Lizz,
I wish we could have Saturday morning writing sessions at the Huntington every week and lead gloriously exciting lives away from Oneonta for the rest of the week! But alas we'll have to blog it instead...
I agree with Ben - there will be a few people who have it planed down to the week but most people will be like I want to be a writer this is what I'm supposed to do, right? I think that you should go with the piece they accepted you on and take a sampling of other stuff. Just grab it and go. You might use it, you might not, but at least you can say this is where I'm coming from and it's a pretty good chance that it's got at least a thread of where you're headed.
Use your adviser! Tell him/her right up front that you're considering the mystery route but you love literature and is there a more meta-literature road you can take or should you pick a genre. That's what they're there for - to help guide you - plus it's your first session broad ideas are expected. If it was this time next year and you were still like ummm, well maybe, then you'd have a problem. Until then don't put undue pressure on yourself. You're gonna rock it!
I'm also thinking about recycling for the quirk challenge. Finding Alice is a non traditional story with a dark twist and reading their published novels list that seems to be the road to take. I also thought maybe Pan would work here, but I wanted to ask you if you'd care if I took the idea back? I know we never actually worked on it, but I did throw it out there as a trilogy idea and if you still want to work on it together that's totally ok!
I'm here if you want to pro/con sample lists!
~Ashley
P.S. You are not an old lady! I totally want a garden :) Also I'm thinking about adopting a cat. Thoughts?
Monday, June 17, 2013
No Purpose. No Porpoises Either.
Ashley,
Greetings from the library! I came into town with Ben today so that I could run errands, and now I'm sitting in our room at the library writing this post. It would be more fun if you were sitting across from me and we were going to see a movie after, but it's okay. I wasn't trying to guilt you.
I'm glad you like Providence, and I'm glad you love your job! Mine is still fun, too, but I wouldn't say I love it. I can't wait to have a job someday that I can say that about. I'd love to come visit sometime- I've been to Newport, but never to Providence, and you know how I love theater.
Your reading nook looks awesome! I don't have any pictures today, but mine will probably either be of the garden, or of the socks that I'm knitting. I'm such an old lady.
Thanks for the breathing exercises in the last post. I definitely need to remind myself to do that occasionally. I'm leaving in a week and a half, and I have no car yet (working on it, fingers crossed the loan app goes through this time) no idea what I'm going to study, and no idea what writing samples to bring.
Actually, that last one is a slight exaggeration. I feel like I should probably bring the one that got me in to the program. They say to bring samples to read, since there are opportunities to do that if you want. I don't want to read, but I feel like I should have a few things anyway so that I can start planning my two years with my first advisor.
As far as what to study though, I'm at a loss. I've thought about tracking the evolution of the mystery (because I like those) from Poe, to the split between hard-boiled detective fiction and cozy mysteries, up through the thrillers of today like Dan Brown's new one. Which reminds me...what are the odds that book is on the new fiction shelf downstairs? Probably pretty slim, but I'll look on my way out.
I have such a varied taste in books that I'm having a hard time nailing down a topic. Ben assures me that I won't be the only one who isn't sure what to study, and he's probably right, but if he's not, I don't want to look like an idiot. I mean, it is grad school- I feel like I should have SOME idea of my purpose going in.
I am so stoked for the Quirk Books competition too! I think I'm going to go sort of classic as well, and try my hand at adapting the screenplay that I've rewritten like four times into a novel. I love the characters, and they're there, but something isn't clicking. Maybe it needs to be a novel first. I think that will be my Camp NaNo project for July. Can you believe it's time for Camp 2.0 already?
Anyway, I'm going to end this now, and go see about Inferno downstairs before I go pick up Ben and then drop him off so I can turn around and go to work. My next post will be full of baseball people stories, I'm sure.
-Lizz
PS- I love your glasses, they look super cute!
