January 24, 2012

Today was difficult, but productive (I think!) I am juggling so many things. I am finishing up my five-page critical paper, taking notes to begin writing my three page critical paper, mentally deciding on my topic for my second book's three page paper, and writing some of my own fiction. It is all inside my head and trying to expel all at once!!! Tonight's work on my book is a chapter from a different character other than Emma. It is Beth's recount of an incident that happened in the past. Here is my favorite part, which happens to end the chapter:


Karley’s eyes were darting around, like a wild animal, paranoid of its hunter’s approach. The face was Karley. The voice was Karley. But the eyes – they were barbaric. Spasmodic. Empty. They were void of any part of Karley recognizable to Beth.
They were the eyes of a stranger.

January 23, 2012

It has been a few days since I have had the chance, and the inclination, to write. Instead, I have completed two novels and their respective critical papers, and I must admit that I have already learned a lot. The first novel, So Much Pretty, showed me possibilities of working with various points of view and various characters and narrators, which I plan to do. The second book was a memoir...however I cannot disclose its topic without giving too much of my own plot away! In any case, I have been able to write a little today, though I am not happy with it and will certainly be revising. Here is a section that I like...mostly because of its truth, rather than its eloquence.


It reminds Emma that even if a heart heals (and it eventually does) there are pieces missing. It forever holds chasms – empty holes beneath the surface. She knew that she would
feel that way someday. Healed, but with chasms of utter emptiness.

January 16, 2012

When I spent a week at Goddard, I was fully aware of this feeling of transcending my life here in Hartville, Ohio. I was living in this alter-universe...which essencially was the "real world." I realized that I have lived 35 years in a shell of sorts, adhering to all the "rules" that I felt were placed upon me, though they were invisible rules: get good grades, go to college, work full time, get married, have a child, be a good mother, be a good friend, pay my bills...and so on. But until this past week, I had never really stepped outside of my own element to see what was out there...out there, being outside my bubble of reality. Wow. What an eye-opening and amazing experience. I believe this is having a real effect on my writing. Writing, as they taught us, should be authentic. Well, duh...but yet until now I do not know that I could have written anything authentic unless I was writing a novel about a straight-laced girl who did everything expected of her. Now, however, I am writing as the person I started to become last week. A person I am learning about, and coming into more and more each day. So my writing is more authentic, I think. This means that if someone says a word I would consider inappropriate, I have to sit back and decide if it is authentic, not if I would approve. My example is below, my favorite line for today (well, it more like a few lines...) Enjoy...


Disease- that is what the doctors called it. A disease, not a choice. Though she knew
that most people considered that false. Like a lie that its victims conspired to avoid personal
responsibility. Fuck them, she thought. Who would ever choose this?

January 15, 2012

Last night, I began my novel...again. This time, I incorporated advice from my worthy G1 friends and wrote on a notebook instead of typing on Microsoft Word. It was very freeing. I felt less inclination to change, delete, rearrange, etc. I just wrote, and wrote, and wrote.

So, this blog will follow my life as a writer: its up and downs, its difficulties, its adventures, its spiritual awakening. Each time I write, I will record my reflection...and I will also copy and paste my favorite line that I wrote during that writing experience. I hope you find this journey of mine to be filled with excitement and humor, with inspiration and anticipation. And I also hope that the lines I leave you intrigue you enough so that you want to read my novel WHEN (not if) I finish it!

My favorite line today is the first line of the novel:

Emma didn't intend to die that day...