On January 24, 2020 I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

No, I hadn’t found a lump in my breast because I hadn’t been looking for one. In my mind, breast cancer wasn’t something I needed to worry about until I turned 40. And besides, I already had lupus. There was no way God would let me have two life-threatening illnesses, right?

Wrong.

I'm making plans for a beautiful school year.

As a teacher I get to make New Year Resolutions not once, but twice a year. Every August marks the start of a new school year and another chance to set goals and intentions for my teaching career and all other parts of my life. 

Here are my resolutions for the 2017-2018 school year:

As a writer I feel obligated to post some thought-provoking and heartfelt prose about what it meant to participate in the Women's March Alabama in Birmingham yesterday. But I'm honestly at a loss for words.

We're almost there. We've almost made it through the first week of 2017.

How did you do?

Did you tackle to-do lists like a boss? Did you go to the gym every day? Did you start working on your book?

If not, that's OK. Give yourself a bit of grace.

Grace -- that's my word for 2017.

I've only published 25 posts to WriteousBabe.com this year. But if you think this means I haven't been blogging, think again.

This year I decided to do most of my blogging at SeeJaneWrite.net, my blog for my business, because I decided I really wanted to take my business to the next level. In case you don't follow me there (or @seejavaciawrite on Twitter and Instagram), here's what I've been up to in 2016.

I don't usually write about politics, but last night's election results were not just political, they were personal.

In my classroom is a quote board and I don't care how cliche it may be for an English teacher to have one. The first quote I post each year is by author and poet Sylvia Plath: "I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am."

Not far from the quote board is a portrait of Plath. When seated at my desk poring over lesson plans and pitiful thesis statements, I glance across the room and look into her eyes. They seem to say to me, "Keep going."

While a student at Smith College, Plath once wrote herself a list of Back to School Commandments, beginning with three rules on how to behave around her new beau.

Image via OpenCulture

Inspired, I decided to pen commandments of my own for my love and my labor.