Today was weird.
I woke up around 7:30, hung around for a little bit, then worked on suitcases for an hour. It was actually really productive. I maintain that about 99% of the actual sentences I wrote today are worthless, but I think I have the feel of the piece? And I like that. I feel that it is really moving forward and changing. It's really difficult to write, and I'm not exactly sure what I want the story to be, but I'll get there. Right now most of what I'm doing is forcing myself to write and seeing where that takes me.
After that I ate and went to school. Before I could start work again I had a meeting during break and english class. I'm really glad I kept english. Not only will it be helpful as I move on, but I can't imagine not taking english while at school. I always look forward to it.
The period after english I read The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas and worked on blue. Reading omelas made me more sure of what I want to do with the quiet story, but I'm still not entirely sure. I talked to Mr Newman later in the day and he recommended a book to read to give me a better idea of how to treat it.
Blue is proving to be difficult. Something I really admire about Kurt Vonnegut's stories is that he doesn't always outright explain to you the ways of the world he is writing about; you just get them as you go. That's what I want to try and do here, but I'm not sure how. I have two different beginnings and both of them feel stilted. Like suitcase, I'm just writing and seeing where I go at this point. I don't expect much. A lot of writing that I end up throwing out and maybe a paragraph that ends up being the basis for the whole story. We'll see.
After school ended, I read more Kurt and spoke with Mr Newman and Ms Franks. As always they were super helpful. Ms Franks reminded me that to make suitcases work I need a definite shift/change somewhere in there. Mr Newman helped out with the survey and recommended I read Einstein's Dreams. I still plan on sending out the survey even though I have my hands full with what I'm writing now. I really want to see if I can write about things pulled from other's experiences, rather than just my own.
I still have yet to make it to a full 5hrs, so tomorrow, ambitiously, I will dedicate an hour of writing time to at least all the pieces that have yet to be touched. I also have yet to develop a routine, but I may be getting there. I don't know. Today was so weird because I don't really know what to do with myself yet. I'm not going to lie, this freedom is a tad overwhelming and I don't know what I am really doing. Right now, I'm just trying to get it done. I don't know what works best yet, but I'll get there. I'm fairly certain this will steadily become less weird.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
The First Day
Today was quite the day.
On the way to school I bought four legal pads at CVS. That might seem inconsequential, but honestly it was the only thing I did to prepare for this project besides wearing my "write on" t-shirt to school today. This morning was a jumble of nervous excitement. I got to school at about 8:53, totally unsure of where to write or what to write about or if I would even start today.
A few minutes later I found my way to the college counseling office. After asking Ms Cops if I could commandeer the desk beside hers, I unpacked what I had brought with me. Books, the second and third Harry Potter, How to Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran, The Namesake, my kindle, and my two collections of Kurt Vonnegut. An extra sweatshirt, a navy hoody. My pencil pouch, brought back from Ecuador. I then unwrapped my first legal pad and began to sift through old ideas.
Most of the time when I think of something on the go, I write it down on my phone. Looking at all the random thoughts I have had over the last year and a half was helpful. I wrote down old ideas, good and bad, and that helped me think of new ones. Some things I found weren't even ideas; they were just random lines of dialogue that I need to use at some point. For instance, I will have a story that incorporates the sentence "She was the kind of person who put up her Christmas lights right after Halloween and kept them up until President's Day."
From that period of time spent dredging up old thoughts, I have come up with six ideas I want to start out with.
1) A support group for therapists
2) A world where people have a ration of words per year. If you want more than you are given you have to get them out of the bank. People receive fancy words for birthdays, like "flamboyant."Famous writers and poets aren't actually good, they're just rich enough to buy a ton of words. Movies aren't plot based, they are mainly random words being said. People go just to hear the words. On december 31st you have to turn in all your words. New years is spent in complete silence. I don't know exactly how I want to write about this, but I have the first sentence. It was a strange quiet place. That will probably change. This is a little reminiscent of the Phantom Tollbooth. I'm thinking that I may use the same sort of style used in the story, The Ones Who Walk away from Omealas. Not really getting attached to any characters, but mainly describing.
3) Continue writing an old story, suitcases. This will be my most serious story.
4) A world where mental illness is treated by surrounding someone with a certain color. And the reason those with mental illness can't deal with the world is that it's a host of different colors. For some reason I had written "psa: color wards off sadness" in my notes, so that's where this idea comes from. Depression will be treated with yellow. This one will be written from the perspective of one character. Maybe in a mental ward? I don't know yet. It might be like It's Kind of a Funny Story. I really don't know yet, but I want to call it Blue.
5) In children's books you always read that the main character "isn't like the other girls" and that makes her special. I want to do something making fun of that. I'm not sure what yet, or if this could even stand alone as a story. I don't know why but for some reason I'm linking this with The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt??
