friday, april 20, 2001
efficiently clichéd

damn i'm tired. just hope this is a bug or something, a little too early for something else. and yes, i am taking my iron like a good lil girl. the adhd med HAS to be taken, no missed doses. so, it kinda kicks my brain into remembering the other meds i am on. did did try the 6 hours of sleep my doctor insists i need, and couldn't get up this morning as a result. maybe i should stick with my usually 5. seems to do less damage that way. anyway, on to better things....

today was my first in class workshop for a 5 page story. so far we have 3 assignments in this class, and we're generally working on the second: a 250 word or less story, a 5 page story and a 15 page story or chapter. ever since the instructor trashed my 250 word story i have had the feeling i'm in trouble in that class. well, ok, so trashed is a bit strong...but he wrote at least 250 words of comments on the 250 word story, so you can see why i would say trashed. regardless, i really like the 5 page story i wrote (although i knew i would like it as long as it took for him to get to it...lol) and was really looking forward to this work shop. i like feedback on my writing as long as it isn't a personal attack and hurtful. i can even take tactless comments as long as it isn't something like "you suck. you shouldn't be writing anything", if you know what i mean. the workshop was both a pleasant surprise and a disappointment.

the disappointment came from my group members themselves: 1 didn't show, 1 hadn't read it since wednesday and the third forgot to bring her copy and needed the one i was already making edits on. i felt a little cheated. fortunately the one who had left it at home was able to remember some of her comments and both promised marked copies of the piece on monday. but still, i felt a bit put off. either i intimidate the heck out of people or they just don't take this whole university thing seriously. kinda sad to be paying as much as we pay for an education only to flake on it. and i've noticed that from quite a few students. i find it kind of odd really, but then i am once again fighting the feeling that i don't want to be in the uni at all. not sure what's up this time other than the fact that i have a ton of stuff i want to do here at home. i just keep reminding myself that what i want to do at home doesn't pay. ;) anyway, i just kinda felt let down.

the pleasant surprise was my instructor's comments. i can still like my paper! lol. no, it wasn't perfect (and i don't think anything can be perfect), but he did key in on that the story was a smaller piece of something larger. and he said that i am a good writer. both he and the young lady in the group said i was an efficient writer and both appreciated the descriptiveness (i think being a visual reader helps me with that). and, in fact, i can continue to like my draft as it was far less marked up than i thought. he does have a thing about adjectives and adverbs: he doesn't like them. i think the idea is to use as few of them as possible. he did say he wants to bring my writing up to the level of literature in the sense that one of my biggest problems is my use of clichés. most fantasy writers use quite a bit of them and he seems to feel i can do better than that. fantasy literature is like tolkien's work, and he seems to think i can reach that level.

suddenly that inked up 250 word story doesn't look so bad.

i am not sure i can reach that level of writing. i know my online readers think i rock. apparently my instructor thinks i have potential as a writer. now, if only i could catch up to them, i may actually be able to try to publish one day. it may still take someone sitting on my front doorstep, to actually brave the publishing maze, but at least i would be willing to try once she landed there.