Greetings from the library! I came into town with Ben today so that I could run errands, and now I'm sitting in our room at the library writing this post. It would be more fun if you were sitting across from me and we were going to see a movie after, but it's okay. I wasn't trying to guilt you.
I'm glad you like Providence, and I'm glad you love your job! Mine is still fun, too, but I wouldn't say I love it. I can't wait to have a job someday that I can say that about. I'd love to come visit sometime- I've been to Newport, but never to Providence, and you know how I love theater.
Your reading nook looks awesome! I don't have any pictures today, but mine will probably either be of the garden, or of the socks that I'm knitting. I'm such an old lady.
Thanks for the breathing exercises in the last post. I definitely need to remind myself to do that occasionally. I'm leaving in a week and a half, and I have no car yet (working on it, fingers crossed the loan app goes through this time) no idea what I'm going to study, and no idea what writing samples to bring.
Actually, that last one is a slight exaggeration. I feel like I should probably bring the one that got me in to the program. They say to bring samples to read, since there are opportunities to do that if you want. I don't want to read, but I feel like I should have a few things anyway so that I can start planning my two years with my first advisor.
As far as what to study though, I'm at a loss. I've thought about tracking the evolution of the mystery (because I like those) from Poe, to the split between hard-boiled detective fiction and cozy mysteries, up through the thrillers of today like Dan Brown's new one. Which reminds me...what are the odds that book is on the new fiction shelf downstairs? Probably pretty slim, but I'll look on my way out.
I have such a varied taste in books that I'm having a hard time nailing down a topic. Ben assures me that I won't be the only one who isn't sure what to study, and he's probably right, but if he's not, I don't want to look like an idiot. I mean, it is grad school- I feel like I should have SOME idea of my purpose going in.
I am so stoked for the Quirk Books competition too! I think I'm going to go sort of classic as well, and try my hand at adapting the screenplay that I've rewritten like four times into a novel. I love the characters, and they're there, but something isn't clicking. Maybe it needs to be a novel first. I think that will be my Camp NaNo project for July. Can you believe it's time for Camp 2.0 already?
Anyway, I'm going to end this now, and go see about Inferno downstairs before I go pick up Ben and then drop him off so I can turn around and go to work. My next post will be full of baseball people stories, I'm sure.
-Lizz
PS- I love your glasses, they look super cute!
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Greetings From Prividence!
Lizz,
I just went through three years worth of facebook messages trying to find the password for the blog email! We've had some pretty good ideas - guess how many we actually finished?!
Anywho.
One week in and I'm quite enjoying Providence. I love my job which I don't think I've ever been able to say before and I'm really glad that I got the opportunity to travel the museum road. I think that I had been spending so much time trying to fit into these pre-constructed pathways for a career that I was continually striking out. And I was so frustrated! Because as we've already discussed I felt like I had already done all the 'right' things. I don't really know what my future looks like job wise, but the museum looks like a promising journey and the best of both worlds - both creative and academic. I'm certainly excited to see where it leads.
That being said, the end goal is still to be a Broadway actress or a enormously successful novelist :)
I haven't has a lot of exploring time yet. What I have seen seems to be vibrant and full of energy. Though I really do need to learn Spanish! I feel like more people are speaking a foreign language than English and I feel so far behind the times only knowing one language! I do know that there is quite a bit of theater so you'll have to come and visit and we can judge people together :)
Here is a picture of my reading nook.
Beautiful, yes?
I have a pretty big apartment and the nook is in my little office. All in all it is a great first place. The living room is plenty big enough if I decide to have company. The bedroom has three great big windows (no view, but great natural light). The kitchen isn't huge, but there is a lot of storage and the walls are a lovely peach color which is super cheerful. I only have two complaints. 1) The only bathroom is off of my bedroom which means that I have to keep it clean (the bedroom not the bathroom that needs to stay clean obviously) and that people have to journey through 'my' space. 2) The landlord let people make holes in the wall to hang there things. In itself not a bad thing, but now there are little holes or nails or screws sticking out of all the walls and it's driving me nuts to look at them! Oh, I also need to buy curtains but they are far to expensive for panels of fabric and I do have pull down shades so they can wait a few weeks. And by weeks I mean paychecks.
