Twenty Pages

Today, I wrote twenty pages.

My hand hurts, but I feel pretty good. My packet is due on Thursday, and for once, I feel mostly prepared. I am so glad that I don't have to divide my attention between creative and critical work anymore.

Yes, that means that I have finished my critical thesis. I'm just proofing it one last time before I send it to the office.

I'm getting really excited about the January residency and seeing everyone again. I need that boost every so often. No wonder people come back for the alumni weekend. I'm definitely going to look into joining SCBWI for after I graduate. Having a writer community is a huge help.

Is anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year? I thought about, but I think I'll get my 20 pages for workshop and that's it. If you are doing NaNoWriMo, I'd be interested in what genre you're writing and how many words you've got so far.

I'm off to do non-writerly things for awhile. I hope to update again before next year.

MLA Format is Somewhat Lacking

I've spent most of the last three days wrestling with MLA format. MLA does not have guidelines for a paper with headings and an outline, for how to cite software, for how to cite multiple pages from one website, for how to cite hypertext narratives (no surprise there), or how to cite picture books. That last one doesn't directly relate to my critical thesis, but the rest do. I've just been making things up the best I can.

Hypertext narratives usually have page titles rather than page numbers (whatever shows up in the blue bar at the web browser, for example). My current citation solution is to put the page title in brackets where the page number would normally go. Thus a citation after a quote from Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story would look like this: (Joyce [preface]). We'll see what my mentor says. . . .

In addition to that, MLA has changed the works cited formatting this year quite a bit. Now, we're required to put the medium after every works cited entry (web, print, CD, etc.), and we don't have to include URLs. I've been bouncing back and forth between Diana Hacker's website and the OWL at Purdue trying to make sure I get everything right.

Now that my thesis is mostly done (for this packet), I should get to my creative writing. I don't know how I'm going to switch to my creative brain after so much critical thinking.

P.S. For some reason, blogger won't let me post a comment, so here is my reply to Lina:

You might enjoy it, although not everyone will like nonlinear stories.

I actually liked the book better when I read it out of order.

I'm doing pretty well. My allergies always seem to act up right

before I have a packet due. Maybe they're stress related. . . .

How are things going with you?

Planning for Next Semester Already?

I’m about halfway through with my last packet, and I have two weeks until I have to stick it in the mail. I’ve read a dozen picture books, two novels, two MG non-fiction books, and some other bits and pieces. I’ve also written about 20 pages of my science fiction novel as well as 20 pages of a new contemporary piece I’m working on (yes, I work in pages rather than word counts). Not too bad.

Aside from school, my writing has been going okay. I’m still having trouble with the POV of my sci-fi novel, but I really like my new contemporary story, Aside from the short story I wrote earlier in the semester, this is my first attempt at a contemporary piece. I submitted it for my workshop piece, so we’ll see how that goes.

I’ve been trying to decide what to work on next semester. I’m thinking of working on my contemporary piece, but I’m not sure what else I’d like to work on, if anything. I’m also debating what craft areas to focus on. I’d tried to work on POV this semester, but I’m still struggling. I started a book list so that I can have something ready for my semester plan. I’m so lost when it comes to famous kid’s books. I always just read what looked fun to me, which means no Charlotte’s Web, no Phantom Tollbooth, no Wind in the Willows, no Where the Wild Things Are, etc.

I also have to start thinking about my critical thesis for the third semester. Hmmm. Not so much fun. I had thought about doing something on hypertext, but I’m not sure if that’s feasible.

I should get back to writing my bibliography for this packet. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!