It took nearly all day yesterday but I have finally finished my "take-home" literary theory midterm. It is fourteen pages long and just shy of 3,000 words. I think I would have rather have had a traditional 'test' in class, because that would have only taken a maximum of three hours. This baby took... well nearly as long as giving birth, if that puts it in perspective.
This kind of writing, I'll warn ya, is not for the faint of heart. It was a full scale poetry analysis of a poem chosen by our professor, utilizing the theories and EXPLORING the philosophies of phenomenology, structuralism, and post-structuralism with emphasis on the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. If you've never read him: don't. Not unless you are into and I mean really into learning about literary theory. Derrida is incredibly hard to follow, but if you do decide to tackle a reading of his work, what he has to say is worth having been said. It is just getting to his point that is so daunting for the reader.
Aside from wrestling with my midterm this weekend, I did have the chance to take some away from my computer to go Halloween shopping with my daughter. Of course, no day of shopping would be complete without a trip to the book store. It was nice, my kid got to go rummaging for the next reads on her list and I got to have a cup of coffee. The new books were alluring but the last thing I can think about during midterms is reading something outside of my coursework.
Today is a day for study. I have four more traditional 'in class' midterms this week and one more exam that my professor promised I could take home to complete. She had mercy on another student and me because we have two scheduled midterms on the same day, back-to-back - hers and one for a class immediately following. We mentioned that we've been thusly scheduled and she offered to let us take her test home. Let's hope she remembers her offer.
I hate exam weeks because I feel so pressed for time. Everything has a deadline. I'm d-y-i-n-g to go for a nice long bike ride to get some fresh air and exercise but I feel like I don't even have time to do that. I barely have time to write this.
Which reminds me; I should be studying. Maybe I can get a bike ride in tomorrow. There's always hope!
Monday, October 16, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Apparently it's any plane, any city, any time
Stupidity just never ceases to amaze me. Consider if you will the sad, untimely death of New York Yankee Corey Lidle and his flight instructor. They died yesterday when the small aircraft they were flying speared a highrise apartment complex in New York City. The stupidity I speak of was not theirs. No one knows as yet what happened to cause their plane to careen into the building. It is the very fact that they could fly into a building in of all places New York City that has me all riled up. Honestly what are the powers-that-be thinking that there is still an acceptable flight corridor that goes through densly populated areas of Manhattan island after 9-11? The fact is that no private aircraft - not Lidle's nor anyone else's should be allowed to fly through New York.
This crash is reportedly an accident. A tragic, probably avoidable accident. But what if that hadn't been the case? Seems like just about anybody with a private aircraft could fly through New York or probably any other major city unchecked. I mean for Pete's sake - the Lidle plane did a fly-by past the Statue of Liberty, apparently to take in the sight before the plane experienced trouble.
The Statue of Liberty? How could a private plane get anywhere near the Statue of Liberty?
If you think for one second that this doesn't effect you, you're mistaken, because no matter where you live we all have a stake in protecting the airspace surrounding our major cities. Of all places New York should be taking higher security measures.
What if someone with a private plane decides to purposely target a building in a major city with their aircraft? Wouldn't you think that it would be just a tiny bit more difficult for them to accomplish that mission if their flying into protected airspace was detected. Don't you imagine that if such a violation were noticed that a potential attack could be averted?
Wouldn't you think that our leaders would have thought of that?
Unreal.
The Lidle crash was breaking news yesterday. At around 3:00 PM I had to leave the television coverage to go to a class. The drive to my University is about forty minutes. Coverage continued on the radio. What surprised me though is when I got to class. My Linguistics class was transformed. Due to the cable-access television mounted on the wall, our classroom turned into a gathering place where students
gathered to watch the news coverage.
At that time the press was reporting that there was a potential that the aircraft hit the building on purpose. The fear of terrorist attacks was thankfully short lived. But it was present. It was scary. It was six-years and a month to-the-day that terrorists had flown two jets into the World Trade Center.
I'm grateful that 10-11 didn't become a date of infamy. But what about the next time? What about securing the airspace surrounding our major cities? What about our leaders doing NOTHING to address that.
Tonight I'll think about Lidle, his flight instructor and how their deaths will impact their families. I'll also think about how our leaders could justify that such an accident could ever happen - especially in New York.
