Wow, three semesters have passed already? It feels like I just started my MFA, but the calendar says that my last semester is coming up and after that, I'm done.
So the fourth semester is our thesis semester. We don't take actual classes... we just work on our final projects and meet with our advisors on a regular basis. Final projects meaning a minimum of 75 pages of written work, preferably something that's going to be published. I've decided to continue on a sci-fi/fantasy story that I started in workshop last semester and I want to complete a first draft by the time May rolls around. I just hope I have the drive to do it. I suppose I can aim for the minimum 75 pages, but what fun would that be? Life is more interesting when you make it a littler harder than it should be, right? And you'll get more satisfaction out of it too. At least, that's what people tell me. I think they're just trying to make themselves feel better.
One thing I definitely know is that I'm going to miss my classmates. Since we're not having our weekly workshop classes, I won't get to see them as often as I did. I know we can all meet up anyway, but everyone is going to be super busy. Some of them even work while going to school! *gasp!* But I'm sure we'll find a way to hang out at least once before we all graduate.
Okay, gotta get back to figuring out how I'm going to manage my thesis. Until next time...
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
My name is...
It seems like Jane is becoming less and less common. Now it seems like parents are naming their kids anything that will make them stand out from all the other kids.
David Beckham and Posh Spice (I forget her real name) called their son Brooklyn. Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple. Some Israeli couple named their kid Like after the button on Facebook.
So should I be surprised when I go to Starbucks and they ask my name after taking my drink order? My conversations with Starbucks employees usually goes something like this:
Cashier: Welcome to Starbucks. What would you like?
Me: I would like a tall iced green tea lemonade.
Cashier: And what's your name?
Me: Jane
Cashier: Jay?
Me: No, Jane.
Cashier: Jean?
Me: No, JANE.
Cashier: Okay. (Calling out to barista) Iced lemonade green tea, tall, for Jen!
Go over to the waiting area, wait for my drink. Stand around for a few minutes. Then I hear:
Barista: Drink for Jan?
Me: A tall iced green tea lemonade?
Barista: Yup, for Jan.
Me: It's Jane.
Barista: Okay, Jay. Enjoy your drink.
Meanwhile, they have no problem with Fiona, Arwin and Janelle.
Perhaps I need to change my name to something more difficult, so that they can pronounce it properly. Maybe if I started calling myself Eilonwy, like the princess in The Black Cauldron, then I'll have better luck.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
First year finales
My first year in the MFA Creative Writing program is over. The last class was actually May 11th, but I've been so bad about updating my blog that I'm over a month behind.
What did I learn from my first year? Two things:
1. To be a good writer, you have to read and write. A lot. When you read, you'll find lots of examples of great writing and not-so-great writing. The more you read, the more you can see which of that writing is not-so-great. And read different genres, not just the genre you want to write in. Expose yourself to different styles of writing. When I first started writing, I thought I was going to write humor. As the year progressed it turned into dark humor, which my classmates thought suited me better.
2. Make time to write. I mean, put it into your schedule. Since I worked full time, my thought was, "I'll do my writing when I have time." That meant almost never. A full day of work, come home, eat dinner... and I would usually end up being too tired to do anything else except sit in front of the TV and zone out. I've realized I have to put writing into my schedule so it gets done.
Putting it into my schedule is going to be a lot easier now that I'm not working. Yup, that's right, I'm unemployed. My department was restructured and my position was eliminated. I actually saw this as an opportunity. I've been trying to get into the publishing industry but I don't have any experience in the field, so I had applied for summer internships. Who doesn't want free labor, right? Well, from the ten places I applied to, I only heard back from one company, HarperCollins. It was a very polite email about how I had an impressive background, but they wanted someone who was more in line with industry (read as: a college student who is would be more likely to work for them after graduation). I can understand that. I'm disappointed that I wasn't picked, but I still appreciated that they let me know I was rejected.
So my summer is free. Something I haven;t had since I've graduated from college. I left for vacation with the hubby to Barbados on my first jobless day. We came back a week later and I've been sitting at home since finding various ways to entertain myself. First I ordered all the books I needed for my lit class this fall. Then I cleaned the house. The bathroom has never looked so good. Hubby said I should put learning how to cook on my list of things to do. Not a bad idea.
But now I have free time to write, which I plan to do. I have a new idea for a story and I'm hoping to get a good chunk of it written before school starts. And it means I can update this blog on a more regular basis! I even have a post ready for tomorrow. See, my plan to write more is already in progress. :)
What did I learn from my first year? Two things:
1. To be a good writer, you have to read and write. A lot. When you read, you'll find lots of examples of great writing and not-so-great writing. The more you read, the more you can see which of that writing is not-so-great. And read different genres, not just the genre you want to write in. Expose yourself to different styles of writing. When I first started writing, I thought I was going to write humor. As the year progressed it turned into dark humor, which my classmates thought suited me better.
