I did hardly anything over the break. I've been reluctant to continue WMRR because I lost a bit of it when my laptop finally died. Thankfully I was diligent about backing up the document (mostly out of paranoia) and only lost about 400 words worth of writing. I rewrote it better anyways.
Speaking of word counts, I am now officially over 90,000 words with the re-completion of chapter 14. The small bits I have of chapter 15 aren't as bad as I thought, and I've had some new insights on how I can complete chapter 12. There are just a few tiny plot points that aren't so tiny to hash out. I have been thinking on this aspect for the past 6 years and I'm still not sure how it will be resolved. I'm hoping that the answer will just...come to me as I write. I am also thinking of re-writing two of the stories I completed in my fiction writing years and see if I can get them cleaned up enough to try submitting them to some magazines or contests. I will learn quickly of the shame of rejection, but I shall try regardless.
Meanwhile...in class...
I walk in on my first day about two minutes too late and notice my prof was playing a cow bell. I still have no idea why. Also, I feel old. I'm pretty sure it's just me. When asked who was NOT intimidated by science in my communications class, only about five of us raised our hands...out of about 40. Then half the class was busy texting and playing games on their phone right in front of the prof. Again, maybe I'm just old and bitter, but why do people seem to be getting more disrespectful?
Showing posts with label short story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short story. Show all posts
Monday, January 14, 2013
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Back
Figures. I come back from a holiday in worse shape than I left. Pulled muscles in my leg, cut my heel bad on a lava rock and my back is a wreck. Otherwise, I'm pretty rested. I'm ready to get back to editing and writing.
So I opened my WMRR document yesterday and realized I haven't touched it in about a month. That's no good. I have good starts to three chapters, which is both a plus and a negative. While I have a lot of it done, I lose the level of flow I might have had before. I'm planning on having these done in the next few weeks here so I can finally get to the official halfway mark (at least in my outline).
Had my end of the year interview for fiction writing. Came out of the course all right considering how busy I was this term and how difficult last term was being sick most of the time. I learned that I have great settings and scenarios, but need to work on tension, effect and impact. My prof called my work "timeless" in that it seems to exist out of any set time. It just runs in a loop. At any rate, I've got a lot to work on this summer. I also need to think of a novel I want to write for manuscript writing and start WRITING it. I could use WMRR, but I don't know if it would be accepted since it technically IS science fiction. The prof for the course does not want "genre fiction", though I'd like to think that WMRR is more about the characters rather than the genre.
Until I find a job, I'll be working on WMRR and editing pretty much full time. The editing will get me to the end of May/beginning of June. I also have to begin planning my Europe trip next year, finish my Dungeon Keeper video series and think about my next video series. I want to do Dead Space on hard (though I haven't finished it on normal yet), Dungeon Siege on Veteran (but I need to play through the game one more time for that), Fire Emblem (which I'm not sure will work well), Half Life on hard (already have some of this recorded, but I may start over) or Overlord (since I already started a walkthrough of that and never finished...). I also need to decide if I want to do text or voice commentary. People really seemed to like my test video of Dead Space with voice commentary. I think it'll depend on the game.
So though I don't have a job, I have tons to work on, which is nice because I can't handle sitting around and doing nothing. This is probably why I tried to do too much at the end of last term. Guess I better get cracking. Four months is not a long time.
So I opened my WMRR document yesterday and realized I haven't touched it in about a month. That's no good. I have good starts to three chapters, which is both a plus and a negative. While I have a lot of it done, I lose the level of flow I might have had before. I'm planning on having these done in the next few weeks here so I can finally get to the official halfway mark (at least in my outline).
Had my end of the year interview for fiction writing. Came out of the course all right considering how busy I was this term and how difficult last term was being sick most of the time. I learned that I have great settings and scenarios, but need to work on tension, effect and impact. My prof called my work "timeless" in that it seems to exist out of any set time. It just runs in a loop. At any rate, I've got a lot to work on this summer. I also need to think of a novel I want to write for manuscript writing and start WRITING it. I could use WMRR, but I don't know if it would be accepted since it technically IS science fiction. The prof for the course does not want "genre fiction", though I'd like to think that WMRR is more about the characters rather than the genre.
Until I find a job, I'll be working on WMRR and editing pretty much full time. The editing will get me to the end of May/beginning of June. I also have to begin planning my Europe trip next year, finish my Dungeon Keeper video series and think about my next video series. I want to do Dead Space on hard (though I haven't finished it on normal yet), Dungeon Siege on Veteran (but I need to play through the game one more time for that), Fire Emblem (which I'm not sure will work well), Half Life on hard (already have some of this recorded, but I may start over) or Overlord (since I already started a walkthrough of that and never finished...). I also need to decide if I want to do text or voice commentary. People really seemed to like my test video of Dead Space with voice commentary. I think it'll depend on the game.