This crash is reportedly an accident. A tragic, probably avoidable accident. But what if that hadn't been the case? Seems like just about anybody with a private aircraft could fly through New York or probably any other major city unchecked. I mean for Pete's sake - the Lidle plane did a fly-by past the Statue of Liberty, apparently to take in the sight before the plane experienced trouble.
The Statue of Liberty? How could a private plane get anywhere near the Statue of Liberty?
If you think for one second that this doesn't effect you, you're mistaken, because no matter where you live we all have a stake in protecting the airspace surrounding our major cities. Of all places New York should be taking higher security measures.
What if someone with a private plane decides to purposely target a building in a major city with their aircraft? Wouldn't you think that it would be just a tiny bit more difficult for them to accomplish that mission if their flying into protected airspace was detected. Don't you imagine that if such a violation were noticed that a potential attack could be averted?
Wouldn't you think that our leaders would have thought of that?
Unreal.
The Lidle crash was breaking news yesterday. At around 3:00 PM I had to leave the television coverage to go to a class. The drive to my University is about forty minutes. Coverage continued on the radio. What surprised me though is when I got to class. My Linguistics class was transformed. Due to the cable-access television mounted on the wall, our classroom turned into a gathering place where students
gathered to watch the news coverage.
At that time the press was reporting that there was a potential that the aircraft hit the building on purpose. The fear of terrorist attacks was thankfully short lived. But it was present. It was scary. It was six-years and a month to-the-day that terrorists had flown two jets into the World Trade Center.
I'm grateful that 10-11 didn't become a date of infamy. But what about the next time? What about securing the airspace surrounding our major cities? What about our leaders doing NOTHING to address that.
Tonight I'll think about Lidle, his flight instructor and how their deaths will impact their families. I'll also think about how our leaders could justify that such an accident could ever happen - especially in New York.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
The rewards of college life
Today was chock-full-o surprises. First, my Feature and Freelance Writing professor altered our class format. Rather than discuss our reading assignment from our computer terminals, he opted to have us gather in a circle. It was a little more communal than the pseudo-journalistic approach we usually take to critiquing a feature story but it worked out rather nicely. More people joined in the discussion, so that was a plus. On the downside, our professor did not yet grade our last feature writing assignments. The deadline was last week. The slow return of the stories is a little off-putting. We worked our tails off to meet a deadline, it would have been nice to have received feedback by now.
Alternately, I did get back the paper I wrote examining propaganda for my Mass Communication Theory class. It turned out to be a fun assignment. We were encouraged to take chances with and reflect on our own experiences with propaganda. I did one thing I never do, at least not in the confines of my University writing; I wrote exactly what I thought - and in the first person! It was a breath of fresh air. A total departure from the normally stodgy type academic writing that dominates college writing. My enthusiasm was rewarded with an 'A' on the paper.
The best surprise of the day came from my Literary Theory professor. We've been immersed in reading 'Of Grammatology' by Jacques Derrida. It is slow, difficult reading to say the very least. Anyway, our midterm was scheduled for next week. Tonight in class our professor informed us that he was giving us our midterm - tonight. The collective gasp of the class could best be described as terror mingled with utter panic. He didn't leave us hanging for too long before he told us that he was indeed giving us our midterm tonight, to take home and return - completed - next week. That announcement was followed by sighs of relief - one girl was nearly moved to tears, explaining that she was so stressed out about the approaching midterm that she's been a bundle of nerves all day.
It is a take home midterm now, but that also means that it has morphed from an exam into a major paper on the deep, difficult philosophies of one of the most elusive minds and hard to grasp writers in modern culture. Should be fun.
Plus I have four additional midterms next week and one this week. This is when writing my own material becomes nearly impossible. It is the ultimate test in the fortitude of being a writer. The prospect of abandoning your own work so you may fully concentrate on the works of others is sometimes frustrating. Actually, it's always frustrating. But that goes with the territory of academic life. And if being a writer in the midst of academia has it's drawbacks, the former would be my top pick.
