Something to Think About

I was out of town for the past couple days and didn’t have ‘Net access.  I took beads and my tools, (writing and beadwork/jewelry) magazines, the laptop, and some notebooks. 

I didn’t open the laptop.  I made a lot of jewelry.  And I read quite a bit in some of the magazines.

In Poets & Writers, I noticed something different in some of the ads.  There are always ads for getting an MFA in creative writing.  That wasn’t unusual.

Two or three of them, though, advertise no-residency/virtual residency fully online programs.

It’s something to think about in this evolution process.

Why?

I’ve always wanted to get an MFA but dismissed it as not possible because of transportation issues.  (If you’ll remember in the first post here I mentioned that I’m legally blind.  Therefore, I don’t drive.)

Perhaps it’s not as unattainable as I thought.  Depending on what I find out in preliminary research on them, the only obstacle might be financial.  And depending on the cost, that might not be too terribly much.

Plus (thinking “out loud” here), if I were to go ahead with the creativity coaching certification and get that first, perhaps any income derived from that would be able to help fund obtaining the MFA.

It’s something to think about, anyway.

Filed under: writing , creativity coaching, MFA

Emerging from My Personal Cocoon

I’ve been feeling like something really needs to change for a while now.  I haven’t done anything about it, though.

At the end of May/beginning of June, I sprained my back.  I was supposed to have been in Arkansas for all of this month for a residency at a writers’ colony.  I was able to manage only a week before I had to come home.

That was very disappointing, I won’t lie about it.  The up-side to that is, I get to go back in September and finish, so it’s not a complete loss.

In coming back home, though, I had to start with transcription again.  I had wanted to use this month to figure out what I wanted to do and to decide how to go about it. 

The thing of it is, though, that I know what I want to do.  At this point, I’m just not certain about how to make it happen to the level where I can make a living from it.

I’m slowly developing a plan.  Part one is becoming a creativity coach.  I want to start the key parts immediately, but it requires taking classes and getting certified.  The first class for it doesn’t start until December, so I’m stalled until at least then.

In the meantime, I’m still writing between transcription and while I can since my back is still recovering.  I have to take too many breaks.  Right now, though, I have four submissions out and I’m trying to get some more ready to send.

It’s a slow process, this emerging from my personal cocoon.  But isn’t that what makes the beauty of the butterfly?  Making the process go faster results in an ugly blob that can’t do anything (as the story goes).  Taking it slow makes it self-reliant. 

That’s the way to go no matter how much I might chafe to speed things along.

Filed under: writing , creativity coaching

Dusting Off the Cobwebs

It’s amazing, isn’t it, how cobwebs can gather so quickly in a new place?

The basics:  I’m Jen.  I’m a medical transcriptionist, writer, and jewelry maker/beader.  I live in Oklahoma.  I have one brother, one sister, one bil, one sil, one handsome nephew, and three beautiful neices.  My parents moved in with me under the guise of looking for a new house.  Six years later, they’re still here.

Oh, yeah…  I’m legally blind.  So some of my entries may have something to do with that.

The purpose:  Yes, I do have a purpose for this other than just having another blog.  This is going to cover my personal evolution from a full-time medical transcriptionist (which I hate!) to a (hopefully) full-time writer/creativity coach/part-time jewelry maker/beader.

I don’t know how long that process will take.  All I know is I absolutely cannot do the transcription any longer.

That said, welcome to my world.  If you don’t like what you read, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.  Or on second thought, do. 

Filed under: writing , creativity, creativity coaching

I Really Was There

Cameras with self-timers are nice.  I finally got this off of my camera to put here.  In this picture, I’m (supposedly) working on “Devon’s Wish” at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs.

(Is it September yet?  I’m ready to go back.)

Filed under: Uncategorized , WCDH residency

Proofreading

The Impotence of Proofreading

I think that speaks enough on its own. 

Filed under: writing

I Can’t Help It…

I have a new blog.

It’s on WordPress instead of LJ. It’s Evolution.

I do have a purpose for this other than just having another blog. This is going to cover my personal evolution from a full-time medical transcriptionist (which I hate!) to a (hopefully) full-time writer/creativity coach/part-time jewelry maker/beader.

I don’t know how long that process will take. All I know is I absolutely cannot do the transcription any longer.

Filed under: writing

No Sleep

Last night, I couldn’t sleep worth anything.

At 1:00, I finally got up and took some medicine. I didn’t want to. I usually only need 2 Naproxen and one muscle relaxant a day (for my back). I think that was my problem last night. I didn’t want to take anything. *sigh*

Lines for a poem started percolating so I went ahead and wrote it down. I finally went to sleep about 2:00. I’m not ready to be up yet.

I’m kind of scared to look at that poem this morning. The only part of it I remember is

Virgin
blood meant to wash
away our innocence
instead stigmatizes those deemed
too old.

And a tentative title, “Questions of Morality.”

It goes along with a new project I’ve been thinking of starting but haven’t done yet. Maybe it’s time to do it.

Filed under: writing

Gender Issues in Reading

In an online writers’ group I belong to (I belong to a few), I made a comment after “Childless” was made available on The Verse Marauder, I said that in a recent contest, the judge said while the poem was poignant, it needed a more emotional punch.

To do that, I reasoned, I would have to make the poem longer.  I didn’t want it longer so instead I decided I would write a new one (which hasn’t been done yet).

Another member of that group asked if the judge was a man or a woman because she (and several others who have since read the poem) didn’t think it needed anything else.  When I said the judge was a man, she said that answered the question.  His gender influenced his reading and interpretation of the poem.

Do you think this is common regardless of genre or is it limited to specific forms or genres?

Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

—–

Edited to Add:  Please note, I didn’t mean to imply that he was a non-feeling kind of person at all. I was actually meaning in general and using that as a recent example that got me to thinking about it.

Filed under: writing

Promised Link

For anyone interested, I found the paper with the website for Delphia Dreams in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

It’s http://www.adreamgallery.com.

Filed under: not writing

Stupid Lucky

The other day, I was at the Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  My mother had checked in and she and my Granny were looking around the gift shop before we went to the room. 

I was still at the front desk getting a cat-5 cable so I could use the Internet in the room (after I got some writing done, of course.  )  I almost walked off but then thought of something else.

In October, I’m going to the Ozark Creative Writers’ Conference in Eureka Springs.  It’s held at — you guessed it — the Inn of the Ozarks.  I decided I’d go ahead and book a room even though I had “plenty of time” to do it later.

Ha!

The guy at the desk said they only had about 4 or 5 rooms left for that weekend!

That wasn’t just luck.  That was stupid luck.

Speaking of the conference, I have a few things ready to send in to the accompanying contest (including Kiernan’s Curse).

Take it from me, folks.  Depend as little as possible on stupid luck.  It doesn’t always work.

Filed under: writing