2. Make time to write. I mean, put it into your schedule. Since I worked full time, my thought was, "I'll do my writing when I have time." That meant almost never. A full day of work, come home, eat dinner... and I would usually end up being too tired to do anything else except sit in front of the TV and zone out. I've realized I have to put writing into my schedule so it gets done.
Putting it into my schedule is going to be a lot easier now that I'm not working. Yup, that's right, I'm unemployed. My department was restructured and my position was eliminated. I actually saw this as an opportunity. I've been trying to get into the publishing industry but I don't have any experience in the field, so I had applied for summer internships. Who doesn't want free labor, right? Well, from the ten places I applied to, I only heard back from one company, HarperCollins. It was a very polite email about how I had an impressive background, but they wanted someone who was more in line with industry (read as: a college student who is would be more likely to work for them after graduation). I can understand that. I'm disappointed that I wasn't picked, but I still appreciated that they let me know I was rejected.
So my summer is free. Something I haven;t had since I've graduated from college. I left for vacation with the hubby to Barbados on my first jobless day. We came back a week later and I've been sitting at home since finding various ways to entertain myself. First I ordered all the books I needed for my lit class this fall. Then I cleaned the house. The bathroom has never looked so good. Hubby said I should put learning how to cook on my list of things to do. Not a bad idea.
But now I have free time to write, which I plan to do. I have a new idea for a story and I'm hoping to get a good chunk of it written before school starts. And it means I can update this blog on a more regular basis! I even have a post ready for tomorrow. See, my plan to write more is already in progress. :)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
April showers... and then some
April 19th was our three year anniversary. BK and I have been together for 10 and a half years now. So yes, we dated for seven and a half years before finally getting married. Since I had class on the evening of our actual anniversary, we decided we would celebrate tonight instead, my first class-free night of the week.
We're going to have dinner at BLT Prime, which I'm totally looking forward to. I took BK there for his birthday two years ago and they not only had the most awesome porterhouse, but the waiter was totally cool and attentive. And the fact that he strongly resembled Liev Schreiber helped too, cause I like him in general as an actor. So now, every time BK and I see Liev Schreiber in a movie, we always comment on how his job at BLT Prime must have not worked out so he had to find another career.
As for school, I'm still plugging along. I can't believe there's only three weeks of class left. And that means my first year will be over. After this, there's only one more semester of taking actual classes and then a final semester that's dedicated to writing my thesis. It feels like two years to spend on a degree is way too short.
I also feel annoyed with myself because I know I didn't devote as much time as I should have to my writing. I always have the good intentions planning to fire up my laptop as soon as I get home from work and finish writing the Great American Novel, but it never happens that way. Of course it doesn't happen that way. I get home, eat, feel insanely tired and plop myself in front of the TV. Conan, anyone?
At least I know what the problem is. Part of it is because I am tired. The other part is that I have no idea what to write about next. I'm stuck. I have my characters go down the deep dark hole, they've met the enemy, but what now? What do they do to fight back? How do they get back home? I don't know.
So as a way to escape this problem, I've started on another story. I was inspired by Adam Rex's Fat Vampire, which is about a teenage loser who is turned into a vampire and now he's stuck like that for the rest of his life. I thought what it would be like for someone to be in an opposite situation and started working on the woes of a hot vampire. I wouldn't want to try and publish it because it's just such an obvious rip off of Rex's story. But just something for me to work on when I'm stuck on what to do with Story #1.
I hope to post more often since my last submission for class was on Tuesday and I can stop stressing about getting something in on time.
We're going to have dinner at BLT Prime, which I'm totally looking forward to. I took BK there for his birthday two years ago and they not only had the most awesome porterhouse, but the waiter was totally cool and attentive. And the fact that he strongly resembled Liev Schreiber helped too, cause I like him in general as an actor. So now, every time BK and I see Liev Schreiber in a movie, we always comment on how his job at BLT Prime must have not worked out so he had to find another career.
As for school, I'm still plugging along. I can't believe there's only three weeks of class left. And that means my first year will be over. After this, there's only one more semester of taking actual classes and then a final semester that's dedicated to writing my thesis. It feels like two years to spend on a degree is way too short.
I also feel annoyed with myself because I know I didn't devote as much time as I should have to my writing. I always have the good intentions planning to fire up my laptop as soon as I get home from work and finish writing the Great American Novel, but it never happens that way. Of course it doesn't happen that way. I get home, eat, feel insanely tired and plop myself in front of the TV. Conan, anyone?