For now, I'm off to fill my mind with information that will only ever be of use to me in passing this week's midterm. Hopefully with an 'A.' Anything less than that elevates the temporary abandonment of my own projects from a frustration to a total waste of time, effort and creativity. Ah, the rewards of college life.
Alternately, I did get back the paper I wrote examining propaganda for my Mass Communication Theory class. It turned out to be a fun assignment. We were encouraged to take chances with and reflect on our own experiences with propaganda. I did one thing I never do, at least not in the confines of my University writing; I wrote exactly what I thought - and in the first person! It was a breath of fresh air. A total departure from the normally stodgy type academic writing that dominates college writing. My enthusiasm was rewarded with an 'A' on the paper.
The best surprise of the day came from my Literary Theory professor. We've been immersed in reading 'Of Grammatology' by Jacques Derrida. It is slow, difficult reading to say the very least. Anyway, our midterm was scheduled for next week. Tonight in class our professor informed us that he was giving us our midterm - tonight. The collective gasp of the class could best be described as terror mingled with utter panic. He didn't leave us hanging for too long before he told us that he was indeed giving us our midterm tonight, to take home and return - completed - next week. That announcement was followed by sighs of relief - one girl was nearly moved to tears, explaining that she was so stressed out about the approaching midterm that she's been a bundle of nerves all day.
It is a take home midterm now, but that also means that it has morphed from an exam into a major paper on the deep, difficult philosophies of one of the most elusive minds and hard to grasp writers in modern culture. Should be fun.
Plus I have four additional midterms next week and one this week. This is when writing my own material becomes nearly impossible. It is the ultimate test in the fortitude of being a writer. The prospect of abandoning your own work so you may fully concentrate on the works of others is sometimes frustrating. Actually, it's always frustrating. But that goes with the territory of academic life. And if being a writer in the midst of academia has it's drawbacks, the former would be my top pick.
For now, I'm off to fill my mind with information that will only ever be of use to me in passing this week's midterm. Hopefully with an 'A.' Anything less than that elevates the temporary abandonment of my own projects from a frustration to a total waste of time, effort and creativity. Ah, the rewards of college life.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
The truth about NOT writing
I love writers who don't write. They make me look so productive. However, I can't stand it when these non-writing writers don't write and then proceed to complain that they are not writing. This produces nothing. At worst, it further enhances the un-writer's malaise. At best it drums up the camaraderie of other writers who are either likewise not writing or are writing but sympathize. And they sympathize because at the end of the day, any writer who's been writing for longer than five minutes has been there.
"There" is that place where nothing happens. Creativity goes untapped, ideas are stunted and blank pages remain... well... blank. "There," is no place for a writer. And as a writer when you are not "there", you certainly don't want to talk about being there. At least I don't. It's uncomfortable.
I like to live creatively in that little place called denial. I'd much prefer to not think about not writing. Probably because I like writing. It's a part of me - a huge part of who I am. Like most writers, I self-identify through my writing. So loss of writing, non-writing, would damage my concept of self.
So, I choose not to go "there." And I truly believe that writers have that choice.
A writer can choose a state of un-writing just as they can choose to end, what I believe to be a self-imposed position of not writing. Complaining about not writing is a waste of creative energy and time that could, if the writer so chose, be put to far better use actually writing.
It may sound harsh; but this is the voice of experience talking. Stop complaining and WRITE! No doubt we've all heard that often the best solution to a given problem is the simplest. Perhaps in no other art is that concept more true than in the writing arts. The stringing together of words with any kind of complexity first requires simplicity. The simplicity of action. By simply doing a writer can undo what they've not done.
I can promise that writing just one well formed paragraph will make you feel far better than hours of moaning about not writing.
Step up. Shut up. And WRITE.
"There" is that place where nothing happens. Creativity goes untapped, ideas are stunted and blank pages remain... well... blank. "There," is no place for a writer. And as a writer when you are not "there", you certainly don't want to talk about being there. At least I don't. It's uncomfortable.
I like to live creatively in that little place called denial. I'd much prefer to not think about not writing. Probably because I like writing. It's a part of me - a huge part of who I am. Like most writers, I self-identify through my writing. So loss of writing, non-writing, would damage my concept of self.
So, I choose not to go "there." And I truly believe that writers have that choice.
