Spring Break Retreat

So my grand plans for total serenity and an escape were foiled, and I admittedly allowed myself to become petulantly disappointed about this for a short while, but I have rebounded and am now at peace with the slight alterations in my plan.

My roommate will also be home for the majority of the week, but I see no reason that should be debilitating for my plan. I can still make an author retreat out of it, so, goddammit, I will.

All right...all that said...it's time I start taking this seriously. And, because of the sort of person I am, taking this seriously means being just a little melodramatic and goofy and making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, so I can get full enjoyment. So here I write up the rough draft of what I'll be doing...an itinerary, if you will...and then I'm going to make myself an invitation and email it to my professional account. Because no, I'm not a goof at all.

At any rate...what to do with this weekend?

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Friday, March 18, 2005
--Pack laptop for class, walk to coffee shop after class and write for a solid 3 hours.
--Return home, eat dinner, and relax
--Finish up any homework that absolutely needs doing, to have the week free

Saturday, March 19, 2005
--Sleep in late and catch up on lost sleep
--Write for a solid 3 hours
--Read Writer's Digest/Writer's Journal articles
--Begin film fest

Sunday, March 20, 2005
--Rise relatively early and go for a long walk to clear mind
--Write for 3 hours
--Research day: spend the remainder of the evening researching novel
--Film fest continues

Monday, March 21, 2005
--Walk to coffee shop or juice bar and write
--Editing Day: spend remainder of day/evening editing and polishing at least one work
--Film fest and recreational reading

Tuesday, March 22, 2005
--Break: no writing today (unless you want to)
--Curiosity day: spend all day reading articles and researching, in general, at your leisure
--Film fest and recreational reading

Wednesday, March 23, 2005
--Write for 3 hours
--Music Day: spend the day compiling and attributing music to writing
--Film fest: All nighter, with special emphasis on the craft of the films

Thursday, March 24, 2005
--Sleep in late
--Write 3 hours
--Commentary Day: watch interviews and movies/TV with commentary to get creative juices flowing
--Work on outlines for novel, flesh it out thoroughly, and prepare for holiday
--Meet Dad and go to Albq. for Easter

Friday, March 25, 2005
--Dad Bonding Day (open)

Saturday, March 26, 2005
--Mom Bonding Day (open)

Sunday, March 27, 2005
--Easter (open)
--Come back to apartment in evening

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So there you go. Now I'm going to go write up a snazzy, exciting itinerary with bold phrases and pretend I've actually been invited to this. Lordy, I'm such a loser.

The horns of triumph

Huzzah, let the call ring forth into the hills, for I have actually finished a short story!

Yes, progress sings, echoing from all major landmarks. I finished the goldfish death story, which now needs a title and a good overhaul, and am relatively happy with it for a first draft. There's a lot I want to change, themes to tease out and quite a bit of dialogue to add to the end sequence and some exposition to fill up the middle...but overall, yeah, I feel pretty good for it.

I'm putting it up onto DeviantArt right now for a preliminary critique, then I'll start editing it and my short-short. I recently joined Zoetrope.com, under recommendation from my brother, so I'll see how that works out for me. The layout of the site goes that you deliver 5 in depth critiques and then you can post a new piece, which people then critique. According to Andrew there's some pretty solid critters there, so I might get some good stuff. Nowhere will be able to replace Inkspot in my heart, but it's worth a shot. So after I get it looked at on DA and fix up the major points, I'll fling it over there for more critique, then hunt down a market. Same for the short-short...I'll edit this draft, then put a revised version on both DA and Zoetrope if I end up liking it there.

In the meantime, I need to start doing crits at 'trope.

Also, further developments! The website layout is more or less complete, now I just need to write content. This blog will be one page (I'll inbed it in the site...there's a way to do that, right? sure there is!), then there'll be an author bio, a page of stories and writing samples (links to published works/where to buy them, quick synopses of stories that are in the process of being written/marketed, and some free goodies--stories that I won't be marketing but give a good example of my writing ability), a page of FAQ (which I'll be writing tonight) and a page of links to friend's sites, publisher sites, writing sites, etc. etc. etc. I'm actually pretty excited about the whole thing. It should be pretty good. Who knows if it'll end up being useful for marketing purposes? Nobody reads this and I update it fairly regularly.

So yeah. Going to edit those two stories while continuing to bridge gaps in Carnal Jesus, and hopefully pick up another short story soon. I like having lots of things to multitask on, it reminds me of the old days when life was good and the creativity flowed like wine. Not that wine really flows much.

I've also really been itching to do some movie and book reviews lately. Taking the Theory class is making me very literary-minded, and it would be fun to do an in-depth study of various things lying around the house. Look forward to some of those to be posted here, just to take up space and exercise my hands, if nothing else.

On a side note, I got the brochure for the Maui writer's conference and a writer's cruise off the shore of Alaska. Ohh I am SALIVATING. I really wish I could afford something like that, it looks like SO much fun. I'll save up my money...I've been beaten from all sides with ads for the conference and I always think of how great it would be...and the cruise! eee, I'm drooling again.

All right then. Don't have much left to say at the moment. I'm going to look over my notebook for some more short story inspiration, then launch into heavy editing. I should write a short story that doesn't have a central death-theme for a nice change from my work lately...It's been a big part of my inspiration lately, and it fascinates me, but I don't want to get typecast as a morbid writer. So I'll write something dealing with the philosophy of other issues for awhile, I should think.

Anyway, off into the land of greatness, as the horns sound and the valley rings out...and all that. Ta.