So now it's time for playwriting

I've taken this winter to venture into new genres of writing. I took a poetry class. I don't "do" poetry. I don't know why. I knew, even before taking the class, that so much goes into every word and every syllable. I knew that it would be one of the more difficult classes that I have taken. I was incredibly right! Wow. It was an amazing adventure and I probably learned more than I can even say... but it was tough.

Now I'm on to other unchartet territory - playwriting. The academy located at writing.com, one of my favorite Websites has a class this term where each student creates a 1 Act play! I'm excited to take this one. I'm not as scared as I was with the poetry. I have exposure, at least, to small theatre and I have always loved going to plays. I was very lucky as a kid and my mom worked at a local college. I got to go and watch them set up the plays and once I even sat in the lighting room while the play was going on. That was a huge treat for me as a kid!

So, this adventure, while it still might be a bit stressful, will also be fun-filled. Don't get me wrong. I had a good time in the poetry class, and I definitely leared a lot. But this one will just be a lot of fun overall, I think.

I'm still assistant teacher for another writing class, and I've got a bit more of a role in the class this term, so that will keep me busy, too. I think this year looks pretty good for writing.

I hope to get a novel revision finished and send that off in the next month or two, also. There's part of me that thinks that I haven't finished the revisions yet and sent it off because I'm afraid of what will happen if, by some weird stroke of luck, someone actually wants to publish it! LOL. I know, that sounds crazy, but I feel that way more and more. What if someone does want to publish it? What then? I guess that's not something I should really be worried about. What are the odds of it actually happening? But then, you just never know. It's just good to have a lot going on all at once, I think. It makes me more productive.

And now, I must away. I must find some sort of storyline for this play. Class starts soon!
laterz, taterz!
beck

Quitting smoking

Well, quitting smoking sucks.  There’s no doubt about it – and anyone that has tried and failed… or even tried and succeeded, knows this.  I’m a cold-turkey kind of girl myself, so that makes it even worse, I guess.   Maybe not.  Maybe it just makes it about the same as it is for everyone else.  I don’t know.  I just know the Suck-o-Meter is in the red zone most of the time.

Sadly, as I write this, I am smoking one of the last two cigarettes I have…. but it’s from a pack I bought over 2 days ago, so that has to say something, doesn’t it?  It’s much better than the 2 packs a day I was smoking.  Ugh.   That’s terrible.

About 6 years ago I started smoking again –which is even dumber than smoking to begin with.  I hadn’t smoked for over 4 years.  I don’t remember it really sucking (the quitting part, that is) before.  I suppose it probably did.  I don’t know.  Maybe it’s like childbirth.  I’ve heard people say that you don’t remember the pain after a while …. I don’t know.  Having never had a child, I couldn’t tell you – but I think that, if someone ever drove a Buick through my abdomen (which was the graphic image one person used to help those of us who haven’t had children really understand it) – I would probably still remember that, no matter how cute and wonderful and smart and talented my child was.

At any rate, this is the end of my life as a smoker.  I think I’m ready.  I hope I’m ready.  I hope everyone else is ready.  LOL.  They tell me that because of my size and weight and whatnot that most nicotine products on the market are not suitable for me – they would be too strong.  I don’t understand that, but I’ll take their word for it.  Ugh.  This is going to suck for a while.

I have armed myself with an extensive list of things to do besides smoke.  So that should help.  I hear that Chantix is a viable alternative for people who cannot use the stop-smoking aides that contain nicotine.  Then again, when you are strapped for cash and wondering every day if you will make the bills (welcome to the life of a restaurant server), it’s hard to think that putting out money for something that may or may not make the whole process suck less is a good idea.

Well, on to a new day – one with better lungs and cardiovascular health!

A Poetry Class

So, I guess I’ve decided that 2011 is the year to step outside of my comfort zone.  It’s time.  I’m 40.  Time to be a big girl and do new things.  For anyone reading this that remembers the wild and crazy days of my youth, you may wonder what the heck I mean by that.  Suffice it to say that I’ve spent many more years safe within my comfort zone than I spent doing… whatever it was that was thought “cool” at the time.

I’m taking a poetry class that starts next week.  Yes, poetry.  Doesn’t really seem like me, I guess.  I’m a fiction and non-fiction writer.  I’ve never done much poetry – aside from the drivel many of us seem to write in high school and, thankfully, outgrow at some point down the road.

Or is it thankfully?  Is it a good thing that we take all of those feelings and thoughts and bottle them up rather than express them on paper for the world to see?  In some ways it does help keep us from getting hurt – a protection mechanism.  If no one sees or hears what it was that hurt us or scared us or what have you, then they can’t use it against us, can they?

That’s not to say that all poetry is introspective.  Of course it’s not.  But it seems that most of what I wrote in my high school days was about, you know, the center of my universe – ME!  I think it’s largely the same for many teens out there.

That being said, I’m interested to revisit the realm of poetry and see what my “adult” mind can come up with.  Aside from my own interest in what will come out of my brain while attempting various forms of poetry, I’d really like to learn more about it.  I know what a stanza is.  I know that meter and rhyme exist.  I know not much else about the genre.  I’m hoping this class will expand my horizons and get some of those preconceived notions about poetry out of my head once and for all.

So, here’s to 2011!  Here’s to finally hitting the big 4-0!  Everything from here on out is a bonus!  Why not embrace life as if we only have it for a day?