Archive for the ‘Novel’ Category

Rose: Second Draft Finished!!

Posted: March 31, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s official. I stayed up too late working on it, and then I finished and did a word count, which took up more time, then I sent an email, and then I did a dance routine to one of my favorite songs to celebrate. Yeah, I’ve eaten up a lot of time to celebrate. And I think I miscounted on that word count.

But yes, the second draft of Rose is finished, thank God. I knew I’d get it done by late March, but I didn’t think I’d be so down-to-the-wire with it. And these last couple of days, I got through chapters like…what’s an original metaphor? Fellow Star Wars fans go through the movies on May 4th? That’ll work.

Anyway, if you don’t know much about Rose, it’s a novel I wrote as my senior thesis. I didn’t need to do a senior thesis, but I felt like doing it. And let me tell you, it’s been a challenge. I had to rewrite the plot at one point, and at times with school and work it was difficult getting through it all. But I managed to do it somehow, and I got through the second draft. Now all that’s left is the thesis discussion with my advisor Manny and one of my teachers who has agreed to read it (I have a feeling she’s going to be pretty terrified over the next week or so). The novel centers around a woman named Rose, who is brought back from the dead through very powerful magic by a man who claims to be her lover but isn’t all that he says he is. And that’s just the start of her problems!

Trust me, it’s as creepy as it sounds.

Anyway, here’s the page count and word count for the second draft. In terms of pages (as always, 8.5″ x 11″, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman) is 164 pages, about ten shorter than the first draft. In terms of word count (which I’ve recounted), it’s novella-length at about fifty-thousand words, or a thousand words shorter than the first draft. And still much shorter than the shortest Harry Potter novel, so pretty manageable.

Tomorrow, I’ll send a full manuscript to my teachers so they can prep for the discussion. I meet with my advisor on Thursday, so hopefully he’ll give me some tips for the third draft (though it feels like I’ve gotten a third draft thanks to all the help I’ve gotten with this story). After that, nothing to do until I take the next step, whether that be another draft or if I decide to go straight to publication.

In the meantime, I think I’ll take a short break, work on a few blog posts I’ve been meaning to do, read some books, and write a short story bfore I get back to what I was doing before the school year started. That’s right, I’ll get back to work on Video Rage. Rejoice, fans of the Hydras, because I’ll be back on it faster than Speedy Gonzalez.

In the meantime though, it’s late and I’m tied. You all have a good night, my Followers of Fear (or a good day, if you’re reading this over your morning coffee). I know I am.

Snake: Review #5

Posted: March 25, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Review, Scary Stuff, Writing
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snake

How far would you go for love and revenge?

(Warning! This review has some spoilers. Proceed with caution if you haven’t read the book and might read it in the future.)

I’m super-excited to announce that my novel Snake has gotten it’s fifth review, and it’s second five-star review. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this book, Snake is the story of a young man whose girlfriend is kidnapped and becomes a serial killer to find her (yes, I wrote that sort of story. It is awesome). This latest review comes from Ruth Ann Nordin, fellow author, contributor and administrator on Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors (psst! Check out her blog. It’s got good stuff).

Her review, titled Good Thriller, was uploaded onto Amazon earlier today. Here’s what Ruth had to say:

I really enjoyed this book. When I selected “dark” for the mood, it was almost a toss up with suspenseful. You knew early on who the mafia killer was, but the question of how he was going to find his girlfriend and rescue her was suspenseful. I ended up choosing “dark” because of the level of violence our main character used in getting to the girlfriend. But he was a complex character. Even though he definitely had the dark side to him, there was a surprisingly good side to him, too. You don’t really see this until later on in the book. So early on, you might think this is an unredeemable character. But one of the most intriguing characters are those who aren’t what they initially seem, and for this reason, I enjoyed this character. The pacing was just right. It wasn’t rushed, and in no way did I ever feel it dragged, which is awesome for a book that was over 500 pages in paperback.