At least I know what the problem is. Part of it is because I am tired. The other part is that I have no idea what to write about next. I'm stuck. I have my characters go down the deep dark hole, they've met the enemy, but what now? What do they do to fight back? How do they get back home? I don't know.
So as a way to escape this problem, I've started on another story. I was inspired by Adam Rex's Fat Vampire, which is about a teenage loser who is turned into a vampire and now he's stuck like that for the rest of his life. I thought what it would be like for someone to be in an opposite situation and started working on the woes of a hot vampire. I wouldn't want to try and publish it because it's just such an obvious rip off of Rex's story. But just something for me to work on when I'm stuck on what to do with Story #1.
I hope to post more often since my last submission for class was on Tuesday and I can stop stressing about getting something in on time.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Spring Break
Spring break is finally here. Am I relieved? Yes. Am I doing everything I had planned out? No. Does this bother me? Sort of.
When I put in my vacation request at work, I spent days dreaming about what I would do during my time off. Read all the books I had waiting for me, work on my story, maybe even finish my book so that all I would need to do is bring it in to workshop for critiquing. So far, I've read three four of the books on my list of 15 and I haven't worked on my book at all. Instead, I've done two straight days of laundry with Facebooking in between loads. I have half of my homework done, but it still needs to be revised.
I've had a migraine for the past three days that's making it hard to concentrate. I keep thinking I can try to wait it out, but I gave up today. I went to CVS and tried to get a refill on my migraine medication, but they ran out. Since I'll be out of town for the rest of the week, I won't be able to med up until Monday.
On the bright side, I'm home. I needed this break from work. :)
When I put in my vacation request at work, I spent days dreaming about what I would do during my time off. Read all the books I had waiting for me, work on my story, maybe even finish my book so that all I would need to do is bring it in to workshop for critiquing. So far, I've read three four of the books on my list of 15 and I haven't worked on my book at all. Instead, I've done two straight days of laundry with Facebooking in between loads. I have half of my homework done, but it still needs to be revised.
I've had a migraine for the past three days that's making it hard to concentrate. I keep thinking I can try to wait it out, but I gave up today. I went to CVS and tried to get a refill on my migraine medication, but they ran out. Since I'll be out of town for the rest of the week, I won't be able to med up until Monday.
On the bright side, I'm home. I needed this break from work. :)
Monday, February 21, 2011
School, school and more school
I love the new semester. I've heard rumors that my workshop teacher for the Spring was going to be pretty tough, but so far, he hasn't been too harsh. He's definitely a stickler for grammar, but he's also helpful with his suggestions in how to clean up our writing pieces. I admire him for the one thing he said to one of my classmates after pointing out all the things he didn't like about her submission was, "Just because I don't like your piece doesn't mean you have to change anything. There are plenty of great writers who write in the same style as you." So he means that he's giving his opinion, but that's just it -- it's only his opinion and not the rules of writing.
Our seminar teacher is pretty nice too. I like her method of teaching. We read the book, discuss it and then she gives a writing assignment based a theme found in the book. For example, with Johnny Tremain, it was "describe a scene which shows a specific time and place." Or with Peter Pan, our assignment was "a scene in which a character experiences something out of the ordinary."
I feel like my writing skills have improved immensely since the last semester. When I look back on my older pieces, I can see grammatical errors and places where my writing could be tighter or needs more descriptive sentences. When I critique my classmates' submissions for our workshop class, I use to make comments more about the consistency of events or spelling errors. Now I notice I'm making more comments about the quality of the writing as well. My eye has definitely become better at catching these things.
I just regret that I didn't have these skills in the first semester. :(
Our seminar teacher is pretty nice too. I like her method of teaching. We read the book, discuss it and then she gives a writing assignment based a theme found in the book. For example, with Johnny Tremain, it was "describe a scene which shows a specific time and place." Or with Peter Pan, our assignment was "a scene in which a character experiences something out of the ordinary."
I feel like my writing skills have improved immensely since the last semester. When I look back on my older pieces, I can see grammatical errors and places where my writing could be tighter or needs more descriptive sentences. When I critique my classmates' submissions for our workshop class, I use to make comments more about the consistency of events or spelling errors. Now I notice I'm making more comments about the quality of the writing as well. My eye has definitely become better at catching these things.
I just regret that I didn't have these skills in the first semester. :(
Monday, January 3, 2011
Where has the time gone?
Okay, so it's been almost three full months since I've posted anything. I know, I know... when I started this blog, I didn't think I would actually post on a regular basis. And I was right!
The first semester is over and and I can say it kicked my butt. Did I pass with good grades? I did. Did I think I could have done better? Maybe.