So though I don't have a job, I have tons to work on, which is nice because I can't handle sitting around and doing nothing. This is probably why I tried to do too much at the end of last term. Guess I better get cracking. Four months is not a long time.
Monday, October 4, 2010
String Cheese Manifesto
So my shit-tascular week is thankfully over. Tomorrow I'll get my poorly-written first short story torn to itty bitty bits. My class is generally good about being gentle with such matters, but it will be painful none-the-less. I am planning on actually going to all my classes this week (perish the thought) and I also plan to write like a madman...er woman.
I had about 4 days where I did absolutely nothing. I had to put my dog down last week, which really wounded me in a lot of ways. I'm still recovering. I'm just glad she had a long, mostly healthy life (nearly fifteen years...where the last year she was ill with Cushings). I'll miss her a lot, but I think after a weekend of mourning, spending time with family and friends and being lazy, I am ready to get serious about school and writing again.
I have two tiny little pieces breaking up chapter 8 and 9, which I am actually going to finish today (horray for outragiously long delays). Then I can move on to something completely different, chapter 10. I'm excited to write this one. Here we get a perspective deviating from what I've been writing for the first 90ish pages (it will be around 90 when I'm done the two chapters). I will post a completion percentage update later today when I'm done.
In other news, I have a Dungeon Keeper mission to play and record, my hours at work have been drastically reduced (THANK GOD), I get the Thanksgiving weekend off, we are probably not going to Vegas because we are all dirt-poor and I posted my first assignment in Fiction II here: http://drschwa.deviantart.com/#/d2zyycl. Some wonderful person favourited it. That made my day Saturday. It's not my finest work by any means, but I had a lot of fun writing it, which is what counts in the end.
More news unrelated to me!
All writers that come across this should check out:
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/feb/09/the-dull-new-global-novel/
This is disturbing in many ways. Good that works can be shared globally...bad in every other sense...
Contests!
First Person Narrative National Essay Contest
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
This Year’s Topic ~ Where I Come From
Essay Length ~ 2000-2500 words.
1st prize $500.00
2nd prize $300.00
3rd prize $200.00
With a special prize of $100.00 for Best Under Nineteen
Prizewinning essays will be selected by award-winning writer and CBC Radio Host
Bill Richardson and by Anne Fleming critically acclaimed author and creative writing teacher.
Submission Due Date ~ November 1, 2010
Prize Winners announced ~ December 10, 2010
Entries should be typed, single-sided, and double-spaced with your name, address and story title on a separate sheet. Parent/Guardian signature required for anyone under 19. Forms can be found on our web site. Entry fee is $10.00 payable to Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives by cheque. Free for anyone under 19. Contest details available at www.clga.ca
Send your stories, with payment, to
Jennifer Coffey
Managing Editor, QA
106 Walpole Avenue
Toronto ON M4L 2J3
The contest is open to all ages and all backgrounds.
All entries will be considered for publication in Keeping Our Stories Alive, Volume 1, A Journal of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.
ANDDDD ANOTHER ONE (For Canadians only sorry!)
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
18th Annual Short Prose Competition
for Developing Writers
$2,500 PRIZE
The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce that submissions are being accepted until November 10, 2010
for the 18TH ANNUAL SHORT PROSE COMPETITION FOR DEVELOPING WRITERS.
The winning entry will be the best Canadian work of 2,500 words in the English language, fiction or nonfiction, written by an unpublished author.
PRIZE
$2,500 for the winning entry and the entries of the winner and finalists will be submitted to three Canadian magazines.
JURY
Writers Tarek Fatah, K.V. Johansen, and Sharon Pollock will serve as the jury.
ELIGIBILITY
This competition is open to all Canadian citizens and landed immigrants who have not had a book published by a
commercial or university press in any genre and who do not currently have a contract with a book publisher. Original
and unpublished (English language) fiction or nonfiction.
HOW TO SUBMIT ENTRIES:
· Entries should be typed, double-spaced, in a clear twelve point font, and the pages numbered on 8.5 x 11 paper,
not stapled.
· Submissions will be accepted by hardcopy only.
· Include a separate cover letter with title of story, full name, address, phone number, e-mail address, word count,
and number of pages of entry.
