Back to the Writing

This blog began in August 2008 as a forum to rant, vent, discuss, and share writing-related thoughts. I blogged about my first NaNoWriMo in November 2008 (which is still not finished, sadly) and inspiration I received from authors like Stephen King and Donald Maass. I shared excerpts from a few of my main WIPs, and I vented when I got stuck writing.

But, writing kind of got lost from my life for a while, and it got lost almost entirely from my blog before that. So far, 2010 has been a pretty crappy year. I actually was thinking of creating a mid-year blog at the end of June to show just how bad of a year it's been for me. However, I recently did some intensive writing, and things are starting to look up.

Case in point: My most recent short story was selected to appear in an anthology of short stories at the end of the summer! More info on that later. But, it's pretty awesome news! Which means, I need to get back to the main purpose of this blog -- writing. Maybe I'll get around to creating a second blog; one for life, one for writing. But for now, this will be mostly devoted to writing. Again.

For now, I think I'll try my hand at June NaNo and see what I can crank out this month while I'm still unemployed (on that front, I have a much-anticipated interview on Friday with the company I really want to work for, so more on that next week!). It's summer summer summertime! And I'm spending everyday at the pool -- granted, it's a 22" deep inflatable one in my backyard, but the kids like it so I'm happy -- and doing yardwork. And writing. Maybe taking a few months off has been good for me, because I'm feeling pretty good about the words lately.

Stay tuned. I have a feeling I'll have more writing news in the future :)

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I hate this economy. I've been unemployed for over 10 months now, my husband for almost a full year. Luckily the rest of the nation is so poor the government keeps extending our unemployment checks, but that just means it's even harder to find a job.

Especially around a full-time student's schedule. But I've been in school for SO long, and I've taken so many semesters off due to having to work extra hours, that I just CAN'T not graduate in May 2010. I'm already pissed that it's that far out instead of August like I was supposed to be :(

So, what to do? I'm applying for any part-time job or full-time w/ flexible hours I can find, and not hearing back at all. I'm posting ads for tutoring and office help, but not getting any takers.

Summer is supposed to be a fun time of cooking out and laying by the pool. We were going to buy a patio set and a trampoline, and a swingset for the kids. But instead, we can't get any of that stuff and the pool is too expensive. This summer sucks.

Here's to hoping things begin to look up!

Spring is almost over...

What to blog about? Not much has changed, hence the silence.

But finals are coming up (I have 2 papers due this coming week, 2 regular "not final" tests... then the week of May 4th I have 3 finals and another paper due), so I'm hitting the crazy part of the semester. I tried to stay ahead, or at least on track, for each class, but some classes have been easier than others to stay on top of.

So, we're going to Six Flags tomorrow for opening weekend and I HAVE to be ready for my Monday test AND have my Monday and Wednesday papers due. Oh, and read about 6 neuropsych articles by Monday's class. Yay, rah.

Writing? I don't have time for that! But as soon as the semester's over, Mandy and I are starting the plot-fest for SuNoWriMos, our own personal Summer Novel Writing Months. My goal is to write at lesat 50K on a NEW novel between June 1st and July 31st, and Mandy wants to write a whole first draft, though I'm not sure what her word expectancy is. It should be fun! Since I'm taking 12 credit hours this summer, I have to take a smaller writing load, but I seriously need to up the writing time this summer because I haven't ticked a SINGLE item off my 2009 writing to-do list :(

Reading? I probably spend too much time doing that. I've recently read 2 Jodi Picoults that I hadn't read before, and now I have read all of her novels and own half of them. I am reading 2 fantasy novels, as well as Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. And, of course, re-perusing my 3 extra credit books, My Lobotomy: A Memoir by Howard Dully, My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, and A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. They are all good books and I have enjoyed reading them. I probably should have started the reports back in February when I read them though! Just for fun, I am including a picture of my newly-acquired books, thanks to Half Price Books and the Doubleday online book club ☺ I seriously need to finish my schoolwork so I can get to reading. My TBR pile is HUGE!!! To be fair, I guess two of them are re-reads, but I'm still looking forward to them!!



I'm pretty excited for summer for other reasons, too, though. Swimming pools, sunshine, tanning, the end of my advanced neuro class... Angels & Demons (the movie), Star Trek (the movie), and My Sister's Keeper (another movie) all come out in May/June, and I'm stoked! I'm NOT so stoked about allergies, sinuses, and bugs.... but alas, I guess I'll take the bad with the good when it comes to weather. I just can't wait to graduate (May 2010 baby!!) and move to Florida where it will be a lot warmer, a lot more of the time. I'll just have to find a good allergist ☺