I Killed It

Another deadline killed. It was intense. A two week turn around seemed impossible and made me procrastinate more than usual. But I had no choice. It had to get done so I left myself at least two weeks before my final due date. I'm super happy I made it. Plus, I've worked on these stories so much it wasn't as bad as previous deadlines. I will confess there are two stories that still might get significant work done to them before the final due date. But that is because one is still so new and the other one is finally proving to sound better (at least to me) with the ideas I'm adding to it.

I would also like to thank Awake Cafe for writing space. It was a suggested spot from a friend I received months ago that I finally followed up on. It is at Irving Park and Clarendon on Lakeview/Uptown border. The have large tables for laying out piles of papers and computers, decent music, its bright, and good coffee. I was impressed how large my latte was and that they even gave me a little shooter of water to follow it with. (see pic). My only thumbs down is the food is slightly pricey. Otherwise I see many more trips there in the future!

Now I think I will finally pick up that book I've been staring at all week on my book shelf Short Takes, edited by Judith Kitchen and be able to move Monday in peace.

Smile.

Trucking Along

I had my second meeting with my reader last week and I feel good about my progress. My reader seemed impressed with my revisions and complimented me on my work. GREAT. Small praise like that is really validating to a graduating MFAer. This is mostly because like it or not I will soon be without my peers and supporting writing community. I remember two years ago when my program director said that there will come a time when as a writer I will not need the workshop anymore and I cringed. But he was right. I no longer enjoy reading through all the workshop comments, I am too eager to get to the revision part. This is growth and I welcome it.

But growth also comes with solitude. My MFA friends I miss you! And I say again, sorry, for never coming out and joining in all the festivities this semester. I promise I am not having fun without you. I am usually sitting on my couch trying to figure out how to type while my pup snuggles in close under my arm. So cute.

Goal: turn my thesis package around one more time before the final deadline. That means I am aiming for end of this week, next week Monday the latest. Graduation is getting real and I want to be on that ship. Plus, I am moving at the end of the month and that lends itself to a suitcase full of excuses not to be writing and I'd rather be waiting to get my feedback from my reader.

Side note: I cannot wait to turn in that final thesis package so I can read books again, or even read all the ones I started and had to put down. I may even finally get through all the ones I bought last summer and never got to. Here is to wishful thinking.

Does Someone Have A Lighter? I Need My Fire Started

I am not on target and am having trouble getting done what I need to be done. I am blaming the boy and the dog. They have been home and sick with me and I'm not getting much done. But I could be more strict with myself too. Along with the snow, someone please send me focus.

Dragging My Feet

I am breaking from writing today. I am using my blog as an excuse to keep from finishing a new story. I am naughty. About a week ago I had my first thesis review of all my stories. It went pretty well. Three of the stories were received well with likes and points of "you did this so well" shared between me and my reader. Two of the stories I think he could have done without or at least wanted a lot more from them. Which I expected they really aren't my favorite either. And the last story is FINALLY I think close to being done. Of course I thought that last time and I'm revising it again. At least this revision is concerning something new I put into the story. Overall message, my endings need to be less summary and more of a collision point of all the elements in the story resulting in a breathtaking finale. Everyone knows endings are always works in process though so no surprise there.

I need more pages though. I already knew that too. In fact, that is the story I am running from right now. I stick my tongue out at you story - "Late Start." I think I'm running from ending it because I based it more so than my other stories on a real life event. And truthfully I started another story based on another true life event of mine. Always tough to write and end those stories because you try to distance it from yourself and relive parts of it all over again. If you're lucky you even manage to find some closure about the event if the story goes well. Point being, I am cruising on my thesis work. Sort of. I have new deadlines I am making myself hit. One being to finish that new story tonight so I can begin my other revisions.

Fun side note and real life story. I broke down and got Internet again at my apartment. I canceled it a month ago thinking I was moving and after a several failed attempts to secure new living quarters, I resigned to a short lease extension and calling the Internet provider. The man on the phone asked if I wanted cable too. I told him "No I'm a writer and don't need the extra distraction." He surprisingly seemed very interested and asked if I was a "writer writer." Which I took to mean - Can I pick something of yours up at Borders. I let him down easy and told him I still working on my collection and hope to sell it to a publishing house once its finished. His excitement lessened a little, but he still said, "oh, well how is the writing life working out for you in general?" I confessed, "I eat a lot of spaghetti." He quickly said, "At least it's not Ramon noodles." HAHA oh Internet provider man, you're so funny. Good laughs.

Back to writing. If I get desperate for a break, I might go to the gym.

Just Breathe

Last Monday I turned in my first large pack of stories to my thesis readers. I want to thank a dear girlfriend for reading some of my newer stories to help me prepare them better for review. It has been a long and tiring process. But I made it and even turned it in at 10am that morning rather than sweating over it all day. But the race is not OVER. I have to generate a brand new story in order to meet my page requirements. While I do not mind creating new work, it makes the time tables very tough. My friends are already sending out MIA messages looking for me. To them I apologize.

Good news I have not slacked off too bad since Monday. I have almost 1000 words on my new story. I will admit I took the weekend off to enjoy my weekend at home for my niece's birthday. However, I will be back at it first thing Monday. March 15th folks, March 15th. Wish me luck. Friends I promise I will try to make it out of isolation sooner or later.

Last Words (no sarcasm) - I LOVE BEING A WRITER.

Revision Breaking My Back

Oh this rewrite may put an end to my streak. It is not going as smoothly as the other revisions, but to be fair it is the newest story. Grrrr I will get through this revision. I am back to writing between 500 - 1000 words a day. This is not terrible but I'd grown into an average of 1500 words a day at least weeks before. The end is near. I will push on. Updates soon.

News on the Eve of Family

This past month has moved extremely fast. I have completed all my coursework to graduate and have madly be working on my thesis. I was not able to complete everything I set out to do this semester, but I still feel accomplished. Taking a full course load and working diligently on my thesis turned out to be almost impossible. This was mostly due to the work load of one of my classes in particular. It was a Lit Theory class, I admittedly tried to opt out of. However, we had a terrific group of students that made the class fun and interesting when we covered some of the most dry material. I did walk away learning more than I expected and got a pretty decent creative project out of it at the end. Thank you Carrie Brecke.

But since the semester ending I have gone into a deep writing coma. I've been able to revise and turn around four of my six stories within a week and half. I hung a huge desktop calender on my wall and marked out deadlines I insisted I meet. And I did. Not having anything else to disrupt me now because the semester was over helped me immensely. But I would like to contribute the majority of my success to my new puppy, Maverick. I don't like posting personal things on my blog because they are often unrelated to my writing or me as a writer. However, this little guys is like my writing buddy. He gets me up out of bed to start my writing day. He makes me take breaks and walk around the block to recharge my inspiration, and he keeps me from distraction by giving me a serious dose of guilt if I crate him too long to leave my apartment. I've done more work on my thesis in this last month than I have all semester. And its a good thing too because I'd really like to graduate this spring!

Other news, I receive two more rejection letters for my fiction this month. I have since revised the story and prefer the new revision to the one I sent out and feel less phrased by these rejections. I am still waiting to hear back on a job I interviewed for in early fall and feel very positive about the outcome. In the meantime, I committed to a part-time teaching internship at College of Lake County and am excited to work with the students there. The director of the English program was one of the most interesting and enjoyable people I've had the pleasure to converse with. I have also secured a part-time development internship at Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. I am thrilled to be involved with this organization and branch out into the development field. Thus, the spring is looking very hopeful and I cannot say enough good things about this December.

I'm glad things have been falling into place so nicely.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday. :)