May 2nd Update

Since my last post I have used the following resources

Working through the writer’s devotional

I took the endless Ideas course through Creative Writing Now

Having joined the Omaha writers workshop I will be catching up on the three books the group is working though this year.
I have read the following

            I’m reading The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord

I have worked on the following

            A snowflake for my first attempt at a mystery.  As I continue to work on the snowflake my mystery has evolved into something which resembles more of a suspense mystery.

            Since I feel most comfortable as a student I’ve created a syllabus for this week and will continue to create syllabi for myself.  My writing buddy is also working on her own syllabus and we are holding each other accountable by sending each other our homework.

            The first week didn’t go as well as I would have hoped since I started some new medication which made me sick.  I’m hoping I can do better through the month of May.

Thoughts

A devotional exercise suggested limiting the verbs used to describe dialogue to just four; said, replied.

I’m going to try to work on writing in may as a 20 hour a week job.  This will allow me to both focus on writing and continue looking for a teaching job.

April NaNoWriMo camp didn’t go as well as I’d hoped but I did succeed in writing outside my comfort zone.

Update April 15, 2016

Now that the PraxisII is done it’s time to keep up the good fight, however it’s a fight that will take a lot of time. While I do that I will also be throwing myself into writing even more.  What that means for me is spending days which I’m not fighting the good fight self-educating in writing, literature, film, and poetry.  I have an array of resources to peruse through as well as a significant amount of fiction on my to read list.  My personal goal for the rest of April and May is to push harder when trying to achieve previous goals.  I will push to break each hour I spend on writing up as follows.

15 minutes to fiction

15 minutes to education/resources/grammar

30 minutes to writing/revising/editing.

In my next update I will share resources used and my experiences with some of them.

April 7 update

First I want to apologize for not having posted in a long time. I'm not going to make excuses as that would be a waste of your time to read.  I'm excited to report that I am doing camp NaNoWriMo this month. My goal is to write 10 short stories in different genres making sure that I also write from different points of view. As of today I only have one done I've got a ways to go. This month I am also taking the Praxis. For the last month and a half I've been going to the Omaha writers workshop and I'm actually finding myself a little discouraged. I love writing and love telling stories but I have less of a talent and less of a skill for it than I thought at least that's what it's feeling like from the feedback I'm getting from the people of the group. I am under no circumstances saying they are being mean rather there's just not that much positive to say about my writing.  I am not however discouraged enough to not write it just tells me that if writing is something I'm going to do I have a lot more work ahead of me.  At this point, it's work I'm willing to do. It does mean however that it may be longer than anticipated before someone sees anything of substance from me and anything is actually published because at this point despite having a number of completed works they need significantly more revision to be publication ready. I'm not going to change my April goal however I'm going to enjoy April as an opportunity to explore different genres following April I will pinpoint something specific to work on in my writing. 

January update

It seems as though life is going to continue to put me through the ringer. As I'm forced to question many things not so much my capabilities but what society will except. While I have gotten many topics for things to write about I haven't done much writing. Before things were tossed upside down I was loving the writing devotional that my husband got for me I look forward to things getting back on track so I can start up again. While I do that, I plan on cataloging and organizing the books that surrounds my home. Anyone who knows I'm doing this thinks I'm crazy because of the large number of books. I know I'm embarking on a large activity but if I take it one shelf at a time and know that I can always rearrange my organizational system if it doesn't work later I know it's a task I can handle.

Check in January 3rd

As the holiday season comes to an end and I begin to have some time to myself I look forward to what my reading and writing will bring. One of my goals for 2016 is to continue to incorporate writing into my daily schedule even while I student teach.  Not having a computer has made writing difficult but I'm excited to use the writers devotional that my husband got me for Christmas. I already had tons and tons of things I wanted to do and my husband gave me a book this year encouraging me not only to do those things but to continue honing my skills. I'm really feeling like writing has gone from something that I want to do but don't have support because it's not a worthwhile endeavor to something that while some people don't understand why I do it the people that matter most do and support me. Feeling like I can write and not have it be a closet activity at least for the people who matter most is the best feeling in the best motivation to keep doing what I love.  

Review of Ellen Hopkins's Traffick.

I want to start out by saying I have loved every book by Ellen Hopkins I have ever read, this book is no different. A great companion to Tricks. The characters are developed well and distinctly different enough that you don't confuse them as you bounce between character story to character story.  I appreciate the way characters who make bad choices don't come out with as happy of endings as those who make good choices do.   

Throughout my time reading this book my husband asked me what it was I liked about Ellen Hopkins. I'm going to share that reason with all of you.  People can tell kids or even adults not to do something and give them ample reasons why but it's actually experiencing the shortcomings and problems that go along with the choices that people are grappling with making that actually convince them not to do it. In many of Ellen Hopkins's books readers are put into a world where they follow characters who are making choices that we would want our youth or adults not to make. By getting to put oneself in a book with the character that's making those choices readers can play out their possible choices without actually doing any of the things that they're debating about. It let's readers interest world they've never been in but are questioning and walk away saying you know maybe math sounds interesting but I don't think I want to go down that path. They also offer an opportunity for literature therapy. It's really hard to get used to talk about sexual abuse often but through literature therapy readers could read Identical.  for example and talk about the characters and come to their own revelations with I don't actually talking about themselves which can make you or anyone uncomfortable. 

Weekly update Dec 20

My computer died so that means my writing for the time being is going to have to be old-fashioned. I have a phone and a tablet but there's difficulties that come along with typing on either of those that make long jaints of writing troublesome. For the time being I will have to focus on reading like a writer and hand writing any inspirations that come my way. I am still working on drafting my review of Ellen Hopkins's new book Traffick.  

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone I will see you next weekend.