I've decided to streamline my blog and focus on a smaller list of subjects. They are, in order of time-consumption:
1. Teaching
2. Cooking
3. Social exploits
4. Green Cleaning/Writing my thesis
Also I'm going to try to post more often. If past endeavors are any indication, you can expect progress on these goals to be sustained for a maximum of one week. Then, who knows, I'll probably go another two years without typing things. But at least I have a plan.
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Monday, March 08, 2010
Monday, June 29, 2009
open letter to roo roo
Amanda's recent post about not being able to write immediately made me think of this meme that I found a long time ago. In May 2008 I started writing this post about not being able to write, and intended to answer all the questions in the meme to get my creative writing juices flowing. And then I never did. Aaaanyways, now I'm posting it without my answers to my good buddy Roo Roo. May my failure as a writer inspire the crap out of you, or somebody. Or nobody. As we say in France, disfruta:
In the interest of "writing" I have spent the past hour at work not working, but rather wandering the internet looking for writing tips. I came across some interesting writing exercises that are supposed to cure writer's block. I guess the idea is similar to warm-up exercises in sports or drawing or music - like playing the scales or stretching the muscles. Some people say the hardest part of writing is coming up with a topic (which is what these exercises address).
I believe the hardest part is starting to write. I guess the exercises also help the writer start to write, because writing about some random topic that doesn't really matter to you is way easier than writing about something you find important. I always feel like the reason I can't write is the fear that I might mess it up. It's easy enough to go back and edit something you've already started, but the thought of starting is sometimes too...weighty, or something.
Anyhow, here's the single solitary writing exercise I found that isn't meant for writers of fiction:
1. Do you outline?
2. Do you write straight through a book, or do you sometimes tackle the chapters out of order?
3. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?
4. Where do you write?
5. What do you do when you get writer's block?
6. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of wordcount, or as a percentage of the book as a whole)?
7. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?
8. Do you let anyone read your book while you're working on it, or do you wait until you've completed a draft before letting someone else see it?
9. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?
10. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?
11. Do your books grow or shrink in revision?
12. Do you have any writing or critique partners?
13. Do you prefer drafting or revising?
14. What are your favorite writing books?
15. Morning writer, evening writer, or doesn't matter?
16. How do you handle reviews?
17. How do you handle rejection?
18. Do you prefer to work on writing by yourself? Or do you prefer collaborating?
19. Able to work on airplanes?
20. Have you ever abandoned a book or an article that you had finished? When? Why?
21. What writing advice do you really believe in?
In the interest of "writing" I have spent the past hour at work not working, but rather wandering the internet looking for writing tips. I came across some interesting writing exercises that are supposed to cure writer's block. I guess the idea is similar to warm-up exercises in sports or drawing or music - like playing the scales or stretching the muscles. Some people say the hardest part of writing is coming up with a topic (which is what these exercises address).
I believe the hardest part is starting to write. I guess the exercises also help the writer start to write, because writing about some random topic that doesn't really matter to you is way easier than writing about something you find important. I always feel like the reason I can't write is the fear that I might mess it up. It's easy enough to go back and edit something you've already started, but the thought of starting is sometimes too...weighty, or something.
Anyhow, here's the single solitary writing exercise I found that isn't meant for writers of fiction:
1. Do you outline?
2. Do you write straight through a book, or do you sometimes tackle the chapters out of order?
3. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?
4. Where do you write?
5. What do you do when you get writer's block?
6. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of wordcount, or as a percentage of the book as a whole)?
7. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?
8. Do you let anyone read your book while you're working on it, or do you wait until you've completed a draft before letting someone else see it?
9. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?
10. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?
11. Do your books grow or shrink in revision?
12. Do you have any writing or critique partners?
13. Do you prefer drafting or revising?
14. What are your favorite writing books?
15. Morning writer, evening writer, or doesn't matter?
16. How do you handle reviews?
17. How do you handle rejection?
18. Do you prefer to work on writing by yourself? Or do you prefer collaborating?
19. Able to work on airplanes?
20. Have you ever abandoned a book or an article that you had finished? When? Why?
21. What writing advice do you really believe in?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
despues de la escuela
I just read my last blog post and laughed out loud at myself. It was like reading the words of someone describing having bamboo shoved under their pinky fingernail. That sucked, I hope it's over now. But just wait, friend, you have 9 more fingernails. And 8 of them are bigger than the pinky.
I get the same feeling when I look at my work ID card. The picture was taken the day before school started, when it was just the teachers in the building for orientation. My face is tanned and kind of plump looking, healthy... like the innocent, unsuspecting face of someone on You Can't Do That On Television... someone who is about to have a bucket of slime poured on their head.
