Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Friday, January 9, 2015
New Year, New Plans
So I'm going to try to make a schedule and stick to it. Starting Monday, I'll be at school MWF 8 AM to 2 PM teaching 3 classes and holding office hours, which I will truly use for school related work. As of right now, I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off, but I also work at the local movie theatre, so I'll be determining the best schedule for my week there soon. Ideally, I'll work there on Mondays or Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sunday afternoons, giving me Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays off to work on a business venture, read, write, craft, and recuperate. Tuesdays and Thursday will be my personal work days, meaning crafting for the Etsy shop I'd like to open and business things I'm finding it difficult not to talk about. I would love to read a new book every (or every other) Saturday and spend a good chunk of time on my writing, which I have been ignoring rather horribly lately out of frustration. On Sundays I'd like to get in my major cooking escapades and meal prep for the week, so I don't have to worry about not having time or energy to make dinner on weeknights.
Already this sounds daunting, but I know that in all actuality it's not that bad; I haven't even scheduled out every hour of the day. Still, it's a start.
And in case you missed the memo, I'm primarily posting over on my new page bookish.things.blog where I put all my book related things, including reviews, short stories, and publishing plans, so head over there and follow that feed to stay up to date with me!
Friday, April 4, 2014
Starting Over
When I started this blog, I didn't know what I wanted it to be, so it ended up being a little of everything. Some of me and my writing, book reviews, agent and author interviews. I wanted to please the internet and contribute something. Now I just want to get back to having a blog for me. Letting you all know what's happening in my life or in my writing, seeing what's up with all of you. So that's what I'm going to do.
I'll leave this blog up because it does have some valuable posts in its history, but I'll be starting over with a new blog. If you want to follow me there, stay tuned; I'll post a link when it's ready. If not, no hard feelings. It's been fun and interesting, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Love,
Manda
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Dream Big and Live Life
I graduated with my MA in English in May, and I can honestly say I'm not even sure I read a book that wasn't required in the entire year and a half I was pursuing that degree, much less put pen to paper. Before that, I was getting my BA, and finding time to write was difficult, but I still managed. Now, though, I teach three classes a semester, which means that even though I have huge chunks of free time in my schedule, I'm constantly exhausted and tired of words on pages and using my time to grade papers (sometimes). I also work at a movie theater because being a teacher really doesn't pay all the bills, especially since I only get paid once a month. So I teach in the mornings and am done by 12:30, and then I spend my nights and weekends shoveling popcorn and making drinks. It's a glamorous life, let me tell you. I am lucky when I get a day off at all, and any actual free time I have is normally spent curled up on my couch staring blankly at the TV simply because my eyes burn and/or I'm too mentally and physically exhausted to make my brain work.
But if I want it, I'll make time. Isn't that what people say? You force yourself to write whenever you can. Any words are better than no words. But I was an English major. And a perfectionist. And I hate writing things that are bad. I like to take my time and craft them well so there's less revising and editing and cutting and all that lovely jazz. But, Amanda, you say, that's just how writing works. Not just writing, creating anything, heck, even life! It's messy and takes work and patience! And I know it. I do. You know what else I know? That I just want to write. I don't want to worry about whether my classes are failing or if my students have figured out how to string words and sentences together any better or if I'm going to want to punch my coworkers for being too lazy to sweep up popcorn. I just want to write and be happy. But I can't do that until I can pay all my bills. And I can't pay my bills without working myself to the bones. Oh isn't life grand?
And you know what? I still find time to write. Because even though the words are crap and I have papers to grade and popcorn to make, writing is what I love, and if there's one thing I learned from my mother more than anything else, it's that you should do what you love. So I teach, and I work, and I lie in an exhausted heap around my apartment, and I write. Because it has always been my dream for people to read my stories, and it has always been my goal to be good enough at crafting them that people will pay me. And one day, it'll happen.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Making a Comeback
So this is me stepping away from another 3-6 years of school, not because I'm afraid of the challenge or because I don't think I can handle it, but because I no longer have a good enough reason to go. Why put off what makes me happy for the possibility of future happiness when I can do what I love and be happy now? Why did I have to make this so complicated to begin with? I've said I was going to be back on more (and I have), but I really think after I get this thesis done and I graduate (again) that my writing life will make a major comeback, and posting here and reading what you guys have to say is a big part of that. I've let my writing, and myself, sit for far too long. And I'm happier just thinking about what graduation holds for me now. Here's to being true to yourself and doing what you love.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Hey there, good lookin'. Again.
