Sestinas...

Reading breaks are fabulous... I should really be doing more reading...

I actually only have three days off this reading break, because I was working on Monday, and I work Friday and Saturday... And I kind of wasted those three days off. I did do homework. I'm working on my poems, and all but one are coming along very well. I really hate sestinas. I really, really do. I just cannot get a nice flowing poem when I'm forced to reuse words. I cannot get a narrative without it sounding choppy and repetitive. And I'm having a lot of trouble just fitting imagery in, though the form isn't completely to blame for that.

And I still have an essay to write. I'm struggling over that even more. Poem has too much structure and form, but English doesn't have enough. The guidelines for the essay is to write an essay on a poem we've talked about. I know this is fairly normal for higher level courses, so be able to see a theme and write an essay around it. But we're not supposed to use outside sources, and I'm assuming it has to be on one poem, not a poet or a collection of poems. Ugh. Poetry. It'll be the death of me.

So I'll try and get at least the sestina done by Tuesday. What I have so far is already better than my previous one, but I know it's just going to crumble as I struggle to come up with new things to say... I never thought I would miss free verse so much.

Time to be Productive!

It's reading break! And I actually have some reading to do... Well, writing, but close enough. I get three days off of work and school, in which time I have to write an essay and a poem, along with some editing and compiling. I guess it's a good thing that my school decide to have its reading week two weeks after almost every other school. All my friends are back in school right now, so I won't get as distracted.

On another note, I applied for a job at Chapters! It's a three month contract job, so I was kind of iffy about actually applying for it. If I got the job, I'm not sure when I would actually start. The application is open until April, so I assume after that is when the job would start. That would be perfect, because it would give me time to finish school, and for us to train a new person at work, since my co-worker is leaving. I'm not sure if I would actually leave Starbucks, but at least being out of school will allow me to work more than a couple days at each location. So wish me luck with that. I like to think that my updated resume is pretty good, now that I can say I've been an assistant manager somewhere.

I guess I should also get onto submitting some writing to magazines too. I saw a few from some class presentations that might accept my work, so I'll check them out.

Internet...

Ugh, I might just have to smash my router. That way my parents might actually do something about it. So once again, I'm blaming my lack of posts on my internet. I swear! I tried to post on Tuesday, but my internet kept crashing. Let's see if I can actually get this post out tonight.

So it's a Thursday, so that means I had my Business of Writing class. Last week we actually got the day off to go off and do stuff. I accompanied my boyfriend to his school, because they have a massive library that I wanted to check out. I tried to find the periodical section... and failed. That place is massive. I did, however, find this interesting little display case that had the journals, notes and books of authors. I suppose they are probably authors that graduated from the school.

This week we talked about publication. It was... eye opening. We looked at journals to submit to though, and I feel a little more confident that I can actually get into some. My writing is mostly speculative fiction, so that really limits who will take my work. Most places like the down to earth, family friendly stuff. I like to write about the apocalypse, or other worlds. But that's not considered literature, so is rarely accepted into literary magazines. But that's okay, because I've become aware of the limited magazines that will accept them. I'll have to revise my stories and check up these magazines soon.

The prospect of getting paid to let someone have movie rights to my book is awesome though... I'm still going to keep dreaming.

Goodbye, Monty

2015 is starting off with a bleak beginning. I would take last year's start over this years, and least year I had the flu twice within the first two months. Near the beginning of January, my grandma passed away. Now the nerd community has been dealt a blow with the sudden death of Monty Oum.

He was the head animator for RWBY, a unique and unequaled small animated show. It took the overused and cliche idea of fairy tale characters, and wove it into a story that has never been told before. With the death of Monty Oum, it's hard to say if it will finish being told. 

Just a quick post today, to pay tribute to a fabulous man that was taken far before any of us were ready.