Three decades on the planet today. I thought about doing an introspective, where did I think I was going to be, where do I think I'm going to end up. But now that sounds horribly depressing.
So maybe I'm ready for a things I'd like to do before I die list. That doesn't sound cheerful either. Finish formal education, travel, and get published; it really hasn't changed since high school. Add get healthy to leave longer--I didn't forsee being in as much pain as I'm in now.
My coworkers are treating me to lunch. I'm probably going to treat myself to dinner and a Ghost Hunters marathon unless my parents have other ideas for tonight. And memorize Bilbo's birthday speech. That'll be fun for my 40th.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Monday, February 26, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Maybe I grossed everyone out
Hormones are finally balancing out through birth control chemistry. I also cut back on the caffine today, been having way too much lately.
So homework-wise, I've got progress! Finished this week's readings, finished the reading response, have the rough draft of the mini-research project done. What's left to do is 500 words on Zy's Novel and I'll be done for the week. Now I do have to get the cooking show scripts mostly done before I can do any more homework, and that's pretty much the end of the list.
I am worried about the cooking show, that's why I've procrastinated on them so long. I've never written anything like that before. All my other scripts have had a concrete location and characters. And of course my perfection gene is rearing it's ugly head. It's my baby, it's never been done on the circuit before, it MUST BE PERFECT! Yeah, a perfect receipe for writer's block and stage fright.
Anyways, the sixth reading response for ENGL-646.
I may have exaggerated Chad's grumpy old man routine, but it does get damned annoying. While I have no particular desire to reproduce and raise, I don't hate kids. Some of it may be ex-teacher bitterness too. *Shrug*
What I'm finding rewarding about this class is how it is validating my personal experience. Despite the lack of feedback in the end, despite the occassional nasty replies calling me a language fascist, despite my unpublished expertise, I was doing good with those tutorials. Maybe even some theory-sound work without getting bogged down in the theory. Mind you, I'm not ready to pick them back up and start writing them. But at least I don't feel that they were a total waste of time and just me preaching to the choir.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
So homework-wise, I've got progress! Finished this week's readings, finished the reading response, have the rough draft of the mini-research project done. What's left to do is 500 words on Zy's Novel and I'll be done for the week. Now I do have to get the cooking show scripts mostly done before I can do any more homework, and that's pretty much the end of the list.
I am worried about the cooking show, that's why I've procrastinated on them so long. I've never written anything like that before. All my other scripts have had a concrete location and characters. And of course my perfection gene is rearing it's ugly head. It's my baby, it's never been done on the circuit before, it MUST BE PERFECT! Yeah, a perfect receipe for writer's block and stage fright.
Anyways, the sixth reading response for ENGL-646.
I’ve given up trying to discuss this class with my boyfriend. Every time I get the grumpy old man response: “those stupid brats know nothing so they are being taught nothing; fire everybody and start the brats over with the basics because the stupid brats don’t know any basics and will remain stupid until they master the basics.” Not in so many words but that’s the attitude. And how many agree with me that 35 is too young for the grumpy old man routine? Judging by all the reading we’re doing, it’s a common feeling out in the public and maybe too common within. All the slang, all the leet-speak, all the text message shortcuts; we’re raising a pack of wild animals that will turn on us like Lord of the Flies. They’re not human; they can’t communicate. And it’s the teacher’s fault they can’t communicate.
Ignoring the blatant ageism to think about it logically, there are problems with teaching and improvements to be made—there always is—but are kids fundamentally more stupid than the generation before? As a group of course not. Are teachers deliberately teaching bad writing? No of course not, but that is what the back-to-basics argument implies. And how many doing the yelling want to fund actual reform that doesn’t look like anything they had going to school? One of the articles that I found doing the mini-research project proposed a solution of separate classes in high school instead of the broad “English” class that has to cover everything: a literature class, a grammar class, a writing class. Because they are different things. I think it was the same article that claimed most parents dismiss any changes or modernization to the classroom because subconsciously they feel it invalidates the experience they had. Maybe the joke “you have to suffer through school because I suffered through school” really isn’t a joke.
The only teaching I have done was the writing tutorials on writing fanfics, and I didn’t introduce grammar elements until after we had covered brainstorming, plot, characters, description, scenes, narration, Mary Sues, etc. and the ESL writers asked for more clarification on terms. So my own experience matches whichever article we read that said you can’t teach editing until there is something to edit. With that in mind, the essay I liked best out of this week’s reading is “The Study of Error” by David Bartholomae. The first of his points to strike me was how we as readers turn off our critical skills and dismiss writing with errors as rubbish and the writer must be an idiot to write rubbish, which is what I think my boyfriend is doing. Study the errors (Bartholomae gives a good breakdown to how to start doing that) and figure out where the real problem lies. My tutorials were a crude method of doing that, since so many of the errors I saw were not understanding the fundamentals of telling a story.
