English Class Portfolios

OK, remember how much I said I loved my english class this summer? Well, I still do; it is just that I have one last assignment to complete that I ....well, havn't yet. Portfolios. We are supposed to submit our "polished" two stories we submitted earlier in the summer with revisions to incorporate comments from our peers and the professor.

As usual, I hate revising my work. Hell, I even hate to re-read my work, let alone make changes to my work. It isn't that I don't like criticizm, it is just that I am LAZY!!! Unfortunately, my laziness will probably get me a low grade, or maybe even an incomplete for the english class.

I email the professor and asked for an extension, but have not heard back from him. The sucky thing is, I was in the middle of the revision and was called, by my real job, to Florida - for the last two weeks!!!! So, I am not only lazy, but behind.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that my professor let's me turn in my stuff late.

Writing Prompt

ENG 215 is behind me and I am looking for a new project. This is where my blog becomes interactive; well, sort of. Do you know what a writing prompt is? Well, do you? OK, a writing prompt is when you give a writer (me) an idea for a story or a notion for one. For example, "Brenda opened the letter that had come in yesterday's mail with dread...."; or "On the flight back from Saskatoon, Benny realized that he had....". A writing prompt stirs the imagination and can really light a fire under a writer.

Just leave your prompt here in the form of a comment to this post.

Thanks in advance! If I use your prompt, I'll mention you name and dedicate the story to you!!!

English 215

I just finished my Creative Writing Class (ENG215) at NOVA Community College. It's been twenty-two years since I took a collge level writing, or any for that matter, course. I found it very stimulating, enlightening, educational, and satisfying. The other cool thing was, I got to be the geezer!!! I was older than all of my fellow students AND the professor!!! Hillarious!

If you have not been back to college, go! If you are not sure if you'll go to college, go. You can always learn.

Since this was such a positive experience for me, I'll probably take another writing class next summer.

New Work - Ambush

This is the "flash fiction" piece I submitted for English 215 at NOVA Community College today. Flash fiction is a bare bones, pared down, to the point piece of original fiction. We were asked to keep the story to 750 words. Now for some of you out there, having someone tell you "go write a story on anything you want and keep it to a maximum of 750 words" would be arduous. It is the opposite for me. The first draft of this story was 1,015 words...! To get it down to 750, I really had to focus on what was really important to the story. This meant in some cases deleting scenes and ultimately changing the entire story, yet keeping the theme.

I felt this was a fantastic writing exercies and I'd recommend it to anyone - it helped me quite a bit and although I'd hate to have to go back and apply the editing priciples I did with Ambush to my NaNoWriMo submittal this past November, I will take the lessons of this 1,015 - 750 word exercise with me where ever my writing takes me in the future.

Here's 'Ambush', I hope you enjoy it:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZADP2h7ELnaZGQ5dzlxNnNfMTFnbTdkajlobQ&hl=en

New Work - Decomposition

This is a new work that I put together pretty quick as my second submittal for this summer's English class. I really wasn't in the mood to write when I started, worked on, or submitted this original piece, but it is what it is. I hope you enjoy it. Like all my works I publish here, please feel free to offer fedback on what you read.

Thanks for taking the time to read my original work, here is the URL where you can find 'Decomposition':

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZADP2h7ELnaZGQ5dzlxNnNfMTBjd3FnamJkZg&hl=en

New Work - Terrence Goes to the Office

Here is a short story that I submitted as my first English class assignment this summer. I had the opportunity to actaully be in the class when my peers were reading it and the expressions and exclaimations were wonderful to experience. I hope you enjoy it, but I think maybe the title needs to be changed.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZADP2h7ELnaZGQ5dzlxNnNfOWZzdmdrY3d2&hl=en

English Class

Well, the blog got me....again! I had typed about seven paragraphs catching you up on all my recent writing related accomplishments, but all my text disappeared! That is a pain in the butt! Anyway, all summer, I've been in a Creative Writing class at my local community college. The class was set up in the format of a writer's workshop where we wrote two short stories, up to 20 pages, one piece of flash fiction, and had reading assignments from What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers (3rd Edition) by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter; and Making Shapely Fiction by Jerome Stern. It was a great class and I learned a lot, but now I am seriously considering taking another class that will help me focus on specific aspects of fiction writing. It starts August 24 and goes till just before Christmas, Monday's from 19:00 to 21:45...not fun, but I like the professor and feel it will help me - a lot.

I have to admit, over the last six to eight months, I really have not felt like writing. Not uninspired, just lazy and felt that there were other things I could do besides locking myself away from everyone and everything parked in front of my laptop tapping away at the keyboard. i spent A LOT of time sailing, which aint' a bad thing. However, the simple truth is, I missed writing - a lot and am back on an inspiration train. I am seeing stories everywhere again, and the class this summer helped me get back to it.

NaNoWriMo is coming up in three months and I have signed up again. Last year was a fantastic experience for me and I proved to myself that I am a writer. Oh, I might not be a writer to you or Penguin, or Bantam, or any of the other big publishing houses....hell, little old Lulu.com might even schoff at my work, but for me none of that really matters. I did it, hell I really did...52, 282 words worth of it. They even sent me a postcard saying I Rock. I highly recommend you give NaNoWriMo a try.

So, that' it. I'll try to post some of my works here for you to read, ponder, and hopefully enjoy.

"Peace, Love, and Writing, y'all!"