General Update

I thought this Thanksgiving break was going to be magical.  In five days, I was sure I could get all of my homework done (including reading four books), catch up on Nanowrimo, draft another essay for my thesis, revise my five essays, write a chapter for my novel by Tuesday, and draft two final papers for class.

What can I say?  I tried.

Here is what I did get done in terms of this project.  I got more active on Twitter, made lists, and downloaded Tweetdeck to my computer to try and sort through all of my tweets. 

I got somewhat caught up on Nanowrimo and searched through different writing groups.  I've learned since starting my own group that joining one that is already functioning is a lot easier that trying to get people to be as excited about it as I am...

I'm now almost finished drafting the introduction to my personal essays for my honors thesis and eBook. 

I also started revising my essays on compassion, marriage, and untold stories.  My goal is to have new drafts of all five of my current essays to my professors by the end of the week. 

As much as I wanted to include seven essays in this project, time is running out.  I'd like to include one more, if possible, but so far I am at 70 pages in my thesis, all of which need serious revision.  My original goal was to have all of my essays in decent drafts by December 1st.  That is this Thursday.  Crazy as it sounds, I still think I'm going to shoot for that by having an intro, acknowledgments page, and six working essays.

Discovering Twitter

Talking with Dr. Burton last week helped me understand how Twitter is a great social media resource to help me get connected with a potential audience for my eBook.  It is also a great way to find out what kinds of discussions are out there so that I can stay in the loop.  Here is a link to my profile.

Until last week I have always been a little resistant to get a Twitter account.  Isn't it just a great big Facebook status update rave?  I’m no Pynchon, but I do appreciate a little anonymity.  No one needs to hear what I ate for breakfast this morning…

But that was the same argument that I originally had against blogging, only to find that academic blogging offers a whole range of possibilities that I had not considered.  So it is with Twitter.

While being real on Twitter and having a personality is important when Tweeting, Dr. Burton helped me realize that there are ways to ensure that I am posting valuable material that others would be interested in.  I just have to think of it from their perspective and try to Tweet valuable information.  There needs to be a healthy blend between personality and focus.  Reposting blog entries, links, videos, and retweets are a great way to start.   It is also nice to attend events and comment on them while you are there.  Photos, which are something which is pretty applicable to my interests, are also easily shared on Twitter.  This means I’m probably going to visit the gravesite of my old Flickr account and update, update, update.

Self Publishing Thoughts

As Professor Burton has pointed out to me, I need to be working on the digital component of my personal essay project while I am drafting.  This way, I can promote my eBook and connect with a perspective audience before they are even finished.

I'm trying to get more connected with the writing networks available online.  I attended an online chat session a few weeks ago and found some of their blogs which have been a fantastic starting point.  I came across the blog Literary Lab, kept by writers Domey Malasarn, Scott G.F. Bailey, and Michelle Davidson Argyle.  In this blog, I found a great post on self publishing that is frank and honest about some of the ins and outs of self-publishing.  Here are some points I learned that I need to focus on as I think about my eBook.

Price- The author of this post argues that you need to put just as much time and funding into the professional look and editing of your book.  She really emphasized making the cover captivating.  I've got some photographs, but I wonder if I should start looking at this more seriously, and sooner than i thought.

And off of that point, I was not planning on charging anything for this eBook.  To me it was more important to just get the information out there and promoting my first publication than to make any money.  This blog post also talked more specifically about how much it cost to make her first book and how much she made in the end.

If self publishing book is what I want to do in the future for a career, then this would be really important to learn sooner than later.

Revising and an Update

I am up to my head in personal essays needing serious, surgical, life-threatening revision.  I was hoping to get around to more of that this weekend, but after pumping out a new draft, "Snot and Stories" that looks at the Tibetan situation, my thoughts on America, etc, I was short on time.  I'm glad to have a new essay out, but I'm noticing a few themes I need to work on.

First, as Professor Bennion said, I need to work on being more objective in my essays.

