Writer on Sabbatical
I’m a writer and a teacher. I’m on a sabbatical from teaching in order to write novels.
I wrote two novels in 2021: Locke Writes a Story to Save His Life and A Box Came for You.
I’m taking a break from writing fiction to write this blog . . . on . . . yeah . . . writing fiction.
I’ve learned a lot about writing in the last twelve years, and I haven’t taught for nine months. I think I just need to hear my own voice!
Or type my own voice.
I’ve been a teacher since 2010, and in 2015, I made a conscious decision to use my summers to write novels. In 2015, I wrote SmartHome Rebel. In 2016, I wrote Monster Doctor. In 2017, I wrote Idol Wish. In 2018, I wrote Undercover Vulture. In 2019, I wrote the novel and screenplay Summer Clubbing.
Writerdavidbarringer.com
You can find loglines and first chapters on my new author website (writerdavidbarringer.com), which is another thing I had time to do on my sabbatical.
In 2020, I wrote a dozen short stories, edited my past novels, continued to work on a writer’s memoir that spans 2014 to the present, and taught middle school and high school during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Then my wife and I moved from North Carolina, where we’d lived for seventeen years, to Michigan, where we grew up.
It’s 2022, and I’m writing the third novel of my sabbatical. It’s a romantic comedy called Let’s Not Do Maybe Again.
For the last eight years, I have taught at Woodlawn School in North Carolina. I taught Language Arts in grades 7 and 8, English in grades 9 and 10, and electives in grades 6–12. I was faculty yearbook advisor for seven years, as well as the de facto school photographer, and I coached a basketball team or two.
Prior to that, I taught MFA design students at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) and undergraduate design students at Winthrop University.
A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, I have written over a dozen books, including novels, story collections, design books, law books, and essay collections, many of which I also designed and typeset. I’ve also written hundreds of articles and essays and designed literary journals and books for small presses.
So what’s my blog about?
I’m on sabbatical. I have time to write. I like teaching people about what I love, and that happens to be writing.
I also read a ton about writing, including screenwriting books. I learned so much about story structure from screenwriters. I use what I’ve learned from them (and others) to write my novels. I also take myself as an indicator of how much writers need to read about other writers writing. It’s a community. It’s validation. It’s a way to express esteem for the craft. It helps to find cheerleaders for yourself as you pursue this rather solitary art.
You don’t really know something until you can teach it to a seventh-grader.
Because people have shared so much with me, I’m sharing what I’ve learned (including what I’ve synthesized into my own approach) with others. I’ve also learned a ton from teaching young students. I always say you don’t really know something until you can teach it to a seventh-grader. So I’ll be talking like a teacher, more or less, from here on out.
I’m basically teaching a kind of class on what I know about story structure for those who want to write a novel or a screenplay. There’s a lot going on in the world, always has been, always will be, but if you’re a writer, you write, no matter what. Do your thing, no apologies.
Plus I’m on sabbatical. I’ve been planning this for two years. I have a whole year and no excuses. It’s now or never.
