Stuff! Going on!
1. I applied for a teaching job.
The sad thing is that this constitutes a big deal for me. I had to write a CV! And some of the stuff I poured onto the page went back a VERY long way. College publications? High school awards? Let us look away quickly. But I had to do it. I want to teach a workshop and by the time I finished writing the CV I was convinced that I am fully qualified -- in fact, long overdue to run one. After all, I *did* teach a semester at the University of Virginia. Somehow they thought I was qualified. (Although they were pretty wrong at the time.)
On the other hand, I also had to submit some course proposals. For reasons I don't yet understand, these came out sounding gushy and idiotic, more like invitations to midwifery than descriptions of writing workshops. What the heck is wrong with me that I *simply could not* bring myself to use the typical language: building blocks of fiction, plot, structure, character -- and instead wrote about bringing each story to fullness or some such crap.
My proposal for the college application essay course is probably the only one they will even consider. I sounded like I damn well knew what I was doing there. And that could be fun, but I'd rather be doing short stories.
2. I am the least popular parent on the planet this week.
We imposed harsh austerity measures on computer use this week, causing a near explosion in our older child. She used the word "draconian" several times, which I was quick to point out is a fine SAT word! I am suddenly being stricter about stuff. There could be a bunch of reasons for this:
*winter is over and I no longer feel like a corpse;
*panic has set in over the impending flight of grown children from the nest;
*I always have been a big procrastinator.
Whatever the reason, I am determined to make my kids make their beds (a habit they simply never acquired), wean themselves from tv, and otherwise shape up. I have a child who has hoarder tendencies and since hoarding actually runs in my family, I kind of want to address it. I have a child who gets no exercise and tends toward depression, also worrisome. So I'm marching about in full battle dress and no one, simply no one likes me.
3. I have hit a terrible block on my story.
Real writers will say it's not a block, it's laziness and all that. But it is a block. I haven't figured out a key component -- the secret that the whole story drives toward. I am reading about secret societies (hint: they're secret so there's not much to find out) and water rights. Reacquainted myself with the word "riparian" (another fine SAT word!) but have gotten nowhere. I Googled "how to hoarde water" and once it corrected my spelling of horde it hooked me up with WoW game sites. UNhelpful. I am getting nothing done. Trying to change my ways, trying to be better, but it's slow going.
The sad thing is that this constitutes a big deal for me. I had to write a CV! And some of the stuff I poured onto the page went back a VERY long way. College publications? High school awards? Let us look away quickly. But I had to do it. I want to teach a workshop and by the time I finished writing the CV I was convinced that I am fully qualified -- in fact, long overdue to run one. After all, I *did* teach a semester at the University of Virginia. Somehow they thought I was qualified. (Although they were pretty wrong at the time.)
On the other hand, I also had to submit some course proposals. For reasons I don't yet understand, these came out sounding gushy and idiotic, more like invitations to midwifery than descriptions of writing workshops. What the heck is wrong with me that I *simply could not* bring myself to use the typical language: building blocks of fiction, plot, structure, character -- and instead wrote about bringing each story to fullness or some such crap.
My proposal for the college application essay course is probably the only one they will even consider. I sounded like I damn well knew what I was doing there. And that could be fun, but I'd rather be doing short stories.
2. I am the least popular parent on the planet this week.
We imposed harsh austerity measures on computer use this week, causing a near explosion in our older child. She used the word "draconian" several times, which I was quick to point out is a fine SAT word! I am suddenly being stricter about stuff. There could be a bunch of reasons for this:
*winter is over and I no longer feel like a corpse;
*panic has set in over the impending flight of grown children from the nest;
*I always have been a big procrastinator.
Whatever the reason, I am determined to make my kids make their beds (a habit they simply never acquired), wean themselves from tv, and otherwise shape up. I have a child who has hoarder tendencies and since hoarding actually runs in my family, I kind of want to address it. I have a child who gets no exercise and tends toward depression, also worrisome. So I'm marching about in full battle dress and no one, simply no one likes me.
3. I have hit a terrible block on my story.
Real writers will say it's not a block, it's laziness and all that. But it is a block. I haven't figured out a key component -- the secret that the whole story drives toward. I am reading about secret societies (hint: they're secret so there's not much to find out) and water rights. Reacquainted myself with the word "riparian" (another fine SAT word!) but have gotten nowhere. I Googled "how to hoarde water" and once it corrected my spelling of horde it hooked me up with WoW game sites. UNhelpful. I am getting nothing done. Trying to change my ways, trying to be better, but it's slow going.