Second, at Professor Burton's advice, I need to include a lot more setting detail.  India is sensory overload, and I need to portray that.  I want to.  I can see it quite clearly still.  I just have to go back and fill it all in.  Hopefully that brings it to life a bit better.

And third, at my own personal critique, I want to have a nicer form for my next essay.  I've been poking around in The Art of the Personal Essay, an anthology I reviewed here, trying to find a potential form I could imitate.  Reviewing the intro was also helpful.  It confirmed what I have already discovered.  Personal essay writing is downright vulnerable!  I keep coming back to Virginia Woolf.  Even though I know I'm never going to be as cool as her, and that her style just doesn't fit my voice as well as I'd always hoped it would, I want to try it for at least one.  Just to see...

Another large, overriding issue I need to work out is the honors requirements for a creative thesis.  I thought I was on top of it, but after checking out two previous students theses from the library (Emily Davis "To England and Back" and Elizabeth K.M. Busby "Life Expectant") I think I'm supposed to be working more on a fancy intro and abstract than on a more research looking paper.  Hmm...

Reading these theses was a great experience though.  Both were former students of my honors advisor, Professor Bennion.  I identified more with Emily's work and themes, but in each it was nice to see just what kind of subjects I can take up and play with in a personal essay.  It's also fun to turn the pages between the blue covers, knowing that if I finish this and do it well, maybe some kid in the future will do the same with my thesis someday. 

Back to Connecting

I've spent the last few weeks in the drafting process of my personal essays for my honors thesis and eBook.  However, as Dr. Burton as advised me, I need to continue working on connecting.  The cool thing about my eBook is that I can promote it before it is even finished.

So I've done a lot of general connecting, exploring the ins and outs in India, but it is time to start targeting people who might be interested in my essays.

What I have done so far:

• Commented on others blogs
• Made friends
• Joined Twitter (here is my profile link)
• Started sharing my writing with my family
• Created a writing group with 8 awesome writing friends to workshop and hold discussions
• Joined nanowrimo.  This is a site that gets you to challenge your writing goals to celebrate national writing month in November.  There is no way I will hit 50,000 words, but I am hoping to connect with other writers and get to know the students in my novel writing class better.
• Participated in an online chat with some legit writers.  I'm going to join in again this coming Thursday.

What I Want to Do Next:

• Comment more on other peoples blogs and find new blogs
• Start looking into the author section of goodreads.com and try to connect with people who have similar interests.
• Look at other writers blogs and follow forums on self publishing
• Keep it coming! Both drafts and blog updates.
• Review the eBook Writing about Literature in the Digital Age and start to think about how to format my own eBook

ORCA Grant Proposal Submitted!

As part of my eBook project I'm going to publish of personal essays from Dharmasala, I decided to apply for an ORCA grant through my university.  It is a grant for research and/or creative projects for undergraduates who are working with a faculty mentor.  There is 1/3-1/2 chance that I get it, which means $1,500 for me, and $300 for my faculty mentor on this project, Professor Gideon Burton.

I'm created a new page with my ORCA proposal if you are interested in viewing it.

(Photo credit goes to drawinghowtodraw.com)

Feedback from Professor Bennion

Well, I now have four rough drafts of some personal essays to include in my upcoming eBook and honors thesis.  The first essay, a bus ride to McLeod, but also through my thoughts and motivations to travel; another essay on my disillusionment with Buddhism; one on the complex nature of charity; and another on making sense of marriage.  I've been working closely with Professor Burton and Professor Bennion on revisions, and so that is the goal of this week.

But I've learned something in the process.  Personal essays are hard.  Vulnerable, embarrassing at times, soul mining, and more.  All of the ethical questions I explored in Ghana regarding creative nonfiction are staring at me right in the face.  Yet, I have to be honest.  I have to be accurate if they are ever going to get off the ground.  This is a unique opportunity for me to revisit India in a way I never was able to with Ghana, to make sense of it and create something that others can read and understand something of what I have experienced in a way that is meaningful.  

Here are some sections of general advice that Dr. Bennion gave me this week that I found extremely helpful, particularly on how to be more objective in my writing of a personal essay: