This week is a somewhat abrupt transition from one season of life to another. Normally, I take a week or two before my teacher work begins to get my classroom set and get my mind (and heart) settled into the fact that a new schoolyear is about to begin. But this week, I went from a book launch, to a three-day writing trip, followed by the first day of teacher inservice—all in just one week!

The book launch was a lot of work, or rather, a lot of details and decisions, and by the time the launch e...