clattering down the stairs
Apr. 11th, 2011 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aamcnamaraLife calmed down a bunch, but then I used my free time to write and enjoy not being stressed and lie in the sun and spend more time with Kate and stuff so I still haven't posted in a while.
But! A few notes:
- Obvious writing statement: novels take a long time to write. (I would add "no, longer than that" but since a number of you write novels too, you know this already.) A Returning Power has finally gotten kicked into "maybe I can revise this" territory, after finishing the previous draft over Thanksgiving break. I rewrote two scenes! There are another couple of scenes in which I know what I want to change! There's another sequence that I know vaguely what I want to be different, too.
- Perhaps less obvious writing statement: for a short story to work, or to surprise me, or keep me interested... there have to be at least two different things going on. Two ideas. Two things happening. A melody and a counterpoint? This has taken me longer to figure out from reading slush than it maybe should've--and I have used this in a couple of things I have written, which is the sad part, but it just crystallized in my brain this afternoon. So. Two things. At least. Otherwise, whether the story is a thousand words or three thousand, I am probably going to lose interest.
- I finally finished reading Steam-Powered, aka The Lesbian Steampunk Anthology, the other day. (I promptly had to lend it to The Mob (aka my roommate) and then Kate. Kate's roommate wants to read it after that. I love my life and my friends.) All the stories were at least good, and by the virtue of being lesbian steampunk short stories they were kind of awesome by default. But I will say the last two in the book were my favorites, Shweta's and Amal El-Mohtar's, and now I need to go back and reread that poem and look at the picture again, because I thought that was a neat collaboration for Con or Bust even before I had read either of the stories.
- Taking a critical social thought class on the history of science/the scientific revolution, and starting to write again (I always seem to start up with the spring; sunlight gives me enough energy to write on top of all my schoolwork, maybe), is maybe ruining me for doing physics. I had a moment the other day when the Aristotelian worldview completely made sense.
- The end of the semester approaches with alarming rapidity. I register for classes for next semester... tomorrow; soon I will know where I'll be living next year. I need to buy a plane ticket to San Francisco for the summer. I need to figure out what storage service I'm using for my stuff in MA this time. Eep.
- ...and now it's time for dinner; time rushes on. To FOOD!
But! A few notes:
- Obvious writing statement: novels take a long time to write. (I would add "no, longer than that" but since a number of you write novels too, you know this already.) A Returning Power has finally gotten kicked into "maybe I can revise this" territory, after finishing the previous draft over Thanksgiving break. I rewrote two scenes! There are another couple of scenes in which I know what I want to change! There's another sequence that I know vaguely what I want to be different, too.
- Perhaps less obvious writing statement: for a short story to work, or to surprise me, or keep me interested... there have to be at least two different things going on. Two ideas. Two things happening. A melody and a counterpoint? This has taken me longer to figure out from reading slush than it maybe should've--and I have used this in a couple of things I have written, which is the sad part, but it just crystallized in my brain this afternoon. So. Two things. At least. Otherwise, whether the story is a thousand words or three thousand, I am probably going to lose interest.
- I finally finished reading Steam-Powered, aka The Lesbian Steampunk Anthology, the other day. (I promptly had to lend it to The Mob (aka my roommate) and then Kate. Kate's roommate wants to read it after that. I love my life and my friends.) All the stories were at least good, and by the virtue of being lesbian steampunk short stories they were kind of awesome by default. But I will say the last two in the book were my favorites, Shweta's and Amal El-Mohtar's, and now I need to go back and reread that poem and look at the picture again, because I thought that was a neat collaboration for Con or Bust even before I had read either of the stories.
- Taking a critical social thought class on the history of science/the scientific revolution, and starting to write again (I always seem to start up with the spring; sunlight gives me enough energy to write on top of all my schoolwork, maybe), is maybe ruining me for doing physics. I had a moment the other day when the Aristotelian worldview completely made sense.
- The end of the semester approaches with alarming rapidity. I register for classes for next semester... tomorrow; soon I will know where I'll be living next year. I need to buy a plane ticket to San Francisco for the summer. I need to figure out what storage service I'm using for my stuff in MA this time. Eep.
- ...and now it's time for dinner; time rushes on. To FOOD!