This is Halloween!

And it's also the last day of NaBloWriMo. How did those of you participating fare? I know I've been pretty lax, but at least I posted a couple of posts a week. I'm going to give myself a pat on the back for that.
Now, don't worry, just because I've got to the end of this challenging meme, doesn't mean I'm going to slack off for a few months. The opposite in fact. If NaBloWriMo has shown me one thing, it's that a post doesn't have to be deep and meaningful every single time. Sometimes people appreciate the fluff too :)

 I went to a Halloween party last night - you might recall my previous posts with parts of my costume. I won't be posting pictures today - uni work, cleaning, friends etc getting in the way - but if I can get my act together I will post pictures in a couple of days.

 A thought: I might start another blog where I can post little bits of fiction and poetry, that is separate to this one. This won't come to fruition for another month or so, after my assessments and exams are over for the year. What do you think?


Happy Halloween!

No Tener Pelos en la Lengua

I've been a bad NaBloWriMo blogger again *ducks head sheepishly*. Moving on.

For two years now I've been studying Spanish as an elective to my degree. We've only just reached the point where we have covered all the conjugations and sentence structures. A few days ago we learnt a few sayings and this one made us all laugh, but I think it has great relevance to writing, and it will be a little mantra of mine from now on. 

No tener pelos en la lengua is translated by the text book as meaning 'to be outspoken, to be frank'. Literally it means 'to not have hairs in one's language'*. Hairy language, eh?

While we were chuckling about this, I thought it was a good way to think about one's prose or poetry, and in choosing the best words, paring back the language. This is something that John Steinbeck first taught me when I discovered Of Mice and Men in year 11. He's still one of my favourite authors. Then this year I took a poetry class and learnt it again. Then last week, Sarah at The Unwrapping reminded me of it again (go read her blog, it's beautiful). Aqui es una escritora si no tiene pelos en la lengua. (Sorry if the grammar is incorrect).

And of course, I submitted the first draft of my CP for assessment (I got 100%). One of the things my supervisor told me to do when editing is to 'tighten the language'. Get rid of all the hairs. So that is my mission over the next two days. Take my draft and turn it into something concise and sin pelos. 

On another matter, I was reading another Sarah's blog. Her latest post is on something I posted about in the first week of NaBloWriMo, body image. The post touched me, and I was so glad to see someone else speaking about the many intricacies of coming to love one's own body.
Once again, this is a website, and organisation, that is doing wonders for so many people in regards to self-love:

www.thebodypositive.org 



*Something I've yet to master, however.

9 Days

'Till Halloween! (I might count down every day until I can wear my costume, or I might not)

This is what I got up to today, among other things:

Before

and:

After

The pictures aren't great, sorry about that. But ripped stockings? This is the only time of year I'd be caught in ripped stockings. Normally I throw out a pair with the first visible rip. So when my costume called for ripped stockings, I went out and grabbed the cheapest pair I could find. It was great fun jabbing a sharp pencil through and making the holes. 

I started another part of my costume too, but you'll just have to wait until that bit is finished :)

Tomorrow I'm off to Sydney for the weekend, so you'll have to wait 'till Monday for my next post (sorry about not sticking to NaBloWriMo, these things happen, hey?).

10 Days

'Till Halloween! And until NaBloWriMo is over. But Halloween!

I bought the second piece for my costume yesterday. I didn't even mean to, but I saw this mask:

And it is perfect for the image I have in my head. The whole outfit came into my head because I wanted to create something around this top, which I love and have only worn once:

From Bardot

I'm not going to tell you exactly what I have planned, but as I get each piece (and progressively destroy each piece for effect), I'll post pictures here. And at the end you'll get to see the whole shebang.

Here is the first piece I got: 

From Tree of Life

How glamorously creepy, hey? I just realised, posting the picture now, that it's not actually a spider cause it only has six legs. It'll still have the right effect though.

