Word Count Wednesday - March 22

What am I working on?:
I'm just now getting back into the swing of things.  We had Spring Break and I had an essay due yesterday for my American Lit class.

Now I can focus on Experiment #7, I was assigned "Ascension" from the 20 Master Plots book.  My idea is to follow the story of the Chicago Cubs baseball team in their 'ascension' out of being losers and not winning a World Series for the past 108 years!  It's an incredible story (if you like baseball ;-) and it immediately came to mind when I received my assignment.

Word Count:
About 200, I began free writing and will work on it further.

How Do I Feel About The Process?
I wish I could carve our more time to write.  I'm juggling 2 classes at Moorpark, being a wife and taking care of the home, a mom and making sure my son's homework gets finished (yep! homework in 2nd grade) and I also volunteer at my son's school and run the art program for his school.  Not to mention trying to find time to exercise.

I'm still working on balancing it all and its the ever-constant struggle to achieve it.

What Am I Reading?
I'm still trying to read Room

I also just sped read Eat Right For Your Type.  It's a book about eating right for your blood type.  I found the information I once knew, and had forgotten, very interesting.

What Am I Watching? (I know, write more and watch less, but I need some downtime!)
Over Spring Break my friend turned me on to a Netflix series about the Irish Rebellion called "Rebellion".  It's really good, I'm in the middle of the 3rd episode.

John Oliver's Weekly Show on HBO.  I freaking LOVE him!

Dancing With The Stars on Monday nights.  It just resumed the new season this past Monday and I have to watch it now because David Ross, former catcher for the Chicago Cubs is on it!  Grandpa Rossi is the man!!

Showtime's "Homeland" when I can.  I love that series!

CNN (Anderson Cooper 360 is my fav) to keep abreast of the circus.

I'm also going to add What Am I Listening To?
I'm a huge NPR fan and listen to KCLU in my car.

Word Count Wednesday

What am I working on:

I'm working on my experiment #6, The world is exactly the same except......

Word Count:  

1,988 for the rewrite of my narrative #1 assignment. 

How Do I Feel About The Process?:

I love the 'community' we've created among our 'Houses'.  Its nice to be able to share your ideas, challenges and fears about the process with encouraging peers.  

I'm struggling to find new, fresh story ideas to branch out a bit.  I'd really like to come up with another original story idea, something in the first person, which I think might be a bit easier for me to practice with. 

I'm inspired by other writers in our class.  Certain writers are amazing and I wish I was as talented at this as them.  I'm determined to keep going though, practice, practice, practice.  

What am I reading:
William Faulkner As I Lay Dying

Emma Donoghue Room, lent to me by Chloe Frederickson, thank you :)

Stephen King One Writing

Word Count Wednesday

What am I working on:

I'm working on my narrative story to share with my house, Wade and the group for Monday.  I'm not sure if it will be a short story or a novella. The last two weeks and has been challenging, everyone in my house (including myself) are finally healthy again (knock on wood).  I'm finally starting to get back into my groove and am starting to write again.  

I've been rethinking my story a bit.  

The gist of my story is, I'm fascinated by the thought of existence.  

Those created naturally and those created with the aid of technology. 

The question I'm asking is, would those people who were created using technology have existed eventually, or not at all? And are they different from natural born people because of the means to create them?

My main character Gabriel was created using technology.  He's always known/felt that he was 'different'. 

The prologue will be: 
His mother, pregnant with his younger sister, dies in childbirth from complications from the method or serum used to help her achieve pregnancy; Gabriel was a toddler at the time. After natural attempts to get pregnant failed, they learn about this lab that helps couples in that situation and his father pressures his mother to go through the process. His mother was reluctant, but goes through it anyway.  

I'm thinking in Chapter 1, Gabe is already working at the lab and the following has already happened  

• He doesn't find out until he's in college that he was created using a method no longer used because it was flawed, a secret that his father had kept from him.  

• Gabe is determined to figure out what happened and why.  Why was this method no longer used?  What are/were the consequences? 

• He purposely ends up working at the lab, which was supposed to have stopped these methods, but secretly hadn't. He finds this out somehow. 

I'm struggling with he middle of the story.  So what?  What happens?  I know a conflict will occur between Gabriel and his father, he will blame him for his mother's and sister's deaths.  