I've missed you guys. Sorry I've been MIA, but I'll do my best to catch up on all your lives soon. :) But tell me, how are all of you?
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Time, Excuses, and Writing
Right now, it's the summer. I can't tell. I'm still taking a class each term, working ~34 hours/week, and trying to do things for my fraternity office, find a PhD program I like (I've figured out exactly what I want to study/teach, so that's a bonus), study for my MA comprehensive exam as well as the GRE English subject test, and research/plan my thesis. In the fall, things are really going to get interesting...
My problem is that I keep thinking about my characters and my stories. I want to work on them. I want to get them finished and sent off to publishers. I want to see them in stores. But at this point all I have is self-doubt. I could carve out time for it; I'm sure I could. Only every time I start going down that train of thoughts I hit this wall that tells me I'm not good enough a writer to be published, that I'll never finish anything worth reading, that I have no clue what I'm doing and I shouldn't even bother, that I should just stick to school because I can actually do that.
Funny how we always want to blame time for the things we don't get done, isn't it? Yes, I'm short on time, incredibly short on time, but if I had the confidence in myself and my work, I'd do a better job of prioritizing and making room for my characters and their stories, for improving my craft. But even admitting that, I don't know where to go from here. I can't write when I feel like every word is crap and that it's always going to be crap. I can't edit when it feels pointless. So I don't. Because I don't even feel like I have betas any more or crit partners, and that's my own fault, too.
*sigh* Balls, this life stuff is hard.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Blargh.
I like to mix things up: genre, age group, release date. I like to read books that I never got to read growing up as well as books I never got around to. For example, my upcoming reviews include Shiver, How to Train Your Dragon, Stuart Little, and Fracture. Things to look forward to. :)
Friday, October 14, 2011
Blargh. Edits. Blargh.
20,000 words. 2 days.
I look psychotic, I'm sure.
Also, the muscles in my legs are incredibly sore. Who knew barely moving for two days could hurt so much? Don't answer that.
So because I forgot to write today's review, you get to listen (watch? read?) me ramble on about TSA for a bit.
Draft 4 is virtually complete as of last night. It is 40,165 words and 25 chapters long. I always knew it would be 40k, as is evident in the query I wrote for it over a year ago when it was closer to 32k. This makes me happy.
I am going to tweak a few things I know I left out or messed up and remembered but didn't go back for while I was editing because they were very minor. I'm going to reread the whole thing and see if anything major sticks out. And then I am going to send it to someone who has never read it before so I can get some fresh perspective before handing it off to one (or both) of the only two fabulous people who have ever read it and critiqued it. Then, Universe willing, I will be completely finished.
I will finally be able to write the amazing agent who requested it a while back and see if she's still interested in seeing it, AND I can pass it on to another awesome agent who made me promise her I would send it to her when I was done. I don't know if either of them will want to see it or will like it if they do, but TSA will finally be out there, which makes me incredibly happy.
Also, did I mention the new book? Because it's different and I like it and I can't wait to start focusing on it.
Oh, what's that? You want to know what it's about? Well, that's kind of a secret. But I will tell you that it's a mystery with a ghost and twins and . . . NO. I've already said too much. *crazy eyes*
Okay, I should probably stop embarrassing myself. In my defense, I was an editing Hulk-ish fiend for two days who hardly got any sleep last night. I'm allowed to be a tad crazy, right? RIGHT?
It's Friday. You lovely people have a wonderful weekend.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Moving Forward
I want to be editing TSA. I want to be working on all the book ideas I have. I want to be querying.
Despite everything, I'm going to resume editing The Sandman's Apprentice. I miss it; I need to finish it; and I'm not going to let the lack of a desk stop me any more.
In other news, reviews to come next week. I'm working on 4 of them and reading Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore, meaning that'll be review number 5.
So how is everyone? Read any good books? Come up with any amazing book ideas lately?
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Hiatus End. Hopefully. AKA Life, the Universe, and Everything.
I've read one book since the New York fiasco, and I've been struggling through another since before the big trip, can't seem to finish it. And it's not that it's a bad book, I like it, I'm just having a hard time getting through it. I'm having some writing problems too. Fun.