· Please type the name of entrant and the title of entry on each numbered page. This is not a blind competition.
· Make cheque or money order payable to The Writers' Union of Canada. Multiple entries can be submitted
together and fees can be added and paid with one cheque or money order, $25 per submission.
· Entries must be postmarked by November 10, 2010 to be eligible. Results will be announced in February 2011.
· Mail entries to: WFC Competition, The Writers’ Union of Canada, 90 Richmond Street East, Suite 200,
Toronto, ON M5C 1P1.
Results will be posted at www.writersunion.ca. Manuscripts will not be returned.
WOW long post. Last, but certainly not least...
Lately we've been talking in class about the differences between Albertan (North American Western) writers and other larger centres of writing like New York and Ontario. All those huge writing centres are so cut-throat and competative, which is good in a lot of ways, but after our class discussions, I have a new respect from writers who aren't attracted to those places. I recently went to a reading here in Calgary, and all the writers and other literature-related people were all so kind and talkative. We all don't mind helping each other out and sharing our writing experience with each other. Maybe this is because we aren't a HUGE centre of writing, but this is why I share contests and news. I like that kind of cooperative community.
I had about 4 days where I did absolutely nothing. I had to put my dog down last week, which really wounded me in a lot of ways. I'm still recovering. I'm just glad she had a long, mostly healthy life (nearly fifteen years...where the last year she was ill with Cushings). I'll miss her a lot, but I think after a weekend of mourning, spending time with family and friends and being lazy, I am ready to get serious about school and writing again.
I have two tiny little pieces breaking up chapter 8 and 9, which I am actually going to finish today (horray for outragiously long delays). Then I can move on to something completely different, chapter 10. I'm excited to write this one. Here we get a perspective deviating from what I've been writing for the first 90ish pages (it will be around 90 when I'm done the two chapters). I will post a completion percentage update later today when I'm done.
In other news, I have a Dungeon Keeper mission to play and record, my hours at work have been drastically reduced (THANK GOD), I get the Thanksgiving weekend off, we are probably not going to Vegas because we are all dirt-poor and I posted my first assignment in Fiction II here: http://drschwa.deviantart.com/#/d2zyycl. Some wonderful person favourited it. That made my day Saturday. It's not my finest work by any means, but I had a lot of fun writing it, which is what counts in the end.
More news unrelated to me!
All writers that come across this should check out:
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/feb/09/the-dull-new-global-novel/
This is disturbing in many ways. Good that works can be shared globally...bad in every other sense...
Contests!
First Person Narrative National Essay Contest
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
This Year’s Topic ~ Where I Come From
Essay Length ~ 2000-2500 words.
1st prize $500.00
2nd prize $300.00
3rd prize $200.00
With a special prize of $100.00 for Best Under Nineteen
Prizewinning essays will be selected by award-winning writer and CBC Radio Host
Bill Richardson and by Anne Fleming critically acclaimed author and creative writing teacher.
Submission Due Date ~ November 1, 2010
Prize Winners announced ~ December 10, 2010
Entries should be typed, single-sided, and double-spaced with your name, address and story title on a separate sheet. Parent/Guardian signature required for anyone under 19. Forms can be found on our web site. Entry fee is $10.00 payable to Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives by cheque. Free for anyone under 19. Contest details available at www.clga.ca
Send your stories, with payment, to
Jennifer Coffey
Managing Editor, QA
106 Walpole Avenue
Toronto ON M4L 2J3
The contest is open to all ages and all backgrounds.
All entries will be considered for publication in Keeping Our Stories Alive, Volume 1, A Journal of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.
ANDDDD ANOTHER ONE (For Canadians only sorry!)
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
18th Annual Short Prose Competition
for Developing Writers
$2,500 PRIZE
The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce that submissions are being accepted until November 10, 2010
for the 18TH ANNUAL SHORT PROSE COMPETITION FOR DEVELOPING WRITERS.
The winning entry will be the best Canadian work of 2,500 words in the English language, fiction or nonfiction, written by an unpublished author.
PRIZE
$2,500 for the winning entry and the entries of the winner and finalists will be submitted to three Canadian magazines.
JURY
Writers Tarek Fatah, K.V. Johansen, and Sharon Pollock will serve as the jury.
ELIGIBILITY
This competition is open to all Canadian citizens and landed immigrants who have not had a book published by a
commercial or university press in any genre and who do not currently have a contract with a book publisher. Original
and unpublished (English language) fiction or nonfiction.
