Master of the First Draft

Holy crap. I just sent the first draft of my master’s project to my reader, Ann. I’m so excited. It took me four whole days to write it (after months and months of research, interviews, etc., and a few lunch breaks in which I started the writing). I took two days off from work to get it done, and I think forcing myself to sit and work helped. And a deadline. That’s always good for me. Oh, and a shiny new computer on which to write it. That was a great motivator, too.

I really like how it turned out. I hope Ann does, too. And I hope she gives me the great feedback she always has on my class papers. I know she will. If we can get this taken care of in a month, I will be graduating at the end of May. Wow. This is finally happening. How exciting!

I know this is a little late coming, but I thought you might like to see these. Everyone loves photos.

Here’s a couple of photos from the Cellar Roots Benefit Comedy Show that we hosted early in March. Bill Barr a.k.a. Jimmy Rascal was our superb comedian, and he made us laugh for over two hours. It was a great night!

Myself and my managing editor and friend, Laura.

Jamie (right), a copyeditor and now my replacement at Cellar Roots and the JNT, and her roommate, Rachel.

Jimmy Rascal

Jimmy, the comic

Unavailable

So, I plan on being unavailable tomorrow. I really have to buckle down and get this reading completed for my MA project. I’ve been collecting resources and evaluating them, but only just a little. I went to my local library and the university library, and I’m totally stocked up for a day full of reading and research.

I am also going to finish all my work for my two independent study classes. Though my prof won’t let me get out of writing the screenplay, he said I can have all the time I need to finish it. I’m not going to worry about completing it before the end of the summer. I’ll have it done by December, but the beautiful thing is is I don’t need those credits to graduate, so I can get my degree this summer (if I decide to push it and complete my project by August; it might be waiting until December, too) and not have the class technically finished until December. Sweetness, eh?

And I don’t really need the credits from those independent study classes, either, but I just want to get them out of my hair. They’ve been hanging over my head for nearly a year, and it’s about time the damn things are out of the way. It’ll also help put the focus back on my MA project.

The interviews are coming along really well for my project; almost all of the children’s nonfiction writers agreed to be interviewed, and I have two responses from editors, with another one (from the EIC!!) coming in early next week. I also have another one in the works, but that’s all dependent upon the editor. I hope to have all these completed by the end of next week. Woohoo! One step closer….

I know I’ve been massively boring lately, but I’m really pleased with the direction all my work is going in. It’s funny how everything starts to fall into place once I finally get my tail in gear and get down to work. I like being organized; I generally am very organized. But I get distracted easily. And with my little sister’s wedding fast approaching (August 8th) and the hubby’s best friend’s shortly thereafter (September 20th), it’s imperative that I get my work finished before the wedding craziness starts.

So, if you are in need of contacting me tomorrow, you’re going to have to either call or e-mail me today, or call or e-mail me on Monday. Or try contacting me tomorrow, and just waiting until Monday to hear back. I will, of course, check my messages (phone) periodically, just in case something important occurs. Not that I think it will. I just don’t need to be missing something. Because I’m just too damn nosy to miss out.

I’ve been editing scripts lately, and I have to admit, it is a ton of fun. I really, really enjoy reading and responding to them. I’ve never really worked with scripts before (these are for TV, not film, though the skills/knowledge translate easily), and I’m really happy my prof is “making” me do this for an independent study credit.

I’m going to try to convince him to have me edit another dozen of these suckers in place of writing a script myself. It might sound like a cop-out to my writer friends, and even to my editor friends, but honestly, I think I could do a lot more good editing than I will writing a crappy script, just to get the credit. It would never see the light of day beyond my prof’s desk, and is it really worth it? I’m not so sure.

Perhaps that’s why I like editing these so much–the author gets immediate and definite feedback, and though they have every right to dismiss any of my comments like any of my other clients, they can visualize the changes in their head because a script is meant to be seen, not read. And that is very cool.

I’m working on my master’s project–I’m collecting names of people to contact for the interview portion of my project.

Aren’t you proud of me for getting my butt in gear?

It’s not totally my fault. I just now got the OK from the human subjects review committee. I can finally move forward with my project. Waiting put me behind about two months, but I’ll get on it. You know I will. Woohoo!

On Monday, I officially finished my last semester of classes…ever. Well, until I get the hankering to go back (which I hope won’t be for a long, long while), but it is the las semester of classes for this master’s degree. I just have to finish a few independent study projects I’ve been putting off while getting everything done for this semester and my master’s project, and then I’m done! Woohoo!

August will be the official graduation, if I get my butt in gear and haul it through all this stuff in the next four months. Work, here I come!

I crashed my Mac today at work.
*sob*
It was so bad that we had to reinstall Mac OS X.
*sob*
I feel so bad for my poor computer. She’s such a good computer. My prof, who helped me save all my files onto a portable harddrive and start the reinstall process, promised me it didn’t hurt it. I can’t tell yet.
*sob*
ICT (our resident computer help desk at EMU) says they’ll have to reinstall it again to get the Word and Excel programs onto it.
*sob*
Poor, poor little computer.
*sob*

Another Week Gone

I spent the last week getting caught up on life, which included getting my master’s project proposal all set (it’s been approved! Yay!) and getting the University Human Subjects Review Committee request all ready (it’s ready for review for tomorrow–Ann will be taking care of it then).

I also cleaned my filthy condo (OK, it wasn’t that bad, but it was still driving me crazy) and went scrapbooking on Friday and Saturday. It was nice to get out of the house, and I got 32 pages done over the course of the two days. That’s a lot considering I hadn’t worked on that scrapbook (my childhood one) in about two years.

I also worked out with my personal trainer, Jon, for the first time on Thursday, which went really well. I wasn’t even that sore the next day, and I assume that’s because my form is perfect (or better!) during the workout, and it doesn’t put as much strain on my muscles as it would if my form was off. Well, that’s the assumption I’m making. Might be true. Might not. I just know that I’m going to keep up with my workouts now. Yay! I’m working out with him again tomorrow.

Yoga is going well, too. I have it every Wednesday night, and I always feel great after. I’m glad I’m finally investing in my body–I’ll keep y’all updated on how that all goes.

I know I haven’t been exactly thrilling, but I thought I would let you know why I’ve been a bit MIA. It might be quiet on here again come this weekend because I’m on deadline for the second index, but I’ll be back after the 14th on regular basis again. Such a busy time of year, but I’ll make time for you all. Because I love you, of course. Cheers!

Index Done!

Woohoo! Finished it at 5:30 this morning. Yeah, second all-nighter in a row. I slept through my alarm at 9:30 and missed a meeting. Thankfully, no one was waiting on me. I’m starting to feel a little old–can’t do this all night stuff anymore.

I’m getting started on the second one this week, so I won’t have to do that again. Getting the flu really put me behind on stuff, but I feel like I’m a little more caught up now. The project proposal should be ready to be signed this Friday, and my request to the Human Subjects Review Board will be set to go with signatures and all this Friday. What a relief!

Maybe putting me behind has forced me to get my act together. Now I have to get my sleeping schedule back on track. Off to bed with me!

Project Proposal Problem

I’m having a really tough time with my project proposal these days. It’s been put on the back burner for too long, and now I feel like I’m disconnected from it. I tried to sit down and write a new intro for it (Ann, my prof, says that’s the only part I really need to redo anymore), and I’m just stuck. It could be that I have so many other projects hanging over my head right now that I can’t concentrate on it like I need to, or I’m just tired of working on it. I’ve been trying to get this whole thing taken care of since September of last year, and I think I’m just a little tired of reading my own writing on it–again and again and again. I don’t know how Ann keeps reading that crap. Ugh.

I sent her a new, really terrible intro, so we’ll see what she says. I just want to get it done and get going on the project! After the proposal, the project may very well be smooth sailing. Or it could suck as much as this is right now. Oh, man, I hope not. Keep your fingers crossed for me!