Whoa, so I disappeared off the face of the blogosphere for more than a month... oops.
I'm back at uni now. In fact, I'm in the second week of the new trimester. Yay! I missed uni and res a lot, so I'm not sure how I managed to go the ENTIRE mid-year break without blogging excessively... But that happened.
So here's what you need to know:
1. I only have eight hours of classes per week this year. And I fit all of those classes into one day. In other words, I only have eleven days of class for the entire trimester (trimester=11 weeks). It also means I have a six day weekend as far as classes go. This is good because I now have optimum availability to work at the library as I am available for all of the shifts that aren't on a Monday. Yay! This also means I have a lot of time to study, edit, write, procrastinate, and socialise without getting interrupted by class. This could go one of two ways. Either, I'm going to utilise all this uninterrupted free time and be ultra productive for eleven weeks... or I'm going to melt into a pit of eternal laziness. I'm hoping for the former, but we'll see!
2. My units this semester are Power, Politics, and Texts for Young People (as a part of my Children's Literature minor), Editing and the Author (for the Professional and Creative Writing major), Ethics in Global Society (for the self-coordinated philosophy major) and Philosophy, Art, Film (also for the philosophy major).
3. I had to get an Australian Style Manual and Mackenzie's The Editor's Companion 2nd Edition for EATA. They are amazingly beautiful resources and I am going to keep them forever.
4. I read The Hunger Games again for the kid's lit unit. I maintain the opinions which I stated in this blogpost from early last year, though I would like to insert the word 'impersonal' to the part where I'm talking about the style of writing and the issues I had there. The class about it was pretty interesting and my first assignment is about the book, so I'll probably blog about it again in the coming weeks.
5. I didn't meet my own deadline for the WALLS edits. I was SO CLOSE to finishing it the night before classes started, but it was past midnight and I was really tired and I know I only had five pages left but I stopped and went to bed and haven't touched it since. I am a bad person. I really want to finish it. By the same token, I've enjoyed the task so much that I don't really want it to end, but I am eager to get into the next stage of edits and just generally keep improving the manuscript.
6. Although I still have five pages to go, my room looks pretty cool with all the pages covered in red pen and highlightings and sticky-notes stuck to the walls, if I do say so myself.
7. The next edition of Wordly magazine is coming soon with the edits well under way. We are expecting to launch in two weeks and start our call for submissions for the last edition of the year shortly thereafter.
What writerly things have you all been up to for the past month?
- Bonnee.
Posts
Nice to see you back! Make sure you give yourself time for homework and goofing off time--never underestimate the need for goofing off. It's crucial for recharging the batteries.
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't quite make your deadline on WALLS, but it sounds like you made the right choice. I know sometimes I get to the kind of stage you were at and I rush to get it done. The important thing is to get it done right, and if you're eyeing the clock (or falling asleep) you run the risk of not doing it right. I do recommend that you block out a time in your wide-open schedule and just finish. And remember--if you like the editing process, you're going to have the chance to do it again. And again. And again....
Be well!
Goofing off is fun, I just fear I'm going to do it too often this semester!
DeleteI'm going to have to block out a bit of time soon to finish of those last five pages of edits. Thanks for visiting, Jeff! :)
That is so awesome that you've fit everything into one day! I wish I could. I've got two days, but it sure beats having four days like I did last semester (!!!). I think I'm in your Children's Lit class too! I absolutely hate the Hunger Games, but I've found the readings and stuff pretty interesting (as I am head over heels in love with dystopian sci-fi) so this first assignment should be pretty good! and good work with editing so much of your manuscript, although you didn't finish, writing something so substantial and then actually still having the will to go over it is an achievement in its own right! My writing project for now is just making the time to do something! I'm incredibly bad at managing my time, so my goal is to just make sure I start utilising my time better!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I believe we are, because you were on the email Rebecca sent out to the whole class. I'm always sitting up the front with the guys I befriended last semester :p Admittedly, I haven't even looked at the assignment stuff this semester...
DeleteThanks, and I hope you find time to write things soon! It takes a bit of motivation, but once I get the ball rolling I find it hard to stop haha. Thanks for visiting! :)
I never meet my self-imposed edit deadlines. Don't tell any prospective agents, however, :P And way to work out a doable schedule!
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, I spent a lot more time out of accessible range of my manuscript than I had anticipated... Thanks for stopping by, L.G. :)
DeletePossibly an odd question, but have you read Orwell's 1984? And if you have, did you like it? My English class read two SF novels this past year, The Hunger Games and 1984, which probably couldn't be more different. I haven't done a massive amount of writing, but I made some major decisions about my novelettes that needed to be made and I managed to pen and begin edits on a 940-ish-word sci-fi flash fic that has promise (I'll be subbing it to Daily Science Fiction soon).
ReplyDeleteNot an odd question, but I haven't read 1984 (though I really want to). Let us know how the submission to DSF goes! :)
DeleteIt has just been rejected from DSF, but at least that happened pretty fast. Fantasy Scroll Mag shall be next.
DeleteHoly cow, that class schedule sounds AWESOME! The best I was ever able to do was having Fridays off for a couple semesters. Hope you're enjoying your new classes! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a great schedule, and so far I love all of my classes. Thanks for visiting, Shari! :)
DeleteI read again your review of THE HUNGER GAMES from last year, and enjoyed reading yoru insights. I guess your course "Editing and the Author" will be great for you wanting to be also an Editor. Feel free to share some tips from these course. We all need help in self editing our novels. All the best is editing and rewriting WALLS till it will be ready. And if you have written something for WORDLY Magazine, it iwll be nice to read it. Be well. Bonnee.
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited about my Editing and the Author unit, I'll make sure to share a few tips throughout the semester. Thanks for visiting, G.M, always nice to hear from you.
Delete