nidjhat (![[info]](http://klab.lv/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nidjhat) rakstīja,@ 2009-01-16 13:08:00 |
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The Midweek Cuckoos
OK, whoever gets that geeky pun wins a prize. I don't know what yet. I thought it sounded better--and fit better--than the midweek blahs, because at the moment I am more jittery than laissez-faire because I've just had my fourth cup of coffee. Have been up late lately and it's finally catching up with me!I'm very excited. I finished the first draft of my poetry manuscript for my MFA program. I've given it to a few people for commentary. "Shockingly compressed," has been the word so far. For people familiar with my open mic stuff I guess one-and-two-liners are a bit disconcerting. Disconcerting can be a good thing, though. I hope in this case it was.And now, for a complete about-face, I will return to my first love...the novel. To gear up, I've started reading fiction again, beginning with Last Call by Tim Powers. I've been thinking about getting around to reading this book for years as it has been recommended to me by many people. I'm glad I'm doing it now that I'm in Vegas, since it's set here. Can't say much about it since I'm only on page 10. So far so good.It's kind of funny. I didn't realize how prolific a writer I've been until I started sorting through all my writing files. For the past three weeks, my living room floor (and I only have two rooms) has been covered with piles of semi-sorted writing. I've found some pretty interesting things I'd forgotten about, such as a 1996 attempt to write "libertarian porn" (which I destroyed, so don't even ask). I'm at the point in life where I'm not currently generating new ideas, but I'm revising old ones for a while, things in which my reach exceeded my grasp a few years ago. Yes, being in the MFA program did help me grow as a writer. (A word of caution to those who are in one or thinking about it: the biggest danger of a writing workshop isn't the ego-slaughtering that goes on in it, it's the subconscious' tendency to form a voice indistinguishable from that of one's classmates or teacher. I saw it happen a lot, and resisting that was very good for my work). Now all I have to do is pick something to work on and finish it.
OK, whoever gets that geeky pun wins a prize. I don't know what yet. I thought it sounded better--and fit better--than the midweek blahs, because at the moment I am more jittery than laissez-faire because I've just had my fourth cup of coffee. Have been up late lately and it's finally catching up with me!I'm very excited. I finished the first draft of my poetry manuscript for my MFA program. I've given it to a few people for commentary. "Shockingly compressed," has been the word so far. For people familiar with my open mic stuff I guess one-and-two-liners are a bit disconcerting. Disconcerting can be a good thing, though. I hope in this case it was.And now, for a complete about-face, I will return to my first love...the novel. To gear up, I've started reading fiction again, beginning with Last Call by Tim Powers. I've been thinking about getting around to reading this book for years as it has been recommended to me by many people. I'm glad I'm doing it now that I'm in Vegas, since it's set here. Can't say much about it since I'm only on page 10. So far so good.It's kind of funny. I didn't realize how prolific a writer I've been until I started sorting through all my writing files. For the past three weeks, my living room floor (and I only have two rooms) has been covered with piles of semi-sorted writing. I've found some pretty interesting things I'd forgotten about, such as a 1996 attempt to write "libertarian porn" (which I destroyed, so don't even ask). I'm at the point in life where I'm not currently generating new ideas, but I'm revising old ones for a while, things in which my reach exceeded my grasp a few years ago. Yes, being in the MFA program did help me grow as a writer. (A word of caution to those who are in one or thinking about it: the biggest danger of a writing workshop isn't the ego-slaughtering that goes on in it, it's the subconscious' tendency to form a voice indistinguishable from that of one's classmates or teacher. I saw it happen a lot, and resisting that was very good for my work). Now all I have to do is pick something to work on and finish it.
