Weekly update

This week I don’t have much to write for my weekly blog but I didn’t want to just skip a week without giving some info. I didn’t do any research reading this week. Rather, I focused on my novel and reading creative fiction work. The week went by really fast which made me extremely nervous because I feel like I didn’t do a whole lot of writing. I don’t think I was as disciplined this week as I have been on others so I scheduled blocks of time in my planner to get back on track. Hopefully I can get more work done without feeling that time it’s just flying by. 

Weekly update

This week I’ve been doing less reading and more revising and writing. Just adding here and deleting there. I think the way I’ve set up the chapters I have so far are good but there is still more developing I need to do.

Having done so much research about my topic along with reading pieces that talk about my topic, has been really helpful. I admire the way these authors have set up their stories and the way their stories flow through is very impressive. I enjoyed reading the dialogues in their stories, like I normally do when I read fiction, and hope my novel comes out as engaging as theirs. One of the main goals I have for my novel is to actually have it published so reading published work has been an inspiration when developing my novel.

As I revise, I’ve tried to put myself in my readers’ shoes and I’ve tried to analyze and see if what I think I am saying is truly what I am showing in my story. Not every part of the process so far has been fun but all has been helpful to what I have so far for my project. The readings I’ve enjoyed the most thus far has been reading the creative work, I’ve been engaged and even laughed at times with certain lines of the stories and I’m hopeful my reader will feel the same way once my novel is done and one day published.  

Fifth blog of the semester…

Wow this is already the fifth blog we are writing this semester. This past week has gone by very quickly for me. I’ve worked on my Lit Review and it’s coming out pretty well, I think. Just putting the final touches. There were days where I just could not get myself to work on it so I decided to solely work on my novel instead. I was very exciting to work on my novel this week. New ideas are floating in my head and I’ve been revising a lot. I think I will definitely be rearranging the chapters because as I revised I am catching that the story seems to focus more on certain relationships the main characters have and this is taking away from the main story line. I’ve been also loosely working on titles for the different chapter to help the story find its focus.

When I was able to get myself to work on my Lit Review I enjoyed seeing that I was getting work done because it made me feel productive and less frustrated. I understand that I am not always going to be able to produce and produce every time I work on my thesis project so I have to work on what I can when I have the time.

This week I also had what I like to call thinking sessions which is where I just thought about my novel and tried to picture where is my thesis project going. This helped me see the future of the story and helped me see where I needed to move things around and add some more. In the revision process of my novel this week I also indicated sections where I’ll be inserting scenes rather than telling the story. It has always been a struggle for me to show more and tell less. It’s so easy to say do more showing and less telling when you are commenting on some else’s story but so hard to actually get that done on yours. Overall, I continue to look forward to my thesis project and I’m trying to move along as much as I can.

Weekly Update…

There were moments this week where I felt really engaged with the readings I’ve been doing for my Lit Review and others where I wasn’t sure if what I was reading was going to be beneficial for my thesis. I remember that in conversation during our first group meeting we talked about the research that I would be finding not necessarily affecting or directing how I would be developing my characters. I had to remind myself that because at times I felt like I had to adjust my novel according to what research was saying. However, research was not always saying that same thing. It is extremely beneficial for me to see different perspectives and this way have the knowledge and confidence to lead my novel where it needs to be.

This week, I had the opportunity to talk about my thesis with some friends and coworkers. While many of my coworkers have been asking about how my thesis is going, I had not felt confident enough yet to explain what I was aiming to accomplish for my thesis. I was able to talk to some of my coworkers about it this week and actually explained to them my goals and how has my process been going. The conversations went better than I expected. I actually now know about this person (a friend of my coworker) that is working on writing her book where she’ll be telling the stories of a variety of females from different races and ethnicities and how has their relationship with their mothers shaped who they are today. I might be participating in the research the author will be doing and perhaps become one of the participants that tell their story in her book. Hearing about her book got me more excited and motivated about my novel. As I talked with my coworker about my thesis project, she had really good questions for me that got me thinking about how I’ll be developing my story. She asked me if I’m going to talk in my novel about how my characters cope with having divorced parents and celebrating special life events such as birthdays, holidays and graduations. She also asked me if I’m going to be showing how my characters’ relationship is with their siblings as opposed to how is their relationship with their half-siblings. These were subjects I’ve been touching upon and developing in my novel and I was excited to see she showed interest towards them.

Overall, I feel I had a good week working on my thesis. I am still excited and motivated to work on it. I am nervous about the deadlines and the fear that I might experience writers block or lack of motivation to keep going. However, I am just trying to stay as positive as I can and keep going with the process.