Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Happy Birthday to my Mom

My mom has been a very big contributor to my interest in writing. She took me to the library to get a library card when I was just five years old. She used to read to me when I was little. Not just kids' books. No, she read things like Tarzan and the Count of Monte Cristo to me way before I was old enough to understand them. Which served to make me vow that I would read them myself when I was older. She went to the school library and checked books out for me when I had chicken pox (and mumps...), including The Secret Garden. She bought me books like Huckleberry Finn as birthday presents.

And if you were there at the residency this summer, you will recall David Long's talk: A Writer is a Reader Moved to Emulation. Well, my mom taught me to love books. Of course, this has lead directly to me being so busy with school that I haven't had a chance to send her a birthday card. Oops. Sorry.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Eureka!

I got a packet back today from PF.

Hallelujah, finally I am not upset about getting a packet back. My writing in the order that things want to come out seems to have been vindicated. I think he really liked the writing, although, of course, he had comments, but for once it felt like the comments were helping me more than just making me feel like I should never have sent him what I sent. So now I think I know how I need to proceed on the writing.

He also mostly liked my commentaries, even though I was surprised that the one he seemed to like best was about the book I liked least.

So now, it's just a matter of getting all the work done. I really want to go back and rewrite chapter two, continue into chapter three and I want to go on and write more of chapter 13-14. I haven't decided where to divide them up yet, because I have a lot more that I want to write. that either has to go into 13 or 14 and only certain things have to be in one or the other. I guess I'll just write it all into thirteen until I get to an obvious spot for fourteen to start. I mean, I guess as I think about it, it does get more obvious, since the theme of fourteen is balance and there is a way that balance applies to what is going to happen next.

I suddenly got an idea for an alternate title, which is ... well, I've been relutant to talk about specific details of the book here, the web being what it is. But we'll see. Now I have two good possibilities.

I hope the process of working with each advisor is not as challenging as this first time. I feel like I would like to settle into a rhythm and just get a lot of work done. And it's totally not Pete's fault. It's just getting used to submitting something to someone who is a professional writer whose opinion is going to affect me more than a butterfly flapping its wings over the Pacific. (And everyone knows that even that can mess me up for weeks.)

It's midterm and I've been told that my midterm assessment is going to say that I am working hard and seriously and am on track. yay! I think I am going to miss working with Pete because he's so flexible about what I can do. I think some other advisors are going to make me go crazy. I wonder who I'll get next time.

While I think about it, I need to check to see if the library will send me a thesis from a student who graduated in the winter. Pete recommended that I take a look at it. He said it was someone who writes fantasy and struggled with some of the same issues in her writing that I am now . So I'm off to do some Pacific library research. :)

and isn't it fantastic? I'm not going to be morose for the whole weekend!!!!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

You must have been busy, says my mom

A couple of weeks ago my mom pointed out to me that I hadn't posted anything on my blog since I complained about getting the packet back from Pete. You must have been busy, she said.

That I have. After getting a message that Shelley sent out to all of us MFAers, I realized for the first time that we actually had to turn in 12 of our reading commentaries to the program office. Paste your 12 best commentaries into one document, she told us. I was like, "Twelve best?" I had no idea that we were supposed to write more than 12. I looked it up and found that the MFA handbook says 12-15. I was planning to write 12, but knowing that they would become a part of my permanent record made me want options.

I had only sent two in each of my first two packets, so I knew I needed to crank it up and send three in at least two of the remaining packets. So I did that. It sounds like no big deal, right? What's one more two page paper. Well, it's another book, is really what it is. And in my case, I stopped reading a couple of books, realizing that they were taking too long to read and I wasn't going to get them done in time, and switched to books that for some reason I could read faster.

For the first time ever, I overnighted my packet today. There's no shame in it, I figure. At least it won't be late.

I send only 14 pages of fiction and didn't revise chapter 2 from last time. I think I'll work on that now that I don't feel under pressure. It needs some finessing, since I'm not completely happy with what happens in that chapter. I want to go back and look at some earlier iterations of it and see if I can make it better.

I've got some books in mind to read this time. Wouldn't it be great if I could finish four?

And I have some more of the story that has been dying to get out, so I'm good on fiction for at least one more packet.

So next week, Wednesday or Thursday, you will probably find more gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair right here when I got my packet back. I think I just should look at it until ... The thing is, whenever I open it, it's going to have the same effect on me, so I might as well get it over with. But can I be sedated first?

I've been reading about what the requirements are for getting a teaching job with an MFA and I've been trying to prep myself for the future. I need to do an internship or two, but I don't know how I will manage it with my job. It would also be great if I could sit in on some undergraduate creative writing classes just to watch what they do in class. Maybe I can do that next semester. I'll check into it. In the meantime, I've been investigating creative writing books adn trying to figure out my philosophy of teaching creative writing. What I know about pedagogy could fit into a thimble at this point. But sometimes you know more than you think you know. I'll keep working on it.