Back from the Land of the Dead....

When I started writing here, I promised myself I'd write once a week. You see, I've tried (and failed at) blogging a few times now, and it's never worked. I get too lazy, forget to post, or get disillusioned when my posts don't generate the feedback I crave. This time I was hell-bent on making it work, so I set up automatic updates to compensate, and for awhile it was good. I thought I was safe, and in control, and finally on my way to responsible bloggerdom and then life happened.

For a start, finals kicked my butt. I had expected finals to be a bit of an obstacle, but I honestly was not prepared for the stress of finishing two majors, (which consists of 4 classes at the 300/400 level) in addition to the stress of graduate school preparation. I was also unprepared for the relative disorganization of History professors who are completely capable of "forgetting" the existence of finals, or 20 page essays. I worked the entire week before finals, and the entire week of finals up to the day before graduation. When all was said and done I turned in over 100 pages of material, while still managing to keep up my GPA and Magna Cum Laude. I'm still not sure how I managed it.

Technology vs. Tradition...

This Fall, (back when I wrote for our school newspaper), the editor for the Arts and Entertainment section of the Keene Equinox asked me to weigh in on the e-book vs. print book debate. Prior to that essay, I had written book reviews on books of various genres, so that made me the resident "book expert". At the time, I had very strong opinions on the matter, and wrote a length article on the subject- now, I won't subject you to the entire article (though, if you're interested, it can be read here) but I think an excerpt will help to show you just how opposed I was to the who ebook reader concept:

Back from Disney!

I recently took a trip with my family to Walt Disney World. The last time I had gone was also my first trip, around seven years ago, and due to a combination of little sister and intense Florida summer-heat, I did not really enjoy it as much as I could have, so I was sort of dreading the whole thing.


I don't know if I've grown up, or if we were more at ease, or if just being at a different place in my life really made a difference, but I actually enjoyed myself this time around! One thing's for sure- the park hasn't changed one bit....and although it's been 6 years, it's exactly as I remember it. The weather was hot, sunny, and humid (the temperature stayed above 85 the entire time we were there), the park was crowded and the food was expensive as anything. (Although some meals, like the cinnamon glazed french toast, were totally worth it).

Procrastination and stagnation...

I've always been in love with writing, but as far as I can remember, I've never been able to finish something that wasn't for a class. It's been a pattern I've repeated over and over since I was 9 or 10, and it's terrible. Absolutely terrible.

Although it's been a lot of work, I'm really happy that I decided to enroll in ENG-490 Writing Workshop with professor Kirsti Sandy. She has been an amazing resource, and taking the class has really helped me to develop my voice and confidence in my writing. That's not to say I wasn't a good writer, but just doing the work has helped make me even better- and since when is progress a bad thing?