This book is violent, and it contains sexual situations. Some of it can be cringeworthy. So I wouldn’t suggest this for young readers. I’d recommend this only to adults. If it was a movie, it would be a strong R. There’s also swearing. These things don’t bother me as a reader, but I know it bothers some, which is why I mention it. But if you don’t mind these elements, I think you will enjoy this book. It’s a great thriller.

Wow, this is one of the best reviews I’ve ever received. And you’re probably right, it would get an R rating if this were ever made into a movie (I wish! If it does happen though, I’d like Dylan O’Brien to play the Snake and Molly C. Quinn to play Allison). And I got to say, the other critics agree:

Rami Ungar makes a promise to (the reader) in all his writings: he WILL scare you, and if he does “his job is done.” Snake will scare you. I am a huge Stephen King fan, so this should give you some idea of my tolerance level for gore, death and mayhem – I was scared. Rami takes you into places you would never have believed possible, and manages to pull his hero (and eventually his heroine) out of them against all odds. If you like to be scared. If you LOVE to be scared. You should read this book.

Angela Misri, author of Jewel of the Thames and Thrice-Burned

Well, I took yet another vacation where I made my family “just wait until I finish this chapter.” This page-turning read was another great effort by Rami. He is not afraid to take risks in plot twists and turns, character development and he takes the reader on quite the journey in this book. So looking forward to his next creation!

Michele Kurland

Anyway, I have to say thanks to Ruth for this wonderful review. I really appreciate it and I look forward to continuing to work with you. And I hope maybe we’ll be able to read each other’s works in the future (if there’s something up my alley that you wrote, I’d really be interested in reading it). Also Ruth, thanks for the private email with the suggestions on how to better sell and market Snake. Please know I am considering your ideas and if I decide to use them, I’ll let you know.

And if any readers here are interested in reading Snake, you can check it out on Amazon and Smashwords. And if you do decide to read it, please let me know what you think, either in a comment or a review. Positive or negative, I love feedback and always use it to improve my writing.

Also make sure to check out Reborn City or The Quiet Game if you haven’t already. Both have also gotten some pretty good reviews and I think you might find them very enjoyable.

Well, that’s all for now. Got a phone interview in the morning so I’m going to get ready for bed. Goodnight, my Followers of Fear. Pleasant nightmares.

Updates on What I’ve Been Doing

Posted: March 20, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Once again, I’m updating everyone on the various projects I’ve been working on. God knows I’ve got many at various stages of completion. And only God knows why I’ve gotten myself stuck in these crazy projects. It is insane. Well anyway, here’s my updates:

Rose

I’ve just gotten two-thirds of the way through the second draft. I’d say I’ve got about two or three weeks before I’ve finished the draft. After that, I may or may not do a third draft (though I’ve gotten advice throughout the first two drafts, so that feels like a third draft). Once I’ve finished the editing process though, I’ll start the publication process (copyright, cover, what have you). Might get it out later this year or early next year. Either way, it should scare the pants off of people.

Video Rage

I’ve got a lot of people–most of them my family, I’m afraid to say–pissed at me because of the delays in this one. Sorry, my thesis has taken up a lot of my time, so I haven’t been able to devote any energy to Reborn City‘s sequel. However, I plan to get right back into VR as soon as I’m done with Rose. After that, I have a friend who gave me a great amount of help for RC, and after that it’s all publication. Like Rose, I’ll hopefully get this out late this year or early next year. Fingers crossed.

Laura Horn

I still plan to rework and rewrite this book, to make it better than the draft I finished last year. Not sure when I’ll get to it, but hopefully before the year is out. We’ll just have to wait and see.

The Dead and Dying (plus other short stories)

I know I said I’m working on another collection of short stories, but I’ve been busy with…everything and unable to actually do that much collecting. But I plan to get more short stories written after Rose and maybe include them in the collection. I’m still working on that short story involving witches, but it’s taken time to get it right. I’m exacting that way, I want as close to perfection as possible for this story. I might try to take a break with it though, work on some other ones. I have an idea for another witch story that’ll be a bit easier to pull off, so I’ll work on that instead.

Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors

Got a new article coming out tomorrow morning, a very special one. I’ll write a post and include a link tomorrow. Trust me, it’s going to be great.

