Bird by Bird

by Anne Lamott. I got it for Christmas and I've started reading it. So far it's sucked me in and has inspired me to write like a freak.

I'll be back later with the finished product.

Brisbane!

I'm currently sitting at my Dad's house in Brisbane, where the air is hanging around me all thick moist. There have been storms every day since I got up here a few days ago - which I love, it makes the humidity ok.

It has been so nice being up here with the half of the family I don't get to see often enough. It's also been a really needed escape from my other worlds. I've been able to do some writing - which I've been so drained from work and salsa practice that getting home means food and rest - not creation unfortunately.

You can probably tell that I'm still a little vague from this apparently not-edited post. By the time I get back to the 'Berra after NY, I'll be all refreshed and coherent again.

If I don't post tomorrow, Happy Christmas!

I wish I was the kind of person...

Who didn't get disappointed by two Credits for her semester grades.

I got two Distinctions as well, but the Credits were for a creative writing class and a literature class. Two things I'd like to be good at.

It's one of those times where I think to myself - am I going in the right direction? Should I be doing fiction writing if I'm only getting Credit?

Well... of course I should be! All I can think about is writing, and when I'll next have time to sit and get another chunk of the story out - no matter how crap it seems at the time. So I'll keep going.

And it's good to remember that anything creative is subjective.

A Sentence

Sorry for lack of posts, will be another couple of weeks until I can post again - life is hectic.

Exhaustion, or I'm Going to be Busy

It's been another while since my last post.

But I'm done with assessments and exams! So glad, and trying not to think about the possibly dreadful results I'll be getting in a month or so.

In other matters, I can go to social salsa dancing again! I went last night (King O'Malley's in Canberra for anyone in the area) and had so much fun. And I slept like a baby last night becuse of it. The choreo for SSC10 is getting trickier though. We started partner work two weeks ago and I'm finding it harder than the shines.

Partner work requires both the follow and the lead to know what they're doing and sometimes it's hard to tell who's in the wrong (usually it's both though). Having said that, we have time to get it down, we haven't even learnt all the steps to the whole song yet. Polishing come later.

Uni finishes, and work begins! That exclamation mark is not enthusiasm, it's to accentuate how tiring and how much time it takes up. At the moment my schedule is 5 - 7 1/2 hours a day of swim teaching, and dancing four times a week. The only time I get to myself (and this is when I'm not visiting Sydney on the weekends), is two afternoons a week, and one day on weekends. I'm not exaggerating.

In this spare time I'll hopefully be blogging, continuing/editing my story/novel Los Peregrinos (and cleaning the house, blech) and reading as much as possible.

The aforementioned story can be found at FictionPress.com under the name aquizzle. I already have one review - not much but I'm excited anyway!

So after this wordy post, I'm going to go attempt to see what I can do with my little project.

Or sleep.

One down, two to go!

It's been more than a week since my last entry - which doesn't bode well for a blog just taking off.

But it's because uni is coming to an end for the year so I have assessments and exam preparation.

Handed in the first major one today! A 22 minute screenplay for a unit called Screenwriting in Teams. So glad to get it done because the story was just sitting in my head and I didn't want to read it again. That's not to say the story's bad, I just wanted a break from it.

Two more assessments - an essay and a creative writing portfolio - and a Spanish exam then I'm done!

Also, the team and I had our first training session for Sydney Salsa Congress '10 (SSC10)! (Lots of exclamation marks in this post!) We just worked on shines - solos - since two of our members were absent. Ah it's so exciting, despite an incredibly annoying cough that's lasted for the past week or so.

Oh yes! The Reader, I was going to tell you what I thought of the rest of it.

Since my last post, my opinion has changed. This is due to attending the Lit Studies lecture on the novel where I realised the lack of characterisation was due to Michael's wanting to distance himself from her after finding out her history.

Then I cried. I got to chapter 10 and felt like I'd been slapped in the face. Before reading it I knew that Hanna was a war criminal being tried for her crimes in the Holocaust; I also knew about her and Michael's cross-generational affair. So, a few controversial issues that I'm sure you've heard about - but nothing about the ending.

A bit of a shock. Sad. Sigh.

Getting Ready

For the end of year assessments and Sydney Salsa Congress '10!

Just quick for now because I've already procrastinated enough today.

But I just got home from a private class with my instructors. I'm in a choreography for the aforementioned congress, and consider myself the least experienced dancer. So I went and booked a private so I could brush up on my fundamentals. Within the hour I could feel myself dancing better and my instructors could see it. I'm happy about that.

Now what I need to do is Practice! Or I'll forget it all by next Sunday, our first rehearsal learning the choreography. So exciting! We're working with some of the best Salsa dancers in the world here!

So on another note, I'm supposed to be reading The Reader Bernhard Schlink for Lit. Studies.

Unfortunately so far I'm not connecting with it. I want to know more about the character of Hanna, rather than view her from the protagonist's POV, as if I were watching her in a movie with the sound off. The reader is told facts about her but there's little characterisation.

And the pace is quite slow.

But, I'll keep persevering (if only to have something to say in the tut) and let you know what I think when I'm done.

First Entry!

Ok, so this is my first entry.

First I'm going to explain why I created a blog:

1. I've been reading fashion blogs for about a year now, and recently got turned onto some great writing blogs.

2. So I've been toying with the idea for ages. I thought that having a commitment to keeping readers posted on my writing progress would actually spur me to write something.

3. I've been putting off creating a blog because I don't have writing projects to write about. But then I thought of the name 'Asterisk that thought' and had to create an account to stop any one else using the name :)

Like I said, I don't have any writing projects I feel comfortable writing about yet, and I'm no where near publication of any kind. What am I going to write about then? Things I'm passionate about and everything else:

1. Writing

2. Reading (and movies, TV etc - they're still story-telling)

3. Uni

4. Work (I teach swimming)

5. Salsa (This'd be my newest passion and comes a close second to writing)

Basically it'll be a blog about life!

Hope you enjoy, until next time.