Going to the Presses

This week has been incredibly busy with all of my projects coming to a head at once - a new 8 pg. paper for Scottish Lit, grading comp. papers, and getting the most recent issue of the Hungry Eye ready to go to the printer.

The goal was to get the magazine to the printer by Wednesday, and thanks to everyone on staff pitching in, we made the goal. Also, during the flurry of activity, one gal especially stepped up so now I'm going to be joined as Head Editor by Juliana who did the bulk of the heavy lifting on physically assembling the issue.

The groovy part is that now that's done we can relax a bit and not have our regular meeting this week. Hoorah for a whole day of no commitments! We'll have the galleys next week, in theory, and then it's back to the printer and, all-in-all, we should have the issue printed and in our hands by the end of April/beginning of May.

Meahwhile, for SCWP, I'm in various stages of coordinating the publication of two anthologies. One of which should be ready to ship by the 14th. So, in the end, I'll have three anthologies I've helped make all coming out within a month of each other. Crazy.

The Problem With Writing a Paper About GBS

After tossing around a few options around for the focus of my latest Scottish Lit. paper, I decided that my best approach would be to jump in whole-heartedly and make it a Great Big Sea paper. They're from Newfoundland, which has a strong cultural history of Scottish influence, so that's not the problem.

No, the problem is that I figured it'd be a good idea to watch a music video or two of the songs I'm talking about, which led to a music video or two of their other songs, too. Suddenly, I've spent half an hour watching music videos and I'm still on the first page of an eight page paper. *Sigh*

Okay, one more music video. Then I'll write the paper...

New Pens

In keeping with the office supplies theme, when I went to the store yesterday I allowed myself to indulge in a new set of pens. They're called Magna Tank and they meet all of my preferred criteria for a good set of pens: gel or liquid ink, multiple colors (blue, red, black, green, and purple), and a fine tip (the rare, but prized .5mm).

Now, I'll confess right here and now that I'm slightly pre-occupied with pens. In high school I started building my collection based on my need for a variety of colors to use in my graph paper sketches (which were kind of like paper quilts) and then my hexes (the fun designs you can make with a geometry compass while in math class). In this case, the writing was a secondary motivation for the mass of pens. Then, one fateful day, I got a box from Camii for my birthday which held inside it a massive pen set - something like 200 gel pens in this huge circular container.

Since then, my taste in pens has simplified. I'm no longer on a mission to have every possible shade of metallic purple. However, a certain amount of pen obsession has remained. A pen with a good tip that writes smoothly and has ink which doesn't smear is something I'm quite keen on. Metallics aren't my preference, but every now and again, the occasion calls for it, and it's good to know I have them - just in case.

Due to my large stash of pens, I've periodically had problems finding a way to store them all. Most recently, that problem was solved when my parents had an extra plastic toolbox (I think something came in it). They gave it to me, intending that I use it for the hammers and screwdrivers I have, but I immediately saw that it would be better served as a pen depository for all those that couldn't fit in the various mugs on my desk.

Now, this brings us to you. When it comes down to the physical tools of writing, what's your preference? When you're searching for the perfect writing implement, what's your criteria? Pen or pencil? What type of ink? Pen tip? Color(s)? Does it bother you if you have to change pens (a.k.a. ink color) part way through a story or chapter?

Check This Out

While I was browsing for arguments as part of preparing for my Comp. class tomorrow - their next assignment is going to be an argument critique, and where better to go than MSN? - I found something nifty: The Napkin Project. Esquire magazine mailed cocktail napkins to various writers, who wrote on them and sent them back. Check out the archives and take note of some of these titles. When you've only got a cocktail napkin's worth of story, title is everything.

3rd Annual April WM

Somehow, the weather has worked out beautifully for all of the writing marathons I've done and yesterday was no exception. It was a good one - I was in a good group (even if I was the only gal and the only one with a name that didn't begin with "J"), we hung out in some cool places, and I got some writing done.

We wrapped up with some free goodies - Wireworks has rockin' carrot cake cupcakes - and now I'm that much further on the first draft of a new thesis story.

A Three-Syllable Name

Sometimes names in a story are more significant than at other times. Sometimes you put a lot of effort into finding a name that's just right.

Right now I'm working on a story and I have it in my head that I need a three-syllable name for a male character. I'm also trying to find a name that's not always shortened, i.e. Nicholas almost always becomes Nick, but Jeremy often stays Jeremy.

Thus far I have:
Christopher
Harrison
Elias
Elijah
Theodore
Sebastian
Archibald
Isaiah
Edison
Gregory
Oliver
Nathaniel
Emerson

Can you help me think of others?

I/We, He/She: Seafaring Songs and Identity

Last night I got back my most recent paper for Scottish Lit. I'm super proud of the paper's title, which is why it's also the title of this post. It's got a ring to it.

Papers for this class are proving fun. I'm delving into songs and discovering neat things about them. This last paper was all about the way identity is used in sea songs and some groovy things emerged once I started making connections. It was fun.

However, that's not why I mention the paper. The reason I mention it is because of the note my professor jotted at the top of the first page. The last part of the note: "I hope you'll continue this investigation and possibly come up with something publishable." I had to do a double-take. Publish a school paper? What?

Well, duh. Academic journals are filled with essays and papers just like what I've been producing and somebody's got to write those. The subject of academic publishing has come up a couple times in graduate school, but it's always been distant to me. Essays are things I write in order to pass a class. While some are more fun than others, I'm not so invested in them as my fiction. Once they get a grade, they've fulfilled their purpose.

Now I've got a grain of genuine consideration for academic publishing. My paper would need more work, more research, etc. but the idea might have a shot. Hrm... Could one of my essays actually earn me a publishing credit?