Finale

Dear Readers,

Technically today is the last day of my honors blog. From here on out this may continue or they may not but chances are it will be far less frequent and far less focused. My apologies. However I would like to say that this has been an excellent endeavor. I've realized a lot of things about writing, and even though I have not suddenly become a better writer, I know that the things I have discovered will equip me to sometime in the future, most likely gradually and many years down the road, improve upon my writing.

The Artist

I was planning on writing about Jane Eyre or Gulliver's Travels today, as those two stories are next on the docket in my literature classes, but since I've not finished reading either of them yet, I'll hold off. Not without other intentions though, as today in class we read a short story I enjoyed quite a bit: "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros.

Modest: moderate, adequate, acceptable

Today I read Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." If you haven't read it I suggest you do. It is quite satirical/ironic/comically immodest. Reading it without knowing those things would be terribly, terribly horrific. Like watching movies like Hot Fuzz without the ability to realize how intentionally fake the blood is suppose to be. 

Happy Wednesday!

The Goodreads Choice Awards are IN!

My "To-Read" list just got a little bit longer.

So many books, so little time:

 

To see them for yourself just click!

Book People Unite

I was planning to talk about John Milton's Paradise Lost (which we've been reading the past few weeks in Brit Lit). However since I have nothing too new to say about it (He was another one of the authors who enjoyed combining science, mythology, and religion within his writing, and did a swell job as far as I can tell), I'll summarize what I would have said: 

He does a fabulous job of taking the Biblical account of the time surrounding the fall (the story of Adam & Eve eating the forbidden fruit) and making it more storylike. He takes very 2D people and turns them into 3D characters. Adam and Eve are not really mentioned a whole lot throughout the Bible so not much is known, which is ok. But for the sake of literary entertainment and poetic expression Milton gives them motives and emotions and dialogue. Its nice, and even though fictional, inspired a lot of questions (for me any way) about what we ARE told about Adam and Eve in the Bible. Quite, quite intriguing. 

Now that I just vomited that topic I'd like to address the main focal point of this post. I stumbled across this little gem just before coming here to post:

John Donne Part Two?

I apologize for returning to a subject already addressed but I had to write a paper on a John Donne poem this week so I have been reminded of what a great job he does of writing artistically about religion and science: both things I wrote about in my previous John Donne post.

To make sure I do not reiterate to a fault I'll try to focus on how I hope to include these admirable qualities of Donne's poetry to my own writing. Also I will attempt to draw from this new poem, called "A Valediction: Of Weeping,"which I had to read and intently study for the paper.

Dinner and a Show

Wow, post 20! I never thought I'd see this day. If I would've done the math it would have been a no brainer but I'm a writer not a mathematician. I don't have long before the semester is over. I know I wont see 30 posts so this mile marker will have have to suffice as cause for celebration. 

Happy 20th Post!

Now to business:

For the last few weeks we've been reading The Awakening by Kate Chopin (not related to the musical genius Frédéric Chopin... I checked). Chopin is now considered to be a significant writer of feminist literature, even though she herself didn't consider herself a feminist. As I see it, after reading this book, she isn't so much as a women's rights promoter but rather a believer in personal rights. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is stereotypically the time to enjoy great food and time spent with family. I know that's not how it is for everyone (especially for those poor characters in realism fiction, uff-da!). However that is how it is for me and I'd encourage you to take the day to at least attempt to also appreciate both the fleeting things of life (turkey, stuffing, agonizing stories from your Uncle Ralf) as well as the eternal things (family, friends, lutefisk).

You Should Be Writing.

I don't know why this made me laugh but I thought I'd share. I don't even know who made it (so perhaps the photo was taken for other purposes...) but the marvel nerd in me enjoys it.

 

Children's Literature

Don't get me wrong I love working in a library, but lately I've been missing my old job as a nanny and longing for the day when I can have the best of both worlds as a children's librarian. Today especially.

One of the students came in with her four children who needed help finding the kid's book (a rare commodity at a community college library) so they could read while she got some studying done. "Do you have any princess books?" one of the girls asked as I led the flock to the PZ section of the library (that's code, literally, for children's literature or as the Library of Congress calls it "fiction and juvenile belles lettres"). I reveled in that moment.

Humdrum Birthday to Me...