I may have exaggerated Chad's grumpy old man routine, but it does get damned annoying. While I have no particular desire to reproduce and raise, I don't hate kids. Some of it may be ex-teacher bitterness too. *Shrug*
What I'm finding rewarding about this class is how it is validating my personal experience. Despite the lack of feedback in the end, despite the occassional nasty replies calling me a language fascist, despite my unpublished expertise, I was doing good with those tutorials. Maybe even some theory-sound work without getting bogged down in the theory. Mind you, I'm not ready to pick them back up and start writing them. But at least I don't feel that they were a total waste of time and just me preaching to the choir.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Friday, February 23, 2007
Lousy timing
At the risk of turning off all male readers of my blog (I actually think I just have one and he just had a baby), I need to bitch about my damn cycle.
Haven't had one since November, explained the condition, and got some progestern from the doctor to kick start it. Took the medication but nothing happened, so by this morning I'm contemplating having to go back to the doctor when I get the clean bill of health on the pap smear and HPV test. Head to work, running late thanks to stupid wreck ahead of me, and feeling lousy thanks to those proto-starting cramps. Those have been giving me false alarms since last Friday, but today it's actually productive.
Yeah, no doctor trip. Boo, I have no pads in my black laptop bag. None.
I find one in the car. My last one and it's for a thong. Course, I'm not wearing a thong today, so I can only hope it will last until I get home, where I have a stockpile of them. *Sigh*
In other news, I think I figured out what was going on with the scene I was stuck in. I'm at home this weekend due to weather, so I'm hoping to get a huge chunk of writing and homework done. At least get Chapter Nine done, and read what other people have submitted for revision.
Not really news, but the Doctor Who obsession continues unabashed. I figured out a crossover with Biker Mice. *Headdesk* Oh, I'll never write it--mainly because the Plutarkians aren't a worthy adversary for the Doctor--but I'm considering a cameo for the last Biker Mice story in the Wars Are Won series. Still I like this exchange between Throttle and the Doctor, and figured I'd share since you put up with me grossing you out.
Throttle: "But you're a Time Lord. You could make sure this whole mess never even started."
The Doctor: "And if there had been no war with the Plutarkians, where would you be? I doubt with an Earthling mechanic in Chicago would be one of your choices. Besides, I am the last one you should ask. All of my people sacrificed themselves to stop the Daleks in the Time War and those exterminators still pop up. Get rid of the Cybermen and somebody reinvents them. Deal with the Plutarkian menace on your own, you stand a better chance of defeating them for good. And you will defeat them."
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Haven't had one since November, explained the condition, and got some progestern from the doctor to kick start it. Took the medication but nothing happened, so by this morning I'm contemplating having to go back to the doctor when I get the clean bill of health on the pap smear and HPV test. Head to work, running late thanks to stupid wreck ahead of me, and feeling lousy thanks to those proto-starting cramps. Those have been giving me false alarms since last Friday, but today it's actually productive.
Yeah, no doctor trip. Boo, I have no pads in my black laptop bag. None.
I find one in the car. My last one and it's for a thong. Course, I'm not wearing a thong today, so I can only hope it will last until I get home, where I have a stockpile of them. *Sigh*
In other news, I think I figured out what was going on with the scene I was stuck in. I'm at home this weekend due to weather, so I'm hoping to get a huge chunk of writing and homework done. At least get Chapter Nine done, and read what other people have submitted for revision.
Not really news, but the Doctor Who obsession continues unabashed. I figured out a crossover with Biker Mice. *Headdesk* Oh, I'll never write it--mainly because the Plutarkians aren't a worthy adversary for the Doctor--but I'm considering a cameo for the last Biker Mice story in the Wars Are Won series. Still I like this exchange between Throttle and the Doctor, and figured I'd share since you put up with me grossing you out.
Throttle: "But you're a Time Lord. You could make sure this whole mess never even started."
The Doctor: "And if there had been no war with the Plutarkians, where would you be? I doubt with an Earthling mechanic in Chicago would be one of your choices. Besides, I am the last one you should ask. All of my people sacrificed themselves to stop the Daleks in the Time War and those exterminators still pop up. Get rid of the Cybermen and somebody reinvents them. Deal with the Plutarkian menace on your own, you stand a better chance of defeating them for good. And you will defeat them."
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Is there a rule it has to rain on Ash Wednesday?
I know it's the one weather pattern you can count on in Louisiana, but I think it has been a trend for the past few years. And it's hard enough coming back to work with an odd day off without the wet stuff.
Tomorrow I should be withdrawn from the Thursday night class. Despite how I feel about the class, my schedule isn't cooperating and getting out before I do something to a professor is probably for the best. I would have already done it, but the paperwork requires more signatures. And he doesn't have office hours on Friday, Monday, Tuesday was a holiday, and couldn't get an appointment for today. So hopefully I can drop in tomorrow and then turn in the sheet. And if that doesn't work, I'll go with a medical stress leave.
Okay, back to writing. I need 500 words before class.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Tomorrow I should be withdrawn from the Thursday night class. Despite how I feel about the class, my schedule isn't cooperating and getting out before I do something to a professor is probably for the best. I would have already done it, but the paperwork requires more signatures. And he doesn't have office hours on Friday, Monday, Tuesday was a holiday, and couldn't get an appointment for today. So hopefully I can drop in tomorrow and then turn in the sheet. And if that doesn't work, I'll go with a medical stress leave.
Okay, back to writing. I need 500 words before class.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
More health fun
Got the dreaded pelvic exam over with yesterday and got diagnoised with PCOS. The short answer is my hormones are out of whack due to insulin resistance and messing up with my ovulation. What does that mean specifically for me? I get all the fun shit like pimples and PMS but no bleeding to show why I need to bite people's heads off, and a four month wait till my appointment with an endocrinologist. And they want me to start pricking my finger every day.
And a happy Valentine's Day to you too.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
And a happy Valentine's Day to you too.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Damn almost two weeks
Since my last update. No wonder I'm getting emails. ;)
Actually up to the eyeballs in reading assignments. ENGL-646 "Teaching Creative Writing" is actually turning out to be a good, useful class--even if it's bogging me down with the reading right now. ENGL-650 "African-American Drama" is not, and I'm ready to disengage. Unfortunately, I can't withdraw and have to pay back the financial aid I've already spent. Current plan is to suck it up until March, when it will be too late for Financial Aid department to demand it back.
Writing has gotten distracted by a Doctor Who fest. I've been bad. But I surprised myself actually. I was one of the Americans introduced by Tom Baker via PBS, but when I actually caught an episode (they aired it insanely late in those days) I loved to watch it but always felt that I was never in the know. I wanted to be sucked in. I was a sci-fi fan and demanded to be sucked in, but it never clicked. The Eighth Doctor's TV movie floored me, but nothing ever happened with it, and I moved on. Fell in love with "Doctorin' the Tardis" during college days. Vaguely, heard about a new series and Ninth and now Tenth Doctor, and "oh well, I'll get around to it eventually."
Then Andrew Sullivan posted a fanvid blending Delak from the new series with the French soldier's dialogue from Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. It's on YouTube, go looking for French Delak. Then I went clicking on other YouTube fanvids. And found this one.
Friday I bought the 2005 season on DVD and had to reason with myself not to buy 2006 because of funds.
Now having finished those episodes I'm so very thankful for British eight-year-olds. The producers aimed the very intelligent show at them and knowing that all they would know (if anything) would be Doctor is an alien and time travels in a blue box. There's still the mystery and the wonder and the excitement that I picked up on as a kid, but no longer the sense of missing something.
Okay, and it doesn't hurt that I wouldn't mind jumping Nine or Ten's bones. Sorry, Four, you just don't ooze sexy.
Ahem, also spending more time in Lafayette. I was there yesterday, and got a reprieve for today because of the massive piles of reading. We're having to do massive amounts of cleaning to the wooded area, but it will be worth it. I will post our work-in-progress pictures when I get some.
And my friends Billy amd Misty have successfully reproduced. Kay Lily born February 9th weighing 9 and half pounds. I'm going to have to get some time to travel to Florida, but I also have time to make the trip, since I'm perfectly willing to let Misty's family go first. Though I feel bad about not being there as backup to send them back to Louisiana.
Drat, have laundry to deal with and then I need to go to bed and get my schedul back on schedule.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Actually up to the eyeballs in reading assignments. ENGL-646 "Teaching Creative Writing" is actually turning out to be a good, useful class--even if it's bogging me down with the reading right now. ENGL-650 "African-American Drama" is not, and I'm ready to disengage. Unfortunately, I can't withdraw and have to pay back the financial aid I've already spent. Current plan is to suck it up until March, when it will be too late for Financial Aid department to demand it back.
Writing has gotten distracted by a Doctor Who fest. I've been bad. But I surprised myself actually. I was one of the Americans introduced by Tom Baker via PBS, but when I actually caught an episode (they aired it insanely late in those days) I loved to watch it but always felt that I was never in the know. I wanted to be sucked in. I was a sci-fi fan and demanded to be sucked in, but it never clicked. The Eighth Doctor's TV movie floored me, but nothing ever happened with it, and I moved on. Fell in love with "Doctorin' the Tardis" during college days. Vaguely, heard about a new series and Ninth and now Tenth Doctor, and "oh well, I'll get around to it eventually."
Then Andrew Sullivan posted a fanvid blending Delak from the new series with the French soldier's dialogue from Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. It's on YouTube, go looking for French Delak. Then I went clicking on other YouTube fanvids. And found this one.
Friday I bought the 2005 season on DVD and had to reason with myself not to buy 2006 because of funds.
Now having finished those episodes I'm so very thankful for British eight-year-olds. The producers aimed the very intelligent show at them and knowing that all they would know (if anything) would be Doctor is an alien and time travels in a blue box. There's still the mystery and the wonder and the excitement that I picked up on as a kid, but no longer the sense of missing something.
Okay, and it doesn't hurt that I wouldn't mind jumping Nine or Ten's bones. Sorry, Four, you just don't ooze sexy.
Ahem, also spending more time in Lafayette. I was there yesterday, and got a reprieve for today because of the massive piles of reading. We're having to do massive amounts of cleaning to the wooded area, but it will be worth it. I will post our work-in-progress pictures when I get some.
And my friends Billy amd Misty have successfully reproduced. Kay Lily born February 9th weighing 9 and half pounds. I'm going to have to get some time to travel to Florida, but I also have time to make the trip, since I'm perfectly willing to let Misty's family go first. Though I feel bad about not being there as backup to send them back to Louisiana.
Drat, have laundry to deal with and then I need to go to bed and get my schedul back on schedule.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monthly totals
I doubt I will have more to add. But I'm pretty impressed with my January numbers regardless.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
Zy's Novel
Progress Bar from Writertopia
WEEKLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
MONTHLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Read Free!
The BookWorm
Zy's Novel
Progress Bar from Writertopia
WEEKLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
MONTHLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
So now I'm here
Got everything I needed to get done today done. I can't seem to kickstart the transition into my next scene for Zy's Novel. And the play I'm supposed to read for homework sounds even less appealing. So now I'm here.
I suspect the sloggish feeling I have is because it's ten minutes to lunchtime and my energy level has drooped. But I need to kick around a few things and this is the blank space to do it in. I apologize for the disjointed paragraphs ahead of time.
Trampoline. As in a totally irrationally want to be bouncing on one right now. My very own, in my own yard, reenacting battle scenes that I'm writing. And that part is arguing with the responsible part that wants to spend the money on a house note that a trampoline will help me lose weight. Now that stance isn't fair.
Ashe Cultural Center down in New Orleans is my topic for the 15-page paper. I have no idea what I want to say about it. We have to have a stance and argue it. They provide a positive African-American voice in the arts in New Orleans. Fine arts on the decline in schools and the community stepping up to the plate. I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels.
Okay, let me wrap up Zy's Novel for class tonight. Maybe noww I can concentrate on it.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
I suspect the sloggish feeling I have is because it's ten minutes to lunchtime and my energy level has drooped. But I need to kick around a few things and this is the blank space to do it in. I apologize for the disjointed paragraphs ahead of time.
Trampoline. As in a totally irrationally want to be bouncing on one right now. My very own, in my own yard, reenacting battle scenes that I'm writing. And that part is arguing with the responsible part that wants to spend the money on a house note that a trampoline will help me lose weight. Now that stance isn't fair.
Ashe Cultural Center down in New Orleans is my topic for the 15-page paper. I have no idea what I want to say about it. We have to have a stance and argue it. They provide a positive African-American voice in the arts in New Orleans. Fine arts on the decline in schools and the community stepping up to the plate. I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels.
Okay, let me wrap up Zy's Novel for class tonight. Maybe noww I can concentrate on it.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
A little self-reflection is a good thing
For ENGL 646
Creating a list to answer the question “why do I write” didn’t work. Lists are for work; things to do and cross off. “Why do I write” requires sentences and paragraphs.
Why do I write? The quote “my job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” makes me giddy when I use it to explain why. I want to connect to people, to evoke empathy and to make them squirm. Fiction holds up a mirror to the world with all the black and white and shades of grey present in real life. Escapism is valid, but it is better when you can escape into an ideal of how the world should be. Most of the fiction I write is escapism—science fiction, fantasy, mystery—and I’m not ashamed of that. The world needs idealism.
I have been made ashamed before. I started writing stories down when I was eleven-years-old, mostly reworking books I had read. Richard Peck’s ghost stories enamored me, and I created my own psychic protagonist trying to deal with the evil things that go bump in the night (had Ghost Whisperer beat by a few decades). That series no longer exists because I went to a church-sponsored youth retreat that convinced me that writing about psychics was Satan’s work. So the good little Christian that I was burned those stories and cried. No surprise that I later opted out of organized religion.
Teaching of writing should avoid making any child feel ashamed of what they write. Plenty of people out in the world will fill the position. Janet Emig’s essay stressed the positive points for writing as a function of learning, but overall, I wasn’t impressed by it. I know I learn by writing, so I don’t need to have it proved to me with scientific studies. Yes, I know, academics need studies.
The strongest resonance with Natalie Goldberg is her stance of writing through pain. I can’t point to the section in the finished novel, but I remember riding a bus to my car after spending the day at work and watching the World Trade Center buildings fall and feeling so numb as the bus TV was set to even more news. I pulled out my manuscript and wrote, suddenly blitzing through a scene that had given me so much trouble. I could control the words, even if I didn’t understand anything else taking place.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
WEEKLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
MONTHLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Creating a list to answer the question “why do I write” didn’t work. Lists are for work; things to do and cross off. “Why do I write” requires sentences and paragraphs.
Why do I write? The quote “my job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” makes me giddy when I use it to explain why. I want to connect to people, to evoke empathy and to make them squirm. Fiction holds up a mirror to the world with all the black and white and shades of grey present in real life. Escapism is valid, but it is better when you can escape into an ideal of how the world should be. Most of the fiction I write is escapism—science fiction, fantasy, mystery—and I’m not ashamed of that. The world needs idealism.
I have been made ashamed before. I started writing stories down when I was eleven-years-old, mostly reworking books I had read. Richard Peck’s ghost stories enamored me, and I created my own psychic protagonist trying to deal with the evil things that go bump in the night (had Ghost Whisperer beat by a few decades). That series no longer exists because I went to a church-sponsored youth retreat that convinced me that writing about psychics was Satan’s work. So the good little Christian that I was burned those stories and cried. No surprise that I later opted out of organized religion.
Teaching of writing should avoid making any child feel ashamed of what they write. Plenty of people out in the world will fill the position. Janet Emig’s essay stressed the positive points for writing as a function of learning, but overall, I wasn’t impressed by it. I know I learn by writing, so I don’t need to have it proved to me with scientific studies. Yes, I know, academics need studies.
The strongest resonance with Natalie Goldberg is her stance of writing through pain. I can’t point to the section in the finished novel, but I remember riding a bus to my car after spending the day at work and watching the World Trade Center buildings fall and feeling so numb as the bus TV was set to even more news. I pulled out my manuscript and wrote, suddenly blitzing through a scene that had given me so much trouble. I could control the words, even if I didn’t understand anything else taking place.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
WEEKLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
MONTHLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Catching Up Before I Get Behind
Projects for ENGL-646
Projects for ENGL-650
I need to have everything written before March 31st - April 3rd. I don't plan on missing class April 4th or 5th, but I'm not giving myself any presentations those two days.
ENGL-646 projects I think I'm going to hold back so other classmates with thesis and comps and more strenuous papers can go first. Though since I got this weekend free (bad weather again), I'm proably going to be working on homework. Get as much written as possible before it's actually due.
Also need to write the cooking show scripts.
Research topic: why is picking one in this subject so hard? I guess I'll start with Ashe Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans and have Zora Neale Hurston as my backup. Third choice is "Myth of the Negro Past."
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is one of the required readings for ENGL-646. I think it's been recommended by just about everyone who has written a how-to-write book. It's simply about how empowering the act of writing is, how the only rule is practice everyday, how to care about the process and not worry so much about the product, how to get into the Zen state of writing. Powerful little book.
For the writing project inside of ENGL-646, I'm going to use Zy's Novel--at least the next few chapters. I already finished my outline: concrete details for Chapter 9 - 21 and no blank chapters now. If I need a break a break in the prose, I can fleshout the aliens and other background material tasks.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
- Reading response journal - due weekly
- Ongoing writing project = Zy's novel Chp 9 - 11 - due weekly
- Mini-research project - due ?
- Book project & presentation - due ?
- Mini-lesson plan & presentation - due ?
- Lesson plan & presentation - due ?
- Final paper/final version of ongoing writing project - due ?
- Final exam - due
Projects for ENGL-650
- 15 page research paper - due March 15/March 22
- Class presentation of research paper - due March 15/March 22
- Two 3-page play analysis papers - first due March 1
- Journal with 10 reaction entries on classmates presentations - due weekly
- Attend at least 2 Black History Month presentations for Feb 8th class - due ?
I need to have everything written before March 31st - April 3rd. I don't plan on missing class April 4th or 5th, but I'm not giving myself any presentations those two days.
ENGL-646 projects I think I'm going to hold back so other classmates with thesis and comps and more strenuous papers can go first. Though since I got this weekend free (bad weather again), I'm proably going to be working on homework. Get as much written as possible before it's actually due.
Also need to write the cooking show scripts.
Research topic: why is picking one in this subject so hard? I guess I'll start with Ashe Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans and have Zora Neale Hurston as my backup. Third choice is "Myth of the Negro Past."
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is one of the required readings for ENGL-646. I think it's been recommended by just about everyone who has written a how-to-write book. It's simply about how empowering the act of writing is, how the only rule is practice everyday, how to care about the process and not worry so much about the product, how to get into the Zen state of writing. Powerful little book.
For the writing project inside of ENGL-646, I'm going to use Zy's Novel--at least the next few chapters. I already finished my outline: concrete details for Chapter 9 - 21 and no blank chapters now. If I need a break a break in the prose, I can fleshout the aliens and other background material tasks.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
In honor of Barbara Seranella
I don't think I read her works and I'm already an organ donor, but if you are not, you should sign up. She died waiting for a liver transplant. MJ Rose put out the call on her blog. Sign-up for the organ donation here.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Writing as meditation
For ENGL-646
Writing Down the Bone was always on my list of will-read-someday books. Recommended by Heather Sellers (Page After Page) and other writers, but I never remembered to seek it out. I don’t know why I waited with as much as I highlighted in the first half. Like The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life by John Daido Loori, it reminds me of the Buddhust practices I want to turn into habits for my life: more meditation, less ego-centric head trips. But I’m finding lots of writing tips as well.
I started timed writing practice this morning and my hand cramped up with five minutes. It was hard sitting down words without a planned “this is what I want to write about.” I know I need this practice time to help me not get wound up when I’m actually working on a composition. The “Fighting Tofu” chapter touched on what has felt like my writing problem for the last few years. If I get froze up over writing, I try to use discipline to beat my lazy half into working and then just feeling more guilty when that doesn’t work. I love the idea of writing out lists of your obsessions; maybe, part of the reason why fanfics have been so easy is the degree of obsession involved.
Okay, my bias is improving my current work habits. I can see using the practice technique in a classroom setting to get used to the idea of writing before scaring students with structure like plot, scenes, and characters. Goldberg’s ideas fit in with Donald Murray’s implications that you need to teach writing as a process and not a product. Looking back at my own grade school experience, I remember lessons on brainstorming and essay form (prose fiction I learned outside of class), but no lessons on rewriting. Almost like the implication was we are supposed to write a perfect first draft and just look over it for spelling mistakes. I know later when I was helping people write fanfics with a series of tutorials, editing was the part most understood the least.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
WEEKLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
MONTHLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Writing Down the Bone was always on my list of will-read-someday books. Recommended by Heather Sellers (Page After Page) and other writers, but I never remembered to seek it out. I don’t know why I waited with as much as I highlighted in the first half. Like The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life by John Daido Loori, it reminds me of the Buddhust practices I want to turn into habits for my life: more meditation, less ego-centric head trips. But I’m finding lots of writing tips as well.
I started timed writing practice this morning and my hand cramped up with five minutes. It was hard sitting down words without a planned “this is what I want to write about.” I know I need this practice time to help me not get wound up when I’m actually working on a composition. The “Fighting Tofu” chapter touched on what has felt like my writing problem for the last few years. If I get froze up over writing, I try to use discipline to beat my lazy half into working and then just feeling more guilty when that doesn’t work. I love the idea of writing out lists of your obsessions; maybe, part of the reason why fanfics have been so easy is the degree of obsession involved.
Okay, my bias is improving my current work habits. I can see using the practice technique in a classroom setting to get used to the idea of writing before scaring students with structure like plot, scenes, and characters. Goldberg’s ideas fit in with Donald Murray’s implications that you need to teach writing as a process and not a product. Looking back at my own grade school experience, I remember lessons on brainstorming and essay form (prose fiction I learned outside of class), but no lessons on rewriting. Almost like the implication was we are supposed to write a perfect first draft and just look over it for spelling mistakes. I know later when I was helping people write fanfics with a series of tutorials, editing was the part most understood the least.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
WEEKLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
MONTHLY GOAL
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Monday, January 22, 2007
Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth deserves all the awards it has gotten so far, especially since that caused its US partners to release it near me, yeah!
I got to see it in Baton Rouge right after work. The trailer only gives you a glimpse. I'm guessing the Fascists in Spain are about the same stripe as the Nazis in Germany and the Fascists in Italy, but my Spanish WWII history is practically non-existant.
But this movie... I want to write a del Toro fantasy and have him film it.
He also directed Hellboy.
Yes, I am having fun with YouTube; why do you ask?
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
I got to see it in Baton Rouge right after work. The trailer only gives you a glimpse. I'm guessing the Fascists in Spain are about the same stripe as the Nazis in Germany and the Fascists in Italy, but my Spanish WWII history is practically non-existant.
But this movie... I want to write a del Toro fantasy and have him film it.
He also directed Hellboy.
Yes, I am having fun with YouTube; why do you ask?
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Read now!
Now if only Lucas had been actually writing this story....
A New Sith or Revenge of the Hope
It's not enough to make me actually like Episodes 1 - 3, but it helps. It made me giggle.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
A New Sith or Revenge of the Hope
It's not enough to make me actually like Episodes 1 - 3, but it helps. It made me giggle.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Nobody yell at me
No outlining plot didn't get done this weekend. Instead I finished entering last year's bank data into Quicken, reconciled all the statements, and hit the budget button. I need to fine-tune the budget, right now it's just telling me what I spent last year and I overspent by 412 dollars each month. I need to tweak it into what I want to spend within my income levels before it becomes a Secret Plan for financial success.
I also need to read the For Dummies book on Quicken 2007 to make sure I know how to do that.
But it's not happening now. Eyeballs are crossing from too many numbers. But I think I found some big tax deductions besides my house. Yeap, that's the next number crunching to do. After budget.
Oh and the Saints aren't going to the Superbowl, so the Universe is off the hook for imploding now.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
I also need to read the For Dummies book on Quicken 2007 to make sure I know how to do that.
But it's not happening now. Eyeballs are crossing from too many numbers. But I think I found some big tax deductions besides my house. Yeap, that's the next number crunching to do. After budget.
Oh and the Saints aren't going to the Superbowl, so the Universe is off the hook for imploding now.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Writing Weekend
Though I may have to add clean the office to it so I have desk surface to work on writing with.
Yesterday and Friday were nil in terms of actual writing, but I did get the outline typed up in the manuscript. And then I went digging into my files. What I had a suspicion about was Family, Friends, and Foes, a fanfic but the last work of fiction of size and scope (over 126,000 words), and resembling what I'm attempting with Zy's Novel.
What I did learn from the freelance gig was outline made everything work out better. Zy's Novel outline on Chapter Nine - the end make up 2 pages and a paragraph on the third typed. Family, Friends, and Foes's outline had 13 pages including a timeline of the novel, characters list, plot and subplots lists.
Even with a couple of timelines figured up in Excel, my outline is hardly there. Which I guess means I shouldn't be surprised when I dig into my brain and find the story barely there as well. So really this weekend is going to be getting my vague notions on paper, where I can and probably will deviate from, but at least I can say "yes, that resembles a book."
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Yesterday and Friday were nil in terms of actual writing, but I did get the outline typed up in the manuscript. And then I went digging into my files. What I had a suspicion about was Family, Friends, and Foes, a fanfic but the last work of fiction of size and scope (over 126,000 words), and resembling what I'm attempting with Zy's Novel.
What I did learn from the freelance gig was outline made everything work out better. Zy's Novel outline on Chapter Nine - the end make up 2 pages and a paragraph on the third typed. Family, Friends, and Foes's outline had 13 pages including a timeline of the novel, characters list, plot and subplots lists.
Even with a couple of timelines figured up in Excel, my outline is hardly there. Which I guess means I shouldn't be surprised when I dig into my brain and find the story barely there as well. So really this weekend is going to be getting my vague notions on paper, where I can and probably will deviate from, but at least I can say "yes, that resembles a book."
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Important Questions for today that I'm in no mood for
#1. If I hadn't come to work, would the leftover UNIX have ever been done?
#2. How much more annoyed can I get in one day?
I'll explain later.
It's later. But where to start? UNIX is the manual way of processing checks on my job. Yesterday, I had a check that wouldn't scan and didn't get a chance to put it in UNIX myself. Okay, it has to be done in the morning today.
I didn't get into work until 12:30p.m. And the check is still in the bucket to be done. *Sigh* Yeah, the supervisor says she's going to talk to the rest. Probably on Tuesday at the office meeting. Maybe one of these days, I'll actually listen to myself when I tell myself that I don't give a damn about this job other than doing what I have to do to get my paycheck.
So the rest of the day: the bank aggravation grows. I'm P.O. at Capital One for no contact but I may have to keep the account open while I attend SLU. They closed my account due to lack of funds Friday, Jan. 12th, and I didn't contact me. Had they contacted me, I would have told them I'm expecting a direct deposit of my financial aid refund Jan. 15th, the date according to SLU (and they have an exclusive contract with Capital One).
So I only discovered this fracas over the holiday, and basically got word from the national customer service that I'd be able to get my money Thursday morning. So here it is Thursday morning, wet, nasty, and about ten degrees warmer that it has been. Lobby doesn't open until 9am, guess who thought it was 8am and had to wait in the parking lot for an hour? Only to be told there is no deposit anywhere in the system. Go see Southeastern.
Now I'm getting panicky because I told everybody I owed money to I could pay on Thursday. Southeaster says they haven't sent out any refunds and lender's checks are probably arriving next week (Controller's Office), don't cancel direct deposit because Capital One will reopen you account (Payroll and Capital One workers at SLU), and lenders checks will be cut on Friday, bitch (Financial Aid). Actually, "bitch" wasn't said, but implied.
So I didn't cancel the direct deposit and have no idea when my money will arrive. I'll keep the account open with $100 but I don't trust it with anything like my bills again. And since I will be sticking to my budget this year and not loaning out any money, I shouldn't run dry in August and December again.
Luckily, this week is a payweek so I was able to pull out cash and pay the most pressing bills and buy books for school. My mystery class tonight is African-American lit, which I'm having a hard time building up any enthusasism about. I still haven't been paid for my freelance gig. I don't know if I got rooked but I wish I had used the escrow account now so I could complain.
More later: The class is actually African-American drama/performace art. I don't get any credit for it due to sharing a number with another class I took, but since both classes qualify as electives, I don't feel like finding another. Teaching Creative Writing is the Wednesday night class, and looks to be interesting. I'm debating whether to use the Mary Sue stuff for BMFM as one of the "lectures." The class ended up being fairly split between not-employed-by-the-Dept. of Education and employed-by-the-Dept. of Education, so the prof. is giving us some leway in what we present.
Jan. 20th: It's much later, and I'm still waiting on school money that SLU says they released Jan. 18th. That's right, the same day I went looking for it and nobody can find it. I think Capital One has it now, and are holding it until it clears. Now why this takes them a week when at my job it takes at the most 2 days to get our electronic deposits cleared (and it looks like they're bringing that down to one day at the bank's end), I will never understand. Still waiting for my freelance money. And hopefully Wednesday will have my student meal plan and Laignnaipe account reopened. Yeap, Thursday had them unusable after I made my fuss and everybody in charge should have known I was getting money.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
#2. How much more annoyed can I get in one day?