 

Well, that’s my updates. I’ll let you guys knows if anything comes up that’s worthy of knowing. And with school ending for me in a little over seven weeks or so, I’m sure there will be plenty of things worthy of posting about, my Followers of Fear. Good night everyone (or if you’re reading this over your morning coffee, good morning).

Conversations with Angela Misri

Posted: March 18, 2015 in Author Interciew, Living and Life, Novel, Writing
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Last year Angela released her first book, Jewel of the Thames, about a young woman named Portia Adams who moves into 221B Baker Street and begins solving mysteries happening in London (see our first interview and my review of JotT). Now she’s back, and she’s here to discuss her new book, the sequel to JotT, Thrice Burned and the growing fanbase around her character Portia.

RU: Welcome back to the program, Angela. Now, in Jewel of the Thames, Portia moves into 221 Baker Street, establishes a reputation for herself, and learns some very interesting things about her family history. What can we expect in Thrice Burned?

AM: Portia spends most of Thrice Burned struggling with the idea of becoming a real detective. Up until now, her cases have been small potatoes, brought to her by Brian, or friends or in the case of the missing child on a train, just the luck of being in the right place at the right time. With the full knowledge of her heritage just weeks old in her mind, Portia is truly at a juncture in her young life. Should she follow the easy route and take her law degree, fading into relative obscurity as one of the many barristers walking the streets of London? Or should she step up and take the road-less-travelled and take up the shingle to Baker Street, becoming the latest consulting detective in London? At the same time, other choices are being thrown her way when she meets Gavin Whitaker, a man who stimulates her brain in a way no one else ever has. Annie Coleson inserts herself into Portia’s life and suddenly, she has a persistent new friend (whether she wants one or not). So, in addition to the usual mysteries to solve, Thrice Burned focuses on decisions that need to be made for your young heroine to become the detective we all know she will be.

RU: Has Portia’s character changed at all between the books?

AM: Wow. Yes, it has, dramatically so. Where in Toronto she was essentially an introverted shut-in who did her best to fade into the background, since arriving in London Portia has made friends and developed a rather dramatic habit of getting into trouble. She’s still a very focused girl with introverted tendencies, but she’s starting to recognize when those tendencies move her towards depression and is trying to get a handle on it. She’s started documenting her moods, trying to avoid the extremes that her grandfather Sherlock Holmes experienced and while she doesn’t exactly embrace the lifestyle Mrs. Jones is determined to introduce her to, she does start to see its value and the value of the new friends in her life.

“Thrice Burned” by Angela Misri. Available March 24th

 

RU:  How do you come up with the cases for your books?

AM: This hasn’t changed through three books of writing about Portia. For me, it always starts with the crime – I have an idea for a crime and work outwards from there. In the case of Thrice Burned, I had a cool idea about some unexplained fires in London that could be linked back to a firefighter. In the case of my latest casebook that I’m working on for book four, I had an idea about unexploded mines from the first world war being set off at London train stations. I have a video from my series that explains my methodology (such as it is).

[Editor’s note: Angela has a series of web videos on YouTube called One Fictitious Moment about writing fiction. You can watch the particular video she’s referring to here.]

RU: Portia’s been gaining quite a fan base. She’s gotten some fan art and even appeared in a Wikipedia entry. How does that make you feel?

AM: Incredibly blessed. I still find it surreal to meet fans who know all about my characters and talk about them like they’re real people (which in my head, they are of course!).

RU: How many more volumes of Portia’s adventures can we expect? And what’s next for you personally?

AM: Well, I have at least one more book with Fierce Ink Press (coming out March 2016) but I am well into writing book 4 in the series. I don’t know to be honest. I think as long as I enjoy writing them, I will continue to do that and hopefully find someone who will publish them! In my head I really want to make it to the Second World War in the books, because Brian is going to go off to fight, and Portia is going to have to get involved with the war as well (though I’m not positive as to how yet). What do you think? Keep going or wrap it up at three books?

