I have bought the rights to KrisChen.com and will be moving my website there in the coming weeks!
I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve and Happy New Year!
I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve and Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas Eve!
I have a new love affair: trains.
Prior to two days ago, I had only been on a long-distance train once, with scouts. I think I was 8 or 9 at the time. I don’t remember much about it. Which is to say, it didn’t make a big enough impression on me at the time. However, I was trying to make plans to meet up with friends over the school break and see some family. Being a full-time student with no steady income, cost suddenly became a factor. Trains were cheapest mode of travel, and they were only slightly slower than driving myself. And with the benefit of not having to buy gas (expensive). Or road trip snacks (always dangerous). I thought I’d give it a go. Wow. Just. Wow. There was no hassle, like security lines in airports. I got to bring two bags with no extra fees. I had plenty of leg room to stretch out and the seats recline way more than airplane seats. The Amtrak personnel that I interacted with were knowledgeable and courteous. Plus, one of my professors for next semester emailed us our reading list a week before my trip, so I got a head start on reading while on the train. The best part was, I traveled almost 1,500 miles, round-trip, for the cost of $150. My spouse and I are already talking about doing a cross-country train trip for our next vacation. Planning stops, along the way, of course. We both have a few states that we haven’t made it to yet, and a train ride is the perfect way to go visit them. So, I’m hooked. Trains. My new obsession. Go forth and write! My first semester back to graduate school has been a success. I like my school, my professors, and my cohort. I managed to keep on top of every reading assignment (nothing short of a miracle for me), and I finished all the writing assignments with time to spare for editing (a second miracle).
I’ll admit, I’m anxious to see if my grades reflect the effort. Next semester is going to be even more work for me. I’m taking two literature classes, instead of one. I expect the reading to be extensive in both. But I’m determined. That, and I like what I’m going to be reading about: Melville in one, King Arthur in the other. I am also taking two workshop classes. One is for novel writing and I’m very excited to see how it differs from the fiction workshop I took this semester. The other is in publishing, which I hope will help me get a handle on how to best go about publishing my own work. For now, though, I’ve finished my semester. I’m still hard at work on the novel I submitted to my fiction workshop for critique. I am hoping to finish the rough draft of it in advance of my novel writing workshop. And read Moby Dick. It's going to be a busy "break." Go forth and write! This past week has been a mixed bag. I didn’t make the 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, but I did get my dog to his annual check-up at the vet, finish writing my final workshop piece, and spend a rare full weekend with my wife.
I’m only slightly unhappy about failing at NaNoWriMo. I managed just over 20,000 words but suffered a series of migraines mid-month that laid me out for almost two weeks. I am still hard at work on the story though. With any luck, it’ll be finished in a month or two, spring - at the very latest. Speaking of spring, we should have taken our dog to the vet during the last one, but life got hectic and we didn’t get him there until now. I’m happy to report he’s in good health for an old man. (He’s 12 years old – 13 in January). This week is also my last week of classes before finals. Happily, my “finals” this semester aren’t tests, they are papers. I have finished my final paper for my writer’s workshop. I am looking forward to receiving its critique. I’m still working on the final paper for my seminar class, but I expect to be done in a few days. And by done, I mean, I'll give up tinkering with it and just turn the dang thing in to the professor. I think my first semester in grad school has been successful. I hope my grades reflect that. To celebrate the end of the semester, and also because my wife had a full two-day weekend (usually she just has one day off a week), we went to a minor league hockey game to see the Chicago Wolves play. They were terrible. It was awesome! And, even though the Wolves lost, and by lost, I mean they got their asses handed to them, it was wonderful spending time with my wife. We are already talking about getting tickets and going to another game. So, a mixed bag. Isn’t all of life? Go forth and write! |
AuthorI write about writing, working out, my dog, being deaf, and anything else I find of interest. Archives
January 2020
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