In other news - I got glasses!
I went in thinking they'd be like see you in a year and was instead told that I am super nearsighted and have an astigmatism. They did the whole this is your life with/without glasses dialogue and I was like wow I can see so much better! Overall I like them, though seeing the frames out of the corner of my eye is still a bit frustrating.
Now onto important things - writing!
I love this challenge. They just dared me to write a love story. IN! I have no idea what I'm going to write about. I'm thinking I want to keep it simple. I think everybody will go crazy with the paranormal and I'd like it to be a classic story. Maybe do a Before Sunrise thing and have it all take place in 24 hours... I'm going to think on it a little bit more and then have you play devil's advocate.
More importantly still. You start grad school in 2 weeks!
(insert me calming your panic here - now breathe)
Tell me what kind of samples you need? Also give me an overview of what the first session will be like! I want to know if I can steal any ideas without having to pay for the price of the course :p
Let me know what your thinking about for your quirk book!
~Ashley
I just went through three years worth of facebook messages trying to find the password for the blog email! We've had some pretty good ideas - guess how many we actually finished?!
Anywho.
One week in and I'm quite enjoying Providence. I love my job which I don't think I've ever been able to say before and I'm really glad that I got the opportunity to travel the museum road. I think that I had been spending so much time trying to fit into these pre-constructed pathways for a career that I was continually striking out. And I was so frustrated! Because as we've already discussed I felt like I had already done all the 'right' things. I don't really know what my future looks like job wise, but the museum looks like a promising journey and the best of both worlds - both creative and academic. I'm certainly excited to see where it leads.
That being said, the end goal is still to be a Broadway actress or a enormously successful novelist :)
I haven't has a lot of exploring time yet. What I have seen seems to be vibrant and full of energy. Though I really do need to learn Spanish! I feel like more people are speaking a foreign language than English and I feel so far behind the times only knowing one language! I do know that there is quite a bit of theater so you'll have to come and visit and we can judge people together :)
Here is a picture of my reading nook.
Beautiful, yes?
I have a pretty big apartment and the nook is in my little office. All in all it is a great first place. The living room is plenty big enough if I decide to have company. The bedroom has three great big windows (no view, but great natural light). The kitchen isn't huge, but there is a lot of storage and the walls are a lovely peach color which is super cheerful. I only have two complaints. 1) The only bathroom is off of my bedroom which means that I have to keep it clean (the bedroom not the bathroom that needs to stay clean obviously) and that people have to journey through 'my' space. 2) The landlord let people make holes in the wall to hang there things. In itself not a bad thing, but now there are little holes or nails or screws sticking out of all the walls and it's driving me nuts to look at them! Oh, I also need to buy curtains but they are far to expensive for panels of fabric and I do have pull down shades so they can wait a few weeks. And by weeks I mean paychecks.
In other news - I got glasses!
I went in thinking they'd be like see you in a year and was instead told that I am super nearsighted and have an astigmatism. They did the whole this is your life with/without glasses dialogue and I was like wow I can see so much better! Overall I like them, though seeing the frames out of the corner of my eye is still a bit frustrating.
Now onto important things - writing!
I love this challenge. They just dared me to write a love story. IN! I have no idea what I'm going to write about. I'm thinking I want to keep it simple. I think everybody will go crazy with the paranormal and I'd like it to be a classic story. Maybe do a Before Sunrise thing and have it all take place in 24 hours... I'm going to think on it a little bit more and then have you play devil's advocate.
More importantly still. You start grad school in 2 weeks!
(insert me calming your panic here - now breathe)
Tell me what kind of samples you need? Also give me an overview of what the first session will be like! I want to know if I can steal any ideas without having to pay for the price of the course :p
Let me know what your thinking about for your quirk book!
~Ashley
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