So I keep just starting at my writing project. I set aside all homework on Thursday so that I could just finish my project and stop worrying about it. Come Friday, I had revised 7 pages and 1 new one, and I still had a lot of work today.
I need to turn this project back into a conversation I enjoy having and make it less of a nightmare where I can't find the words I want and don't know where to start. So I'm doing some quick research about Pullman's work so that I can get into some more conversation. I'm also going to reread Naomi's articles. Hopefully this works and by this evening I will be writing new material at a regular pace.
I am so ready for summer and novel writing.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Working on My Project
I'm putting all homework, etc on hold until I get my project done. I'm not nearly far enough.
I was reading through The Amber Spyglass again to mark the major points I want to talk about, and I got hooked re-reading about the land of the dead. I was thinking about Pullman's argument about death. He describes the land of the dead as a prison camp, where the souls of people are kept cooped up in a space crowded with spirits, and it's dark.
For Pullman, a more beautiful death is the release of the souls to nature and the material world. The souls fall apart and become a part of the larger world, losing their individualistic identity as they return to nature.
In rereading The Amber Spyglass, I was reminded of the Parsee/Zoroastrian death described in Cracking India. Parsees build towers where they place their dead to be fed upon by birds. It sounds kind of gross, but they think their bodies belong to nature after they pass.
I really like that idea. Oddly enough, it might have more appeal to me than even cremation and spreading ashes. Ash is good and all, but bird poop might be better to spread. No one is going to let me get away with that though. Bummer.
I was reading through The Amber Spyglass again to mark the major points I want to talk about, and I got hooked re-reading about the land of the dead. I was thinking about Pullman's argument about death. He describes the land of the dead as a prison camp, where the souls of people are kept cooped up in a space crowded with spirits, and it's dark.
For Pullman, a more beautiful death is the release of the souls to nature and the material world. The souls fall apart and become a part of the larger world, losing their individualistic identity as they return to nature.
In rereading The Amber Spyglass, I was reminded of the Parsee/Zoroastrian death described in Cracking India. Parsees build towers where they place their dead to be fed upon by birds. It sounds kind of gross, but they think their bodies belong to nature after they pass.
I really like that idea. Oddly enough, it might have more appeal to me than even cremation and spreading ashes. Ash is good and all, but bird poop might be better to spread. No one is going to let me get away with that though. Bummer.
Good Day, Yesterday? Yes, I Think So
So what if I didn't get a full draft of my tech comm proposal put together or actually do the reading for tech comm?
I did have a good class with my students in which one of my most hostile-seeming students said after class that it was a good and productive class. Woohoo! Yay for productive teaching.
I also was called about a tech writing job, but of course, when she asked if I was still interested, I told her I had already accepted another position. The tech writing job would have paid a lot better, and I could have at least taken an interview, but I don't have the money to be flying out to interview for jobs I don't plan to take. I don't want to ruin my relationship with CDOW, so I will work this job because I said I would.
I also discovered how AMAZING twitter is for job searching. It's not really great for all fields, but tech writing has gotten on the twitter-job-posting bandwagon, and it makes the job search amazingly easy. A lot of what is available seems to be in VA. I have family in VA. That could work.
I beat my anonymous IGoogle opponent at Scrabble. She is really good. I can't wait until that game goes into the stats. So proud.
...now if I can just beat Chris.
I also got Cheryl Klein's book Second Sight in the mail. I think it will be good for me as a maybe-future-copy-editor and also as a writer.
Things are good. Today's goal? Put everything on hold and finally finish my writing project. I am soooooooo close, and Naomi said to me on Monday, "Just get the ****ing thing done."
I did have a good class with my students in which one of my most hostile-seeming students said after class that it was a good and productive class. Woohoo! Yay for productive teaching.
I also was called about a tech writing job, but of course, when she asked if I was still interested, I told her I had already accepted another position. The tech writing job would have paid a lot better, and I could have at least taken an interview, but I don't have the money to be flying out to interview for jobs I don't plan to take. I don't want to ruin my relationship with CDOW, so I will work this job because I said I would.
I also discovered how AMAZING twitter is for job searching. It's not really great for all fields, but tech writing has gotten on the twitter-job-posting bandwagon, and it makes the job search amazingly easy. A lot of what is available seems to be in VA. I have family in VA. That could work.
I beat my anonymous IGoogle opponent at Scrabble. She is really good. I can't wait until that game goes into the stats. So proud.
...now if I can just beat Chris.
I also got Cheryl Klein's book Second Sight in the mail. I think it will be good for me as a maybe-future-copy-editor and also as a writer.