HOW TO SUBMIT ENTRIES:
· Entries should be typed, double-spaced, in a clear twelve point font, and the pages numbered on 8.5 x 11 paper,
not stapled.
· Submissions will be accepted by hardcopy only.
· Include a separate cover letter with title of story, full name, address, phone number, e-mail address, word count,
and number of pages of entry.
· Please type the name of entrant and the title of entry on each numbered page. This is not a blind competition.
· Make cheque or money order payable to The Writers' Union of Canada. Multiple entries can be submitted
together and fees can be added and paid with one cheque or money order, $25 per submission.
· Entries must be postmarked by November 10, 2010 to be eligible. Results will be announced in February 2011.
· Mail entries to: WFC Competition, The Writers’ Union of Canada, 90 Richmond Street East, Suite 200,
Toronto, ON M5C 1P1.
Results will be posted at www.writersunion.ca. Manuscripts will not be returned.
WOW long post. Last, but certainly not least...
Lately we've been talking in class about the differences between Albertan (North American Western) writers and other larger centres of writing like New York and Ontario. All those huge writing centres are so cut-throat and competative, which is good in a lot of ways, but after our class discussions, I have a new respect from writers who aren't attracted to those places. I recently went to a reading here in Calgary, and all the writers and other literature-related people were all so kind and talkative. We all don't mind helping each other out and sharing our writing experience with each other. Maybe this is because we aren't a HUGE centre of writing, but this is why I share contests and news. I like that kind of cooperative community.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Day Lilies
Are apparently quite edible. I am on to my final short story of the year. I finally decided on what to write about. Now I just need to write it before 2pm tomorrow.
I might want to look into better time management skills.
Our end of the year reading is tomorrow. I should be more terrified. I know I will be when I'm actually THERE, but for now all I can think about is finishing my last short story...and playing Half Life. The urge to play video games always comes at the least opportune time. Kind of like writing my novel, which by the way is well into chapter 6. I am almost finished filling in mission 2. I left it out a LONG time ago in order to write chapter 7 (which was chapter 6 until I decided mission 2 needed two parts).
I love how the story evolves on its own. I start writing with a specific goal or action in mind, and end up throwing in a giant, mechanical minotaur or an accidental journey to a garbage bay. I just make it up as I go, and the story ends up CHANGING. Half the time it screws around with my initial plans and I have to go back and change stuff. This happens with my short stories as well. I am so disorganized it's crazy...but that's half the fun. Even I don't know where a story will end up. I do have plans for the rest of the novel, but I have no idea if those end results are going to be what I predict.
I also found a lot of TYPOS and sentences that don't even make sense. I tried reading a part of chapter one out loud and this is what I came across:
“One hundred to start is enough as is, unless you think we’re going to be running marathons in the future.”
“I’ll ensure that you do unless you stop wasting my time Myra. Three hundred laps.”
WTF WAS I ON? IT MAKES NO SENSE.
I made a few updates to EGAW in the past few days. Friends of mine liked it/said it was a good idea, so I will finish it. See last post for a link, or just follow the one on the right-hand side of the page.
Toodles.
(apparently "toodles" is a shortened version of the French "à tout à l'heure". Who knew?)
I seem to have a lot of time on my hands for someone who has no time on their hands.
(I washed it off this morning.)
I might want to look into better time management skills.
Our end of the year reading is tomorrow. I should be more terrified. I know I will be when I'm actually THERE, but for now all I can think about is finishing my last short story...and playing Half Life. The urge to play video games always comes at the least opportune time. Kind of like writing my novel, which by the way is well into chapter 6. I am almost finished filling in mission 2. I left it out a LONG time ago in order to write chapter 7 (which was chapter 6 until I decided mission 2 needed two parts).
I love how the story evolves on its own. I start writing with a specific goal or action in mind, and end up throwing in a giant, mechanical minotaur or an accidental journey to a garbage bay. I just make it up as I go, and the story ends up CHANGING. Half the time it screws around with my initial plans and I have to go back and change stuff. This happens with my short stories as well. I am so disorganized it's crazy...but that's half the fun. Even I don't know where a story will end up. I do have plans for the rest of the novel, but I have no idea if those end results are going to be what I predict.
I also found a lot of TYPOS and sentences that don't even make sense. I tried reading a part of chapter one out loud and this is what I came across:
“One hundred to start is enough as is, unless you think we’re going to be running marathons in the future.”
“I’ll ensure that you do unless you stop wasting my time Myra. Three hundred laps.”
WTF WAS I ON? IT MAKES NO SENSE.