I'm toying with an idea that at the end of the story, Gabriel finds a video message, a letter, or something (that his father wasn't aware of) that helps him resolve these feelings, but I'm not sure if that is a dumb idea or not.  

Word Count: Not much, just starting to get back at it now. 

What am I reading:
Harlem Renaissance poets Langston Hughes & Countee Cullen 
John Steinbeck "The Chrysanthemums" 
Stephen King One Writing

Word-Count Wednesday #3 (2/8/17)

This week (since Friday) has been a bit tough.  Both by son and myself are sick this week so I haven't gotten as much accomplished as I would have liked to this.

What Am I Working On:
I finished "The Glasses" as a news broadcast - Magical Realism - Experiment #5

I also finished the the opening section for narrative I'm working on this semester. 

The Lab (A better title later perhaps)

Prologue

Mary shivered as she pulled the blankets up around her shoulders in the delivery room.  The room was cold and she was worried.  Worried something might be wrong with the baby.  This pregnancy didn’t feel the same as the first.  She’d delivered a health and beautiful baby boy just two three years prior and her son Gabriel is a delight.  Such a wonderful and high spirited toddler.  Always into mischief.  Always pulling things out of the lower kitchen drawers and screeching off in delight when Mary attempts to catch him to have him replace the contents.  

Mary and her husband John are hoping for a baby girl to round out their little family.  When they initially tried to start their family, they experienced heartbreak of 2 miscarriages.  That seemed to be becoming the norm in society as they shared their story with friends or family.  Mary and John had learned of several other couples experiencing the same problems with either becoming pregnant or staying pregnant.  One evening when Mary was over at a friend’s house for a girls wine night, she met a woman who worked at a fertility clinic.  Lindsay was her name and she was smartly dressed, even for a ladies wine evening, and very friendly.  She had given Mary her card and said that Dr. Klein, the man she worked for, was an expert at helping women achieve pregnancy.  He and the researchers at his clinic had developed a new serum that assist women in achieving pregnancy.  LIndsay insisted that Mary call the office on the following Monday to set up an appointment.  Mary politely accepted Lindsay’s card, but had no intention of calling.  While heartbroken at the two children she lost, she wanted to try again the old fashioned way.  When she went home later that night and shared with John what had happened.  John encouraged her to call.  John had been just as devastated about the miscarriages and thought this sounded like a good omen and that she should pursue it.  

The sound of John’s voice in the hallway brought Mary out of a dazy sleepiness she was beginning to feel.  It almost sounded as though John was arguing with someone.  Mary couldn’t be sure, things were starting to fade a bit.  The nurse came in and started to check on her when she realized Mary was bleeding.  Her sheets and blanket were soaked in the bright red hue of blood.  Mary had been given an epidural about an hour before so she hadn’t felt anything as well as a drug to place calm her down, but it made her sleepy.  Still in her dazed condition, she could tell by the nurse’s gasp at the sight, something was wrong.  The nurse turned on her heels and ran out of the room, quickly retrieving Dr. Klein and her husband John.  Dr. Klein took one look at Mary and ordered the nurse to immediately prep and move Mary to an operating suite.

Mary looked at John and asked him what was happening.  In an attempt not to worry her, he said, “Nothing sweetheart, we’re just moving you to another room so you can deliver our daughter.”  They chose not to find out the sex of the baby.  They loved having it be a surprise as it was with Gabriel’s birth.  But they were convinced it would be a lovely baby girl who would look just like Mary.  Mary simply smiled a sweet and loving smile back to John and said, “Ok my love, let’s go.  I can’t wait to meet our daughter.  Tell Gabriel I will see him soon with his new baby sister and that I love him with all of my heart.”  

Twenty minutes later, the life of that mischievously, sweet little boy would be changed for ever.  His mother Mary and his lovely little sister were both gone.  


Word Count: 652


How Do I Feel About The Process:
I think if I were feeling better this week I would be feeling better about the process, but I am proud of myself for writing something.  It's a start.  I'm enjoying the process of writing, pausing to ponder and think, and then coming up with another idea.  I'm not saying it's all great, but at least I'm "trying" and I'm happy about that :)  

In writing "The Glasses" news broadcast, 'holes' in a story became evident to me.  I asked myself "can't people see the crazy things happening in the Subway when they walk by?" So I noted that the employees had  had closed the blinds.  This is a simplistic example, but something to think about.  I realize as a writer, you have to ask the obvious questions a reader might ask and then answer them.  