I want to write. To edit. But I don't have anywhere to do it. I have a bed, and I've had about all I can take of trying to work on a book in bed. I can't do it any more. I need a desk, a table, somewhere I can spread out and think. And I don't have that. I don't have a car to get to the library either, and it wouldn't matter anyway, I can't focus in a library. One of the perks of working in them I guess, can't even do homework there because as soon as I step foot in one I start thinking about the books that are improperly shelved and the chairs that need to be pushed in and a dozen other things that need to be done.
So I haven't touched my book in forever, and it's driving me nuts. Why? Because about a year and a half ago I started writing it, and about six months after that an agent wanted to see it when it was done. It's been a year and she still hasn't gotten to see my book. Why? Because I was a good student. I went to class and to work and I focused on graduating with a good GPA so I could get a good job to support me while I wrote. And what good did that do me? I'm back in my mother's house working 14 hours a week so I can save up for a car, grad school, and half a dozen other things that I won't ever be able to afford on 14 hours a week.
I try to be positive. Try to keep my head up. Say it's all good and push through what ever is getting me down. But this time? I dunno. This time I can see what I want and I can't figure out how I'm supposed to make it happen. Because I need money to make things happen, and it just isn't there. I'm running out of positive thoughts and energy and things just keep getting worse. So I keep applying for jobs and hoping someone will call me, but no one has. And without another job, it won't matter if I can afford the Praxis tests and the grad school application fee, because even I do well and get accepted I won't have a car to get anywhere and I won't be able to pay for an apartment in another city, not to mention tuition.
I worry and I plan and I try to come up with some way to make everything work. And I keep trying to focus on the good things. But it keeps getting harder and harder to stay positive. But I'll keep trying, and I'll keep searching for another job, and I'll keep hoping we win the lottery so for once in my life I won't have to worry about money.
So that's where I've been, too busy trying not to drown to read and write and edit and blog. Hopefully I'll have enough peace soon that I can get back to my regularly scheduled programming and write you guys some reviews and read your wonderful posts and be there for you all. In the mean time I'm going to keep focusing on trying to stay afloat and figuring my life out.
I do, however, want to say thank you. You guys have been great, and I appreciate all the support. Coming up with a new life plan isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do, and it means a lot having you guys to talk to and knowing you care. Muchas gracias, mis amigos. Muchas gracias.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Umm, So, Yea
I came back from NY. I tried to get a job. Finally got offered a position as a part-time Circulation Assistant at the main branch of the public library. I signed on. During the interview process and waiting period, I began to look at grad school. On Tuesday I did my training at the library in preparation for starting next week. The day after my training I spoke with the main advisor for the program I was looking at. She told me I could either start this fall or wait until next summer. I could not stand the thought of waiting.
Cue frazzled me into calling and emailing everyone about enrolling in classes. By the way, classes start in about a month.
Did I mention the frazzled flailing? There was quite a bit of it. The flailing has subsided a bit now.
Anywho, that's what's up with me. I just got a job at the library and now I'm trying to get into grad school. Oh, right, I'm going back to get licensed to teach English for those of you who were wondering. Woot for lots of hardcore education classes!
How are your summers going?
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Move That Wasn't
As you all know, I left for New York on Thursday to move into a nice apartment and begin my journey to become a literary agent. After roughly 1400 miles, 23 hours, 8 states, and 1 hotel room, my mom and I arrived in New York. We got a whirlwind tour of the house and met the landlords. Everything was great. It was a nice apartment in a good neighborhood. I couldn't have asked for more. We unloaded all of my stuff (which was a lot of crap) and then we set out to the nearest Target for groceries and last minute supplies so that I could survive for a bit on my own. My mother was going to leave in the morning. As it turned out, we didn't get to bed until after 11 PM, and she was entirely too exhausted to leave in the morning. I am so glad she didn't.
Saturday when we finally got up, we decided to walk around the neighborhood a little and head into Manhattan so Mom could see Central Park before she left. At this point, I was looking at New York from an entirely different perspective. Previously, I had been a tourist. I had looked at the metro and all the people and the tall buildings as something I found interesting. Surely, I thought, I could live here. It's different, but I can handle it. Walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn and looking at it as if it were my life now was a completely different experience, and it was one that changed everything for me. I THOUGHT I could live in New York, especially out in Brooklyn where there are actual houses and the neighborhood is not so different than what I'm used to. I THOUGHT I could deal with being surrounded by so many people constantly while feeling completely isolated. I THOUGHT I was made of tougher stuff.
