So . . . Life is crazy. I just thought I’d share that.
Work is great but really nuts. So much to do. I’ve been pulling 12 hour shifts with no real break for lunch, and now I’m going to have to start working from home on some weekends too. But it’s all good. =) Once November 1 hits, all the deadlines will pass and things will slow down.
Judgement House is getting ready to start too!
So exciting! I will try to post more when I have a moment . . . but no guarantees! =D
Or . . . in the air again . . . that might be more accurate. I’m leaving for New Hampshire today at 2:30 pm. This is the first time I’ve ever traveled for work so this will be a new experience. If possible, I’ll try to update while I’m there just so folks can keep up to date with my adventures with the Yankees . . . . =P
Later, gators! =D
. . . and it hasn’t even been a week. Isn’t that impressive? You should be impressed. I am.
Not a whole lot to report. I’m currently at my spot in the video booth at church waiting for rehearsal to begin. Since Val and Wheezy are still in Puerto Rico, I’ll be in all four services this weekend again. I actually really enjoy it. Some people think it’s tiring, but I think it’s fun (not that it isn’t tiring . . . but for me the fun outweighs the exhaustion).
I didn’t really report much on the job last post because I was posting on break and had to get back to what I was doing. Gee. I don’t even remember what I was doing at the time. It’s so busy. But it’s really awesome because I can go into a meeting and come out with six new projects–and all I have to do is WRITE! It’s SO COOL!!!!
Like I get an assignment and it’s just like writing 500 words . . . or 700 words . . . or 300 words . . . or designing a web page . . . or interviewing someone and knocking out a 200 word article in ten minutes . . . . it’s SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!
And on top of that, I get to go to New Hampshire in about two weeks.
It’s mostly for training. Going to learn about the products I’ve been writing about for the last three months (I’ve mostly been faking what I write down . . . either that or digging up information in old files or trailing along after the product managers begging for info). But while I’m up there, I get to go to a baseball game (which, I really don’t like baseball . . . because it’s a sport . . . . but I’m going to take notes and write something about it for fun because then it will be interesting . . because it’s at Fenway Park . . . and I’m not a super sport nut but I know what Fenway Park is . . . . ) and a New England Style Clam Bake . . . . So . . . I’m going to Nashua, New Hampshire to learn about pipes, hydronic floor heating systems, baseball and clams . . . I think it’ll be a hoot. My boss is going with me to show me the ropes too . . . because we’re also going to travel around the area to job sites that are currently using our products and conduct some interviews. So from now on, when there’s a job site or any other place using our products and we want to write an article on it, my boss will just be able to send me by myself.
We leave late morning on Sunday, July 11 and we’ll be back in Wichita early afternoon on Friday, July 16.
The other big exciting thing that I’ve done . . . . well . . . . we’ll see if it’s big and exciting. I’ll probably blog more about it . . . or maybe I’ll set up another blog . . . no. I have too many blogs as it is. I’ll just blog here. (Sorry for the random, stream-of-consciousness moment.)
This is what I have done: I have enrolled in a writing program that will be the equivalent of 7 college credit course hours (at least, that’s what it would be in Connecticut). It’s a highly respected program called the Long Ridge Writers Group. Basically, it’s a long-distance creative writing course. You get a mentor. You get text books. You get your work edited and you make contacts in the writing field.
I got an informative packet from them in the mail and started doing research on them. It’s a pretty impressive program. At least, it looks like a pretty impressive program. I’ll let you know in a few weeks how it’s going.
It should take two years to complete, and they say you’ll have publishable material at the end of it . . . emphasis on publishable and not necessarily on published. But I decided to go ahead and do it because I had the money and I had been trying to figure out what I was going to do with my writing business, because nothing seemed to be jumping out at me. I keep entering contests and looking for editing work, but nothing ever really happens with any of it. I’ve won a few contests, had a few skits published (number 3 is in September now), had a short story published but nothing is really working out. So I figured, I could wander around aimlessly for two years entering whatever contests I could find . . . or I could use the resources I have right now to focus my talents on actually accomplishing something.
So, there you have it.
From what I can tell, this program is similar to the Christian Writer’s Guild’s Apprentice program. It’s cheaper though, and it’s not specifically Christian . . . which I will honestly admit appeals to me. I don’t think I’m cut out for Christian fiction . . . . So be praying for me as I embark on this crazy journey and we’ll see what God does with it.
And while I’m on the subject, let me just announce some uber-super-spectacular news that very few people will really care about (but I care immensely): I have FINALLY completed the FIRST REAL HONEST TO GOODNESS rewrite of the STORY I’ve been writing SINCE I WAS ELEVEN FREAKIN’ YEARS OLD.
“There. I said it. I feel better for it.”
I started seriously writing when I was eleven, with a mechanical pencil and a notebook on the way down to visit my cousins in Arkansas (who are actually coming up to visit us this coming weekend). I wrote it by hand. And it was terrible. But it was a story. Andy and Dad finally convinced me to type it out on the computer (at that time, I didn’t want anything to do with technology). And then I gave it to good friends Amy and Carrie Lemke to read, and they raved about it–said it was great. So I continued. I had the entire series mapped out in my head — an epic to end all epics, made Lord of the Rings look like a Saturday morning cartoon strip — and I knew it would take me forever to get it all written, but it was my story and I loved it. So that was pretty much my life through the rest of school–writing writing writing. I think I finished 25 of the stories before I stopped working on them, mainly because I started working on Destiny and wanted to focus seriously on getting published and I didn’t think there was anyway these crazy stories would ever see print.
To make a very long story short, I kept writing these silly stories because my First Fan Club loved them (Amy, Carrie, Kristina, Maria, Elena, Katie, Lindsay, Matthew, Andy). I stopped working on them because I wanted to get serious about writing. Well–I decided that I’d been too serious for too long and I needed to stop writing for the industry and go back to writing for myself. So–that’s what I did.
As of today, the book that started it all is done — at least, the first real rewrite is done. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve rewritten it, but this time I can actually honestly say that I’m happy with it. Honestly. Completely. Truly.
The name of said manuscript is Chasing Rainbows and it’s about 320 pages. It still needs work. I still need to go through and rework some things. But all in all, the idea is there and it’s not changing again. It will probably never see publication, but I don’t care. So–if anybody wants to read it, let me know and I’ll see about killing a tree to get you a copy. =)
And now the band is getting here so I’d better sign off. Rehearsal time! Oh, and by the way, the new NewSpring Band Album comes out Watermark weekend! I got a sneak peek AND IT ROCKS!!!!!! I’m so excited to have NewSpring versions of these songs . . . .
Always Peachy 