Improvement

Just a quick one today because my day has run away from me today. I only just caught it by the hem of it's skirt (like the personification there? Huh? Huh?).

So just wanted to share with you guys something that makes me happy every time it happens. If you're a teacher or a parent, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I got to work today, rushing and panicking and shoveling down a Milo bar because I hadn't eaten anything all day besides two pieces of Vegemite toast, tea and four biscuits. I got down to pool deck, set up what hadn't already been set up by my fellow high-levels instructor and stood at my area of pool deck. Half the kids were there, most of them eager to get going. I sent them off for a warm up while the rest of the class dawdled in, hesitating with the ritual of 'It's too coooold!'.

During the warm up was where I noticed that thing that always makes me do a little cheer, and dance a tiny jig.  A student that I have taught since I started swim-teaching two years ago, went straight into the warm up and his freestyle just clicked. He turned his head to the side at the right time, his arms extended as far as they could go - and he didn't stop during a lap!

He's got a ways to go, but this personal achievement is like my/his own little reward. My classes in general went well today. The whole class (of the improving student) clicked with breaststroke arms by the end of the lesson, and my second class managed to make it through more than half an hour of butterfly drills. They are exhausting!

Seeing students progress is one of the best things about my job. Most of the time the progress is so steady that all I can do is keep going and listen to feedback. It's the best thing when the students suddenly seem to 'get it' from one week to the next.

Duology

Today I had my second meeting with my supervisor about my Creative Project. Last week I submitted the first draft as the first assessment for this unit, and my supervisor sat down with me and told me where my strengths were, and where I needed to work a little bit harder.

My main thing is to tighten the language - to cut out superfluity and repetition. Apparently my structure is good, which makes me happy and means I can concentrate on the language.

Other things that came up though, are that now we can come to the labels for my project. Before now I have just been writing, and writing whatever came out. Now it turns out that what I've come up with is a YA/crossover fantasy. This is okay with me, but it's weird to think about my work in terms of marketability and audience. This kind of thing has always seemed so far off. But the point of this unit is to mimic real-world scenarios and I have to think like a professional.

Another thing I have to think about is that instead of a novella, I am now working on a novel extract, which means that once this unit is finished, I'll have enough material to keep going.
When I first mentioned my Creative Project, I told you that it was going to be the back story of the older sister of the protagonist of my WiP (the poor thing has been so neglected lately). Now it seems like I have enough material for a duology. And I know I'm going to have to finish both before I give any other ideas a go. Sigh.

And I may well be sighing, but this is all very exciting. Things are happening!

Heroines

As in, female protagonists of novels. Now this post might drive you a bit crazy because I'm not going to use any specifics. Sorry about that.

So to the task at hand. I'm just in the middle of watching a film based on a book. And I just finished a different book today. Both books have girls as their central characters and I got to thinking about how I imagine characters when I read a book.

It occurred to me that the former book, before I saw the film version, had a heroine who is a fairly two dimensional character and I imagined her as a caricature or with cartoonish features. The second book, the one I finished today, has a heroine who is much more three dimensional - or at least, I identified with her much more as a person. This girl I imagined as a real person, and almost placed myself at the centre of the action.

Both books are told in first person, so there is nothing to argue on that point. However, if the characterisation and narration are done well enough, something like point of view shouldn't matter.

So, how do you imagine characters, depending on how well you identify with them or not? It'd be interesting to see if it's just me.

Water!

Yup, today is Blog Action Day 2010. And I was going to talk about it being a precious commodity - which it is, and no one should take it for granted. But it's hard to think like that since Canberra has been inundated by rain this past week and today was the worst! It's brought out the slugs - and I HATE SLUGS! Just thinking about them makes my skin crawl, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to sleep tonight for fear that they could be sliming across my window pane. I hate them more than spiders or cockroaches. Seriously, the freak me out.

