Whew.

T-minus 2 days before I send the rough draft of the portfolio out to former advisors.

Almost finished with my third person POV story...I'm not really sure how to wrap it up so I started making minor edits to the rest of the piece. All in all, I have one page that is completely ready to be sent out ("We Sing".) I hope tomorrow to make more edits to the piece I read for the Art of Service Show at the Brannigan. Its been so long since I've dealt with it that I hope I will have a new perspective on what needs to be done with it.

And I have absolutely no idea on where I am going with "Barfly." At all.

However, as it stands, even if I don't include "Barfly," I'll have about 27 pages done. Most schools want anywhere from 20-30 (unless you are University of Michigan. They just 'want enough to judge your work.')*

So, you all know this song and dance, Readers. EDITS! I WANT THEM! ANY FEEDBACK YOU CAN GIVE ME AND I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER AND A DAY. Leave a comment or get in touch with me by any other means (just don't stop by my house...its a wreck and I've been pretty much living in dirty pjs for the past few days).

*I'm not sure if I really plan on applying to UofM. Sure, it's a great school and very ideally located, but I'm not sure if I could get in. It's one of the most competitive in the country.

Update

Hey All,

This month has certainly been a challenge. Between trying to stay focused on writing the portfolio, studying for the GRE, and watching Criterion Collection Films, I have been busy with liesure. :)

So far, my portfolio includes:
-An expansion on "Barfly" (combined with a piece I wrote during undergrad about sleep)
-"We Sing"
-"Brother"
-And a complete overhaul of part of a piece I also did when I was an undergrad.

This last one is proving to be one of the most challenging/enjoyable. During my undergrad fiction class, I wrote a piece that was completely overwrought. *But* it did include a parallel story that wasn't all that bad. So I took one of the parallel story sections and started expanding and editing it. But it was going nowhere: the further I got length-wise, the further I felt I was going from my Main Character. I kept on forcing it and was getting frustrated.

But the other day, at random, I picked up "Snow Falling on the Cedars" by David Guterson. Within the first two pages of his technically sound prose, it hit me. I needed to write the story in third person. Reader, it has been such a freeing experience to write in Omniscient Third POV. Granted, I'll probably tighten it up later so it falls in closer to my MC, but for now, its one of those experiences where I actually enjoy the free and easy writing.

I still have a lot of work to do, and in the next few days I will be mailing my first draft of my portfolio off to former teachers, advisors, and friends for edits and critiques. I hate to say it, but a deadline is a great motivator.

Be well,

dizzyfemme

Barfly

I hate places like this. Always full of wooden men with glass eyed stares. Always with their looks wondering about creamy thighs and hands with fate lines that end at tonight. They tower above me, these giants. I debate about crawling up under a shoe, like a scorpion. Flick my ankles out, a twitch. I call it dancing. Liz says I have no beat, no rhythm, no metro-known. She puts her hands on my hips, side to side, up and down. She calls this dancing. I call her my puppeteer. Pull my strings taut, fish for my joints, hooked under my armpits.

I say I need to get a drink. I leave Liz dancing with flies. I don’t like being touched there anyhow.

This bar is boring. Full of people, smoking, drinking, dancing. And not one of them doing a thing. Even the philosophers in the corner with spit drenched napkins are really just trying to get laid. Only the bar tenders with the tight hard bodies and tight black polo shirts to hide the sweat see how dull the night is. They pour drinks, like a factory, one shot one beer one drink split the orange split the lemon split the soda water. I want to go home. But Liz is laughing, trying to puppeteer someone else. I can see she got her second wind. I try to breath on my wrists, try to tell them to wake up. But I just get a lungful of germs.


Notes:

Whoo-wee. It feels good to get a post up. Taking August off of work to do more portfolio work. Obvs, this piece is super unfinished, but it's a start.

Zombie

Eeek... Sorry for the lack of updates (again.)

Tomorrow, I will try to post a vlog of the piece I did for my reading. Thanks to all of you who made it out.

In other news, I'm taking the month of August off to finish up my rough draft of my portfolio. Double eeek.

Edits for Friday

Hey All,

Anyone want to help me with edits for the Friday reading? Comment or email me.

hearts&flowers,

dizzyfemme

Blood Moon (except not really)

Hey All.

Writing is going well. I am working on a short story for my portfolio and I'm experimenting with a new voice. It's more straight forward, with an emphasis on plot and character development. Usually I just let the language dictate what will happen, but I'm struggling with the idea that writing should just be shimmery prose. Certainly, I want to keep my fidelity to the primacy of language, but I think for first drafts I should focus on the plot. Integrating a strong plot and characters, written in a more traditional, straight-forward way but at the same time include poetic elements could prove to be a tricky balance to strike. I think I want to strive for interesting twists of words.

Anyway....

It looks like I'll be doing a 10 minute reading at the Brannigan for the "AmeriCorps: The Art of Service" show during the ramble. July 1st. When I know the time, I'll post it on here. So, if you're in the Las Cruces area, please do come check it out.

EDIT:

Here is the link for the Facebook event.

Be well.

dizzyfemme

Quick Update

Hey all.

Sorry for the lack of updates as of late. I'm working on The All Important Graduate School Portfolio, which I may or may not post sections on the blog. I do want to keep doing writing exercises, so perhaps I'll post those.

Be well.
dizzyfemme