After all of my academic reading for this semester, for both classes, I am left with the burning question, "What do British writers have against commas?!"

And the letter "z" for that matter.

I have a postcard with a single word on it tacked to the small bulletin board above my computer. The word is ANGST, and it is rarely more appropriate than when the end of a semester is nigh.

One moment I'm euphoric: this research paper/project/essay is going so well! I'm an academic genius! The next, I'm in the depths: this research paper/project/essay is an utter failure. Who do I think I'm kidding?

It is altogether energizing, frustrating, stimulating, intriguing, maddening and gratifying.

Monday's peer review and individual meeting with Dr. Amidon was most useful in helping me with project clarification. Michael, fellow student, asked thought-provoking questions about the direction the biographical piece would take. He made some suggestions, which we discussed: a chronological progression? Thematic? Where does my voice come in?

I came to the conclusion (I think) that MJ's story might best be laid out story to story. It was her many interesting anecdotes over the years that inspired the idea to write about her life. Each chapter can begin with one of her amusing, outlandish, thoughtful stories and be fleshed out with factual, historical information of the corresponding time period, where applicable.

Talking with the prof similarly affirmed my project choice and encouraged me to take it from the literal transcription that I currently have to a fully realized work.

RUBBER
_ _ _ _

Hose! said player 1
Duck! said player 2
Rope! said player 3 (rubber rope? really?)
Ball, thought I.

MASK, was the answer revealed
whereupon Pat, in his inimitable fashion, exclaimed, "Hey! We saved $1,000!"

Oh, Wheel of Fortune, so many laughs you have brought me.

It has been a somber week in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The Katrina-esque scope of the damage is hard to take in. Unless one has been through such a devastating event, it is impossible to comprehend. As "onlookers" we can pray, remember those who are suffering and will be for some time to come, and give to relief efforts as we are able.

As my friend Debbie said this evening, such circumstances can also spark natural and stimulating conversation starters such as, "If you knew your home would face the potential of being destroyed, what items would you save from it?" and progress from there to talk about what is most important to people--things that are of eternal significance.

These massive natural disasters bind us together as we measure the depth of human suffering, sympathize with those who are angry and frustrated, mourn with those who have experienced immeasurable loss, and think about how we  might respond in a similar situation. We watch the news, knowing that it can only scrape the surface in depicting the scope of the loss, yet weeping with those who weep. We wake in the night and utter a prayer, grateful to be in a warm bed, safe in our homes when so very many are not.

I like the book that Dr. Amidon is having us read for class: Inside Creative Writing, Graeme Harper, ed. With 15 cr hrs to go on my Master's degree after this semester, the academic angst is morphing into career angst: will this degree have any practical application? Will it get me where I want to go? Where exactly do I want to go? Yikes.

This book is a description of the process of creative writing as explained by several writers who were asked a series of thought-provoking questions. The authors interviewed are "people who in some way see creative writing as their profession; or, at very least, something they do with some form of human exchange in mind." p. 17

Without going into great detail on the questions asked or who wrote the responses, here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

...great writing doesn't just descend in one burst of genius, it evolves over long periods of time. p.22

Childhood plays a considerable role in creative writing beginnings. p.26 (I explored this with my initial piece for the class, "Frosty the Snowflake")

Creative writers take a high degree of personal responsibility for deciding to begin to write, and for continuing to do so. p. 38

and my favorite to date:

What we often don't understand when we start out writing is that writing is re-writing is re-writing is re-writing. p. 44

Tru dat! Good thing I so enjoy the re-writing process.

I trust that my skills will continue to develop and, I hope, bring personal satisfaction and enjoyment to my readers. Whether I will ever be privileged to make a living at it remains to be seen. Inside Creative Writing serves to remind me to enjoy and appreciate being a writer.

I had a service tech from Current Mechanical here today to determine why my furnace was blowing warm, then cold air. An amiable fellow, we chatted periodically while he worked. About an hour into his ministrations, which included two trips to my roof, he determined that I needed....a new filter. We agreed it was a little embarrassing that neither of us had thought to check the obvious first. But the 4-year old furnace got a good look over, cleaning, and diagnosing. And I promised I wouldn't tell anyone.

Current is one block from Deister and at one point he asked, "Do you take Maumee to work?" But I heard "Do you take mommy to work?" We both had a good laugh over that one.