OMG
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
i can post to @medium!!!!! this is big.
on writing
the book i’m writing could be pretty controversial among some family members, not to mention people i rub shoulders with – i do live in the midwest, after all. which means i have to get over my fear of confrontation (well, not fear – just hating feeling like i’m wrong and that people will hate me because i have a different opinion).
i was waffling on whether to show my aunt kathleen some pages i’d written. i talked to jane. she said, “it’s your book! you get to write what you want!” yes, yes.
then i talked to my dad and mentioned the same thing, and he said the same thing. (he might have political issues with what i write, but i am letting him read it through.)
i have no problem having my opinions and writing the book, but i need to get over it. hence the relevant xkcd.
prepared?
i have read 6 books on monsanto, corn subsidies, big agriculture, the farm bill, etc. i have read 2 memoirists i would like to emulate. i have about 20 sites bookmarked that i have yet to read, mostly current studies and news items that wouldn’t be in books yet. “the omnivore’s dilemma” is on my coffee table to read yet. may 3 is 2 days away! that’s my official start date for writing the big thing.
i think it sounds so pretentious to say, “yah, i’m writing a book.” at the same time i feel like a fraud: who am i to write a book? meanwhile mom says i’m writing my memoir, and i feel that’s a little too broadbased and STILL pretentious; i’m 33 – what do i have to write about, anyway? so, i need a code word for this project. extended blog entry? i’m writing a blog extension? hmmm.
and, i’m also trying to most of the writing on google drive, at least copy/pasta when i’m done for the day to have a backup. i can make it shared so whoever wants to read it can take a look whenever. i’m not going to promise new material every day, and there might be times when i ask some of you to take a look and give suggestions. let me know if you’d like the doc(s) shared with you!
write away
this morning i went to a writing workshop with michael perry, author of “population 485” and “coop” and “truck” etc. 2 things i got out of the session that i need to work on – write more (i don’t write nearly enough) and revision’s nasty. the theme of the workshop was that you don’t need to live in an exciting place to make good writing. it’s all about taking the mundane, regular, everyday things and presenting them correctly (rhetoric!!). he suggested taking a creative nonfiction class (done) and attending writing conferences (eek). his first 3 books were self-published (in a different time….with his own funds at a printer) and an agent approached HIM after seeing his freelance work.
i had fan girl moment. he said that he has been to neil gaiman’s house on occasion and done things with him. it took everything in me not to be all *SQUEEE* ish, as the room was full of serious, nodding writers (seriously, a few published authors and scereenwriters were there – i am small beans).
1. i need to write more 2. maybe look into submitting essays to magazines or newspapers or online places 3. i have a day job and that will severely cramp my wanting to do this, but we’ll forge ahead and see what happens.
archives
you may have noticed a huuuuge increase in my archives on the right hand side lower in the page. i just spend 4 hours going through my old LJ entries, tagging them, and uploading them. i still have to go through quite a bit and delete some of the more, uh, interesting ones, especially now since so many work-related people search this stuff (seriously – what was i thinking back in 2004? – oh yeah, that no one other than 20-somethings went online to look for this stuff. it was true). so….a lot more reading material out there if you’re bored out of your skull one afternoon.
i ALSO created a new twitter handle for all things DS related – @DevilsSyrupBook, so i will push posts about DS to that account, and all other stuff to my main twitter account. plus, if i’m going to do this book, i want to grab up that handle before someone else does.
i leave you with the hoff.
*sigh*
would someone read my novel already and tell me if it’s at all believable? gah, i’m having post-writer’s plot freakout.
comma comma duck
so, what do you do when your father the english teacher removes commas in his piece of writing that should technically be there? cringe and just do it? let him know that his comma usage is shabby? politely ask him if he’s testing my comma knowledge?