Today Was A Great Day

A few things about today:

-I started training for my new job at national non-for-profit. It was very intense. I love it.
- My first of two book orders arrived. (To Kill a Mocking Bird, by Lee Harper & Willful Creatures: Stories, by Aimee Bender)

I am one story short of finishing my recent short story collection (Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, Ben Fountain). The collection is a must read. Fountain's prose transcends the reader right into the the war-stricken, tragedy-ridden, and tormented lives of characters and countries he writes about. I haven't cried, but have found myself cheering for some of the characters. As much as I love this collection, I'm glad I'm near the end because I want to crack the spines of my new books. Buying books is so much fun.

Day One Results

The writing date was great. Lots more people have discovered our little cafe but it didn't ruin the mood too much. Except, there was the half hour or so when a two mothers brought their kids in to sit down while they chatted. I have nieces and I love kids but to be funny I told my friend, "What do they think this is McDonald's?" Ha, that makes me laugh a little only because my grandpa use to take me and all his other grandkids to McDonald's and lets us order whatever we wanted. Then he'd let us run around in the play structure. These kids, though, to their credit were pretty well behaved for the most part. The only incident that I was not fond of was when one of them tried to break into the bathroom when I was in it. The door was very flimsy and I thought me yelling "Excuse me, someone's in here," would be enough, but the little kid was persistent. Luckily, the door held and there were no embarrassing moments for me to recover from.

As I expected, I did not write as much as I wanted to on our date because we chatted a lot and bounced ideas around and sometimes just got distracted from what we came there to do. I don't mind this though, because the entire experience still adds to my life as a writer and because I miss some of that conversation in other parts of my life. So the writing date produced two friends catching up, discussing MFAs, the benefits of cross genre reading, and about 350 words into my first novel. The word count does not end there. I went home took my over energized pup for a walk (He almost made me cry in public because he doesn't always listen. If you see a woman being dragged down the street by a large puppy, good chance it might be me.) Then I came home and kept writing until my sinuses clouded my train of thought. In the end, I got about 100 more words out of myself for the day.

I put off posting my results until today because I wanted to see if I would do anymore work. I thought about it a lot but never sat down again. Not too bad. Typically, when I sit down to write something new, I am happy if I can reach 500 words for the day. That equals about one full page of words single spaced. It doesn't seem like a lot but if you factor in all the creative thinking and processing that goes behind it then it adds up.

Today, I plan to continue on the novel. More to come.

Page One, Chapter One?

All the graduation celebration is finally over. I had a party with friends and got the FINAL notice that the graduate office posted a "PASS" grade in my account. School is really over, for now. I've already thought about a PhD program, but we will see where my life is in about five years.

I kept up a good pace of writing once I actually finished my thesis and admit the actual writing has slowed down at bit. However, the process (which includes brainstorming) is still going strong. One reason the writing is not keeping up is fear. Fear of what? Fear of finishing something else. It's a long process and thinking about how long it may actually take is debilitating sometimes. I wrote a couple children's stories, but they still need to be edited and transformed over several drafts. I have a novel idea that I even workshopped a chapter or two during my graduate program, but now I have to grow it. This is where the brainstorming is really picking up speed.

I've determined I'm starting completely over. The section I workshopped is maybe 30 pages and not my best. In this case starting over is easier than trying to salvage anything. But when I think about sitting down and beginning this novel I think more about the individual characters than I do the story. I'm fine with that except I wonder if what I write will be more character sketches or storyline. I'll find out tomorrow. Tomorrow I have a writing date with Ghost Ocean's editor, Heather Cox. We try and meet every or every other week depending on what we have going on. I specifically asked to meet this week to make myself actually start writing again. Plus, she's a great friend to talk to about books and writing in general.

So here is a preview of what I will be writing about. The book is going to follow the lives of two sisters. A tragedy at a young age has made them very close until one sister suddenly takes her life in another direction. The book will follow each of them struggling to find their own identity apart from each other while still trying to hold on to a part of themselves in the past that made them so close. I know that's a vague description, but I have to keep the good, tricky, and "oh no she didn't" parts secret until the book is ready for publication. :)

I will admit the original idea came from events in my own life. HOWEVER, since writing those first few chapters almost two years ago AND rethinking the concept, the book is certainly not following any true story lines. I like it better this way because its more fun, easier not to get stuck on what "really happened," and true fiction.

Lastly, a big motivation to start the writing comes from my grandma. I received a newspaper clipping from her today of a local girl who made it as an author. Grandma wrote at the top of the clipping, "If she can do it, I know you can too." Oh grandma, thanks for the encouragement. ;)
I will post something tomorrow to confess how the session went.

Bittersweet Endings

Today was the last day of my teaching internship at College of Lake County. I assisted teaching an ELI 108. It was suppose to be an English 108 (or developmental class) but things were misread and I had the option of sticking with it or finding another class. I stuck with it even though it was not what I originally intended to take. It fit well in my spring schedule and I had already had one college level composition class internship under my belt, so I thought this would be an interesting change. By the second week of class I was very happy with my decision. It became very apparent this class was one of those rare classes that really make the teacher as well as the other students in the class happy to be in the classroom. Everyone in the class was excited to be there and VERY eager to learn. It really made the job easy to love and gave me more desire to pursue a teaching career.

