Look out! It’s the Swine Flu! November 16, 2009

I just not an e-mail full of practical tips to prevent swine flu. Stuff like washing your hands, not touching your face, and that kind of thing. So I decided to come up with my own, starting with:

1. Don’t kiss pigs. (It is, after all, the piggy flu)
2. Don’t hang out with sick people. (we’re trying to avoid getting sick here!)
3. Wash your hands (hopefully you’re doing that anyway)
4. Don’t listen to black-eyed peas music. (No, it won’t prevent the swine flu, it will just protect your brain cells.)
5. Don’t hang out with pigs.
6. On second thought, don’t go anywhere. duct tape your house shut and stay there. Pay the nice neighbor boy to go get your food.

There, lots of good advice to protect you this holiday season!

 

Awesome article on writing November 8, 2009

Jane Yolen is a very prolific and famous children’s book author. On her website their is an entire section about writing. Reading her words on how inspiration comes (“I generally do not think out plots or characters ahead of time. I let things roll along.”) rang so true with me, because I write the same way. It’s encouraging too, Mrs. Yolen has the same writing style as me, and is a very successful writer. Maybe someday I’ll be famous enough to write my own notes on writing. But anyway, go check it out, and poke around her site. You don’t be sorry!

Am I less of a writer? November 5, 2009

Today a friend of mine blew off a class so she could work on her NANOWRIMO novel. (ok, I’m not sure that’s why she did, so maybe I’m being unfair, but it sure as heck looked like a story that she was working on). She asked me not to be mad, but I am. I mean, I realize its her life, but come on! School is meg important.
Or is it? I’ve starting wondering about that. I mean, we’re both vary serious writers. But I have never blown off a class to write. Does that make me less of a writer?
If I were a really dedicated writer, would I put my writing as more important than my academic work?
I don’t know. I wish I did, and if anyone has any thoughts to offer on the topic I’m open to them, infact I’d welcome them.

And, Friend-who-shall-go-unnamed, if you happen to read this, I apologize if you’re offended or anything like that.

*insert witty title here* November 4, 2009

When I first started writing seriously my gig was short-short stories. I celebrated when a story when over 3 pages.
Now my gig is short stories, it seems. I just finished my third story to go over ten pages. It’s cool I guess, now I just need to focus that lengthening capacity to my novel!

yay stress October 30, 2009

I haven’t blogged for a while.
It should be obvious, if you look at the little calender thingy off to the side there, the one that says what days I’ve blogged. School just got crazy on me.
But I’m enjoying myself. Had a scary weekend, but thankfully its cleared up (Mom went into the hospital but don’t worry, she’s home now).
I’m all signed up for spring classes! It will be my easiest semester yet: 13.5 credits, six of which are the practicum for my program. I’m taking a science, another Early childhood Ed class, piano I and self defense. Yay!
Speaking of phs ed classes, Archery starts not this coming week be but the one after it. I think I’m looking forward to it!
And that’s enough of an update, now I need to go work on a paper that’s due on sunday. Happy Halloween ya’ll.

Preview October 14, 2009

They call it zombie flu. It’s a misnomer really; when you get infected you don’t shamble around moaning while your body rots under you. Instead you become vicious. Really Vicious. Kill everyone you see vicious. Dunno where it came from, though the current thought is it’s some kind of biological attack from Iran or somewhere like that. The good news is that something like two fifths of the population is naturally immune; there’s a legitimate reason for that, but the doctor they brought on CNN only talked gibberish. That was before the Zoms attacked the studio, that was pretty cool. The only thing…I dunno if I’m immune or not. Even if you’re immune you can still carry it, so Lawrence has been careful. He’s knows he’s immune, so he handles moving the bodies for our sad little caravan. I help him with the shooting part. It’s ok, since the disease literally eats part of your brain there’s no cure, so the president says we can kill in self defense.

 

 

The standard stuff here, my work, private, don’t steal and all that.

This is a complete story that I have plans for. At some point it will be made available, but not yet. So for now just enjoy that part.

Writer’s Group October 8, 2009

I am really fortunate.

I belong to a really awesome teen writers group (yes, I’m a little old for it) that has been described on more than one occasion as being a graduate student level writing workshop. Having sat in on undergrad literature discussion, I think they’re right. For having members ranging from 21 to 12, the group offers very mature writing critique. I read something that’s still in progress, an adaption of “Beauty and the Beast” to a modern setting. I’m proud of it, I looked up the original Grimm’s fairytale online (here, if you’re interested) and my story is recognizable, but very, very different. I’m glad to say that Beauty is not longer brain damaged into be happy all the time. ha’ha.

Most disturbing children’s book ever October 7, 2009

Easy winner as far I’m concerned: Hiroshima No Pika. It tells the story of the Hiroshima bomb for children, complete with dead bodies, radiation sickness, and the total horror. The main character, Mii, never grows after ‘the flash’ and years later her mother is still pulling pieces of glass out of her head. When I, as an ‘adult’ find a book so disturbing, it has no place on a child’s shelf. Yeah, if I never seen that book again it will be too soon. I believe that there some tought issues that can be addressed in an appropriate manner for children, but not the atomic bomb.

But I did get to see some very nice books today, yay Children’s Literature class!

BREAK WEEK! October 5, 2009

I love my college.
It’s a community college, and one of the greatest things about it is that for ever 6 weeks of class we get one week off. That means something like 2 random break weeks a semester.
One just started for me. I have a bunch of stuff that needs to be done over it, but I’ve already broken it down and its not so scary when its all assigned out.

In other news, it looks like the new season of House M.D. is going to be totally awesome, at least based on the premier episode. Yes, that’s all I’ve seen. I watch it on hulu.com, which means that I have to wait a week to see each episode play. Also on Hulu I watch Community and Bones. Community is a semi-amusing show about a bunch of students at a community college. Bones is a sometimes really gross show about a woman who’s socially inept but can learn a lot from a dead body. It’s awesome.

NEW GOAL!! September 23, 2009

I just messed up my neck. I was dancing to ‘Fire’ by 2ne1 (check it out on youtube!) and must have messed it up, ’cause now it hurts. But that’s not the goal information!

In one of my classes, Happiness and Health, we were talking about how having goals can make you happy, and I made it my goal to finish my novel before leaving for school next year. So I set steps of spending two hours a week working on the novel, and two hours on weekends. Though I might reduce the 2 hours during the week, I don’t have the time, atleast this week I don’t. Right now I have t