A couple of poems

I wrote these in creative writing class and liked them a lot. Enjoy!

Writer's Block

Blank page

Empty, white and clean.

It taunts me.

Potential -

there's so much there,

but nothing comes.

Make a mark,

a line,

a doodle -

anything to mar that white.

Still, nothing comes.

What if nothing ever comes?

Can this empty page

take away what I am,

how I define myself?

Why is my most important tool

so menacing?

Emma

You dance wildly,

not caring who sees.

You run with an energy I envy.

Then, you are by my side,

a picture of innocence.

You giggle madly

and tug my arm,

begging so plainly,

grinning wide.

Already, you know I will give in.

I could never refuse you.

Hard to say no to a five year old.

Theater poetry

As one of the requirements for my creative writing class, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and attempting to write poetry. I thought I would share one of my first attempts, which was written completely on the fly right after I found out I was stage managing our first main stage production. Enjoy!


The Stage Manager
Show up early.
Staying late.
Keep track of actors, designers.
Remember your crews and cues.
All on your shoulders.
You can bear it.
Dimmer checks.
House music.
Prop check,
prop check,
prop check.
Calls to make.
Notes to write.
Things to post.
Til now my voice was not my own.
Now, this show is mine.
I am ready.
Go.

Planning for the Future

For months now, I've been playing with the idea of creating a vlog. I just checked the web cam I've got and the resolution isn't quite as clear as I'd like it to be, so the idea will have to wait until I can get the equipment, meaning it will have to wait until I get a little more cash flow. Money's tight right now after the textbook buying and food for the apartment and such. Current plans are to purchase what I need in the spring when I get my other refund check OR use my iphone when I get my upgrade next month, depending on its capabilities. Time will tell, I suppose.

To my knowledge, neither my laptop nor my netbook has a built in webcam. Even if the netbook does, it wasn't made to store something like a vlog, so I feel that option is out. I plan for the vlog to be an extension of this blog and will be posting on youtube with a channel under the same name - InkandGrit. I'm hoping this goal of setting up a vlog will prompt me to post things more regularly, increase traffic to my blog as well as the vlog, and help me personally with things like confidence, organizing my thoughts, and working on my facial expressions and body language.

Here's hoping this vlog goal will come to pass in the not too distant future.

Edit: I checked out some of the features on my current cell phone and found out that the video camera on it (my phone has a video camera!) isn't bad for quality. Maybe I can make this happen sooner after all. I just need some practice with video editing software.

Stupid mistakes leading to ideas

Today has been...interesting. Not necessarily in the good way either. I was, frankly, stupid and skipped breakfast this a.m. Combined with my (very) early dinner yesterday - it was more like an incredibly late lunch, I believe - I screwed up and had gone about 18 hours without eating. As I said, stupid of me. Of course, I paid the price with interest when I blacked out in science class this morning. Not fun. However, I came around and was perfectly aware of my surroundings and exactly what had happened. In fact, my first thoughts when I came to was "dammit" and several other expletives that were more to the point.

Despite that more-than-irritating setback, my only  complaint now is a sore finger, which I believe the EMTs bruised when they stuck it to check my blood sugar. My head doesn't even hurt anymore - apparently, I hit it on the chair to my immediate left. Then there's my injured pride, but it's resilient as well. This just means I'm going to not skip breakfast again and will take my backpack (packed with emergency snacks) to every class.

After this morning's lovely little episode - going back to class on Monday is going to be so much fun - I bought myself a medic alert bracelet, which is something I've been telling myself I needed for several years now. Thankfully, as I informed the EMTs, these episodes don't hit me very often at all and when they do, I can always pinpoint the cause. The last time my hypoglycemia got the best of me, excluding today, I was in junior high or high school. Normally, I do manage it fairly well. Now, finally, everyone around me will be aware should anything like this happen again.

The purchase of my new hematite beaded medic alert bracelet seemed to set off a bout of good old fashioned retail therapy. A friend came over to spend the evening with me and we went out to dinner - we had each only got one plate from the buffet when a high school marching band came in. Both ex-band students ourselves, we had clearly not thought ahead. Rather than wait out the crowd, we opted to do some window shopping that, for me, quickly turned into real shopping.

Today, I purchased my first ever pair of running shoes (pics to come later) for a mere $65 after tax. I also bought two books on running. My friend was a little surprised at "how serious I must be taking this running thing." I just smiled and shrugged. Until he spoke up, I hadn't really thought about my running as any kind of serious beyond a thing I liked doing that kept me in shape. Kind of silly from someone who, at the time of this statement, was holding a pair of bought-and-paid-for $65 running shoes and two books on the same subject.

Tomorrow - after a good breakfast - I'm going to lace up my running shoes and go for my first run in weeks. (Working out didn't seem like the brightest idea today, you know.) Tonight, I'm staring at a web page for a local 5k run that's only six weeks away and trying hard to talk myself out of it. Frankly, I'm running out of excuses.

