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Monday, March 12, 2012

On the writing front ...

Today I met with one of the members of my manuscript committee. (I have another meeting with the chair of my committee on Thursday.) It was immensely helpful. She helped me see certain patterns that I tend to fall into with my stories, some of which I had almost-sort-of realized by myself before; but there's something about an outside voice pointing things out that can make things so much clearer.

We talked lightheartedly about the possibility of Baby coming early and complicating things, and she said something about my being able to wrap this thesis up in two weeks. I don't think that's possible, especially considering the essays I need to grade and the ten page paper I have to draft (both by next week), but ... perhaps I could conceivably have this thing ready for binding and committee signatures by the end of the month? It would be nice ...


Meanwhile, I got an email from an old professor asking if I would submit something to the literary journal I used to edit in undergrad. So soon I will have another publication under my belt. Pretty awesome!

3 comments:

  1. What patterns have you discovered in your writing? Are you working to counteract them, or are they good patterns?

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    1. Apparently when I write stories about married couples I have a sort of good spouse/bad spouse pattern. :-P That's kind of an oversimplification, but roughly, it's there.

      Also two of the stories involved dead babies (miscarriage or other loss). O_o (I wrote or at least started both of them before I was even married, so ... but it kind of creeped me out when it was pointed out to me.)

      I don't think they're good or bad per se, especially now that I'm aware of them and don't let them take over. I guess they're like my own personal potential cliches.

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  2. A friend of mine writes a lot of fanfiction. Between them and her general fiction stories, someone is always pregnant and/or there are always children. It got to the point where she would tell me that she had a new story idea, and I'd immediately ask if someone was pregnant or had a kid. It was amusing. She's kind of a recluse and I don't think she's ever had a boyfriend, nor does she seem interested (outwardly, at least). So it's hard to determine why she has that pattern. Freud would have a field day with your pattern of good spouse/bad spouse. Something to explore. Perhaps... you are playing with your fears of a tense marriage and a miscarriage/loss of child and exploring what life would be like after those events.

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