Thursday, May 17, 2007
I done did it
My MA project is done. Signed off. Handed in. Now I wait three weeks or so and hopefully they tell me it's fine to file the final one for binding. I'm done with grad school. No more tuition. No more classes. No more papers to write. I had my last meeting with my prof today, too. It was a long haul and a lot of work but going to Grad School was one of the best things I could have done for my writing and my life in general.
In other news, Magellan's Witch seems to be going pretty well. I'm layering in elements, deleting the boring parts, and working my themes. I like this part much better than the straight writing. Except deleting the boring bits is humbling.
Today when I was interrupting various professors in order to get signatures, I was telling one of my committee members that I'd substantially revised the work since I gave it to her two weeks ago and that I'd deleted any of the boring parts. I spoke partly in jest, but in fact, that's a lot of what I did. The student in her office asked, also joking of course, how I did that. Well, we all know that
Elmore Leonard just doesn't write those parts. Mere mortal writers do what I did. In your word processor:
- Highlight the boring bit.
- Hit Delete.
My committee chair also mentioned that she had comments, but that since I'd given it to her two weeks ago I'd pretty much rewritten it. Yes. That's true. I simplified the stuff I'd made too complicated. I deleted boring bits, including scenes I really liked. That's how it has to be. No writer with a deadline can afford to wait two weeks for input when the book's not done yet. You write and keep writing.
I had a bunch of fascinating stuff I was saving up for when I had a breather, but I can't remember any of it right now. Tomorrow my son and I are going to take my sister to see Hot Fuzz.
Labels: Graduate School, Magellan's Witch