I wonder what kind of day I would've had if I hadn't had to buy that medic alert bracelet...

A real page turner

My series of blog posts on literary villains has been put on hold since real life doesn't seem to want to slow down for me and it's difficult to write about specific villains when you don't have the literature in front of you. My books are all packed up right now, ready for me to get moved into my on campus apartment tomorrow. Today, I thought I would write about a different book that doesn't fall in with my preferred genre of fantasy. Of course, after the first few chapters, I hardly noticed. The night I finished book one of G.M. Dyrek's The Seer and the Scribe series, I stayed up late to do it. I couldn't stop turning the pages and had to know what happened next. Nothing turned out the way I expected, but I was smiling by the end.

Spear of Destiny is the first book in a series that "begins where recorded history is silent" introducing characters such as Hildegard of Bingen and Volmar, a monk and scribe at the monastery at Disibodenberg. The story is set in 12th century Germany, which is a period I know I've never studied. Despite that, I had no trouble at all keeping track of what was happening in the book. Everything starts fairly suddenly, with news of Hildegard's talents as a seer that allowed her to see a murder that had taken place generations ago at the monastery. Volmar listens to her story and helps her find proof that it was true, but before they can find a way to bring the old murderer to justice, Volmar is told of a holy relic with a powerful curse. When another body turns up at the monastery, it is up to Volmar's scientific mind to find out what really happened.

The book isn't very slow to start; it seems to be just the right amount between the opening scenes and the first subplot. Foot notes are provided at the bottom to explain details of monastic life that modern readers may not understand otherwise. I don't normally read historical fiction or murder mysteries, but I already want to get a copy of the next book in the series, Methuselah's Secret. Another cool detail: the author's son and niece are the models for Volmar and Hildegard, respectively. They appear on the cover and in the pencil illustrations inside. The illustrations added another cool angle when they appeared; the black and white style seemed very complementary of the setting and time period of the story. Thank you so much to my mom over at Crazed Mind for letting me review the book. I loved it!

No money was made off of this review. It's just my opinion. :)

Literary Villains

I'm contemplating a series of posts revolving around villainous characters in literature and the root of their cruel tendencies. Asking what might make a character tick is a lot like asking what makes a person tick - there are very few brief answers. I'm not sure how many blog entries this may give me. A lot of it will honestly depend on how long the topic holds my interest.

Currently, I'm planning blog entries on Tom Riddle AKA Lord Voldemort from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Henry Bowers from Stephen King's It, Javert from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, Bill Sikes and Fagin from Oliver Twist, Saruman and Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings series, and Xayde & Gmork from Michael Ende's The Neverending Story. Any villains you'd like to see added to the list?

For the purposes of these entries, I will be examining each villain on their own. These aren't compare and contrast pieces - that may come later, just because I'd love to see Voldemort own Xayde. Lol. In these blogs, I intend to look at each villain: what makes them bad, what might explain their particular brand of evil (if any back story was provided in the original work), and why the readers so love to hate them.

Writer Woes

My 50k work from July is currently hovering around the 55k mark on word count. No chapters yet, very little editing, and a 10k scene still waiting to be re-written after it got eaten up by human error. My main character is falling rather flat and seems to be humming the same old tune and many of my villains simply refuse to make a real appearance on the page. It's possible I've got too many villains running around and not enough heroes. Yeah, that's probably it. More heroes though... That means more characters which I'll have to introduce now and then remember to add in to earlier segments once the editing begins in full force.

It's true what they say - writing can be a very lonely profession. I spent the last month writing during almost every spare moment I had. Now, in August, I'm volunteering to do the same thing. Now to remember where I left my mind... My characters may have absconded with it weeks ago.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." (Hamlet, Act II, scene 2)
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." (Hamlet, Act II, scene 2)
"This above all: to thine own self be true." (Hamlet, Act I, scene 3)
"When writing a novel, that's pretty much entirely what life turns into: 'House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.'" - Neil Gaiman

Camp NaNoWriMo

Last night at 10:16 p.m., I completed the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge. I crossed the finish line with 50066 words and a story that's only half finished. This is the first win I've had in five years of attempting novel in a month challenges. Over the past month, I have found some NaNo specific benefits to my writing.

First of all, as NaNo founder Chris Baty says in No Plot? No Problem! "The biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It's the lack of a deadline." I have found this to be 110% accurate. With a firm deadline of July 31st and a goal of 50k words, I actually finished a day early.

