

"Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend" by Christopher Moore

This book is hands down my favorite book I have ever read. I'm a little happy and sad at the same time that my copy of this book went missing after I loaned it to someone to read. Oh well, someone's enjoying it, right?

Favorite Series:

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

I would be willing to bet that this is on quite a few favorite lists out there. The fantasy and magic aside, this is a wonderful series of books with a very strong message about doing what is right vs. what is easy.

Favorite Author:

Scott Sigler

All hail the Future Dark Overlord! I have been a fan of Scott Sigler's since he first start podcasting his novels back in 2005. His writing draws you into the story and won't let go. Scott Sigler first started giving his novels away for free as serialized podcasts, and has since landed publishing contracts with two different major publishers, as well as self publishing his Galactic Football League series and starting his own imprint. Sigler is the epitome of working hard to reach your goals.

Yeah. More...state...testing...

And while the students are hard at work on the second round of state testing, I thought I'd share some pictures of the participants. This isn't quite all of them, but we were in a rush to get pictures in for the yearbook (the first time we'll have our own page!). We had a lot of fun writing this year, and every few days another student is asking for more ink in their pens. My goal is to turn this into a full year writing club. Who knows? Maybe one of these kids will be the next great author...

Band Contests, STAAR, and a Spring Break thrown in

Things have been extremely busy here in Hippo-land. Both the HMS Concert and Symphonic bands attended their annual UIL Concert & Sight-reading contests. While the Concert Band didn't quite walk away with what we wanted, I am extremely happy with their performance and all of the effort that they put into preparing for their performance. The Symphonic Band walked away with a Sweepstakes trophy! Simply put, they received the highest ratings possible on both the stage performance AND sight-reading performance. Congratulations to Mrs. Champion and all of the Symphonic Band students for their great performance!

Spring Break -- as always -- was way too short, but was much needed downtime for students and teachers. And this week, we completed our first round of state mandated STAAR testing (the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness -- who comes up with these?). After two days of testing for over four hours a day, the kids (and directors!) were ready to jump back into playing some fun and exciting music for our spring concerts.

I've got some pictures and new things coming soon. Right now I'm working on some reviews for my current journal traveling, a Field Notes Expedition. I'm also working through my new pencil acquisition -- a Blackwing Pearl. I'll be posting some writing comparisons between the three Blackwing offerings as well (the Blackwing "original", Blackwing 602, and Blackwing Pearl). I hope to have more reviews and posts up soon.

Have a great weekend!