A writer can choose a state of un-writing just as they can choose to end, what I believe to be a self-imposed position of not writing. Complaining about not writing is a waste of creative energy and time that could, if the writer so chose, be put to far better use actually writing.
It may sound harsh; but this is the voice of experience talking. Stop complaining and WRITE! No doubt we've all heard that often the best solution to a given problem is the simplest. Perhaps in no other art is that concept more true than in the writing arts. The stringing together of words with any kind of complexity first requires simplicity. The simplicity of action. By simply doing a writer can undo what they've not done.
I can promise that writing just one well formed paragraph will make you feel far better than hours of moaning about not writing.
Step up. Shut up. And WRITE.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Time and space
This has been one highly productive day. Not that I wrote anything. In fact, this post is the first bit of writing I've accomplished today. But I am doing this bit of writing while seated in my newly created media room. As I write my eight-year-old daughter is sprawled out on a comfy chair, watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone between alternate bouts of reading and drawing.
We worked all day setting up this room. And I love it because now we are actually in the same room as opposed to across the house from each other while I write and she busy's herself with 'kid' stuff. I think this is going to become our favorite room in the house before long.
The space itself is huge and for several years it served as my daughter's playroom, complete with large playhouse, toyboxes, dress-up center and everything else you could possible imagine a little girl wanting. My work-out equipment was buried behind her area and cramped together to such an extent that I didn't want to use it. To top it all off our dog's crates were also in this room.
Today everything got cleared out. All of the little girl toys and playsets were brought to the curb and rapidly scarfed up by our neighbors. The dog crates have been stored in the garage. And I set up a usable home gym, very nicely I might add, at the rear of our 22/16 Ft. room. The rest of the space became our media center, complete with bookcases and television area.
I also love the fact that I can now spread my work out across my new six foot long writing/project table. Desk space has always been a problem. Every desk I have ever owned, no matter how large it seemed when I bought it, quickly become decidedly cramped. It's not that I'm prone to disorder. I'm pretty organized. But the table is never wide enough or long enough to accommodate the spreading out of my notes, writings and reference materials. Six feet is definitely the way to go. At this very moment I have my laptop, notes, reference books and two of my manuscripts splayed out across the table and I still have plenty of room for more stuff if I need it. Of course, my coffee cup gets preferential treatment and is always located in a place of honor; right beside me ever poised for a quick retrieval of caffeinated goodness.
I'll be chatting with some online writer friends shortly. We have a Saturday evening chat. After that I plan on working on one of my speculative fiction manuscripts for a few hours. Then it will be time to study. The nice thing is that I will be able to do all of that while my daughter hangs out with me, at least until her bedtime. Now I have the time to write and the space - and some family time right in the mix. How cool.
We worked all day setting up this room. And I love it because now we are actually in the same room as opposed to across the house from each other while I write and she busy's herself with 'kid' stuff. I think this is going to become our favorite room in the house before long.
The space itself is huge and for several years it served as my daughter's playroom, complete with large playhouse, toyboxes, dress-up center and everything else you could possible imagine a little girl wanting. My work-out equipment was buried behind her area and cramped together to such an extent that I didn't want to use it. To top it all off our dog's crates were also in this room.
Today everything got cleared out. All of the little girl toys and playsets were brought to the curb and rapidly scarfed up by our neighbors. The dog crates have been stored in the garage. And I set up a usable home gym, very nicely I might add, at the rear of our 22/16 Ft. room. The rest of the space became our media center, complete with bookcases and television area.
I also love the fact that I can now spread my work out across my new six foot long writing/project table. Desk space has always been a problem. Every desk I have ever owned, no matter how large it seemed when I bought it, quickly become decidedly cramped. It's not that I'm prone to disorder. I'm pretty organized. But the table is never wide enough or long enough to accommodate the spreading out of my notes, writings and reference materials. Six feet is definitely the way to go. At this very moment I have my laptop, notes, reference books and two of my manuscripts splayed out across the table and I still have plenty of room for more stuff if I need it. Of course, my coffee cup gets preferential treatment and is always located in a place of honor; right beside me ever poised for a quick retrieval of caffeinated goodness.
