Week of April 22nd - 26th

I had a very good week though I was worried about missing out on nearly eight hours of class time to work. It was interesting and not as hard as I thought it would be to sit through all those hours of presentations. I think that because of the laid back nature and the concept that everyone's is so different, it didn't bother me. I still wish I hadn't missed out on as much class work, but I still got through two whole drafts for the week.

My best draft of the week was inspired by a fr video a friend had shown me, about the universe. An astro-physicist talking about how the atoms that make up the stars are the exact atoms that make up humans and life on earth. Of course this was inspiring and I knew I had to do something with it, so I thought about it on my run on Monday, and after my shower I started my homework and wrote for an hour. A rough draft of a piece and its only Monday…1 hour of work.

 On Tuesday I started work on a harder piece, a monologue from a 45 year old mother of three's point of view. I'm realizing that I do the best writing when I have some sort of idea of what I'm talking about, when it is inspired by some feeling or concept or something specific about a person. This most recent piece is centered around the narrator's son, fifteen years old, and I started to realize that I don't really know anything about him. I need to develop him, and then develop him in the piece. It will be easier that way, but I will still struggle with writing from a 45 year old's perspective. 

I didn't do any work on Wednesday except for a little but of editing on Monday's draft and some quick prep for my presentation on Thursday. I wasn't worried at all, usually with these things I wing it. I know myself as a writer well enough to talk about it without pre-planning. I just wanted to make sure I could touch on everything on the rubric. I decided not to give a reading sample, though I'll pass out a writing sample. 

On Thursday my presentation went very well, though I rambled here and there. A immediately regretted not doing a reading sample, I was initially thinking that it wasn't necessary but now I'm thinking that it would have been a nice touch. I plan to for Friday's in honors writing. I'm starting to wish we had class time to work this week. Tonight I did a lot of editing on my 45 year old piece, cutting and changing a lot. I’m happier with it now. I tried to insert myself into my own mother’s shoes, actually. What does it look like? What do I want it to look like when I’m 45? How do I want to look at my kid? This made it easier.

On Friday my presentation in Honors Writing went better than Thursdays, having gone through it once and hearing the types of questions people asked me. I had more to work with, and the decision that I would read aloud made it more fruitful. I forgot to talk about my universe draft though, and I wish that I did. 

This weekend my logs aren't finished fully and I need to take more time to write them, as always. This post is late. However, I edited some more on my universe draft because I really like it and it was too long anyway. Shorter is usually better, I'm learning. 

 

Weekend!

This weekend I did more reading of the Nick Adams stories and Rilke’s letters. Hemingway writes in very short sentences. Very powerfully, though. That’s the point. I realize that sometimes I get poetic and metaphorical to the point where some of my sentences and points are hard to follow, and I am trying to be aware of that in my writing. I want to be sure that each individual sentence makes sense. I also have started drafting about the concept of being alone. Thank you Rilke for the inspiration. About two hours this weekend. 

Friday, April 19th

Today I had another two hour block to work. I started another draft that I like so far, but I realize that there’s not much holding it together. After about 20 minutes of work I turned to Hemingway, but then to a book Mrs. Moore has just lent me, Rilke’s Letters To A Young Poet. There is quite a lot of information coming my way, and inspiringly so. I read, mostly, as well as peer edited one of Kristin’s drafts. Two hours of writing usually doesn’t bother me, but as it was Friday and I was having trouble drafting I was ready to be done for the day.

Thursday, April 18th

Okay. So after having a hard time creating anything, even with the wonderful materials at my disposal, I finally wrote something today. I really like it. It’s different from anything I’ve written because it covers fifteen years in one page, and it actually works, I think. It makes sense and is clear and I’m doing well in terms of not over-writing. Editing editing. Also, my own copy of Hemingway On Writing came in today, so I’m excited. I can write in it because it’s mine. 

Tuesday, April 16th

Well I had a bad day in terms of writing. I was not inspired today, I don’t know why. I tried to read the words of the day on dictionary.com because they usually serve as some sort of fuel, but I’m experiencing a tiny case of writer’s block. Senior Seminar and Honors Writing are back to back today, so I had nearly two hours to get something written, and I’ve scratched everything so far. I gave up and started to flip through Hemingway’s On Writing, and I’m thinking I should try some poetry…haven’t written much of that in a while.

Later, at about half past midnight I was still awake and I tried to write, but looking back on what I came up with I’ve decided I was delirious. Nothing really makes sense but I did pull out one piece – stanza – that I’d like to work with. Also, the idea of “Where are you from?” because I am convinced that it’s not just places, where people come from. People come from people and experiences, and I tried to write about it at one in the morning… I plan to go back to it when I’m actually in the zone and awake.