I was wrong.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
New York, New York!
I have job/internship prospects. I have some money. I have all of my unread books and my TV (but none of my DVDs--you can only fit so much in a tiny car). Life is good.
And soon, SOON, I will return, my friends. I will blog about bookish things and, HOPEFULLY, writing and revisions and editing type things. I will post reviews again. And believe me, I have plenty to review. We will have good times again, dearest readers. We will discuss books and articles about books (I'm looking at you WSJ) and what makes books good and how to do things well. I'm not sure if I'm being intentionally vague or not, but there will be THINGS, and you will like them.
In the mean time, the Oxford comma (aka the serial comma) is apparently no longer recognized as legit. I for one have no intentions of giving it up. So here's to the serial comma, may it never (or at least in my time) go out of style or fall out of use.
And for those of you who will be getting an early start on the weekend, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!! Enjoy yourselves, and stay out of trouble. ;)
Friday, June 24, 2011
Friday Fun
She likes to stretch, my Kidda.
She also has a tendency to fall asleep while stretching.
Sometimes, she likes to maintain the pose for pictures. She's an attention whore. :)
And just to show you that my cat isn't the only crazy animal in our household, I give you my brother's favorite dog: Behold the Jabberwocky!
While I was not the one giving her the bath, she held me responsible.
She swore revenge: the price? My braaaains!
But Zombie Jabbers was not satisfied.
Jabby goes by quite a few different names, in case you hadn't noticed, and she did get her revenge. She kept me awake until 3 AM the other morning barking and howling for no apparent reason. Now I don't know what kind of dog she is, but she's a weird one. Her lower jaw juts out a bit and she has one tooth that kind of sticks out of her mouth all the time. She's got coarse hair and long legs and big eyes... and I've decided she's a cross between a few different things.
Wookie
C Ewok
Fizgig
So there you have it. I bet you never thought you'd see a Wookie/Ewok/whatever-Fizgig-actually-is crossbreed, but I have proof they exist. I do.
Anywho, I thought I'd share a little fun with you guys today since I don't seem to be around much anymore. I hope the animals in my family have spread a little laughter today. Have a good weekend!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Life, the Universe, and Everything
.
.
.
Just kidding. And if you have no idea what that was about, you clearly haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and should go check it out from your local library.
Now then, if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I signed a lease for a place in Brooklyn. I leave for New York next Thursday and move in to my new room July 1st. I am excited. I am also slightly terrified. Brooklyn is 1400 miles away from my hometown, meaning I will be at least that far away from my mother and just as far away (and in some cases even more so) from my closest friends. My life is about to get quite a bit more complicated. On a brighter note, I'll be living here:
The landlords live on the first floor. The 4 bedroom apt that I will be sharing starts on the 2nd, and I will be on the 3rd floor.
That will be my neighborhood in about 10 days. Did I mention how excited I am? Because I am. So. EXCITED.
On the 30th, my mom and I will start driving to NY in her tiny little Scion. It will be stuffed with as many of my worldly possessions as we can possibly fit. I will probably be forced to leave behind quite a few of my books and DVDs, at least for a little while. BUT, I have an apartment. I have apartment-mates.
I am also still unemployed. I suspect I might be working at Target to pay the bills, but I'm not giving up on getting into publishing. Not in the slightest. I believe (and I will keep telling myself this) that the only reason I don't have a job lined up is because I still have an Arkansas zip-code and there are lots of other applicants who do not have that problem. Here's to hoping living in the state where I'm applying for jobs will make a difference.
So that's what's up with me. At some point I'll stop freaking out enough to get you guys some reviews, and since I recently read 13 books in about 11 days, I've got plenty of material. Of course, I'm thinking I'll probably review the entire Sookie Stackhouse series as a single entity rather than review each individual book since I read them back to back. But yea...
How is everyone's summer going? I don't really celebrate Father's Day, but I hope you all had a lovely weekend with the men in your lives.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Knock, Knock
But, I'm alive!! Really, I'm right here. I promise. And this semester is so close to being finished it's funny in one of those I'm-going-crazy kind of ways. I haven't read a book in, umm, a long time. It hurts me. I think it's been longer since I had time to read than since the last time I posted, if that tells you anything. And it's been just as bad with my writing.