For "The Lab", I heard or read somewhere to write what you know.  The antics of Gabriel as a toddler is my son, Mason.  He used to love taking out ALL of the baggies in their boxes in the kitchen drawers.  Or completely gut the storage container drawer. Much to my chagrin. Looking back now, I think it's hilarious.  

And Lindsay's name is a friend from my yoga class.  

I chose to to have Gabriel's father push his mother into using the fertility treatment because I need he and Gabriel to have a conflict later in the story.  Gabriel will question his existence.  Was he mean to exist at all without help?  How much intervention should be done?  When does it cross the line from simply helping someone to achieve pregnancy because they want a family, or doing it because you think you're playing God or for profit.  I need to flush all those questions out.  I'm thinking there needs to be a larger impact, a bigger question, but I haven't come up with it yet.  I will though ;-) 

What Am I Reading:

T.S. Elliot - "The Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" & "The Waste Land"

F. Scott Fitzgerald - "Winter Dreams"

Ernest Hemingway - "In Our Time" Chapter 1-5

Experiment #5 - Magical Realism

Experiment #5 - Magical Realism

Subway Restaurant + Glasses That Hypnotize Others

As a news broadcast:

In tonight’s news, KKMC has learned of a rather odd story.  

Employees at a local Subway restaurant have been hypnotizing their customers.   

Sources tell KKMC news that 5 employees of the popular restaurant chain have been wearing glasses that somehow have a hypnotic effect.

These glasses look like ordinary glasses our station is told and customers have been completely unaware.

The way these employees have been able to accomplish hypnotizing customers is by posting an employee just outside of the front door to pass out coupons to unsuspecting customers as they approach the restaurant.  

This initial interaction with an employee wearing the glasses begins the hypnotic process.

Once inside the restaurant, the employees at the order counter complete the act, fully engaging the customer who now becomes open to suggestion.

Window shades were pulled down to conceal what was happening inside.  

Once a customer is fully under hypnosis, the customer begins to do things that an employee has prompted them to do, such as dart around the restaurant clucking like a chicken, sing like Axl Rose from Guns n Roses or do the worm on the floor.  

Subway employee antics were abruptly halted when the Mayor walked in, unknowingly bypassing the employee posted at the door who was occupied elsewhere.  

It has been reported that Mayor Reynolds witnessed a group of customers doing the conga around the restaurant while in their underwear with employees cheering them on.

Observing this strange sight, the Mayor immediately turned off the source of the music, located near the entrance, surprising employees who were unaware of her presence.  

When asked what was happening, the employees quickly confessed to their shenanigans.  

The Mayor ordered the employees to command the customers to re-dress themselves and to bring them out of their hypnotic revelry.  

Customers were completely unaware of what had happened and the Mayor insisted the employees not tell them what had occured to save their dignity.

She also ordered the employees to give each customer a free meal under the guise of “Customer Appreciation Day.”  

The Mayor confiscated all of the hypnotic glasses and assigned each employee to complete

500 hours of community service.  

The Mayor noted that if any employee failed to comply with her punishment of community service, they would be subjected to performing the conga in their underwear at the next 4th of July parade.  

Each employee graciously accepted the terms of the Mayor’s punishment.  

KKMC contacted the Mayor’s office for a comment on what she intended to do with the glasses.

A spokesperson for the Mayor’s office simply stated, “She intends to put the glasses to good use”, no further details were given.  

Up next, the weather…..

Word-Count Wednesday #2

I am truly enjoying both my Creative Writing class and my American Lit class.  I know Bradford mentioned that this is a new endeavor for him, but I appreciate the way he's structured the class with these "Experiments."  This process is allowing us students to move out of our comfort zone and try something new.  I wouldn't have necessarily ever tried to write a song or a poem, or "what can you come up with when you mix A and B," as in the Magical Realism/Something Ordinary + Something Magical.  Having these assignments lets us stretch our legs as writers so to speak.

For my American Lit class, I appreciate the fact that Professor Kenedy takes the time to really focus on the writer we are studying for that particular class.  Some classes I've had tried to accomplish too many things in one class without really spending the time to closely read and digest the material.  

What a great way to finish my last semester at Moorpark!