ANYWAY, because of this, I'm going to talk about being safe around the water. Whenever I find out someone I know can't swim, I never know what to say. It's such an important life skill. Even if you can't swim marathons, it's so important to know how to keep yourself alive if you're ever in an aquatic snafu.
At work, it was Water Safety Week this week, so it coincides with the Water topic quite well. The children learnt how to do safety jumps, and keep themselves afloat, as well as endurance swimming. For the little ones, we teach them to turn to the nearest edge should they fall in.
 I'm not sure what the statistics are, but the Austswim organisation once advertised for volunteers to teach swimming in third world countries. We talk about the safety of drinking water, and the availability of water in general. These are important. But what about those children who never learned to swim. Every year all around the world, there are kids who are permanently, seriously or fatally injured because they never learned how to swim.
 It is such an important part of a child's physical education, and more parents should make it part of their child's life. What would be even greater is if more Governments - local, state, national and international - could subsidise parents for giving their children the opportunity to save their own lives. The two weeks that ACT schools have for swimming lessons per year is not enough. If you only devoted half an hour a day for ten days a year to something, how well do you think you'd know it?

And lastly, the earlier a child learns how to move in water, the more capable they are at reaching the edge of a pool on their own if they fall in, and the less likely they are to panic when all they have to do is swim a few metres and they'll be in their own depth. Having said this, it is also never too late to learn either.

Lastly (really this time), swimming is fun! So it's a life skill that is also an enjoyable vocation :)

My Special Place -

My special writing place that is (I took the tip from yesterday's NaBloWriMo).

Well, I don't really have one. At the moment I have a cluttered desk in the office I share with my housemate. That's where I wrote most of the first draft of my CP.
 Right now, I'm actually writing from my bed :) and I feel lazy admitting that but hey, each to their own, right?
 And recently, I've been working at the kitchen table a lot. This past week, my housemate has come home to me Twittering/Blogging/home-working (like how homework was last there?) with a bowl of soup next to my laptop. That's also where I edited the first draft of my CP.

 So what you can probably gather, is that I write wherever my whim takes me. When I'm journalling, I literally write everywhere: bus, kitchen, living room, outside, at work (when I'm not in the water), friend's house, dinner (yup, I'm a great person to invite out...*), everywhere. Except the bathroom. I have never written anything in the bathroom. I bet there's someone out there who writes in the bathroom.

Okay, so this post has taken a turn for the slightly weird. I'm okay with that, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Other than this:

Remember, tomorrow is Blog Action Day 2010! And I'll be talking about the importance of being safe around water, and the importance of water as a commodity.


*I'm actually not that bad. Besides, half my friends have accepted this about me, and the other half are writers themselves.

Also, sorry for the jumpy post today.

What to say, what to say.

Hi guys.

I was almost not going to post today because I can't settle on any one topic, none of them seem interesting enough to blog about. They are things like food, feeling helpless about the state of the world, and why I love my job. All are things that are valid, but I haven't been able to give any of them enough thought to come up with a cohesive and worthy post.

But. I will talk about the weather.

It is Spring here in Canberra, and for a few glorious weeks, I was able to sit and enjoy it. It was that perfect amount of warmth that only ever comes in Spring or Autumn, and there were blossoms everywhere, along with the new little green leaves of the imported trees. 

Well, the blossoms are still around, but the sun is gone. Because the thing about Spring is that she is fickle. It has been raining all day. The rain itself is lovely. When I'm inside. Going outside is not so nice, especially walking from the bus stop in the dark through squelchy grassland. 

The thing about being Australian (and I will cover more of this on Blog Action Day*), is that sometimes it feels like an unspoken rule that one does not complain about the rain. It is such a valuable source. Especially since the local dams have collectively been hovering around the 50% mark for the past year or so. Only in the last month have they crept over. Today they reached 80%.

My point is, while the rain is great for our general well-being, it would be nice to have some sun back. I was just getting to enjoy it. 

*Due to my technological failings, I've been unable to load the widget :( So for now I will just make links :)

Ideas

No poem today, sorry.