I made a few updates to EGAW in the past few days. Friends of mine liked it/said it was a good idea, so I will finish it. See last post for a link, or just follow the one on the right-hand side of the page.
Toodles.
(apparently "toodles" is a shortened version of the French "à tout à l'heure". Who knew?)
I seem to have a lot of time on my hands for someone who has no time on their hands.
(I washed it off this morning.)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Revolutionary Army of TING
So, in relation to the last post, I listened to the recording of me trying to read chapter 1 of WMRR, and it was fairly hilarious. I freaked out in the middle after tripping over the words of a description and I just started laughing. Kind of shook my confidence on it a bit, because I wasn't sure if I'm a poor reader or my writing actually sucks.
I also learned that writing about the production of coins is harder than I first anticipated. Now, I'm not sure if I was the only who didn't know this, but I had no idea that most coins aren't a pure metal...they are steel discs coated with copper, nickel, sliver etc. This fact changed a large portion of my introduction. Not only that, I realized it's difficult telling the story of a penny, especially since I can't easily get into the heads of the people that encounter it...because it has a penny's perspective. So I'm not sure if it's laziness, exhaustion, confusion, worry or a lack of motivation that's stopped me from writing this so long, but I'm having issues. It's due tomorrow. I've put it off for three weeks. I can't believe I got away with it.
In other news, WMRR has ground to a full stop again. Confidence issues, time issues and laziness issues all factor in. I am quite sure now that I won't make the deadline. In fact, I know I'm not. I'm still going to try, but unfortunately I don't think I had the drive to complete it along with the other events in my life. I want so badly to finish this, and I've sworn not to start it over again. I need to push through it, even if it's horrible. I'm just so unfocused, unmotivated, busy and lazy at the same time and stressed beyond all reason to the point where I can't even remember where I was going with a sentence by the time I'm ready to finish it. Even this blog has gotten a little off topic. So while we're at it:
http://trololololololololololo.com/
oh and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE&playnext_from=TL&videos=erNK6yFFUE8&playnext=1
Finally:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTmyLsSWksM&
Someone please save me from my madness.
I also learned that writing about the production of coins is harder than I first anticipated. Now, I'm not sure if I was the only who didn't know this, but I had no idea that most coins aren't a pure metal...they are steel discs coated with copper, nickel, sliver etc. This fact changed a large portion of my introduction. Not only that, I realized it's difficult telling the story of a penny, especially since I can't easily get into the heads of the people that encounter it...because it has a penny's perspective. So I'm not sure if it's laziness, exhaustion, confusion, worry or a lack of motivation that's stopped me from writing this so long, but I'm having issues. It's due tomorrow. I've put it off for three weeks. I can't believe I got away with it.
In other news, WMRR has ground to a full stop again. Confidence issues, time issues and laziness issues all factor in. I am quite sure now that I won't make the deadline. In fact, I know I'm not. I'm still going to try, but unfortunately I don't think I had the drive to complete it along with the other events in my life. I want so badly to finish this, and I've sworn not to start it over again. I need to push through it, even if it's horrible. I'm just so unfocused, unmotivated, busy and lazy at the same time and stressed beyond all reason to the point where I can't even remember where I was going with a sentence by the time I'm ready to finish it. Even this blog has gotten a little off topic. So while we're at it:
http://trololololololololololo.com/
oh and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE&playnext_from=TL&videos=erNK6yFFUE8&playnext=1
Finally:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTmyLsSWksM&
Someone please save me from my madness.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Coinz
Since I haven't had time to work more on WMRR, I decided to talk about the next short story that's due for Fiction Writing. I'm...still not sure if it's due this week or next week because of a reading we're all attending next week, but I haven't started it so I'm hoping for the latter option. I'm essentially writing it from the perspective of a penny, A CANADIAN PENNY. Take that Abraham Lincoln, you were pwned by an English Queen and a couple of leaves. I also got to take a look into the process of coin making, which is actually quite interesting. I encountered both an angry series of posts by a person who was sick of all the misconceptions around coin collecting and a Discovery channel video I found on Youtube. I highly suggest taking a look (though I definitely recommend the video over the posts because the posts can get a little complicated at times). I'm still unsure how I'm going to end the story, whether I want to add a little science fiction element to it or not, but at least I know the beginning and the progression of it. I'm really looking forward to writing it, but I have an essay and a massive group project and a research paper topic to come up with as well. All the while poor WMRR is suffering. I miss writing about the people in my head.
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=26237
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrtCcXXNcGA
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=26237
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrtCcXXNcGA
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