Long story short, I had no idea what was about to happen to me. I read that post and thought, on any given day of this school year, a kid asking to take his shirt off would have been among the more "normal" things that happened that day. In fact, most days I'd be lucky if the kid, especially after gym class, even asked to take his shirt off (or walked in with it on in the first place.)
I have been screamed at, sworn at, berated, insulted and generally harassed by teenagers every single day this year. Some of the adults are not much better. I've been overwhelmed by traveling to different classrooms, unsure of my ability to do the job at all, and broken down in tears countless times, to other teachers and even in the classroom. My face looks gray and sunken compared to that ID photo. And somehow, on the last day of exams, when they all finally left and it was just the teachers again, I started to cry. You may be noticing a trend... It's true, all I did this year was f-ing cry. I'm not proud of myself.
I don't even know where I would begin writing about all the crazy stuff that has happened to me, and I'm sure it would be boring to anyone who isn't a high school teacher. (One thing I've learned is that school stories are interesting only to other "school people." I would like to thank all the non-school people who listened to my stories anyways and feigned varying degrees of interest.) So anyways, I'm not going to get into all that, I just want to say:
I get the same feeling when I look at my work ID card. The picture was taken the day before school started, when it was just the teachers in the building for orientation. My face is tanned and kind of plump looking, healthy... like the innocent, unsuspecting face of someone on You Can't Do That On Television... someone who is about to have a bucket of slime poured on their head.
Long story short, I had no idea what was about to happen to me. I read that post and thought, on any given day of this school year, a kid asking to take his shirt off would have been among the more "normal" things that happened that day. In fact, most days I'd be lucky if the kid, especially after gym class, even asked to take his shirt off (or walked in with it on in the first place.)
I have been screamed at, sworn at, berated, insulted and generally harassed by teenagers every single day this year. Some of the adults are not much better. I've been overwhelmed by traveling to different classrooms, unsure of my ability to do the job at all, and broken down in tears countless times, to other teachers and even in the classroom. My face looks gray and sunken compared to that ID photo. And somehow, on the last day of exams, when they all finally left and it was just the teachers again, I started to cry. You may be noticing a trend... It's true, all I did this year was f-ing cry. I'm not proud of myself.
I don't even know where I would begin writing about all the crazy stuff that has happened to me, and I'm sure it would be boring to anyone who isn't a high school teacher. (One thing I've learned is that school stories are interesting only to other "school people." I would like to thank all the non-school people who listened to my stories anyways and feigned varying degrees of interest.) So anyways, I'm not going to get into all that, I just want to say:
- I'm alive
- I'm glad it's over
- I'm really sorry I have been ignoring everyone's phone calls and emails for the past 10 months, and
- I'm now available to hang out, anywhere and any time (Sundays through Thursdays and weekends after work)! As the kids say, get at me.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
the state of my blog
a few weeks back I was surprised to find that industrious little high school math students came to my blog seeking information on how to use a TI-86. well, things have gotten weirder. here are a few of the more interesting searches that have brought people to my illustrious blog this week:
1. "stansfield tires" (I guess that's not too surprising, but why would someone actually seeking tires check out my blog?)
2. "wooden nickels"
3. "henry miller FEMA trailers" (at first I thought, what in the good green earth does henry Miller have to do with FEMA trailers? But then I googled it and discovered that the famous writer shares his name with a FEMA lawyer - who I can't ever recall blogging about, but whatever...)
and my personal favorite:
4. "how to write a apologize letter for drinking beer in school"
well, my friend, I hope reading my humble blog somehow helped you write a well-received apologize letter. my advice: perfect grammar will get you nowhere, so don't worry about that, but stay in school anyways. well at least high school. just don't go to grad school - it sucks, and even drinking beer during class doesn't make it more fun.
1. "stansfield tires" (I guess that's not too surprising, but why would someone actually seeking tires check out my blog?)
2. "wooden nickels"
3. "henry miller FEMA trailers" (at first I thought, what in the good green earth does henry Miller have to do with FEMA trailers? But then I googled it and discovered that the famous writer shares his name with a FEMA lawyer - who I can't ever recall blogging about, but whatever...)
and my personal favorite:
4. "how to write a apologize letter for drinking beer in school"
well, my friend, I hope reading my humble blog somehow helped you write a well-received apologize letter. my advice: perfect grammar will get you nowhere, so don't worry about that, but stay in school anyways. well at least high school. just don't go to grad school - it sucks, and even drinking beer during class doesn't make it more fun.
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