What am I working on?
Experiment #5.  In class I was given "Subway Restaurant" and "Glasses that hypnotize others".  After looking at these two ideas, I immediately came up with an idea that the Subway employees use the glasses to hypnotize the customers while they are moving down the line placing their order.  They make the customers do crazy things while in the store.  

How do I feel about the process?
The process is a bit of a roller coaster.  Sometimes I'm fired up with ideas and other times I'm like "I have no clue!  What the heck am I doing!"  Which I'm learning is pretty normal.  Having never really written anything creative before this class, it was a bit embarrassing at first to have my creations read, but on the other hand, its kind of cool.  I'm learning from speaking to other students as well as reading their blogs, we all pretty much feel the same way so I'm in good company. 

Another observation I've made is learning the difference between writing screenplays and prose.  A few years back I attended a fabulous Screen Writing Class at the UCLA extension.  I learned about world building, breaking the story in to 3 acts and using as few words as possible to get your point across because you are writing for a visual medium.  Prose on the other hand, you need a lot more words to get your point across.  It's fun to try all the different ways in which to write.

What am I reading now?

Stephen King "On Writing"

Robert Frost - Various Poems

  My favorites are:

      -"Mending Wall"

      - "Home Burial"

      - "The Road Not Taken"

      - "Birches"

      - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

      - "Design"

T. S. Eliot "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" & "The Waste Land"

The Magic Tree House: Pirates Past Noon with my son

Experiment #4 - Two chunks of a story I'm working on.

“I think I’ve discovered something,” Victoria declared to her boss Dr. Klein.  Victoria had heard of the “test program” the lab once used about 20 years ago.  Just rumors of it really, nothing ‘official’.  She asked some of her colleagues about it once, and they in turn responded rather oddly by way of looking at one another and then telling her they’d never heard of it. It was obvious to her that they knew something, but chose not to share it with her.  They told her it was an absurd question and she’d do better with focusing on her work and not on some ‘pie in the sky’ program that never existed. The “test program” she had heard about had to do with assisting women with conception that would not have normally been able to conceive.  The lab had developed a new serum that aided these women in ensuring pregnancy.  The serum made the women sick at first with strange rashes and aggressive behavior, but if they moved passed the first trimester and the pregnancy took, their symptoms subsided and they delivered healthy children.  She had also heard that the program was abruptly halted and any note of is existence was scrubbed from the public domain with no explanation.  It was if the existence of the program had vanished into thin air.  At the time, she followed her coworkers advice and dropped it.  But then she had read some articles here and there about some adults that were experiencing episodes of violent behavior, some case were so bad that some people ended up hurting themselves.  Some had even killed themselves in a violent rage.  

*************************************************************************************************

  Victoria stepped into the open door of Gabe’s office.  He was at his desk punching away feverishly on his laptop. The sunrays streamed in from the window behind him, casting a sunlit arora around him. She stepped closer to his desk and spoke, “You know,....don’t you?” There was an unmistakeable pause in the question Victoria asked Gabe. He stopped typing on his laptop, looked up, took a deep breath, looked down and began typing again, ignoring her question.  Victoria tried again, “How long have you known?”  Gabe finally looked up but didn’t meet her eyes.  He looked anywhere but in her eyes and replied, “For awhile I suppose, but I didn’t want to believe it’s true.”

Gabe had began to notice changes in his mood and behavior in college.  Sometimes he would find himself in a foul mood but, initially didn’t give it much thought.  Every college student or person of that age are still moving through the late adolescent stage and into adulthood with more challenges and responsibility. He initially brushed off his moods to stress of college life and/or hormonal changes.  The moods however got progressively worse. His foul temperament turned into full on violent outbursts over trivial slights. He had asked his dad if it was normal that he reacted so explosively to minor situations and at the time, his father has brushed it off as “normal guy stuff, nothing to worry about, you’ll just have to learn to control your temper” his dad replied.  At the time Gabe accepted that answer from the man he admired and loved so much.  After all, his father was his world since he was the only parent he’d ever known.  They were a team and Gabe felt if his dad says everything is ok, then it must be.  

Breaking Gabe’s far off stare at the memory, Victoria walked over to him and cupped his face in her hands, gently forcing him to look at her.  Victoria stared into his eyes searching for a moment, taking in the color of his eyes, searching for the irregular pattern in his irises and noting the anomaly she’s long suspected. “Let me help you, Gabriel” she said.