Back to writing prompts

While I'm researching for my upcoming thesis, I've been slacking in the creative writing department. I found a great website called The Write Practice that focuses on writing for the sake of the writing craft, and they offer a free ebook called 14 Prompts.

Basically, it gives you a pep talk and then a prompt. You write non-stop for thirty minutes using the prompt, and then put it away. The idea is to keep you writing daily, especially if you aren't sure what direction you want to go creatively.

Good writing doesn't just happen, it is something that is developed. The more you do it, the better you become (theoretically). Talent is 20% (or less) and hard work (practice) is 80%.

Using the first prompt from the free ebook, I wrote for 30 minutes, which ended up being a little over 1,000 words (4 pages or so). I didn't read what I had written, and probably won't until I'm finished with all 14 prompts.

When you don't know what to write, just write. That's my new motto.

Where I'm going...

I began the new year with bronchitis, and I can't seem to break out of the funk of being sick. I sit down to write, but find myself wandering to other tasks instead. I've been reading new books (and old), but I feel guilty for not writing. I lost my Grandfather on Thanksgiving Day, and my Grandmother has been in the hospital, so needless to say, my mind has been elsewhere. After my Grandfather passed away, I began to write about my memories of him, which turned out to be a good way of dealing with my grief,  but since Christmas, I've slowed down...almost skidded to a halt.

The weather has been ridiculous over the past couple of months, alternating between warm days (70 degrees) and cool days (39 degrees). It rained for 4 days straight until it flooded, and then snowed on Thursday, shutting down schools and roads. The snow began to melt before the day was up. Mother Nature's mood swings are reflecting my own. Up and down, unable to decide where to be and how long to be there. Grief is the writer's bane, or it has been mine anyway.

Sometime next month, I will be choosing classes for my last summer at the Sewanee School of Letters. I'm forced to take Shakespeare and a literature in translation course, and I (unwisely) saved those two classes for last. As sacrilegious as it sounds, I'm not a Shakespeare fan, but perhaps this summer will cure me. It will either cure me or make me hate Shakespeare more, one way or the other. I can't tell you why I don't like Shakespeare. Maybe it's because I despise plays? I don't mind his sonnets, just the plays (the major body of his work).

So, while I'm deciding what to do and how to do it, I'll be researching for my upcoming thesis and reading books that are beginning to pile up. 

Waiting for new books

I've been waiting over the last couple of weeks for new books to arrive. I found the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th books in the Mortal Instruments series (Cassandra Clare) on sale at Daedalus Books for $3.95 each, which I thought was a steal. I later found Meredith Ann Pierce's book, The Dark Angel, on sale there as well ($2.98). I read this YA fantasy novel when I was around 12 or 13 years old, and I hadn't seen it since then.  I wouldn't call myself a fantasy/sci-fi reader in general, but I do enjoy it from time to time.

One of my penpals (from Yorkshire, England) recommended a bird watching memoir to me (The Running Sky by Tim Dee), which I received in the mail today. I love getting book recommendations, so feel free to comment your recommendations to me anytime.

I also ordered a Chickasaw language program, which I'm excited about. My mother's family has Chickasaw ancestry, and since the language is endangered, I thought it would be a great language to study. So, with that said, Ayala'chi!

Welcome, 2013.

Since it's the first day of the new year, I feel that a post is required. I'm still recovering from a bad cold, which I can't seem to shake, and while my husband and I had planned to see The Hobbit tonight,

we ended up shopping instead. I was having too many coughing fits to be in a theater for 2.5+ hours. 

I started reading A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz, a book I started during the summer, but didn't finish due to grad school reading. My professor for the 19th century British novel recommended it, so I bought it while I was in Sewanee and read the chapter on Persuasion (the novel we were reading for the course). I'll divide my time between this books and Collins' The Woman in White, which I technically started a few days after Christmas, but haven't finished yet.

Now that I'm reading about Austen, I have a feeling I'll be adding her books to my 2013 reading list as well, even though I've read most of them in previous years.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading in 2013!

Austenprose: A Jane Austen Blog