Birthdays stink. Not all the time and I don't mean that to be a blanket statement about all birthdays, but for me generally birthdays are cause for anxiety. I know I'm not like most people, though. So I wake up hoping that I won't be surprised, embarrassed, or abnormally noticed (I'd prefer to go completely unnoticed on my birthday but I've been told that Harry Potter isn't real and therefore cloaks of invisibility don't exist). This is a nearly impossible request when it comes to birthdays as the general rule of thumb is that birthdays are all about giving undivided attention to the birthday boy or girl. Everyone likes attention, right? Yeah, I guess I'm weird.

Plot-Driven Novels

Last week in Women & Literature we read My Ántonia. I was looking forward to it, but I should have known better when my professor prefaced the discussion with this statement about the book:

It was risky, in the early part of this century, to presume to write fiction about ordinary, rough-hewn people engaged in the rigors of dry land farming in frontier Nebraska. The prevailing literary style was for overrefined, predictable, plot-driven novels with characters who held fast to European pretensions and standards of gentility. (from Litlovers.com)

While I can't attest at this moment to preferring "overrefined" or "predictable" novels I did learn the hard way last week that I much prefer "plot-driven" novels. Yikes. 

Holy Sonnet Nine

This week we read and are discussing the poetry of John Donne in my Brit Lit class. He was a metaphysical poet who lived during England's Elizabethan era (and technically into the Stuart period). As a metaphysical poet he wrote using conceits or unique and drawn-out metaphors. In history this was a time of great discoveries and inventions so a lot of metaphors within his poems and sonnets reflect similar subjects. Besides the external influences on Donne's poetry there was also the internal changes that affected his writing during the time that he left the Catholic church and joined the Church of England. This leads me to the two points I'd like to make with this post. First, as a metaphysical poet, John Donne is awesome! And second, as both an artist and a man of religious convictions, John Donne is admirable.

By Any Other Name

Last week we finished reading Mrs. Dalloway in my Women & Literature class. First of all let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed Virginia Woolf's writing style. I can only envy her in that respect because her skill level and her ability to craft a sentence is beyond what a person can learn to accomplish. Another thing that I enjoyed about this book, and the credit for this can most likely be attributed to the era and area that Woolf was writing in, was the names.
 
Even though its a bit off the beaten path as far as things I've learned or taken from Woolf's writing I'd like to dedicate this post to one of my favorite aspects of story making(and yes, I have a lot of favorite aspects of writing if you a haven't noticed...): Naming Characters!

“You speak an infinite deal of nothing."

Oh Shakespeare. This week in my Brit. Lit. class we are reading works from one of my most favorite playwright ever... actually he probably is my most favorite because I don't know of too many others who I would even be able to name let alone say that I appreciate/enjoy. Anyway...

Will's one of those writers that everyone knows (well, almost everyone, as the other day at work I asked a co-worker if she was any good at interpreting Shakespeare and she responded: "What is a Shakespeare?") from something or another. I feel like Romeo and Juliet would be considered his most popular work (blech!) followed by ones like Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar. I may be biased as those are the ones we read/performed at my High School. Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night are probably also up there in popularity as I've seen performances of those (not to mention the whole slew of movies 'inspired by...' i.e. She's the Man and Ten Things I Hate About You, yep!). My favorites personally are his comedies, especially Much Ado About Nothing.

Dear Bookworms

So, readers, if you exist, I'd like to take the opportunity to tell you about a really great resource for both book lovers and writers. I'm sure you have heard of it but let me just rave for a second, ok?! I absolutely love goodreads. Their tag line is after-all:

Meet your next favorite book.

If you are a book lover like me than you completely understand that such a simple line couldn't be more accurate because a) books are our friends and b) you can never have too many favorite books. : )

Call Me an Optimist...

This post, almost a part two of my post The Reality of Hope, will be about the poetry we've been reading in my British Literature class. This week was the Wyatt/Spenser week. We read the modern translations of some of the poetic works of Francesco Petrarch alongside the "translations" (often times more like interpretations) of the same poems by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Edmund Spenser. Following is my analysis of one of these poems (taken from our discussion for class). The poem is one that compares emotional turmoil to a storm, the mind to a ship, and reason to a guide whilst at sea. 

Someday Stories

In my previous post I make a reference to the "someday" story. I thought I'd take the time to explain. I am the kind of writer who has a million ideas. Several stories going all at once. And of course I hope that someday I'll finish them. Don't put off for tomorrow what you could do today, you may be saying. Generally I agree with you, especially when it comes to things like washing your dishes, showering, or organizing your sock drawer. But there are some things that just take more attention, more time, and more patience than I have in my few spare hours. This includes fulfilling my childhood delusion, ah dream to write novels. 