Things are good. Today's goal? Put everything on hold and finally finish my writing project. I am soooooooo close, and Naomi said to me on Monday, "Just get the ****ing thing done."
Monday, March 28, 2011
Project, Project, Project
Annotated bibliography is done--I could probably write that paper tomorrow (not time-wise, but my brain is ready for it), and maybe I will write it this weekend so that it is done.
Project proposal for Technical Communications...not started :/
Scary!
Reading for Wednesday--1/2 done for Indian children's lit; not started for tech comm. Oh well.
Currently, I'm working on my project because I couldn't sleep for thinking about it. In looking at the 7 most recent pages, I wonder if Naomi actually read them. She put 1 comment on the first page, and then didn't comment again until the 5th, where she proceeded to comment plenty until the end. That means 4 pretty much uncommented pages. Oh well. I can do this!
Project proposal for Technical Communications...not started :/
Scary!
Reading for Wednesday--1/2 done for Indian children's lit; not started for tech comm. Oh well.
Currently, I'm working on my project because I couldn't sleep for thinking about it. In looking at the 7 most recent pages, I wonder if Naomi actually read them. She put 1 comment on the first page, and then didn't comment again until the 5th, where she proceeded to comment plenty until the end. That means 4 pretty much uncommented pages. Oh well. I can do this!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Hopeful Goal: Living Cheap but Getting There
So here is my hopeful goal:
Blergh.
- Work really hard and have no social life for the next few months to get my novel finished. Let's shoot for August or September.
- Then get that novel accepted by some publisher or another before May.
- Also, get said publisher to pay an advance of at least enough to pay for a publishing institute.
- Go to publishing institute, work hard, network well, get job.
Blergh.
So What Do I Do When I'm Done in GJ?
Lately, I've been thinking that finding a real job after GJ, just to leave it after 6 months to go to a publishing institute will be a big hassle. It will probably mean moving again and having to pay rent while I'm at the institute.
Then again, with the job I'll be taking, I won't be able to pay off as much of my student loans as I would have liked, so maybe a publishing institute in a year will be an unreasonable expectation without a real job.
I was just kind of thinking I could get a temporary job as an administrative assistant or shelving books in a library or something. I could live with my parents, pay them minimal rent (which seems lame); I think Mom would appreciate the company. It will be tough, but then I could save up more and pay off more--maybe.
No, wait. I did the math. If I make minimum wage; pay my parents $200/month in rent; and just make the basic payments on my car, loans, car insurance, and Netflix (don't judge); I will have about $164/month leftover to save up for a publishing institute. That sucks. Take off the $30/month I spend on my cat, plus occassionally eating out, having coffee, and getting books, I will just scrape by and not save a penny, living with my parents.
Okay, real job it is. Also, minimum wage is not reasonable for anyone but a high schooler.
It's really too bad that universities don't charge based upon the money making potential of a degree. I paid just as much for my degree as an engineer, but they'll be able to pay off their loans. In essence, I also help pay for that engineer's degree. He/she pays the same for tuition, but engineering professors make more. That means that what I pay is probably helping to balance out and alleviate his education expenses. Not fair. Oh well. I guess I will hope that many of the engineers going into the field are low-income first generation college students, so that I can feel better about my tuition contribution.
I'm rambling. Time to annotate.
Then again, with the job I'll be taking, I won't be able to pay off as much of my student loans as I would have liked, so maybe a publishing institute in a year will be an unreasonable expectation without a real job.
I was just kind of thinking I could get a temporary job as an administrative assistant or shelving books in a library or something. I could live with my parents, pay them minimal rent (which seems lame); I think Mom would appreciate the company. It will be tough, but then I could save up more and pay off more--maybe.
No, wait. I did the math. If I make minimum wage; pay my parents $200/month in rent; and just make the basic payments on my car, loans, car insurance, and Netflix (don't judge); I will have about $164/month leftover to save up for a publishing institute. That sucks. Take off the $30/month I spend on my cat, plus occassionally eating out, having coffee, and getting books, I will just scrape by and not save a penny, living with my parents.
Okay, real job it is. Also, minimum wage is not reasonable for anyone but a high schooler.
It's really too bad that universities don't charge based upon the money making potential of a degree. I paid just as much for my degree as an engineer, but they'll be able to pay off their loans. In essence, I also help pay for that engineer's degree. He/she pays the same for tuition, but engineering professors make more. That means that what I pay is probably helping to balance out and alleviate his education expenses. Not fair. Oh well. I guess I will hope that many of the engineers going into the field are low-income first generation college students, so that I can feel better about my tuition contribution.
I'm rambling. Time to annotate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)