RU:  I’d like to see some more of Portia. And speaking of which, you were in London recently. Was that mostly research or pleasure?

A little of both to be honest! I haven’t been in London since I started writing this series, so I really wanted to put my eyes on some of the locations I describe in Jewel and Thrice Burned. I visited Trafalgar Square, Old Scotland Yard, Regents Park, Kings Cross station and of course Baker Street. It was kind of a dream come true to take a picture of my first book at 221B Baker Street!

RU: Jealous! Finally, what are you reading right now that you’d recommend to others?

AM: I just started Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz and on the recommendation of a friend I’m also reading The Grammar Devotional by Mignon Fogarty.

Thrice-Burned comes out March 24th, and will be available from Amazon and Indigo.com. Angela will also be attending 221B Con in Atlanta this April as a special guest speaker. And make sure to check out her blog, A Portia Adams Adventure.

And if you’re an author interested in getting interviewed for an upcoming release, head over to my interview page and leave me a comment. We’ll arrange for something to happen soon.

Social Media and Book Sales (or Lack Thereof)

Posted: March 12, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Writing
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Many authors these days start blogs or websites or Facebook pages or Twitter accounts or any of the other five-thousand different forms of social media, hoping that not only will doing so let them connect to potential readers, but these said readers will go out and buy their books. It was certainly my reason for starting this blog: I began a blog in August 2011 in order to build an audience so that by the time I published my first book I might have some readers willing to buy a copy. It’s also the reason why I started a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Contrary to this popular belief though, having a blog or any of the other things I mentioned doesn’t actually lead to decent book sales. There are numerous reasons for this, but I’d like to quote a friend of mine who recently posted about this on her own blog:

It’s like going to a movie theater and trying to sell your books to the people around you when all they want to do is watch the movie. Even worse, there are other writers in the theater trying to do the same thing you are, so the viewers are not just focused on the movie, they are purposely shutting out everything else. The challenge is to get their attention and make them more interested in you and your book than in the movie.

And like Pat, I’m not really sure how to get people interested in my book rather than the movie. While I’m lucky in that I’ve got a decent amount of followers (thanks for following, by the way!), if I charged for every time someone read one of my posts, I think my readership would be much smaller. My books cost anywhere between one to three dollars (if e-books) and a little under six to thirteen and a half dollars (if paperback). Plus I mainly write horror and science fiction, which don’t appeal to everyone.

Still, those aren’t the main reasons that I don’t make a lot of sales through social media. Other authors have had this problem as well, from romance and erotica authors to masters of mystery to sci-fi and fantasy lords and your literary connoisseurs. Like Pat said, every author is trying to get you to buy their books. I just happen to work in a genre known for its dark and macabre nature.

I think that’s the problem though. So many authors are using social media to promote their books that it’s difficult for any single one to get heard and make a lot of sales. The first few people who used blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and any other platform did make plenty of sales (or so I hear), but so many people have caught on that social media doesn’t sell as much as it promises.

It’s not easy to get sales through social media. But you can try.

 

Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be on my blog, let alone Facebook or Twitter. Each author discovers success on their own. I’ve known authors to gain many readers of the books and many more readers on their blogs. It depends on how you go about writing your posts, what you write about, and how you promote it, among other things.

Do I know what those things are? Well…I’m a bit better at writing a terrifying story. I don’t know all the tricks. But I’m learning them here and there. I let my readers know about important updates, what’s going on in my life, my viewpoints on important issues. I often share funny or reading and writing-related photos on my FB page.Most importantly, I let people know when I get a new review on Amazon, and use direct links to Facebook and Twitter in case anyone wants to look.

And it pays off. Literally: I got two tax forms from Amazon–one for paperbacks, the other for e-books–and together it wasn’t too bad. And I’ve only been published for a little over a year and a half!

So maybe social media isn’t the direct way to bestselling novels like it bills itself to be. But with practice, hard work, and a lot of luck, you can do some amazing things through it. #BelieveIt

Do you find social media helpful for selling books? Why or why not?

What tricks do you have for selling books through social media?