Teaching was something I always went back and forth with as a career. I love learning and helping other learn, but I felt too young to be a teacher. I know this is probably a common enough feeling for recent college graduates going into teaching careers, specifically, those that teach older students. However, working with these students this semester really helped me look past that reservation. Most of my students were mothers and/or several years older than me, but when I worked with them it felt more like a partnership than this weird setup of student and teacher. Every student in the class just made the semester great and worked so hard to improve their English language writing skills. This experience has also given me the desire to explore the ELI department more in my job search for teaching positions.

So today I wanted to congratulate my ELI 108 class for a great semester and experience. They are determined writers and editors of their work and my exceptional writing news for the week!

How you doing?

The writing lifestyle is not as glamorous as I would have wanted it to be. But then again what ever is? OK maybe some things in life do live up to the glamor but I find them to be few and far between events. As I settle into my non-grad school supported writing life I wonder if it will ever be as hardcore as some of my friends and teachers. Everyone has their own commitments and at times I do wish I was a notch deeper in the writing community. In time I think I will get where I want to be, but as for now I must say I am glad to be where I am.

Where is that exactly you ask. WELL, I am consistently keeping up the writer habits I managed to acquire during grad school. Here are a few things I've been doing since turning in my thesis:

- Still thinking about some of my thesis stories I was not totally happy with and how I might change them for the better.

- I finished my first Charlie Hoot story and began a second one. A close friend of mine has already read through the first story and has given me some positive feedback. Now I need to dive into the world of children's literature and decide what to do with these stories. Should I try right away for a book publication or should I submit them to a children's journal?

- I've continued to work on my short short and think I've made some good head way with it. I am slow on this project mostly because it takes me in a different place with my writing. Compared to other projects this one is much more fragmented and loose flowing (if that makes sense to anyone but me). I hope it all makes sense by the time I am done with it.

- I've certainly picked up my reading. I have been able to stay current with my New Yorkers as they arrive every week in the mail. This is something I have not been able to do in over 7 months.
- I purchased a lit mag (Tin House) from my favorite books store Unabridged Books and learned that a good selection of lit mags is hard to find in most book stores. The one I got was one of the only three available. So with a few good recommendations I decided just to order another magazine (Salt Hill) straight from the publisher's website. By the time I actually tracked down where I could get it in the city and went to purchase it I figured I would have it in the mail. This venture I am pretty excited about because lit mags was something in the past I had very little time for and never quite got a chance to explore the many available options.
- And when I am bored with all those reading options I like to switch them out with the many books that have gone ignored these past months on my book shelf. I am still trudging through The Instructions and I am determined to finish it. I'm enjoying reading it again, but boy oh boy, books that size can really wear a reader out.

- LASTLY I have submitted to journals AND I even received a rejection notice already from one of those submissions. Even though it was a "we can't use your story at this time" kind of letter it was nice not to have to wait so long for a response.

So there it is folks, my continued life as a writer. I may be dressed in sweats and a robe as I do my work, but if I'm doing it well the words should draw all the same attention that a glamorous lifestyle would. I can live with that.

Keeping up the Momentum

Since my devoted day of rest I have managed to keep up my busy pace. I have applied to at least five jobs since last week, I wrote 1042 words on my Charlie Hoot project, thought of the next Charlie Hoot story I want to write, and picked up "The Instructions" again (I'm around page 420 out of 1000 plus pages). I'm still working my two internship and volunteering at the Chicago Art Institute.

The only thing holding me back this week is a serious acting out from my sinuses. The up and down weather has really kept me under the weather. If I took a 24 hour allergy pill at 9pm the night before. How bad is it to take another one before that initial 24 hours has passed? Nonetheless, I am pushing forward with determination to at least write something each day. And despite how much I dislike cover letter I think I might finally be getting a handle on them. The pup is at least happy I have more time to play and take him for walks.

Lastly, because I thought it is worth a mention for some comedy. I joined a book club. Except we don't actually read books. Hummm. I joined about two months ago and attended a meeting last minute because I happen to have already read the book assigned. I was the only one that actually did the reading. The ladies are wonderful company and extremely busy professionals. So I applaud their efforts to try and read for the club, but I think they have finally given over to what most book clubs turn into - a social gathering. We did discuss in the last meeting of maybe donating books to charities instead of reading them or maybe reading shorter articles related to our interests. But we haven't made any decisions yet.

...And Then There Was ...

This is me the other day holding the world in my hand. Well, actually it's seven very small and different worlds I created. Yes, folks that is what a completed thesis stacks up to. Please disregard my appearance, I had little time for anything else at this point in the thesis process.

The first day post thesis I am feeling a little empty. There was no urgency to get out of bed and straight to the computer. I actually felt a little lost as I looked at my pup and asked "What are we going to do today?" Now I do confess I did have several things to accomplish today, but they weren't anything of great significance to me. It is slightly odd to have time to do things now guilt-free.

So what is my next plan of action you ask.

WELL, there is that children's book project I started oh just about a year ago. And there is a new children's book idea I dreamed up about two days ago. There is also about three books on my shelf I started and never finished. Also, there's that challenge to myself to write one if not two short shorts. I have one about half way written in my Google docs. And of course there is my goal to add more interesting writing blogs to my reader - I just need to find some I want to follow. I am open to suggestions. And finally there is that job searching thing I can pick up again.

So I have plenty to do and be done. But today I think I will just relax and go wherever my mood might take me. :)