"Any Fool Can Make History...

... but it takes a genius to write it," said Oscar Wilde.

I'll put aside my desire to discuss what Oscar may have meant by that but for now it will serve the purpose of revealing today's topic, which is a writer's need to do research, focusing on historical research.

Last week in my Women & Literature class we read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, a young adult work of fiction by Elizabeth George Speare. Published in 1958 and winning the 1959 Newberry Medal, this book tells the tale of a young British girl from a plantation on Barbados who after the death of her parents, moves colonial America to live with her aunt, uncle, and two cousins. Speckled throughout this tale of loyalty and acceptance (and just a tad bit of romance) Speare provides her readers with history. Some of it is actually based on real historical events, some of it (most of it, I think) is simply fiction. But   regardless how much of it is made-up the truth is that Speare does a phenomenal job (as far as I can tell) of remaining historically accurate throughout this fictional tale. It is obvious that she has done her homework!

Creating Worlds

In British Literature we finished reading Utopia last week. This is one of those stories that I knew existed and imagined as this wonderful, wonderful life changing book. Boy was I wrong. Please don't think that I'm saying it wasn't a good book, for I am glad that I read it and I found it very intriguing. However there was zero plot (ok, not zero... but close) since it was mostly a fictional history book. Well not history... geography, anthropology, philosophy... ? I can't put my finger on it. Regardless this book covers all of these aspects of one nation: Utopia. But it never delves into the lives of the people OF Utopia. Which is really a shame because More's (Thomas More is the author, by the way) most outstanding quality, that I saw anyway, is world building!

FOCUS!

This post is a sort of BONUS post since I won’t be writing about my usual class related subjects. Please, read on:

It is quite evident that writing and reading are closely related. The two tasks are taught simultaneously, and the two hobbies often go hand-in-hand. My love of reading blossomed around the same time that I started writing. And as my writing has become my focus for school I’m finding that the more I write the more I crave books. Unfortunately the combination of writing and literature classes don’t lend themselves very well for personal reading (although the most recent book we read in Women & Literature definitely would be something I’d gladly read in my free time). All of my free time seems to be sucked up by homework: brainstorming stories or reading a few books/stories a week. Don’t get me wrong this is almost (yes, almost) the best kind of homework in existence but homework is homework, especially when it means getting desperately behind on your favorite television show and having to continuously tell your friends you can’t hang out.

Now that I’ve painted the miserable truth let me add that there is hope, a loophole. One aspect of my day that is inevitable is driving. I drive to school, to work, to church, to visit my sister (on those rare occasions that I have finished my homework, or just put it all off until Friday), to the grocery store. In short I spend approximately 3-4 hours in my car every week. Time that can be well spent with the little help of one of the great inventions: AUDIOBOOKS!

An Anonymous Audience

The reader/writer relationship is a messy one. It rarely involves standard communication and interaction, yet it almost always has the potential to be a liaison involving both love and hate (from both parties involved I’ve realized). What do I mean by that? Well, from a reader’s perspective there is always that agony when your writer takes that dreaded turn into the raging storm and you just want them to stop torturing that poor main character and you wonder as things go from bad to worse if there is any chance of said main character making it to shore… But also there are those moments when you hang on every word that the writer says, with such a tender sense of longing for their voice to never cease, for the story to be one that is indeed never-ending, so that you can spend every day on that ominous distant planet or even in that quite common spare room.

From a writer’s perspective the relationship is equally full of that love/hate. For me personally I am able to sit down and eagerly imagine my reader. Maybe its someone like my roommate who reads nightly by the faint light of her bedside lamp or perhaps someone like my father who only picks up a work of fiction once a year, if that. Could my reader be a child experiencing the agony and thrills of a chapter book for the first time? Or an elderly and avid reader intending this book to become a new favorite? At times this great-unknown collection of reading people is cause for motivation while at others it’s intimidating in the full sense of the word.

Which finally brings me, believe it or not after such a long intro, to the point I was intending on writing about this evening: AUDIENCE.

The Reality of Hope

The first two books we read in my Women & Literature class were Autobiography of a Face and Truth & Beauty. These books are intrinsically bound together because both are autobiographical/biographical accounts written by two very good friends, Lucy Grealy and Ann Patchett.

The first, Autobiography of a Face, is Lucy’s journey through the struggles of cancer, surgery, and growing up. In a way Ann’s Truth & Beauty picks up where Lucy left off (in reality there is some overlap). We see Lucy’s side of things as the battle Lucy faces against the world while Ann’s point of view shows Lucy’s battle with herself.