6) After you die on earth you go to a different planet. Before you start your new life there you are allowed to customize your life. You must have a mix of good and bad things, you choose certain traits to help you navigate the life you picked successfully. Tricky because what was important in a past life might not be important in the next one.
So, yeah. That was today. I mainly sat around and thought. WAIT. I also worked on the survey I am going to send out in a day or two. The survey is a list of questions that will hopefully illicit interesting responses from the students/faculty that I can write about. But with how today went, I may not even need that. I really think that I will keep coming up with ideas the more I work. I talked with Ms Franks after school today and she recommended some short stories I should check out. I do need to start my reading component soon.
Tomorrow I plan to work on at least three out of the six ideas. I need to work on setting a more structured schedule for myself, but right now all I've got is that I am going to write during the periods I have off tomorrow. During that time I will do nothing else. It's nice to be selfish like that. This morning I felt so excited at the prospect of dedicating my time to what I want to do. I am really looking forward to being creative all day and using my mind in a way it was seldom able to be used during school. I only was working for a few hours today and it felt incredible.
I'm really excited for the upcoming month.
On the way to school I bought four legal pads at CVS. That might seem inconsequential, but honestly it was the only thing I did to prepare for this project besides wearing my "write on" t-shirt to school today. This morning was a jumble of nervous excitement. I got to school at about 8:53, totally unsure of where to write or what to write about or if I would even start today.
A few minutes later I found my way to the college counseling office. After asking Ms Cops if I could commandeer the desk beside hers, I unpacked what I had brought with me. Books, the second and third Harry Potter, How to Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran, The Namesake, my kindle, and my two collections of Kurt Vonnegut. An extra sweatshirt, a navy hoody. My pencil pouch, brought back from Ecuador. I then unwrapped my first legal pad and began to sift through old ideas.
Most of the time when I think of something on the go, I write it down on my phone. Looking at all the random thoughts I have had over the last year and a half was helpful. I wrote down old ideas, good and bad, and that helped me think of new ones. Some things I found weren't even ideas; they were just random lines of dialogue that I need to use at some point. For instance, I will have a story that incorporates the sentence "She was the kind of person who put up her Christmas lights right after Halloween and kept them up until President's Day."
From that period of time spent dredging up old thoughts, I have come up with six ideas I want to start out with.
1) A support group for therapists
2) A world where people have a ration of words per year. If you want more than you are given you have to get them out of the bank. People receive fancy words for birthdays, like "flamboyant."Famous writers and poets aren't actually good, they're just rich enough to buy a ton of words. Movies aren't plot based, they are mainly random words being said. People go just to hear the words. On december 31st you have to turn in all your words. New years is spent in complete silence. I don't know exactly how I want to write about this, but I have the first sentence. It was a strange quiet place. That will probably change. This is a little reminiscent of the Phantom Tollbooth. I'm thinking that I may use the same sort of style used in the story, The Ones Who Walk away from Omealas. Not really getting attached to any characters, but mainly describing.
3) Continue writing an old story, suitcases. This will be my most serious story.
4) A world where mental illness is treated by surrounding someone with a certain color. And the reason those with mental illness can't deal with the world is that it's a host of different colors. For some reason I had written "psa: color wards off sadness" in my notes, so that's where this idea comes from. Depression will be treated with yellow. This one will be written from the perspective of one character. Maybe in a mental ward? I don't know yet. It might be like It's Kind of a Funny Story. I really don't know yet, but I want to call it Blue.
5) In children's books you always read that the main character "isn't like the other girls" and that makes her special. I want to do something making fun of that. I'm not sure what yet, or if this could even stand alone as a story. I don't know why but for some reason I'm linking this with The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt??
6) After you die on earth you go to a different planet. Before you start your new life there you are allowed to customize your life. You must have a mix of good and bad things, you choose certain traits to help you navigate the life you picked successfully. Tricky because what was important in a past life might not be important in the next one.
So, yeah. That was today. I mainly sat around and thought. WAIT. I also worked on the survey I am going to send out in a day or two. The survey is a list of questions that will hopefully illicit interesting responses from the students/faculty that I can write about. But with how today went, I may not even need that. I really think that I will keep coming up with ideas the more I work. I talked with Ms Franks after school today and she recommended some short stories I should check out. I do need to start my reading component soon.
Tomorrow I plan to work on at least three out of the six ideas. I need to work on setting a more structured schedule for myself, but right now all I've got is that I am going to write during the periods I have off tomorrow. During that time I will do nothing else. It's nice to be selfish like that. This morning I felt so excited at the prospect of dedicating my time to what I want to do. I am really looking forward to being creative all day and using my mind in a way it was seldom able to be used during school. I only was working for a few hours today and it felt incredible.
I'm really excited for the upcoming month.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Beginning
Hey everyone!
Obviously this is my first ever post. Im not entirely sure what this blog is about yet, but I hope it will be entertaining.
Obviously this is my first ever post. Im not entirely sure what this blog is about yet, but I hope it will be entertaining.
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