I'll be chatting with some online writer friends shortly. We have a Saturday evening chat. After that I plan on working on one of my speculative fiction manuscripts for a few hours. Then it will be time to study. The nice thing is that I will be able to do all of that while my daughter hangs out with me, at least until her bedtime. Now I have the time to write and the space - and some family time right in the mix. How cool.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Nothing to say
There's something to be said about having nothing to say. I know, that's an oxymoron. Honestly though sometimes when people just have nothing to say, constructive or otherwise about their own lives it irks the crap out of me. This day, in particular someone close to me frustrated me to the gills simply by virtue of total inaction. In a lot of ways I am a bit of an over achiever. I work my ass off at school, writing, coaching and my most important job; being a mom to my eight-year-old daughter. I do all this so I can forge a better life for my child. So, suffice to say, when someone else is a consummate slacker in life - I cannot relate. Even if we are related. Which we are.
Anyway, now that I have vented I can move on to more interesting topics like writing.
Here goes:
It's been a good month. I've completed two rather lengthly feature articles. One explores what life is like after five years and after all the ceremonies for a 9-11 first responder to the World Trade Center. I was fortunate enough to interview several police officers who worked the disaster and focused on one, who not only was there but was injured when the first Tower collapsed. He continued to work, even though injured, and barely escaped the second Tower's collapse - which still did not stop him. He pushed on, rescuing as many as he could and worked every aspect of the recovery.
The second article is totally different, but interesting. I stumbled across a website that lists dead MySpace members, links to news articles about the circumstances of their deaths and also links to their MySpace page. Although morbid, the website MyDeathSpace.com is quite unique.
Both features are in the submission process to local newspapers. After that I will query them to magazines. Eventually, I will post them here.
In other writing:
I am in the middle of two manuscripts of speculative fiction. One is very near completion. The other is not as far along, but the narrative is promising. I'm at the point with school that if I get a few hundred words a day written on either manuscript, it has been a good day.
I also completed three papers this week. Two were research and the the third was a bit more fun. I got to write about propaganda and how it has effected me on a personal level. Pretty cool as far as assignments go. We'll see if the grade reflects my enthusiasm for the project.
Readings:
Well, I am NEVER done reading. EVER. I am an English major and my emphasis of study is Writing and Rhetoric. But I am also pursuing a minor in Communications. Basically what that boils down to is the fact that if I'm not writing, I'm reading. This week I am reading Of Grammatology by Jacques Derrida, The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, I'm finishing Jane Austin's persuasion and starting sometime this week on Bram Stoker's Dracula for which I will be writing a research paper in the coming weeks.
Derrida is difficult to say the very least. Eliot's book so far is the most boring narrative I have been forced to choke down this term. I'm holding out hope that it will improve. Jane Austin is at least entertaining. Honestly, the best thing I have to look forward to reading this week is Dracula.
I'm preparing for midterms as well. This will prove a challenge as this week I have one two-hour midterm but next week I have four midterms. Three of which will be three hour tests. More accurately, we will have three hours to complete them. Hopefully I'll have them nailed down in a hour or so.
As I stated in my opening, I work my ass off. It is worth it when you have a vision of what your life can become. If you involve yourself in it. And for those who have nothing to say when asked about their lives or their future plans... well, they could never be a writer. A writer is always writing the next chapter. Always thinking about the next twist, next turn and all the nuances in between. I guess that is all there is to say about having nothing to say.
Anyway, now that I have vented I can move on to more interesting topics like writing.
Here goes:
It's been a good month. I've completed two rather lengthly feature articles. One explores what life is like after five years and after all the ceremonies for a 9-11 first responder to the World Trade Center. I was fortunate enough to interview several police officers who worked the disaster and focused on one, who not only was there but was injured when the first Tower collapsed. He continued to work, even though injured, and barely escaped the second Tower's collapse - which still did not stop him. He pushed on, rescuing as many as he could and worked every aspect of the recovery.
The second article is totally different, but interesting. I stumbled across a website that lists dead MySpace members, links to news articles about the circumstances of their deaths and also links to their MySpace page. Although morbid, the website MyDeathSpace.com is quite unique.
Both features are in the submission process to local newspapers. After that I will query them to magazines. Eventually, I will post them here.
