Like You Mean It

So the first week of summer course has gone by. Aside from the frequent cluster headaches I've been getting and the fact that the class is a whole hour AND 40 mins long.. math classes have actually been quite interesting. The class is totally on the guy's campus (which is freakin awkward and just plain weird) and we, of course, have guys in the class. A very half-assed partition separates the sexes (I so need to snap a shot for you guys's viewing pleasure!) which is like the joke of the whole school. There are uniformed guards all over - I imagine to 'keep the peace' haha. Right. I wonder how they would describe the status of UoS now? ... "Controlled Co-ed".

Anyways, like I was saying, the classes have been interesting to say the least. We got a guy professor this time around. I know we aren't supposed to be sexist when it comes to math teachers and all but its becoming quite apparent that they are the better teachers in regards to math anyways. The guy teacher at the institute I was going to in Dubai for tutoring sessions was like a mathematical Einstein. When he explained, I understood. When things were difficult, he spoke ENGLISH. Our professor for this semester speaks English as well. Not that any of my other professors or tutors spoke/taught in other languages but they may as well have been for all I understood from them. It was frustrating really.

I think this may also be the first time I was actually present for the first math chapter. I don 't remember studying about the basics of the straight line the previous times. Despite only having spent a week with this new professor, I think I like him. He's got a really short volatile temper. Reminds me of Tony Soprano's temper. It doesnt help much that he kinda slurs words together like Soprano as well. The first day (Monday) he was going through the course syllabus and introduction (in English) like a normal professor and then suddenly he starts yelling all this angry arabic. It took me a minute to register that that was definitely not part of the lecture. I look up from the syllabus hand-out to see him waving around a small black thing. Turned out to be someone's mobile. Apparently while he was going thru the syllabus one of the boys was getting in quality talk time on his phone. It was pretty funny. But just as quickly as he was set off he had calmed down and was smiling again. Lol. Tuesday the lecture went by with out a hitch. Wednesday we had a quiz. We knew we were having a quiz that day. So everyone went in and sat down and we were like waiting for him to pass out the quiz papers. Instead he surprised us all and told us to get out our own sheets of paper, write our names and IDs on them and then copy the quiz question he was going to write on the board. I was thinking Oh Wow we are all sitting next to each other (like usually they make us sit at alternate desks and stuff) so just before we start his angry alter ego "Mr. Soprano" (fitting name) comes out and threatens that if we attempt in any way...even if he so much as 'thinks' we are attempting, we'd get a zero. Then he adds that with him there are 'two' zeros - a red zero and a yellow zero... I imagine it must be something along the lines of Soccer (football to the rest of u guys ;P) with their red and yellow cards lol. So he wraps up with 'You all be careful.' I almost felt sorry for the girl beside me cuz even if she wanted to cheat, i'd be like the last person she'd wanna cheat from! When I saw the question my brain immediately froze. Like what the hell? I knew that I knew how to solve it and it was a relatively easy problem but I was having trouble remembering how to go about doing that. In the end though, I put down pretty much all of the correct answer except for the last part of the equation. I guess I'll see on Sunday how much leaving out parts of equations cost in marks.. After the quiz we carried on with the lesson as usual. Like half hour before the end of class the teacher makes this swift movement on the boys' side of the partition and next thing he slams a familiar black device on his desk. He's glaring angerily at the boys' side but says nothing surprisingly. Instead he turns back to the board and starts writing again. Once he finished writing, he opens his mouth to speak and I imagined he'd be explaining what he had just written - and maybe thats what he had originally wanted to do but the object on his desk caught his eye and set him off. Haha. There was no stopping him. He went on and on about how rude and wrong it is for someone to be using their phone while in a lecture. And the retarded guy he took the phone from was arguing his case saying he wasnt doing anything like texting. He claimed he was just receiving. Oh the professor loved that. His face got all red and his eyes turned mini-saucers and he looked like he was ready to drag the kid out by his ear and drag him all the way to that great and mighty (cough cough) chancellor of ours. And like everytime he seemed like he was winding down to continue the guy argued some more. A couple of girls grinned. A few giggled. I tried my best not to laugh, smile grin or look amused but in all honesty it was hilarious. And what's more, it was the same boy from the first lesson with the phone. Some ppl just dont learn, sadly. I guess its a good thing though, it makes the hour and 40 mins a little less mundane. ;)