But I will talk about ideas.
I'm only an emerging writer - one with only a few small articles published, and just finishing my Bachelor in Writing - but ideas, and the overflow or lack of, are something that every writer knows about.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I finished the first draft of my Creative Project. I've edited it down the best I could with the time I had, and emailed it off to my supervisor. There are so many things I could have expanded - way too many 'show, don't tell' moments in the manuscript. But my supervisor will give me my comments and I'll be able to keep going. That's a week from today.

In the meantime, my brain has free reign to think of other things. And there's a new character who won't leave me alone. She just won't. All of a sudden her whole life is in my head and I can't get rid of it.
I wrote down as much as I could, then closed my notebook. I want to prove to myself that I can finish something, so this shiny new idea will have to wait. As well as my CP, there's the WiP I've been writing with what little time I have. That has first priority as soon as classes are finished this year.

And it's not just that new idea. There's another really cool fantasy concept that I came up with a month or so ago. It also has to wait. And the other things I started when I was a teenager that I never finished that I'd like to go back and rework someday. They'll have to wait too.

I get a little overwhelmed by all these ideas sometimes, and a little impatient with my current WiP's. But on the flip side it's something amazing that I wouldn't give up - it means that if I'm ever stuck for ideas, I don't have to worry. By writing all these ideas down, I'm giving myself insurance for those days when I'm feeling uninspired. Which seems unlikely at the moment, but I'm sure they exist.

Does this happen to you?

I'm thinking I should start giving my poems titles. Poem 3

Especially if posting poems becomes a regular thing. However, once I've gone through the poems in my notebooks, they'll grow more sporadic. I can always post short stories as well :) We shall see.

I won't explain this poem, it's elusive, but I hope it says something to you. It doesn't need to be profound, so don't worry too much :)

Poem Three

She sighs. She reads well, 

talks of poetry and death,

heaven, 

and its change from infancy.

What is this nonsense?

Outcries my brain.

I'm reading poetry 

now, 

and writing it. 

This one was written while critiquing Wallace Stevens' Harmonium. 

Yes, I have a new layout, it's purrty. Poem 2

This poem is an interpretation of my lecturer's dislike of the use of exclamation marks and angels in poetry. I get his point, there are times and places for these things, and never because the poet or writer is lacking the suitable word or metaphor. So, enjoy my little parody of what a poem shouldn't be:

Poem Two

Angels! Glistening
like turgid jelly
on the moss. Overpowering
with their poetic
grace. Look!
I say
they are angels!


In other news Astrid may actually be homeless in a couple of weeks... More on this later if the events I'm hinting at actually take place.

More other news: I've joined Blog Action Day 2010. This year's focus is Water.
Taking a gander at my profile, you'll see that I'm a swim teacher. More to the point, I'm an Instructor of Swimming and Water Safety, but just say I'm a swim teacher.
I also live in Australia, a country where there is almost always water restrictions in some part of the country at any given time.
My point to all this, is that Water is a simple concept that many people take for granted in terms of safety and as a commodity. So on October 15, I'm going to do a post about my passion for these two aspects of Water.
I encourage anyone reading this who has a blog, to join in. If you're doing NaBloWriMo, it will be a great thing to post about.

That's it from me until tomorrow, where I will return to the serious (but not too serious) with my poems :D

This one's a little dark. Poem 1

The following poem was written during a class where we were discussing The Well Mouth by Philip Salom, an Australian poet. It's a dark collection of linked poems all concerning death in one way or another. I'll try and post a link to the book on Amazon, if there is one*.

Poem One

Take my life

and keep it

It is my present

to you

Guard it,

so it's safe

I'll be gone awhile

*Here's the link. They misspelt his name.

Mini Poetry Posts

I have been thinking...

I have this poetry critiquing class at uni. Sometimes while taking notes, I will jot down a small, (ir)relevant poem. At the moment I think there are only three or so, possibly only two. But would any of you like to read them? Just for a laugh?

