Spent about six hours on revision this week. Hopefully I can log another hour or two over the weekend. If only my memoir were about identity theft, ancient Rome, or Warren Harding! I would then know all I need to know.
I have the first 10 chapters mostly revised, which takes me up to page 96. I was surprised to see such a high page count. I'm about one-third of the way done, but I don't think the manuscript will approach 300 words. That seems to be a little on the long side for memoir. I'd like to keep it around 225 pages, maybe 250 at the most. I guess I'll see how it all shakes out. I wish I had a solid target date, but I can't even begin to guess.
I'm currently working on a revision plan, based on questions suggested by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew in my last Loft memoir manuscript class.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Heinrich Haussler, truly happy to win!
I loved today's finish of Stage 13! This guy literally started to cry as he crossed the line. It's so refreshing to see this type of emotion, rather than cocky fist-pumping. What a sweetie!
Monday, July 13, 2009
A must-read for all comp students
I will likely share this with my comp students on the first day of class:
From the Sept. 27, 2000, issue of The Onion
First Draft of Paper Inadvertently Becomes Final Draft
EUGENE, OR–The first draft of an English 140 paper by University of Oregon sophomore Mindy Blain ultimately became the final draft, Blain reported Monday. "I was gonna keep working on it and add a bunch of stuff about how the guy who wrote [The Great Gatsby] was affected by a lot of the stuff going on around him," she said. "But then I was like, fuck it." Blain said she spent the time that would have been devoted to a revision watching Friends in her dorm's TV lounge.
From the Sept. 27, 2000, issue of The Onion
First Draft of Paper Inadvertently Becomes Final Draft
EUGENE, OR–The first draft of an English 140 paper by University of Oregon sophomore Mindy Blain ultimately became the final draft, Blain reported Monday. "I was gonna keep working on it and add a bunch of stuff about how the guy who wrote [The Great Gatsby] was affected by a lot of the stuff going on around him," she said. "But then I was like, fuck it." Blain said she spent the time that would have been devoted to a revision watching Friends in her dorm's TV lounge.
Friday, July 10, 2009
New words
I like making up new words.
From today: "interspliced." Something woven throughout is interspliced. The real term probably is simply "spliced." But whatever. I like it for my own personal use.
I do have a couple of good verbs:
to flack: to outrun (or outbike, outswim, out-maneuver in some way) someone in the very last stage of a race, after you had previously passed them. This comes from my personal experience in the 10Kato run this year. I'm running faster than ever, which means I was able to play cat-and-mouse with my dentist, Dr. Flack. Keep in mind that I'm only able to keep his pace when he's pushing a stroller with two children, probably 50 to 60 pounds. But that's neither here nor there, right? Anyway, he passed me around Mile 2, but I was able to catch up with him in the last mile as we pounded our way up Glenwood. I was filled with glee: I would finally beat him! However, in the very last stretch, probably 200m, he blasts past me! Grrrrr!
Used in a sentence: In the St. Peter 8K on July 4, I was flacked by a 10-year-old girl with cramps.
to schleck: to pull someone up a difficult climb on a bike. This derives from the fantastic Schleck brothers of Luxembourg, great climbers in the major bike races.
Used in a sentence: I need Becky Davis to schleck me up the hills around Mankato.
From today: "interspliced." Something woven throughout is interspliced. The real term probably is simply "spliced." But whatever. I like it for my own personal use.
I do have a couple of good verbs:
to flack: to outrun (or outbike, outswim, out-maneuver in some way) someone in the very last stage of a race, after you had previously passed them. This comes from my personal experience in the 10Kato run this year. I'm running faster than ever, which means I was able to play cat-and-mouse with my dentist, Dr. Flack. Keep in mind that I'm only able to keep his pace when he's pushing a stroller with two children, probably 50 to 60 pounds. But that's neither here nor there, right? Anyway, he passed me around Mile 2, but I was able to catch up with him in the last mile as we pounded our way up Glenwood. I was filled with glee: I would finally beat him! However, in the very last stretch, probably 200m, he blasts past me! Grrrrr!
Used in a sentence: In the St. Peter 8K on July 4, I was flacked by a 10-year-old girl with cramps.
to schleck: to pull someone up a difficult climb on a bike. This derives from the fantastic Schleck brothers of Luxembourg, great climbers in the major bike races.
Used in a sentence: I need Becky Davis to schleck me up the hills around Mankato.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Check out my friend's book trailer!
Book trailers are so cool! This one is particularly well done. It's for THE SKY ALWAYS HEARS ME AND THE HILLS DON'T MIND, coming out in September, authored by my friend Kirstin Cronn-Mills.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Dang Tour!
I forget how much my productivity wanes while the Tour de France is on! I easily watch coverage five hours a day. By the time it's over, it will almost be August, which is the month that school starts! And there's so much to do before then. This has been a really short summer. I didn't come out from under the avalanche of work until about June 22. I'm teaching two online classes right now, which is fine because they don't suck up entire days and I'm happy to have the work. Comparatively, things have slowed down, but I'm still busy. But very, very, very glad to be busy in this economy!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The role of parents
Today, contemplating how we view our parents when we're young. They are one-dimensional, are they not? They seem to have been put on earth to serve us, their children. We don't stop to think they might be people with unfulfilled wishes and desires, that they might feel stuck, that they might have wished they had done something different with their lives. That they might contemplate an alternate life that doesn't include us, the children. Thoughts/ideas? Am I on the right track?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Editing
Editing is kind of fun! I suppose I should say that, as I worked as a copy editor for more than two years and have taught it numerous times. I like searching for just the right word and refining prose to make it sound more fluid, more poetic. I'm also tightening and looking for redundancies, and getting rid of double first references. I'm finally starting to see this manuscript as a whole, how chapters relate to each other.
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