Okay, so I dragged my feet and didn't get into this class for summer. PC is offering it again in the fall, with Jimmy Berlin as instructor. Since I want to use the time to write sonnets -- off-beat, somewhat violent sonnets -- it might be just as well to wait until fall. I know Jimmy will enjoy the project.
I blame my foot-dragging on the heat. Everyone I know, everyone in my life, and that includes me, everyone is griping. Full bore hard core griping. It wears me down. Even writing here, in a peaceful, non-judgmental bluemoon world, I hear the gripe choruses in my mind. I've got to get away.
By the way, this is the day/night of a Blue Moon; the second full moon in a month. I really feel like I should find some way to recognize such an unusual event, but that bank may be empty. We'll see after work.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Classes at Phoenix College
I'm going to enroll in the Topics in Writing: Fiction: Sit Down and Write, which is a 5 week summer class that meets online. I don't write fiction, but generally the intent of these kinds of classes is to keep people writing. The instructor for this session is Connie Flynn and she's just terrific.
The challenge and the beauty of this class is that it provides you both a motivation and an expectation to write each day. I've taken the class once before and it worked wonderfully; I wrote both on the project I'd set out to do and side projects that sprang up from the interaction of the students. I'd say of the 20-some students who registered, about a dozen were very active in sharing work, commenting on work, and posting side projects.
Another class being offered this summer is also a Topics in Writing: Fiction, but it's the quite frightening Draft a Novel in 30 Days. I knew a woman who went through this last fall, and after it was over, I saw her focusing on math courses a lot. But truly, she enjoyed the course and completed the challenge of 50,000 words. Sometimes I'm very glad I can't write fiction.
The challenge and the beauty of this class is that it provides you both a motivation and an expectation to write each day. I've taken the class once before and it worked wonderfully; I wrote both on the project I'd set out to do and side projects that sprang up from the interaction of the students. I'd say of the 20-some students who registered, about a dozen were very active in sharing work, commenting on work, and posting side projects.
Another class being offered this summer is also a Topics in Writing: Fiction, but it's the quite frightening Draft a Novel in 30 Days. I knew a woman who went through this last fall, and after it was over, I saw her focusing on math courses a lot. But truly, she enjoyed the course and completed the challenge of 50,000 words. Sometimes I'm very glad I can't write fiction.
I just found a list...
It's dated 3/5/07, and it contains the names of four literary magazines and four poems. The poems were submitted that day to those magazines. I found the list while cleaning up my desk at work (a shock to those who know me) and it was lost in a stack of problems I'd been sidestepping.
Besides the magazines and titles of poems, the list reminds me of one other thing...it's been since March that I sent anything out. I have perfectly fine essays and a new poem or two that might be due for a foray, but the excuses for not sending them away are legion:
a. I'm a working mom, and my son's needs come first;
b. It's been a crazy semester at the library with two associates retiring;
c. I really, really hate rejection;
d. I'm dreadfully lazy. Really dreadfully lazy.
e. I'd have to stalk through the essays again, seeking out lines like (c) and (d) and running them through with an adverb spike.
Still, we are into the (somewhat) slower days of summer, when hiding inside in front of a keyboard is always a better option than risking the Phoenix sun. There's hope. Tell you what, I'll do it if you will. Double dog dare.
Besides the magazines and titles of poems, the list reminds me of one other thing...it's been since March that I sent anything out. I have perfectly fine essays and a new poem or two that might be due for a foray, but the excuses for not sending them away are legion:
a. I'm a working mom, and my son's needs come first;
b. It's been a crazy semester at the library with two associates retiring;
c. I really, really hate rejection;
d. I'm dreadfully lazy. Really dreadfully lazy.
e. I'd have to stalk through the essays again, seeking out lines like (c) and (d) and running them through with an adverb spike.
Still, we are into the (somewhat) slower days of summer, when hiding inside in front of a keyboard is always a better option than risking the Phoenix sun. There's hope. Tell you what, I'll do it if you will. Double dog dare.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Music Therapy
My husband commented the other day that he is amazed when I get home from work and my mood is always cheery, no matter what may have happened during the day. I told him about music therapy and thought I'd share the information with you, too.
Every since someone helped themselves to my in-dash stereo, I've carried an iPod for the car. When I bought the Nano, I thought I wouldn't enjoy the 'shuffle' mode. Well, I've never said I'm never wrong. I love the shuffle mode. Since I've chosen all the music that's loaded in, I like whatever's playing; if it doesn't match my mood, I hit the little button to bypass that song. I can keep from wallowing in the mood I carried out to my car and reset my brain to a better place. It's hard to stay annoyed at your boss or computer or anything else when Neil Sedaka starts telling you about the angel living next door or Paul Simon croons 'don't cry, baby, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.' It's better than any mood enhancer Walgreens sells.
Every since someone helped themselves to my in-dash stereo, I've carried an iPod for the car. When I bought the Nano, I thought I wouldn't enjoy the 'shuffle' mode. Well, I've never said I'm never wrong. I love the shuffle mode. Since I've chosen all the music that's loaded in, I like whatever's playing; if it doesn't match my mood, I hit the little button to bypass that song. I can keep from wallowing in the mood I carried out to my car and reset my brain to a better place. It's hard to stay annoyed at your boss or computer or anything else when Neil Sedaka starts telling you about the angel living next door or Paul Simon croons 'don't cry, baby, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.' It's better than any mood enhancer Walgreens sells.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Blog Block
Just wondering, as I struggle to decide what topics will be blogworthy: is blog block the same as writer's block? Is white-page panic more or less finger freezing than white-screen panic? I know I will write about grammar peeves, favorite writers, favorite sites, current events, classes I'm taking and will take, writing successes and regrets. But how, when?
The lack of an editor judging my submissions is both liberating and bizarre. Most young people I talk to just treat their blogs as diaries, a concept that, I think, separates the generations in an amazing way. I want to ask them, 'would you leave a paper, handwritten diary laying open in a public place?' I expect this generation to have interesting privacy issues later in life, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they'll be healthier than any generation yet.
The lack of an editor judging my submissions is both liberating and bizarre. Most young people I talk to just treat their blogs as diaries, a concept that, I think, separates the generations in an amazing way. I want to ask them, 'would you leave a paper, handwritten diary laying open in a public place?' I expect this generation to have interesting privacy issues later in life, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they'll be healthier than any generation yet.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Just getting started...
This is an experiment, and like most experiments, may have little success, much failure, and an element of learning to it. I hope to toss out information, thoughts, rants and rambles. Maybe some of it will be of interest to some people.
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