Writing to do's, in order of importance
- Get my interdis study plan created.
- Write new story by Dec 4, to hand in for my January residency. I currently have three ideas floating around:
- A woman's mom has a stroke/anneurysm and survives while the woman is out of town and unreachable. She goes to her mother to help her recoop, but discovers a side effect of the illness is new personality traits, like singing along to the radio when she hated to sing before. She talks to her aunt about this, and they realize these traits were ones the mother had before she was married to a jerk who bruised her spirit.
- I was totally enthralled by a man I met at breakfast at my hotel in Santa Fe last week. While I was waiting for my bagel to toast, he basically told me his life story--He was from Arkansas, visiting Phoenix to play baseball, and now in SF to visit his ex-wife, if he could find her, to deliver tax papers. I liked the idea of doing a kind of road trip story, where the purpose of the trip comes out in snippets as the man is talking to strangers.
- Something about how a child loves Christmas and hides in that love to get away from his abusive family. So from Sept. through Jan. he'd sit in his room in the dark, listening to Christmas caroles by candlelight.
- Revise the short short story about the man who thinks he's dying and SEND IT OUT! There are a few contests/calls for subs for short-shorts.
- Get a draft done of my essay about adopting Chloe, submit it to my writer's group, and then SEND IT OUT!
- Resend my cleaning essay out if it doesn't find a home at the first place I sent it to.
This is something I haven't talked about here because, well, it makes me very anxious and because I think it makes me look insane. Here's the deal. When I signed up for my Lesley MFA program, I had every intention of having finished the Harvard MLA program I had started. But through circumstances beyond my control, things got delayed, and delayed and delayed. So, now I'm doing my thesis and the MFA program at the same time. (Did I mention I also have a job? Insane, I know.) So, during this time off from my MFA, I need to plow through getting a very good draft of my thesis proposal out. Something that is so good that it will get approved and will take minimal effort to expand into a thesis in the near future. (FYI, in this program, the thesis isn't as bad as it sounds.)
Misc.
I need to fix some house stuff before my Christmas party on Dec. 9 (Boston bloggers, you better be there! Invites to follow soon.) and I want to take on some other projects after our party during the week between Christmas and New Year's, when I have off:
- paint patched wall areas in our bedroom, and hang art
- Get wedding pics framed and hung, along with some other photos/memorabilia
- Redo second bathroom (cosmetic only; will hire someone to do some of it)
- Paint touch-ups in other rooms
Plus all the stuff that comes along with Christmas--shopping, baking, decorating, etc. Obviously I will need to make this a simple Christmas in order to fit everything else in! So don't expect any presents. ;)
3 comments:
You are CRAZY--and that's what I like about you! Of course, I have to post my to-do list. It was a great motivator last most and helped me accomplish much more than I had in previous months. And I have you to thank for it.
Can't believe you're doing and MFA and MLA at the same time. That's just CRAZINESS!
A few years ago I found myself in a bar with a couple of friends, crying in a booth (okay, I had had a couple of drinks), and I remember I saying through my tears "When I die, my gravestone is going to say: Tavi, she did a lot of stuff"
I think you've got me beat, you and ti, I think you've got me beat.
Okay, look Repeater, I have only ever done one degree at a time. Bug, no wonder you need lists! Good luck with the thesis. Looking forward to your progress report.
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