NaNoWriMo

Happy Halloween, everyone!  I just wanted to remind you all that tomorrow is November 1st....and that means NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  For those of you who are not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it's a personal challenge of many writers to try and complete a 50,000 word novel in one month.  I tried last year and utterly failed.  This year, I'm hoping to at least get halfway there.

 

I would love to be writer buddies with you guys!  If anyone is interested, please sign up to join NaNoWriMo with me!  We don't have to share any of our writing, but it would be nice to talk about how far we're getting in our respective pieces, or taking a chance to give each other pep talks or lament our frustrations with the project.  If you do have an interest, you can sign up or learn a bit more about NaNoWriMo here.  Also, I've included a widget on my blog's sidebar to keep up with my NaNoWriMo progress.  It's just underneath the widget for my 2012 reading goal.

 

So, as I said before, Happy Halloween, try not to eat too much candy, and let me know if you'd be interested in joining NaNoWriMo with me :)

Why So Serious?

I want to ask this to pretty much everyone in my creative writing workshop.  Everything is so depressing in this class!  Out of a group of 15, I swear that I'm the only one who wrote something vaguely uplifting.....and my narrator is dying of cancer!

I just don't understand.  Literature doesn't have to be sad to be good.  True, you don't want to read something sappy, but you can still have an uplifting ending without making it cheesy.  But, I feel like student writers always feel that they need to bog down their readers in depressing tales that leave them feeling forlorn and empty inside.  Here's just a few examples from my class:

• One protagonist is eaten by a werewolf
• Two find their significant others dead at the end of the piece
• One gets arrested
• One commits suicide
• One suffers a devastating breakup
• Two are insane
• Two stories are about 9/11
• Etc. Etc. Etc.

I know it's always suggested that writers use experience to create art.  And I'll be the first to admit that I have so much pain in my past that I could easily dredge up to write something passionate that would reduce the toughest among you to tears.  But, why would I want to do that?  I don't want to make people cry.  Literature is not all about pain and frustration.  It's about conflict and overcoming this conflict, reaching past it.  But, I feel like I'm the only one in this workshop who understands that.  Halloween is this Wednesday.  And I really want to just show up in class dressed like the Joker and rant about how this class needs to lighten up a bit, asking them "Why so serious?"  Maybe, while I'm at it, I'll see if they'd be interested in learning "how I got these scars."  In the meantime, though, I'll just be sitting in the corner writing pieces with conflict and ultimately uplifting endings.  True, I do write depressing pieces now and again, but there's no fun in only writing the same type of literature all the time.  That's like only eating one flavor of ice cream or only playing one board game for the rest of your life!

I've reached the conclusion that people are crazy.

October Means Halloween!!

So, call me a dork, but I just love Halloween :)  I just love seeing the trees change colors as the nights grow longer, and children dress up in cute costumes to go trick-or-treating door to door for candy treats.  I haven't been home for Halloween since I went to college, so I haven't had the chance to enjoy that aspect of the holiday, but I've still been having fun enjoying spooky stories, scary videos, and other Halloween themed treats.

Every year, I think I'm going to post a whole ton of awesome Halloween stuff, but every year that falls through and I only end up posting a small smattering of things.  This time, I'm not going to try and be too ambitious, but I did want to pass along some fun seasonal treats for all of you.

I think I'll start off with a video.  I thought this was the funniest thing when it first came out, and I'm sure most of you have already heard of it, but for those of you who haven't, I'll provide a bit of background.  So, a few months back, a song came out on the Internet called "Actual Cannibal Shia LeBeouf".  And as far as I know, there was really no reason behind it; the actor is not actually a cannibal.  But, it sounds cool, and it's actually a very funny song (if you understand that it's still very dark).  I've included the song below (this video is my favorite version so far--I love the cartoon characters, and I think it's funny that Shia is drawn to look like Hannibal Lecter).  Also, if you want to learn a bit more about the song, you can read all about it on Cheezburger.com's Know Your Meme, here.

Enjoy!

A Post Where Emmy Just Writes and Writes and Writes...

Having one of those moments where I just want to curl up in the corner and read EVERYTHING forever.  And it's kinda great.  I haven't felt like that in a long time.  Sometimes, I feel as though being an English major is squashing my love of books...like being forced to read is making me hate it or something.  Nice to know that the passion is still there, though.

 

So, this is going to be a bit of a bigger update, since I've been pretty AWOL lately.  I hadn't been blogging much for the past few months, but OF's passing has made it even more difficult to get back online and write.  And I desperately want to write.

 

Things have been a bit stressful lately.  Classes are taking up a lot of time, and I'm still trying to keep up a social life on top of all that, which makes for a lot of stress and things not getting done.  I'm getting bogged down in projects and stuff, and people make me feel bad for complaining because they have more to do.  It bothers me sometimes, because I feel that just because I have less work, it doesn't mean it's not overwhelming, and I'm not sleep deprived, too.  Watching cat videos on the Internet is my way of relaxing; I'm not a lazy-ass.

 

Ranting over.  So, the guy I had mentioned before?  Yeah, not working out.  He's kind of a snake who flirts with me like crazy, and only told me that he had a girlfriend when I asked him.  At first, though, I thought I could be overreacting, so I was just going to drop it, but he insisted on talking to me about it, so that he could explain himself.  So, I let him.  And we had a great conversation.  Then, though, he took that as his "okay" to basically cling to me like a very horny shadow.  And I'm not really cool with that.  I mean, we could be friends, but I'm experiencing slight trust issues from this, and I just need a bit of space.  Instead, he comes running back, trying to act like he's my boyfriend.  And while I would  be perfectly happy to have another male friend, I think that these advances he's making at me are a bit too forward.

 

I've talked about him to some of my guy friends.  Movie Boy says that this guy is either in love with me, or he's a psychopath.  Either alternative is not ideal, but I'd prefer the first one.  And another male friend (who is in the same class as the Snake and myself), says that not only is he positive that this guy is really into me, but that he's been getting bad vibes off him, and that there is something wrong with him, and I should stay away.  How comforting, am I right?

 

Work has been blissfully quiet.  I'm having a wonderful time.  I've been getting homework done.  And I'm BLOGGING!  I'm so happy!

 

I've started reading Jasper Fforde's latest book The Last Dragonslayer in my free time.  This guy is brilliant! :)

 

Irish Lit is focusing on James's Joyce's short story "The Dead".  I've read and reread a 14 page essay on new historicism in "The Dead" about three times now.  It is so boring!  I feel my brain turning to soup as I read.  I wouldn't care so much, except I have to be able to discuss it in class.....in a group with two other people...while the whole class watches us. How awkward.  Why can't we just make it a presentation??

 

My writer crush has asked me to read his work and give feedback.  Do you know how amazing that is for me????  I just want him to write things at me.  His literary genius is beautiful.  I'm thrilled :)

 

Okay, so I think that's enough for now.   It was nice to actually blog a bit again.  Hope y'all are well.  I would love to hear from you :)