This summer promises to be very busy, aside from summer course. I registered for art & calligraphy classes. I'm going to finally learn to swim (though I still very much hate that sport). I'm also going to try and finish my new novel -which entails learning welsh and perhaps gaelic or latin. Should be fun I hope. Oh, and I got an invitation letter from this cadet pilot programme I registered for. I had signed on ever since last year, I was really depressed and needed a change of routine so that was like the most random spontaneous thing I could do. I'm not as interested in it any more but since I have the invitation letter I may as well go on for the assessment test and see how far I get. They say its 6 aptitude tests that you have to take in 4hours and based on ur performance on them you get to move to the next round/part of assessment which is held on a different day. It'll be interesting at least - I wonder if I'll be the only female there...

I need to go put some honest hours into my neglected novel - and most probably play sims 2 ;)

Laters ^^

Of Preludes and Queries

I wonder if it's just me, or do any other writers find writing the perfect query letter to potential agents/editors to be harder than actually writing the novel itself. It's understandable why they would want that letter, but they shouldnt be so nitpicky about it. They ought to come up with one unified standard query form which would leave writers to just fill in the blanks. If they like what they see then they could proceed with requesting pages/chapters or whatever. It would make life alot easier for all of us (them included since they are always complaining about not getting properly written queries).

Spring break is a good thing - VERY good thing. I had wanted to go to Kuwait this break, but it seems none of the little brothers (that I'd feel like holidaying for a week with) are off from school. Sux for me, I guess I'll have to be content to study, tackle that query letter and find something to keep me reasonably amused this week.

Lately my alter ego has been demanding a facebook account. I'm weighing the pros/cons of obliging such a request..

I guess I should go work on my first couple of query drafts. I hope you guys have a great weekend =)

The End

Why is it easy to start things, yet so hard to end them?? I could write pages and pages without so much as a thought but then come closing time I end up staring blankly at the screen/paper.

I took a break from Llewellyn to write a short story. I wrote it in less than a week, which was good and fine but now I've been stuck with how to end it. It's been a month now and I'm tempted to just stop with one of those open-ended endings but my last short ended more or less like that.

I like to finish things, I mean if I start it I should finish. When writing full lengths it gets frustrating though, after weeks and months passing without being done, so I break and write shorts just to satisfy that need to start and finish something.

My problem this time is that I have too many ending ideas and can't decide on which one to choose. :: sighs :: I guess I have no choice but to draw lots on this one..

Don't Mock the Karak..

Contradiction:

Pronunciation / kän-trə-ˈdik-shən/, n.

The overwhelming sense that I've been robbed, betrayed or violated on some pathological level - and yet I feel thankful, grateful even, to the offender.

This sort of thing usually begins with me minding my own business, innocently going thru my surfing rituals. A name, more like a title carrying a badge of prestige, catches my eye. First instinct, ignore it, just let it go. That might work for a minute or two.. an hour even. The whining and pleading gets louder until I find myself pushed to the brink of insanity. Curiosity has me completely and utterly wrapped around its thumb and finally I turn to my saviour, the prince of searches, Google.

This time around 'professional curiosity' had me putting No Time for Goodbye under the 'scope. The article had described it as a truely masterful work of art that held the reigns to numerous bestseller lists. I had no choice but to hunt it down and get a look. I was happy to find it was part of amazon's Search Inside program which allows eager folks the chance to gaze upon just enough greatness to whet their appetites.

