Two-Way Street

     M y mild-mannered English professor often says, "It's a two-way street," and whatever it is, I think he's right. As we look ahead to the new year, I think it's also good to take a look behind.

    I have mostly let Wynna: Dragon Rider sit and hibernate for the month of December, which right now is quite a hodgepodge of snippets in semi-chronological order. Today I started my new project of going back through what I've written and making an outline of events. As I go, I highlight things to help with continuity. For example, at one point Filip refers to people who speak dragon language as dragon warblers. I marked that, because if that's common in everyday Dorinthian conversation, I will probably need to use that again.

     It's nice to see even a holey first draft with fresh eyes. I'm excited--when I finish marking it up and filling in some major plot holes, I'll be ready to continue with Wynna on her journey to Disaster #3 and its resolution, i.e. The End.

What do you see behind that helps you move ahead?

And There Was Light

     I don't know about you, but I love Christmas! It's my favorite holiday. Today, I think I will be occupied all morning cleaning the freshly painted bathroom (mint green!), making last-minute presents, and baking sweets (not getting any writing done...) before the rest of the family gets here. In all the excitement, I don't want to forget it is the coming of the Light that I am celebrating.

 Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Free photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Happy Christmas, everybody

and all the best in 2014!

Winner Swag

     I try to get my posts up by midnight on Wednesdays, but today I'm taking advantage of my Christmas Break to deviate from my schedule a little bit and relax. I hope you are, too!

   
     As part of the NaNoWriMo winner swag, I get a special offer: two copies of my novel printed and bound for free! I want it to be brushed, washed, and presentable to a preliminary audience for that, but right now Wynna: Dragon Rider is one act and ~100 pages short of a full-length novel. The printing deal expires June 2014. So, new Goal:

❧ within the next six months, finish novel and complete round 1 editing ❧

     Now, for a backward glance. It was crazy busy the past two weeks, but I spent half a Saturday writing. Somehow my rumination on everyday miracles turned into another poem about writing poetry. Click to read "The Laboring Poet," and be sure to leave a comment below!

The Song of the Cold Sea

     One English Literature II semester project required that we pick a poem from the syllabus and use it as a springboard to something new. Some of my classmates wrote parody poems, others made paintings. I decided to arrange Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Break, Break, Break" to music. I did the piano/voice/recording/mixing, and that's my sister playing the violin. This song was a lot of work--I'm so thankful for the snow days and deadline extension that let me finish it! Time is a great gift.
Here is:

"The Song of the Cold Sea"

made on Apple GarageBand

Free image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

NaNoWriMo Winner

   

  

     Yay! I did it!

    "Winner" means that I achieved my goal by writing at least 50,000 words between November 1st and 30th. 

     I'm going to celebrate, once Christmas break starts, by sleeping. I've got two busy weeks of school left before then. Speaking of which, here's a funny poem to brighten your day:

For a Student Sleeping in a Poetry Workshop by David Wagoner : Poetry Magazine

     50,625 is a BIG step in the process, but Wynna: Dragon Rider, my NaNo novella, is still in its earliest beginnings. Even with 50k+ words down, I'm only at the climax of Act II in my plot outline. That means I have 50-100 more pages to indulge in before my first draft is finished.

     In the meantime, here are a few things I learned from NaNoWriMo:

Happy Thanksgiving!

     I love holidays. I look forward to seeing my globe-traveling family (Korea, Japan, Philippines, Italy, &c) all at once, to taking the 3-hour road trip, to sleeping in the living room of my sister's house,  to shopping, and to eating turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie, and cranberry bread. I know it's a very special thing; not everyone gets to celebrate Thanksgiving like this!
     Today, a few things I am thankful for are:

What about you?

Deadlines and Freewrites

          It's a good time of year to be thankful, and I'm thankful today for deadlines. They make me work. There's the end of the month for NaNo, the end of the semester for college, and the end of this week for my creative writing group. I decided to submit a poem, rather than a short story, since I can write them in a shorter amount of time.

          With poems I usually start by free writing. I try a few different themes or descriptive phrases until they come to dead ends or I find one that yields to my shaping. Riding my bike to and from campus almost every day, I've gotten to see fall turning to winter step by step. From the leaves starting to turning red to them getting brown and curling, every change is beautiful, and beauty is the theme of my poem, "Maker." It is a spin off of a very strange, modern Gertrude Stein's prose poem called "Picasso," an excerpt of which you can read here.

To read "Maker" click here.

What are you thankful for today?