To recap, I had two classes, a workshop and a literature seminar. This is my experiences with both:
The workshop was fun. We all took turns submitting work and having them critiqued, about 10 pages from each person. This was a tremendous help in learning where my writing needed to be improved. I found out I needed to:
1. Learn how to anchor my characters. Give descriptions on where they are and where they're located. I tend to try and put too much into other details, like character descriptions, but not so much in their surroundings.
2. I need to give my characters more personality. They often come out too passive or very blank. I need to show more of their thoughts and opinions, whether they're just thinking it or saying it out loud. As my workshop professor said, "You want your character to be likable."
3. No one has mentioned this as an issue, but it's something I see that I need to address. I put in a lot of unnecessary details. In my most recent submission, I put in a page and a half about the main character struggling to stay awake in class. The real story didn't begin until she gets a note that was being passed around. I have to learn to cut out information I don't need. I think this is one of the harder things for me to do because I never know what is good material that can stay. I assume that as I progress continue writing, this is something I will learn.
My literature seminar was fun, but a little tough. I will honestly say that I was not prepared for it. Each week's assignment was reading one or two assigned novels and writing a 3-4 page paper one a topic selected by our professor. The hardest part for me was reading the novels with a critical mind and turning out a paper that analyzed what I read. It's been over 10 years since I've had to take any type of literature class. I've learned that critical reading is a skill that you have to keep exercising. I was really rusty with this and it was towards the end of the semester that I finally started to get the hang of it again. Luckily for me, I still had a few short papers and my final paper to work on so I was able to pass with a good grade.
All in all, I can say this: I had fun. One thing I mentioned to my husband was that I'm really enjoying these classes, so it doesn't feel so much like I'm back in school. Of course, it's not an excuse for me to just do the minimal requirements.
One thing I was disappointed about was finding out too late that there were weekend workshops available. I would have loved to take advantage of that. Well, the new semester is starting in a few weeks and I assume it'll be offered again so that's my opportunity to use it.
Oh, and did I make any new year's resolutions? Only two: the first is to go to the gym more. I know that's that resolution everyone makes, but I've gotten a good start so far. I've gone four times last week and I'm still in the let's-go-workout mindset. The second is to finish the two novels I've started in workshop by the end of the year. If I can, I'll start on a third on and finish that one by the end of the year as well.
Good luck to me!
The first semester is over and and I can say it kicked my butt. Did I pass with good grades? I did. Did I think I could have done better? Maybe.
To recap, I had two classes, a workshop and a literature seminar. This is my experiences with both:
The workshop was fun. We all took turns submitting work and having them critiqued, about 10 pages from each person. This was a tremendous help in learning where my writing needed to be improved. I found out I needed to:
1. Learn how to anchor my characters. Give descriptions on where they are and where they're located. I tend to try and put too much into other details, like character descriptions, but not so much in their surroundings.
2. I need to give my characters more personality. They often come out too passive or very blank. I need to show more of their thoughts and opinions, whether they're just thinking it or saying it out loud. As my workshop professor said, "You want your character to be likable."
3. No one has mentioned this as an issue, but it's something I see that I need to address. I put in a lot of unnecessary details. In my most recent submission, I put in a page and a half about the main character struggling to stay awake in class. The real story didn't begin until she gets a note that was being passed around. I have to learn to cut out information I don't need. I think this is one of the harder things for me to do because I never know what is good material that can stay. I assume that as I progress continue writing, this is something I will learn.
My literature seminar was fun, but a little tough. I will honestly say that I was not prepared for it. Each week's assignment was reading one or two assigned novels and writing a 3-4 page paper one a topic selected by our professor. The hardest part for me was reading the novels with a critical mind and turning out a paper that analyzed what I read. It's been over 10 years since I've had to take any type of literature class. I've learned that critical reading is a skill that you have to keep exercising. I was really rusty with this and it was towards the end of the semester that I finally started to get the hang of it again. Luckily for me, I still had a few short papers and my final paper to work on so I was able to pass with a good grade.
All in all, I can say this: I had fun. One thing I mentioned to my husband was that I'm really enjoying these classes, so it doesn't feel so much like I'm back in school. Of course, it's not an excuse for me to just do the minimal requirements.
One thing I was disappointed about was finding out too late that there were weekend workshops available. I would have loved to take advantage of that. Well, the new semester is starting in a few weeks and I assume it'll be offered again so that's my opportunity to use it.
Oh, and did I make any new year's resolutions? Only two: the first is to go to the gym more. I know that's that resolution everyone makes, but I've gotten a good start so far. I've gone four times last week and I'm still in the let's-go-workout mindset. The second is to finish the two novels I've started in workshop by the end of the year. If I can, I'll start on a third on and finish that one by the end of the year as well.
Good luck to me!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)