What I saw that day, bedazzled me. The most simplistic style and words employed for the task of telling the alleged bestselling tale. The words spoke out to me as if imploring me to relieve them of a burdenous secret. Lucky for me I didnt have to wait long. Mother happened to be going to the bookstore to hunt down some literary works she'd been craving so she offered to pick up that book for me while there.

The day I intended to start reading it turned out to be the same day mother took the liberty to promise that I, yes ME not her, would take the kids all out to the zoo and a place called Discovery Center in shj. All day affair in other words. It was fun, but it meant that I only got to read a few pages of the book. I got to finish the prelude. It was good. Strong start, but it left me with this nagging feeling. He had innovated. It was only the prelude and yet there was his gleaming creativity. I imagined the feelings running thru my veins were the same Christian Bale's character in American Psycho felt in the business card scene. It was ruffling to say the least. Abandoning the beguiling piece, I spent some quality time catching up with past episodes of Life. It wasnt until last night when I went to go work on my own prelude that I picked up NTFG again. I brought it to learn and learn I shall!

By 2am I was peeved. The book was like a slap to the face. This guy, Mr. Barclay, he was breaking every single rule in Novel Writing 101. From grammar to sentence structure, and if that wasnt enough his characters were urkingly weak. I wont even go into the details of his male characters suffering from a serious lack of testosterone on top of being chronically stupid. At that point I would have gone on to bed but realized I had gotten halfway thru the book and had only just really started it that night. (I'm usually a really slow reader so that was a big thing for me) I decided to stay on and see how far I could get.

I watched the digits on my clock change from 3:59 to 4:00 am. I wasnt 'peeved' anymore, no. I was freakin DISGUSTED and pissed out of my mind. I was about 50 pages short of finishing the 400+ paged book and the only thought pleading an answer in my mind was "How in bloody hell had that book scored 'Bestseller'?" I had to break then and there, book in hand, to have a look online and see who exactly authorized that right. I mean my God, I'm not above reading crap, especially if I know in the beginnning that the author was aiming for crap cuz then at least its entertaining. This though. "Oh Boy." To quote my grandpa's famous words of astonishment. It was an eye opener. I couldnt help but think it was a guy thing. I mean till I realized I've read some pretty great stuff written by guys before [Ludlum, Grisham, Crichton - and even though I've outgrown Pike and Stine they still had pretty good literary contributions]. Ok, so not a guy thing, just a Barclay thing. I could barely turn the pages anymore. In the end I just prayed and slept. I didnt wake up till well after 12. I finished the remainder of the book and just stared at it. Somewhere between the disdain and regret I was feeling for the book I had just pulled an all nighter for I felt this light of shining truth. I mean the most obvious of all facts was that if ppl's standards were so low as to celebrate such an affront to modern literature then hey they were gullible enough to accept any sheemot rubbed between two covers.

As much as I can complain about the book and how much of a disappointment it was, I have to concede that I learnt some pretty important things from it. I think the most important of which was plot structure. I mean I guess that was always important but I always find I get a little lazy by the end of whatever I am writing. Sometimes I give it a hasty ending or go with the first few hundred things that come to mind instead of waiting for a better plot element to come along. [Lesson one from Barclay: Stong plot/concept and see it through to the end.] I'm pretty sure I did it with POA. That was the reason I still havent re-read it in its entirety. Solely for fear of finding plot holes or weak elements. I'm going to re-read it though, soon, and I'm not going to be ashamed of what I find either. [Lesson two from Barclay: Baby steps. Take it slow and easy, no need to rush.] Cover each bit meticulously, air tight sealing as far as elements and grammar is concerned. I do that most times but now I'll triple and quadruple check till my piece is of sacred grade. [Lesson three from Barclay: ....hmm, there was a third lesson.. I smell mac and cheese, intoxicating carbs. Maybe I'll remember the third later and edit it in or something..]

