Monday, December 6, 2010

We Survived

Four full days without spousal presence.

It wasn't bad at all.

In fact, I daresay we rather enjoyed it, but we were still happy when hubby surprised us by coming home Thursday night instead of Friday afternoon.

Monday & Tuesday it rained and poured and had tornadoes (south of me), which was perfect for the wrapping presents and watching The Tudors I mentioned in the previous post.



Wednesday, I had to go to the university where I'm beginning my college life again, almost seven years later. This is a sort-of funny story. I'm going back for a nursing degree, but due to some clerical reasons, I had to enroll for this (2010/2011) school year. I deferred enrollment in the fall, but absolutely had to register for spring semester.

So. I go to this orientation session Wednesday, where I finally meet my advisor, who proceeds to tell me that I have already satisfied all the non-nursing courses for the degree (which I already knew, since I already have a bachelor's degree), so I should just register for whatever I can get into.

After much searching and feeling frustrated, I finally just went for the funsies and now this is what I'm registered for:

A fiction writing workshop
&
a practicum for the staff of the university's creative writing/art journal-magazine thing.

How's that for a jump into the sciences, folks?

I won't deny that I'm excited, though.




Round Up Stats from Bachelorette Week:


cases of food poisoning: 1
alcoholic beverages: 5
mornings slept in late: 3
bowls of noodles: 2
days with lack of real clothing and/or makeup: 4
snuggle sessions with lonely kitties: 2324

Here's my question for the week:

When faced with a massive rewrite/rethink of a novel project, how do you go about deciding what direction to take? Especially when faced with 4 potentially wonderful, though very different, ideas?

25 comments:

Hannah said...

I try to create one uber idea or combine it with another idea that I have sitting on the backburner. I love blending ideas.


so you mean you took all of your generals?? That's kind of awesome. When do you get to take all the fun medical classes? That's what disappointed me about my massage degree, I wanted much more let me see what's under the skin rather than what's on top. Hmm, mayhaps the wrong avenue?

yokohamamama said...

You got poured on, too, huh? We got the cats-n-dogs last week--didn't think the kids would be able to walk to school, but it let up ten minutes before line up :-)) (they were *so* disappointed!)

Nursing school--wow! Gambare! (do your best/don't give up)

Congratulations again on winning NaNo!

Sarah Ahiers said...

i've never had to do a massive rewrite/rethink so i can't help you there.

That is awesome about the fiction workshop - i had a bit of a similar experience - my last semester i needed like 4 more credits to graduate and decided to take intro to fiction writing, even though i was already enrolled in gread level fiction writing. It was super fun and i'm sure you'll have fun too!

Teri Anne Stanley said...

College, what a concept. I have a master's in Zoology/developmental biology, and I keep thinking about going back for a creative writing degree, but I'm a little nervous, since it's been so long, and I totally don't want to have to do all those Gen Ed requirements over. With my luck, I'll end up taking Biology for non-majors my first quarter!

But hey...I've taught all that nursing pre-req stuff, so if you need a tutor, you know where to find me!

Teri Anne Stanley said...

BTW, rented the Tudors. Just couldn't connect with Hank, at least not after just one episode. And I want to know...how's come pomegranates don't work as well on my husband? Of course, he's not a teenaged King of England.

Unknown said...

Haha! I defer answering your question on the basis that I haven't been able to figure it out for over a year now! If you get some good advice, pass it along!

How cool you'll be taking some creative writing courses! Everything happens for a reason.......

Liza said...

Wish I could answer that question...but haven't reached that particular challenge...yet. The courses sound great!

Lola Sharp said...

The not wearing real clothes or make-up is def one of the bonuses of solitude. :)

I think you have to go with your gut/instinct. The path that feels the most right for your story. Not necessarily the path you originally had in mind, but the one that feels most organic to the story now.

Also, you could skim write it all 4 ways (like outline notes) and see/feel which one feels right as you follow that path.

Dominic de Mattos said...

Sounds like you have a sequel or three bubbling away there!

Don't envy you the re-write ... but here's hoping the muse takes a lead!

:Dom

Summer Frey said...

@yokohamamama: arigatou! I took Japanese for 4 semesters my junior & senior year of college and still get cold sweats when I hear it. :)

@Terri: All I have to take is Human A&P I & II and Medical Microbiology. Hopefully I won't need tutoring, but I'll keep it in mind! Also, don't expect to like Henry...at all. You can like his naked bod, but the personality, not so much...

Teri Anne Stanley said...

Hey, those are the exact two classes I taught!

Whew, glad I don't have to like Henry. Thought maybe I was missing something.

Meredith said...

Sound like such fun classes! Good luck with revisions. I tend to scribble everything I'm thinking about the plot, etc. in a journal until I've decided on a way to revise. Hope it goes well for you!

Linda G. said...

Oh, good classes! And sorry about the food poisoning. :(

When faced with equally compelling rewrite ideas, I jump in and write a little of each. The right one will usually make itself known by not letting go of me.

Old Kitty said...

Oh no! You had food poisoning!! Awww!! Oh dear!! But I'm so glad the kitties were there to snuggle up with!!

Yay for your courses - they sound like just what the doctor ordered! LOL!! Excellent!!

Ooooh good luck deciding what direction to take with your re-write! Maybe you could use the 4 fabulous ideas into 4 books in one series? GOOD LUCK!! Take care
x

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sounds like some fun classes. Not so much with the food poisoning though.
I rewrote my book from the original story by scrapping everything but the characters and one scene. Not fun!

Colene Murphy said...

Food poisoning!? Yuck!! Hope that is all better.

But hurray for writing college classes and nursing school!

Eric W. Trant said...

You're going to beat the crap out of that writing class. Maybe they can pay you as a consultant!

I got food poisoning at the hospital the day after my son was born (week before Thanksgiving). I yurked in the hospital shower.

So I feel you. Stupid undercooked shrimp...

- Eric

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Sounds like fun to me, except for the food poisoning of course...

DEZMOND said...

oh, congrats on returning to college again!
And who would miss a hubs when you have Henry's court to keep you company :)

The Words Crafter said...

Sorry about the food poisoning. I had that once and I still can't even think about green bean casserole...shudder...

Weekends are my pj's and naked face days if I don't have to go out for anything and Honey just deals with it :)

I'll soon be facing the editing process and the only thing I can think of is what I may do...start off with each idea and see which feels better....

Some plan, huh?

Glad the hubby is home safely and that you survived the crazy weather!

Misha Gerrick said...

Sounds Awesome!

I wish I could find a writing class to join.

:-)

Jon Paul said...

As mentioned previously, the courses sound like pure heaven to me.

On the multi-approach question, try an old trick from my business days before I joined the Navy: Sit down with a yellow legal pad, place a header (nickname for that particular idea/approach) with subheaders "Pros" on the left and "Cons" on the right. Then try to list--as objectively as you can--all the pros and cons of each approach. Then compare. You might get some surprising results.

Anyway, just a thought. Regardless, I'm sure it'll be great!

Talli Roland said...

Food poisoning! Yikes. Glad the hubs got back safe and sound... and early!

I always try to think about what works best in the context of the characters and the story. How's that for nebulous answers! :)

Elana Johnson said...

Good luck in school! And for me, I listen to my gut. I generally know where the story needs to go, it's just getting there that's hard. So I listen. Sometimes for a very long time.

Christopher said...

I loved taking college classes. Doing the work? Not so much, I've been thinking about trying to look into auditing some course for fun. I'm such a nerd.