I'm on holidays :)

Did I mention that I'm on holidays? I am - just so you all know....

What do I have planned?

I'm off to visit my brother and my nephews this week for a week, before returning to finish up editing and writing an END to my Nanowrimo piece I wrote last year. I'm going to re-read over it while I'm at my brothers so the storyline is fresh in my head, then I'll write an ending that MAY or MAY NOT lead to a sequel... I've been thinking of various ways to end it while I've been staring at the ceiling at nights.

I've also been thinking of story arcs for my 2010 Nano project, in which the main protagonist is to be called "Scott" in honour of 'Scoman' who is #Rad :)

Right now I'm in the process of packing to go to the back of beyond. Packing kinda sucks in a way, I've never been a huge fan of it, and I always leave it to the last minute, thus forgetting something, you'd think I'd have learnt by now!!

Anyway - I just wanted to pop my head up and say 'hello' and mention that I'm on Holidays!!!!

I'll try and be more diligent with my posts while I'm *cough* on holidays!!!

That's all I've got.

Noticeable absence

Dear Readers:

I have been somewhat absent with the blog entries of late, which I apologise for. I've been up to my neck in Uni work, which is all coming to an end a little too quickly with far too high a work load. But I WILL be back to my regular schedule of bitching about people who can't indicate on roundabouts, through to rude people in the line at the post office and of course other shit that I chose to just moan about... So I'll be back to normal in no time. 21st of May readers... Final day of semester and a 3,500 word essay....

Cheers
Sal :)

Double post I know - my bad but it kinda seemed odd to pin this onto the end of the Jess amazing talent post... Meh deal with it ;P

I am surrounded by talent

I'm a writing major, so it's expected that others in my class will have some exceptional talent. I gave some feedback to a girl today. Her name is Jessica. I won't put her surname up because if she's anything like me. She probably likes her anonymity.

I'll just post you the feedback I have just posted to her piece. She only gave us a snippet (You're limited to about 500 words in the workshop) she was a little concerned it was too graphic to workshop (it will make sense when you read what I wrote below)

Her piece is about child abuse. I've e-mailed her to ask if I can read the full piece, because as you can see from my feedback I offered her. She is a truly gifted and talented writer, and is able to write beautiful words on a subject that is horrendous.

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Hi Jess,

I don't think this is too graphic to workshop. I think you have taken the essence of what is child abuse and given it substance for others to experience. (If you get what I'm trying to say. Sort of like putting flesh onto the bones.)

I was particularly taken by the following lines in your piece:

"froze the breath in my lungs and seemed to suck the air out of the entire room"

I could almost feel this gasp in my own chest and sense the feeling of everything around you kinda spinning out of control as those things that trigger a memory take over. This was very powerful, and I personally feel you really grabbed your audience here, and let them in a way know just what sort of ride you are about to take them on. Well done.

Then you gave us this line:

'I slammed the lid down on that memory, thrusting it back into that compartment in my brain, were it lurks, biding its time'.

So well written as to what we as human beings do when we try and shut out a memory, I thought the 'where it lurks, biding its time' was just a magnificent way to describe this.

"I felt the burning pressure behind my eyes that warns that tears are imminent, and I tasted acid bile at the back of my throat as I fought the nausea."

Again the description here of that burning feeling we get when we're trying desperately not to cave into the emotions that are causing us heartache enough to make us cry. (I don't know about anyone else, but my eyes don't 'burn' when I have happy tears, but they do burn like fire as I fight to restrain the unhappy tears) Again Jess, the way in which you use words to paint an image is beautiful, even when the image being portrayed is horrendous.

Well done on a truly remarkable piece. I look forward to a future where I can pull a book from a shelf with the authors name Jessica on it, and proudly say. "I went to Uni with her!"

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Like I said I'm surrounded by talent.

That's all I've got.

Twenty days to go

I have twenty days to go until I finish Uni for this semester. In those twenty days I have the following things due:

Genre creative piece re-write (2,000 words)
Sociology report on Asylum Seekers (2,500 words)
Genre assignment on.... Genre! (2,000 words)
Themes and cultures major essay (3,500 words)

+ some 'stuff' for the online contribution which is just Q & A really.

So what did I achieve today? NOTHING Not a thing. I did ZERO Uni work today, instead I watched TV, took my dog for a walk, cooked, did some washing, and generally just did sweet FA. Why? Because today I just didn't give a fuck about Uni, or what's due or word counts, or any of that shit. I just took some time out for me, and I feel better for it. I'll get back into it tomorrow, I'll punch out the usual shit I punch out for assignments. THEN on the 21st of May. When the final assignment is handed in for this semester. I'll re-assess my life and work out just what the fuck I'm wanting to do / achieve / live for.


That's all I've got.