An Editing Metaphor

Posted: March 5, 2015 in Novel, Progress Report, Reflections, Writing
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The other day on my Facebook page I wrote a post about how I was doing some editing that day and I then…compared it to plucking a chicken after you’ve slaughtered it. Yeah, hearing it in my head it sounds really weird. But you’ve got to hear me out, it’s got merit as a metaphor. It even got a like or two after I posted it.

Then again, that like might’ve come from my dad, so…

Anyway, let me explain my reasoning for comparing editing to plucking a freshly-dead chicken (still sounds weird in my head). An author writes a book, edits it so that when the reader gets it it’s not full of boring speech, grammatical errors, plot holes, etc., and then turns it into a neat little consumable package that readers can pick up in stores or on Amazon for their own perusal. Similarly, a farmer will raise a chicken from the moment it hatches, feed it, make sure it grows, and once it’s ready, kills it, prepares it, and then sends it in a neat little consumable package so that grocers can eat it at home.

See my metaphor? So now that the first draft has grown to full size and been slaughtered with a butcher’s knife been written, I’m in the process of editing it. And if editing four other books has taught me anything, editing is a lot like plucking a chicken and getting rid of all the other bits you don’t want to eat. Yeah, every word, every description and every flourish of the pen (or keyboard) seem absolutely necessary when you’re writing the first draft. But then you give yourself a little bit of time to distance yourself from this book you’ve just finished and then you see that there are parts that need work. Some things could be phrased much differently, others could be shortened or expanded upon. And a lot of the work you slaved over, you just decide to get rid of it. Why? Because on reflection you find that it’s extraneous or doesn’t make sense to you anymore. So you nix it.

See, that metaphor does work! At least, I feel it works, especially in my case. I put in all these big words and beautiful flourishes and lots of explanatory stuff, and on the second draft I realize (or my beta reader points out) that a lot of it is weighing the book down. Sometimes you have to pluck them out if you’re going to make the story ready for sale in your local supermarket in bookstores and on Amazon.

What metaphor do you use for editing?

Oh by the way, Rose is coming along great. I’m a little bit over a third of the way through my novel-that-doubles-as-a-thesis and will start a new chapter after this post. And can I just say, I forgot how scary and unpredictable my antagonist can be. He can be very strange, and you never know what’ll set him off. I’m definitely trying to emphasize that in the second draft. I think people will like him very much when they meet him. Or they will fear him. I seriously hope they fear him.

Back to the Original Idea

Posted: February 23, 2015 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Writing
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I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog that I’ve been struggling with some story ideas, trying to make them much more terrifying or compelling or just plain better. One is a potential novel, the other is a short story I’ve been struggling with on and off for about nine months or so. Both involve witches, strangely (maybe it’s a sign of something).

The novel has been a big struggle for me. The way I work with potential ideas, I write down a short summary of the story, like a blurb for a back cover, which allows me plenty of time to come up with ways to modify it, come up with new scenes and characters, and whatever else you do when you create a story. For the past couple of months, I’ve been looking into ways to modify this one novel. Maybe it’s been my experience with the initial story path of Rose, which was so expansive and crazy that it required modification and a new outline a month into writing, but I was worried I was going the same direction with this novel idea, and that I had to find some way to simplify it while keeping the original theme the same.

Well, I haven’t been able to think of anything yet. Ideas come to me but they don’t work out, I just shove them aside because they’re not what I’m looking for. I really like this idea, but I can’t think of anything that’ll work for this story. I’m a bit of a perfectionist that way. I don’t want to write a story that I don’t think is any good.

And then today while I was walking to class (to History of Magic and Witchcraft, ironically), I was thinking about this story, wishing that I could think of some way to make the story work and at the same time wishing that the original idea could still work. And then that errant voice that is in all of us, the voice that questions our beliefs and convictions, asked me, “Well, why can’t the original idea still work?” It actually made me pause (metaphorically, I still had to get to class) and think. I looked at the bare-bones idea of the story and thought. It made me realize that the idea’s original plot wasn’t as expansive as I thought it would be. It might make for a long novel, but it wasn’t so expansive that I had to create a whole world in several books. It actually was pretty solid.