To anyone who participates in NaNo and feels overwhelmed by the 50k goal, I say break it down. Just write 2k every day, even if it's pure gibberish. You can tie it all in later. I don't feel the 50k word count goal should be lowered simply because 50k, once completed, is too big a project to completely ignore. When you've got 50k+ words written into a story, you're not going to be turning your back on it with much success. Even if you stop at, say 35k, it's still a hefty amount of words that will not take being forgotten very lightly at all. Challenges like NaNo make you write such a sheer volume of words that you only have a small window in which to give up.

In the interests of not giving up, I've chosen to be a NaNo rebel and spend the August Camp NaNo session finishing my novel. I intend to use a separate online word counter that I've found to be fairly accurate when compared to the one on the NaNo site and write until the story is finished. My word count goal is 80k, though that number is not set in stone. I'm going for a finished novel, no matter the word count. Editing will begin in Nov or Dec.

For now, I'm going to get some more writing done in my novel. After all July isn't over yet.

Writing vacation

Well, it hasn't been much of a summer vacation unless you want to count a six nights a week job that pays nothing as vacation. However, I am getting to work in a theater, so I'm not complaining. this way, I'm at least getting no pay to do something I love. When I first got this internship, my adviser told me that the point of a summer theater internship, of any internship really, is to be invited back. I consider this a goal well met - I've been invited to return before I got a chance to leave.

Dallas will have to deal with me for a week longer than expected, during which time I will be paid to do the same job I'm doing now for the Jr. Player production of Twelfth Night. I'm not ashamed to admit: I agreed because money was offered. Besides that, it will look fantastic on my resume.

Aside from hauling heavy speakers around and taping mics to sweaty actors, I've spent the last few months doing a lot of the classic soul searching and finding of self that is typically expected of twenty-somethings and have finally come to my senses and chosen to pursue a different starving artist career than the one I've been going after thusfar. I'm not changing my major or anything stupid like that, not in my last year of undergrad, but I am looking at grad school and planning on an MFA in creative writing.

With this goal in mind, as well as my goal of completing my current Camp NaNo novel, I'm sharing my planned personal milestones in hopes that others (and my huge amounts of chattering about said plans) will keep me on track.

Goal 1: Reach 50k before the end of the month on my Camp NaNo novel. (This is for my own personal bragging rights more than anything. After five years of attempting and failing, it will be doubly pleasurable to brag that I completed an internship AND wrote a novel at the same time.) Deadline: July 31, 2011

Goal 2: Complete my Camp NaNo novel. (Just in case 50k doesn't cut it.) Deadline: August 31, 2011

Goal 3: Edit my camp NaNo novel beginning after finals, December 2011

All of this is geared towards the hoped for final result.

Goal 4: A complete manuscript, ready to be sent out to publishers by March 29, 2012 - my 25th birthday.

In addition to the ultimate goal of a publish ready novel manuscript, I will also be stretching my writing muscle by working on short stories and, of course, trying to get those published as well. As you see by the sidebar widget, I am nearing the half-way point on my NaNo word count and have officially surpassed my 22k record. As of this blog entry, my word count stands at 24,528 assuming my word counter is correct. I've hit several minor and major plot snags along the way, but I have fallen in love with my story.

This summer hasn't been much of a vacation, but I've begun to develop the habit of writing daily. I've spent the past fifteen days straight practicing my passions and can think of no other way I would rather spend a summer.

Waiting for Friday

Why can't I wait til Friday? Simple. It's the beginning of July and the start of Camp NaNoWriMo, a summer challenge to write a novel manuscript of 50,000 words in thirty days. NaNoWriMo traditionally takes place in November and has been going since 1999. Now, with Camp NaNoWriMo, participants have the option to turn any month into a writing month. This year, I'll be participating in July.

My NaNo record over five years of participating is 22k last November. I'm still very proud of that, but it's time to top my record. I already have a fantastic idea that I'm itching to start. Until Thursday, I will work on developing my characters and making a list of possible plot twists to incorporate when the story begins to lag. I feel that a NaNoWriMo in July will better fit my schedule this summer. I know my schedule fairly precisely and can easily carve a couple hours per day for writing before work claims me. In August, after my internship, my schedule will be more up in the air and November has never been the best month for me. There's always a play in the first two weeks and studying for finals is a must in the last week, then there's the holiday.

Scheduling conflicts aside, the whole idea of NaNoWriMo works well for me. With a strict deadline (30 days) and a set goal (50k) I don't have time to fret over tiny details or go crazy with editing when I'm still in the middle of telling the story. Who knows? Maybe this year will be my year. I've placed a widget on the sidebar to track my novelling progress.

I have heard a lot of criticism about NaNoWriMo, people arguing that writing must be focused on quality rather than sheer quantity. My personal philosophy is that there will be no quality without quantity. If there's not something there initially, there can be no judge one way or the other if it is quality.

Anyone interested in taking up a fun, crazy novel writing challenge, either in summer or in November, check out http://www.nanowrimo.org for more information.