Ps I will post them anyway :)

Happy

Before writing this post, I had this thought: the reason Art is and always has been around, is because humans need to know that they're not alone. Whatever the situation, there is a piece of music, literature, film, theatre, poetry, visual art, dance and more to fit it.

I've been listening to Happy by Natasha Bedingfield a bit lately (I downloaded the album after seeing Easy A). And it seems to be eerily parallel to my life at the moment. Let's take a look at the opening lines:

Landlord's knocking at my door/cussing me out: my housemates and I were given a Notice to Remedy yesterday after failing a house inspection. If we fail the next inspection, we'll be given a Notice to Vacate.

Got laid off my job the night before: I still have a job, but might not for long if I end up homeless...

Can't figure how/ I'm gonna fix tomorrow when/ yesterday's still a mess: Late uni assignments, housework, social life, work... you get the picture, the usual student stresses.

I wish that I could step away and breath/ this world's tryin to swallow me/ clear away the clouds inside my head: This is just generally how I've been feeling for the past few... months I guess, on and off.

Now for some happy thoughts:

1) Writing - I finished the first draft of my Creative Project manuscript. I've started editing now... it's exiting.

2) I have many incredible friends who are awesome in their own right, as well as being supportive when I need them to be.

3) My family - always there for me. I love them and I'll always know that they love me.

4) I'm good at my job, and it's fun.

5) Spring! Sun! These things never fail to make me smile. I've been waiting all winter for them.

6) I'm starting to get into the mundane, everyday stuff that makes me happy, so I'll stop this post here.

7) Check out the song, it's good for lifting your spirits.

Love it.

So, not off to a good start with the NaBloWriMo thing. But here is my first post and I will do my best to post for the rest of the month (fingers crossed). Here's my reason for not posting for the first three days of the month:

I'm up in Sydney visiting my dear family. The weather here is cool but the humidity is creeping in again already. Unlike Canberra where as soon as the sun goes away, it's cold again.

On to other things, like what I really want to post about today.

Positive body image. It's one thing that I've always been fairly good at maintaining. Mostly thanks to my Mum, who never allowed me to diet, and always encouraged me to maintain healthy habits for just that - my health.

Of course, I always have those bad days - everyone does. This morning for example, and yesterday. For some reason, just looking in the mirror, wearing outfits that normally make me feel good about myself, I felt... (now, I really hate the connotations of this word) fat.

The sad thing is, I know I'm not fat. I know I'm curvy, in a good way, a way that I usually like and am definitely not large. But for some reason, I was feeling bleugh.

Now, writing this at the end of the day, I feel better about myself. I just kept thinking to myself - you are a healthy, active individual, and skinny does not equal healthy all the time, curves are gorgeous. Out and about this afternoon I caught a glimpse of myself in a shop window and felt happy with what I saw.

My point to all this... I have friends who have terrible self esteem about their body, or admit that they know they are hot, yet are constantly striving for 'perfection'. This is an issue that applies to many women and men. The statistics are more concentrated on young women, but it affects people of any gender and demographic.

I also want to emphasise that just because I am saying that big is beautiful, I am not saying that thin is ugly. All sizes are beautiful. I think people many people would lead happier and much healthier lifestyles if they accepted who they are, and grew to love what they saw in the mirror.

The Body Positive is an American organisation run by a good friend of mine. The aim of it is to reach people and educate them on how to love and care for your body without striving for the One idea of what people should look like that is seen so often in the media.

As a last note, I feel I need to explain my feelings towards the word 'fat'. The word, especially in Western societies, brings to mind ugliness. Some people are bigger than others. This is okay, but the words I think should be used are big or curvy. They do not imply the same thing as 'fat'.

Part of my problem is watching my friends use the word as if firing a bullet charged with hate towards themselves, their mouths twisted. Big and curvy are words that conjure beauty in my mind.

Finally, if anything I have said in this post offends anyone, I apologise. I do not apologise for my opinions, but only if they become misconstrued.