HOWEVER, I totally had time to open up my 2nd draft and do a little work on The Sandman's Apprentice!!!!! So, really, guys, I'm back. Promise. I've got a few finals left, but then it's nothing but reading, writing, and doing some light working at the library. And then there's the bit of Christmas break I'm actually going home for, and then next semester, which should be a breeze compared to this one. I will never leave you again for two months. Even when I move to NY. I will find internet. I WILL talk to you all.
Anyway, all that to say that I missed you all, and I hope you don't hate me for dropping off the planet.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
A Little More Personal
Yea, it's been one of those weeks where things were just fine, until they suddenly weren't. My aunt came up to visit with my cousin's little girl and they stayed with my grandma. They came up, Mom and I went to see them on Sunday but didn't want to go to the church celebrations so we left and promised to come back the next day. Everything was fine.
Monday morning we get a call saying some more family has showed up; they were passing through on their way home after dropping my cousin Sean off at West Point. So we get up and get dressed and head over there earlier than planned. We stay for a bit, talk, and then give hugs and say goodbye. Things are still okay.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
New York: Part Two
I spent Monday and Tuesday at Curtis Brown learning all about the agenting side of publishing from the absolutely amazing Ginger Clark (but if you talk to her I said she was horrible and mean, okay?) as well as a few of the other awesome people working there. You can read that post here.
Curtis Brown is where I decided that I want to be an agent after I graduate. I've never been more sure, you know, other than that whole being a writer thing... :)
Wednesday and Thursday were spent inside Penguin, yes, you read that right, at two of the children imprints shadowing Jordan Hamessley, who was kind enough to host us despite some inner turmoil at one of the imprints.
Now, on to pictures! (I'm trying to get better at this but Blogger really doesn't like me posting pictures.)
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
New York Revisited
New York was fantastic, and I'm more sure than ever that I want to make the move next summer after graduation to be a part of publishing. So, how about some pictures to catalog the trip? :)
Monday, May 10, 2010
New York, New York
Katie and I are going to job shadow the fabulous Jordan Hamesseley, editorial assistant at Grosset & Dunlap/Price Stern Sloane - imprints of Penguin, yes, that's right, PENGUIN-, and agent extraordinaire Ginger Clark, yes, THAT Ginger, of Curtis Brown. :) We will be spending two days with each of the lovely ladies learning everything we possibly can about agenting and editing and trying to figure out where we think we belong, because, as you know, I'm getting into books. One way or another. Ideally I'd like to write them AND help others get published, but I'm not going to hold my breath (I'll just bust my bum instead- by the way, I really like British slang, why don't we use it? Isn't loo so much cooler than bathroom?! And bloody hell! Need I say more?) I digress...
I. Am. So. Freaking. EXCITED.
Have you seen Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? (If you haven't, why the hell not?) You know the monkey, Steve? There's this part where he jumps up and down waving his arms saying "Excited. Excited!" That is so me right now. Here, let me show you (honestly, you can skip to the last 2 seconds, but I want you to see why you should watch this movie [it's made of awesome]):
So, anyway, I'M GOING TO NEW YORK TO SEE GINGER CLARK AND JORDAN HAMESSELY!!!!! *does happy dance* *cough* Um, yea. :)
Btw, their Twitter usernames are @GingerClark and @thejordache so if you're on Twitter and you aren't following them, you should be.
Moving on, ok, since I will be busy as crap trying to get all my stuff together this week, and then Ill be gone all of next week, I'm going to change things up a bit and try to write as many posts as I can before hand and schedule them (we'll see if that works - sometimes Blogger hates me). Alas, Tuesday will not be Teaser Tuesday, BUT instead I'm bumping the review of the final Percy Jackson book up! And then Thursday will bring you the review of Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan, which is ah-MAY-zing. I'll try to do WiP Wednesday, but no guarantees. And the week of the 17th is up in the air right now. I'll try to get some MG books read and do some reviews instead of real posts.
Naturally the week after NY will be chock full of New Yorky goodness. (Yes, I really just said that, don't give me that look.), and MAYBE pictures. Maybe. (I will SO have pictures if they look good.) Anyway, my mind just went completely blank, but I think I was trying wrap up so I'm going to go finish reading my book now so I can have the review up for you soon.
Are the reviews to your liking? Do you have any comments or suggestions, things you'd like to see, things you don't want at all, complaints about the length? Let me know so I don't kill you all with my horrendous reviews (if you think they're horrendous, please don't use that word. :P)
Have a lovely week! <3
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