I need coffee! A caramel spiked French Vanilla latte...::sighs:: mother has become so enamored with Lipton's Chai-latte that she forgot to buy real coffee.. ::more sighs::

Fleshy Part of the Thigh

I've been working on my new novel lately, though not as often as I'd like. Everytime I put pen to paper I get ambushed by a most annoying nagging feeling. Something wasn't right. It was like cooking and tasting what you've created only to find that something was off and it didnt quite taste as you were expecting. I absolutely abhor that feeling when I'm writing. I've already tossed out 2 of my previous drafts. This time around I like the idea and didnt really wanna resort to another chucking so I decided that until I figured out what was wrong, there was no point in moving forward. The idea of going over my previous works presented itself in such a way that I felt I could actually put aside my fear of reading POA-post publishing. I mean after all, I usually do go over my pieces after they are written but only with proofreading for grammar/spelling mistakes in mind. I never go and re-read them with objectivity on my agenda. Lol, so I'm going over my things and some of them it's like "What the hell was I thinking when I wrote this??" but I did realize what it is that I may be missing... Character development. Sometimes referred to as 'fleshing out the character'. Yeah I know that sounds like one of the most basic things that every writer thinks of first. The thing is when I first started making up stories to tell my little brother they were usually in the form of a play with his action figures (spider man, batman, ninja turtles etc.) or like when he got older and I'd borrow characters from shows that we watched and create a sort of fanfic version of them. In both cases we knew the characters already and all that remained was to add scenerios or a bit of character twisting to them.

I came across this site yesterday that suggested a pretty interesting way to go about character development. It suggested that each character be fully described on a page or two and set aside. From physical appearances to personality and preferences. Jot it all down like you'd do with the general or chapter outlines. Doing this would make the character more solid, relevant. I love the idea. In general I am obsessed with organizing things, though only a select number of things, writing is one of them. I already had a character list. I guess I'll just have to add a bio for each one now. It would work out good considering I was planning to make a webpage for this novel and I could now add the individual character bios to it.

So I guess I know what's on my agenda for today, besides watching South Park and Brothers & Sisters ;) Gosh, it's going to be so hard killing characters off now when you know they like fig juice and sleeping on soft hay in the corner of their cottage!

I LOVE UoS!

How much I missed it here. I'm in Sharjah for now and the first place I decided to go was my beloved uni. Not sure which home exactly it is but between Uni and the Club they both fall in the 1st and 2nd home categories. Ha, I'm beginning to believe that any place the family isn't in is home, and you know something.. I think I just might go with that. I only feel truly at peace when I know I am in a place where they are no where around.

Actually Sharjah feels pretty lonely these days. Hardly anyone is around (I mean aside from random folk). I still miss being here though. It wouldn't be a crime to entertain myself alone in the absence of the interesting ppl that are missing. Mother decided to extend her stay. She believes that somehow H might change her mind and come back with her... Maybe if hell were to freeze over, or a thousand years passed or if I suddenly became a billionairess over night (working on that =P) but at any rate I suppose she'll have to find that out for herself the hard way since she wants to pretend to be clueless to H's hints.

I almost wish I were taking summer courses. Ha, I probably should have enrolled. I guess though I have been using my time kinda wisely up in the prison. I've been plagued by new book ideas. I had one for a children's book while in the shower (Don't ask...I am in no control over where a new idea pops up at). I got out and wrote it up within 24hours. I found an illustrator for it as well though I'm not sure if it's the one I'll go with. I like her work but she might be too pricy. As for other projects I had an idea for a fantasy book and a skate-lit. Both I started but decided to put them on hold cuz they are about royalty and I wanted something from a different vein (Princess of Arabia is about royalty). Hehe my lips are sealed as far as the two current projects I'm working on. If I can keep to schedule they should be done sometime in July... I am horrible with schedules ;) So I guess they'll be done when they get done.

I told one of my classmates I'd meet her at 12 and it's already 11:58 so I guess I better get my arse moving....