Why was I so worried? If I wrote it right, it wouldn’t have the same problems as the initial draft of Rose. In fact, it might work.

So I’m not thinking about how to modify the story right now. Instead I’m thinking of this initial plot, how it could work after all and how I might support it. I’m not too worried about changing the plot. I can make this one work, if I’m careful.

And as for my stubborn short story, I had another idea on how to fix that. Don’t know when I’ll get around to working on that, but the idea will stick in my head for sure.

You know, authors are constantly learning something new, improving their craft and looking for ways to tell better tales. I learned this past fall that you have to be careful not to get too crazy with your story’s plot or you’ll lose the point of your story and it’ll be boring or confusing. That was the problem with my first attempts with Rose, which I made so big and sprawling because I was worried that if I kept it simple it might get boring.

That lesson is important, but one I got today is that you shouldn’t let fear of being too expansive get in the way of trying to make a good story.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to get some schoolwork done, and leave it at that for the night. Expect another blog post soon, my Followers of Fear. It’s about halfway through the semester, after all. Until then, goodnight and pleasant nightmares.

Rose: First Draft Finished!

Posted: January 27, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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All done with the first draft.

All done with the first draft.

Well tonight’s a great night for me! I’ve finished the first draft of Rose, the novel that has doubled as my thesis. I’ve already blasted “Voodoo Child” by Rogue Traders throughout the apartment, did my own choreographed dance to the song, and then had a drink with my roommate. And now I’m working on this blog post, feeling high as a kite about this achievement.

I was hoping to get this chapter started earlier today, but events didn’t allow for it. Still, I’m happy to get it done tonight, nearly six months after starting work on Rose. It’s great to know that it’s finished. Now all I’ve got to do some editing and I’ll be ready for thesis arguments in April.

The total amount of pages for Rose (8.5″ x 11″, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman) is 174 pages, an average of about 8.3 pages per chapter, and 50,994 words total, about 2428 words per chapter on average. That’s the length of a mid-sized novella according to the definitions I use. Not a full-length novel, but I’m good with this length. I had a feeling that it’d be around the size of a novella anyway.

Well, I’m going to go to sleep. This is a great night for me, but I’m dead tired and I need to sleep if I’m going to be able to spread the good news tomorrow. I think I’ll take a break in the next week or two from working on Rose before getting started on the second draft. Might edit a short story or two. God knows I’ve got a couple to edit still, and one for a contest soon. Plus some blog posts that I’ve been meaning to write. Boy, I’m going to be busy.

But for now, bed. Goodnight my Followers of Fear (or if you’re reading this in the morning, Good morning). Pleasant nightmares. And wish me luck with this project as it goes into its next phase. It’s going to be interesting where this ends up.

Also, scroll up. There’s a new page I’ve just set up, Stand Alones & Other Works. Rose is a stand alone novel, so it’ll need its own page. And I think Daisy and Strange Portals should be listed somewhere, so I’ll make sure they’re listed on that page. Please check it out if you get the chance. Especially if you have no idea what Rose is about and would like a basic summary to get an idea behind it (summary subject to change over time).

Once again, good night my Followers of Fear. And thanks for your support. I’m always glad you’re there to have my back. See you in the morning!

Rose: The Chapter That Might Need a Special Tweak

Posted: January 17, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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So I’m working on Rose, my latest novel as well as my thesis, and I’m working on a chapter that I finished earlier today. However, this chapter was special, because it’s the first of two chapters that take place away from the titular character’s point-of-view. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Rose is told from the first-person point-of-view, and it’s told in the present tense, which originally I had difficulty with but eventually became easier with practice. However, as this chapter takes place away from Rose’s POV, I did it in the third-person POV, and I did it in the present tense.

Needless to say, it was incredibly awkward writing. I don’t know many stories that are written in the present tense, and those that I do are written usually in the first-person, like someone is narrating their life (who actually does that, I don’t know, but whatever). I don’t think I’ve ever read one that is present-tense and told in the third-person though. Maybe John Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse, but I can’t remember that one as well, so don’t take my word on that one. Anyway, writing this chapter in such a way is incredibly awkward for me. And I think it shows throughout the chapter, all six pages of it.