Before I continue I would like to say that I do would not suggest these books to just anyone. A lot of the issues that Lucy deals with are expressed quite openly and are not, in my opinion, suitable for most audiences (I’d include myself in that list, but I unfortunately had to read it for class).

On that note I’d like to comment on what I’ve learned about my own creative writing from reading these books. Lucy and Ann had a unique friendship, a real friendship and in my mind friendship is a noble thing. It’s a tricky thing. But its important to understanding mankind. I enjoyed that aspect of these stories. Ann, the unfailingly loyal friend and Lucy the needy yet unendingly loving friend communicate together quite a lovely and real struggle of friendship. THAT is something that interests me and inspires my own writing (I need to work on making my fictional friendships a little more realistic with ups and downs instead of the friend coming off perfect side-kick to the main character’s every need).

British Literature of the Middle Ages

Well, we’ve just finished our ‘Middle Ages’ portion of our British Literature class so I figured I’d use this natural break as an opportunity to communicate some things I’ve been learning about writing from these literary classics from across the pond.

We first read the poem ‘The Dream of the Rood’ whose author is unknown. This piece of literature is essentially about a dream that the narrator has where the cross that Jesus died on is personified. I know it sounds quite nerdy but I love personification. Its not only a writing tool for poets though; using it subtly in other areas of creative writing can give novels, short stories, etc an artistic edge. But I’ve gotten off track. Something that stood out to me while reading ‘The Dream of the Rood’ was the perfect use of detail. The author doesn’t shy away from painting a picture in the reader’s mind, nor does he (or, but less likely, she) crowd out the goings-on with an overload of images:

“There they took up almighty God, lifted him from that cruel torment. They the warriors left me there standing, blood all over me, pierced everywhere with arrows. They laid him there, limb-wearied; they stood at the head of his lifeless body.”

I’ve learned in my writing classes that it is quite possible (and at times most natural) to use TOO many adjectives when describing things in our writing. This portion, as well as the entirety of the text, I think shows a good balance. Enough that we can imagine the scene but not so much that we become overwhelmed and tired of reading. I know I definitely need to add ‘edit out unnecessary adjectives’ to my list of things to do during the revision process.

Technical Writing, Who Knew?!

Most of my posts here will most likely be ideas I’ve picked up on while doing reading for my two literature classes, but today I’ve decided to share some things that stood out to me about my writing in my “other” writing class: Technical Writing. I thought most of what I would learn in this class would be only applicable to the world of writing that is outside of the creative writing realm. However last week’s readings made me think that maybe all of education is more interrelated that I had originally thought, especially for a writer.

Last week we were learning about writing policies and reducing wordiness. I’m not exactly sure how policy writing would apply to my creative writing (maybe I could write a story about a guy who wrote policies- sounds thrilling, eh?) but reducing wordiness is nothing new to me. Even though I hate the long, rambling, getting-nowhere portions of reading I tend myself to take the scenic route in when writing. My greatest downfall at solving this problem comes with the thought, “But it’s all important!”

Welcome!

Hello all, 

Welcome to 'Arm Yourself!' a souped up, public reading/writing journal for my Writing Stories class. The purpose of this blog is to share what I'm reading, what I've learned about writing from these readings, and how I intend to apply that to my own writing. Mixed in I may share tid-bits of things I find inspiring, stories I'm working on, or other writing related ideas.

To start with, however, I would like to explain the title. Lately my roommate has been pestering me being a great roommate by trying to keep me sane and inviting me to watch Doctor Who with her. Generally I have to deny her request because of homework, but last night I made an exception; it was the weekend. With Doctor Who on my mind, I set out to find a good literary quote (thinking of the epic two-part episodes, "Silence in the Library" & "Forest of the Dead," which you should go watch right now). Instead, from the episode "Tooth & Claw," I found:

"You want weapons? We're in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world! This room's the greatest arsenal we could have - arm yourselves!"     -Doctor Who

I hope to someday be the arms dealer (aka a librarian) and the weapons manufacturer (aka a writer) in this scenario, but relating to the stage of life that I am in, books have been the greatest teaching arsenal. I do not expect any of my stories to be overnight best sellers but I do know that what I'm doing now, reading and writing, are the building blocks for improving my ability to write well so that maybe some day someone will gladly arm themselves with one of my literary weapons. 

Consider this my invitation for you to join me on this leg of the journey. 

-Jessica