I'll explain later.
It's later. But where to start? UNIX is the manual way of processing checks on my job. Yesterday, I had a check that wouldn't scan and didn't get a chance to put it in UNIX myself. Okay, it has to be done in the morning today.
I didn't get into work until 12:30p.m. And the check is still in the bucket to be done. *Sigh* Yeah, the supervisor says she's going to talk to the rest. Probably on Tuesday at the office meeting. Maybe one of these days, I'll actually listen to myself when I tell myself that I don't give a damn about this job other than doing what I have to do to get my paycheck.
So the rest of the day: the bank aggravation grows. I'm P.O. at Capital One for no contact but I may have to keep the account open while I attend SLU. They closed my account due to lack of funds Friday, Jan. 12th, and I didn't contact me. Had they contacted me, I would have told them I'm expecting a direct deposit of my financial aid refund Jan. 15th, the date according to SLU (and they have an exclusive contract with Capital One).
So I only discovered this fracas over the holiday, and basically got word from the national customer service that I'd be able to get my money Thursday morning. So here it is Thursday morning, wet, nasty, and about ten degrees warmer that it has been. Lobby doesn't open until 9am, guess who thought it was 8am and had to wait in the parking lot for an hour? Only to be told there is no deposit anywhere in the system. Go see Southeastern.
Now I'm getting panicky because I told everybody I owed money to I could pay on Thursday. Southeaster says they haven't sent out any refunds and lender's checks are probably arriving next week (Controller's Office), don't cancel direct deposit because Capital One will reopen you account (Payroll and Capital One workers at SLU), and lenders checks will be cut on Friday, bitch (Financial Aid). Actually, "bitch" wasn't said, but implied.
So I didn't cancel the direct deposit and have no idea when my money will arrive. I'll keep the account open with $100 but I don't trust it with anything like my bills again. And since I will be sticking to my budget this year and not loaning out any money, I shouldn't run dry in August and December again.
Luckily, this week is a payweek so I was able to pull out cash and pay the most pressing bills and buy books for school. My mystery class tonight is African-American lit, which I'm having a hard time building up any enthusasism about. I still haven't been paid for my freelance gig. I don't know if I got rooked but I wish I had used the escrow account now so I could complain.
More later: The class is actually African-American drama/performace art. I don't get any credit for it due to sharing a number with another class I took, but since both classes qualify as electives, I don't feel like finding another. Teaching Creative Writing is the Wednesday night class, and looks to be interesting. I'm debating whether to use the Mary Sue stuff for BMFM as one of the "lectures." The class ended up being fairly split between not-employed-by-the-Dept. of Education and employed-by-the-Dept. of Education, so the prof. is giving us some leway in what we present.
Jan. 20th: It's much later, and I'm still waiting on school money that SLU says they released Jan. 18th. That's right, the same day I went looking for it and nobody can find it. I think Capital One has it now, and are holding it until it clears. Now why this takes them a week when at my job it takes at the most 2 days to get our electronic deposits cleared (and it looks like they're bringing that down to one day at the bank's end), I will never understand. Still waiting for my freelance money. And hopefully Wednesday will have my student meal plan and Laignnaipe account reopened. Yeap, Thursday had them unusable after I made my fuss and everybody in charge should have known I was getting money.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Today's progress
I have class tonight if it isn't canceled, so I doubt I get to work on the total anymore today.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Read Free!
The BookWorm
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
Plan of attack
348 words yesterday, and I got started while juggling job assignments. Not to bad. I still feel bad about my fill-in-the-blank aliens though. So here's the plan for today:
Not too overly ambitious, I hope.
I also remembered this morning, after fighting with my computer, why I wait so long between backups. There's no bloody way to do it cleanly. So I guess I'll just have to be content with saving the My Documents and Program Files sections, and hope that those recovery points actually do something when I need to reboot the computer from scratch.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
- Finish typing what I have written
- Type out the outline as it stand now for the rest of the book in the manuscript
- Check with Writerly--or whatever Google is calling it now--and see what I need to upload to bring it up to date
- Work on alien creation and finish filling out my describing sheet on at least one of them.
- Eventually need to start working on cultures and languages
Not too overly ambitious, I hope.
I also remembered this morning, after fighting with my computer, why I wait so long between backups. There's no bloody way to do it cleanly. So I guess I'll just have to be content with saving the My Documents and Program Files sections, and hope that those recovery points actually do something when I need to reboot the computer from scratch.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
Progress Bar from Writertopia
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
U2 and GreenDay The Saints Are Coming - LIVE - New Orleans
I'm not a sports fan. But even I'm getting excited with one game away from the Superbowl. If they actually manage to go, Hell is freezing over. If they win, the universe will implode.
Yeah, it's a big deal down here. And Greenday and U2 gave us the anthem for the year at the first game to open the Superdome. (Yes, I know it's a remake but that doesn't matter.) Actually, you get a pretty good selection from their concert in this clip.
The video is up at YouTube too, but more political than I feel right now.
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