In other writing:
I am in the middle of two manuscripts of speculative fiction. One is very near completion. The other is not as far along, but the narrative is promising. I'm at the point with school that if I get a few hundred words a day written on either manuscript, it has been a good day.
I also completed three papers this week. Two were research and the the third was a bit more fun. I got to write about propaganda and how it has effected me on a personal level. Pretty cool as far as assignments go. We'll see if the grade reflects my enthusiasm for the project.
Readings:
Well, I am NEVER done reading. EVER. I am an English major and my emphasis of study is Writing and Rhetoric. But I am also pursuing a minor in Communications. Basically what that boils down to is the fact that if I'm not writing, I'm reading. This week I am reading Of Grammatology by Jacques Derrida, The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, I'm finishing Jane Austin's persuasion and starting sometime this week on Bram Stoker's Dracula for which I will be writing a research paper in the coming weeks.
Derrida is difficult to say the very least. Eliot's book so far is the most boring narrative I have been forced to choke down this term. I'm holding out hope that it will improve. Jane Austin is at least entertaining. Honestly, the best thing I have to look forward to reading this week is Dracula.
I'm preparing for midterms as well. This will prove a challenge as this week I have one two-hour midterm but next week I have four midterms. Three of which will be three hour tests. More accurately, we will have three hours to complete them. Hopefully I'll have them nailed down in a hour or so.
As I stated in my opening, I work my ass off. It is worth it when you have a vision of what your life can become. If you involve yourself in it. And for those who have nothing to say when asked about their lives or their future plans... well, they could never be a writer. A writer is always writing the next chapter. Always thinking about the next twist, next turn and all the nuances in between. I guess that is all there is to say about having nothing to say.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Resurrection
I know, I know... it's been a while. A long while. I'll admit it; I haven't been showing my old blog any love these past many months. It's time to give it the attention it deserves. I figure if I don't start using this thing and writing at least something on it then I've effectively killed it and I hate the very idea of creating something for nothing. So, here goes... I'm officially batting the cobwebs out of the corners and getting back to the process of sending my thoughts out into cyber space - regardless of whether or not anyone actually reads my musings. By the way, if you do stop by, drop me a comment to let me know you were here. I don't necessarily have a need for company. Being a writer is after all a fairly solitary pursuit. However, that said, I'm not a recluse. I like hearing from people. And more important, I like getting feedback about my writing. Different perspectives are always welcome.
You may be wondering why after so long an absence I would feel a need to revisit my old blog. Really, I abandoned my blog because I was writing. I found that my time at my desk was extremely limited. I'm a full time University student as well with a major and a minor, which simply by virtue of taking classes, further limited my available desk time. Since I owned only a PC I needed to be at my desk in order to update the blog.
Recently I found myself suddenly able to afford the laptop computer that I have needed for the past several years. Laptop ownership has been an incredibly liberating experience. Now I can (and do) write anywhere. So now is the ideal time to resurrect the blog.
Now that I've taken the first step - announcing to the world - or nobody (since it may well be that no one will ever read this) my intentions, it is time for me to officially close the former chapter in my blogging and welcome the new.
I look forward to posting here my thoughts, musings and well... whatever else comes to mind. I hope if you do drop by that you like what you see and feel inclined to return. Until then... I remain the writegirl and continue to write like a girl... got a problem with that?
You may be wondering why after so long an absence I would feel a need to revisit my old blog. Really, I abandoned my blog because I was writing. I found that my time at my desk was extremely limited. I'm a full time University student as well with a major and a minor, which simply by virtue of taking classes, further limited my available desk time. Since I owned only a PC I needed to be at my desk in order to update the blog.
Recently I found myself suddenly able to afford the laptop computer that I have needed for the past several years. Laptop ownership has been an incredibly liberating experience. Now I can (and do) write anywhere. So now is the ideal time to resurrect the blog.
Now that I've taken the first step - announcing to the world - or nobody (since it may well be that no one will ever read this) my intentions, it is time for me to officially close the former chapter in my blogging and welcome the new.
I look forward to posting here my thoughts, musings and well... whatever else comes to mind. I hope if you do drop by that you like what you see and feel inclined to return. Until then... I remain the writegirl and continue to write like a girl... got a problem with that?
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