Well, my advisor M, my fellow writer/thesis worker P, and I are trying to arrange to meet sometime next week. I’ve already sent the chapter to them, and I’ve already suggested some changes I could make to this chapter in the second draft. I’m hoping they let me keep it in third-person but switch to past tense, as that would be much easier for me to write. But whatever they feel or whatever suggestions they give, I’ll definitely take them into account. They haven’t steered me wrong before, and I’ve learned a whole lot working from them.

In any case, I’m taking the night off from writing. I’m going to do some reading for homework, practice Torah reading for my cousin’s bar mitzvah next month, and if there’s time relax in front of the TV or with a good book. Stay warm and have a good night, my Followers of Fear. I know I am.

Spring Semester 2015: The Pre-Game Show

Posted: January 5, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Writing
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Well, it was bound to happen. It’s been a long time coming. I’m not surprised that it’s here. I’m actually looking forward to it ending (provided that I have some sort of job by the end of it all). But still, it’s pretty amazing that I’m here. My last semester as an Ohio State student.

I’m going into this coming semester, which starts a week from today, with a lot of emotions. Hope for a variety of things to happen, as always. A tiny bit of nervousness about my grades, though that’s expected. Excitement that this’ll be my last time around this block. Fear that I won’t find a job before the semester is over (God forbid). Impatience over just wanting to get it over with. At least I’m not feeling the apathy of senioritis. Or maybe I am but I don’t realize it. Can you have senioritis if you know you still have to work very hard to get good grades and still intend to?

Going to try my best not to become this guy.

Anyway, I’m taking three classes this semester, something that I haven’t done since my first year at Ohio State when we were still on the quarter system. Normally I’d take four to be considered a full-time student and receive financial aid, but my English advisor and my thesis advisor got together and changed how much my thesis counts for credit so I can still be considered full-time. I don’t mind; I get a bit more time during the day to work on my thesis Rose and maybe watch a little television in the evenings. And after this past semester, with five classes and a thesis to work on, I could use the rest time.

I have some very interesting classes this semester. First is a Restoration and 18th-century British literature course, which should be challenging in a good way. I don’t normally care for stuff written in that time period, but I’ll give it a shot. I might even grow to like some of what I read and use it in a future story. I’m also taking a Business and Professional Writing class, which I hope might be useful when I get a job. This class is being taught by a teacher I’ve had before and whom I absolutely love because she’s such a funny and sweet woman. Plus she’s a huge science fiction nerd, including Doctor Who (her husband actually saw the very first episode in 1963 and knew right then and there it was something special. Maybe he had a time machine too).

Those two courses will fill out my English major. As for my History major, I just have one class left, and I have to say this one will make for a great last course. It’s History of Witchcraft in Medieval Europe, which is a new course and is being taught by a new teacher. As soon as my History advisor, who knows of my writing preferences, mentioned it to me, I was like “Sign me up!” You can bet that something I learn in that class might make it into a future short story or novel. My dad and one of my friends though are concerned it’s a how-to course. They need not worry; I already know how to do all that. Mwa ha ha ha!

As for my thesis Rose, I’ve seven chapters left to write, and I hope to get back to working on it by Monday next week. Right now I’m working on two short stories, one of which I hope to submit to a short story contest held every spring in the English department, so I want to get those done first. But I’m hopeful that when I do finish Rose (and I’m hoping that it’ll be done by the end of March at the very latest, though I’m aiming for late February), I bet it’ll be great. I just hope my advisor and the people who read it prior to my thesis argument think it’s great as well.

At Ohio State, graduation takes place in the Ohio Stadium. I’m looking forward to it. More on graduation as time goes on!

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll update you on how the semester’s going about eight weeks in, when it’s halfway over. I’m hoping that I’ll have some good grades and maybe I’ve finished Rose by that point. We’ll just have to wait and see! Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear. To make sure I graduate on time, I might just need it.

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