tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-143290642009-11-11T20:09:24.665-08:00My study at an MFA fiction program. Narrative style and artistic process served a la carte.PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1146112307348009252006-04-26T21:22:00.000-07:002006-04-26T21:31:47.363-07:00

I've just handed out a new draft for workshop. It's non autobiographical, so that's new for me. I'm really excited. It's that horrible time though, where I hand it in, and have to wait a week before I hear anything about it. Hate that. But I've learned, at least, *not* to read over the mss this week. It's best if I don't think about it at all. I think I'll publish it on here, serial

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1144991459468114422006-04-13T21:54:00.000-07:002006-04-13T22:40:38.503-07:00

Over the break in Chicago, I had gotten a few free books-one was a nice craft book put out by the Gotham Writer's Workshop from NYC. Every other street corner in the city has ads for these guys. I never gave them a second thought. So my composition director grabbed the book for me (thanks, LH) I ripped through it and really liked it. I think it would be a great tool to teach intro to fiction

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1143597561871110762006-03-28T17:51:00.000-08:002006-03-28T18:20:13.343-08:00

So this last weekend I went to the CCCC convention in Chicago. I was worried about doing this presentation since I was asked way back last quarter. In the end in wasn't really a big deal. I spoke for ten minutes, a short narrative about my experience coming to Irvine as a new teacher and having to teach college for the first time, along with learning the writing studio, which is a web based

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1142723006507032082006-03-18T14:57:00.000-08:002006-03-18T15:08:39.570-08:00

Listening to The Frogs' My Daughter, The Broad.For my seminar this quarter, I was lucky enough to have a teacher who is very MFA friendly, so much that she allowed us to write narratives for our papers, with an introduction relating to the theory or books we've read.First, that was strange writing an analysis of my own text. It felt very self-conscious. But was it was interesting, once I put it

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1142163302425999512006-03-12T03:23:00.000-08:002006-03-12T03:39:32.120-08:00

So A few days ago I finished Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby. A really interesting book. The voice is intense, like a non-stop verbal barrage of word clumps like whydoncha shuddup, thinks of that sort, some page long sentences, SOME ENTIRE SECTIONS IN CAPS. It was five major sections, if I remember right, with some intersecting characters, all in Brooklyn, most Italians. There was no

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1142027417948176292006-03-10T13:44:00.000-08:002006-03-21T12:08:18.906-08:00

Week Nine is done. One more to go. I'm mostly done with Brad's interview. Well, maybe half-way. Wednesday we had a meeting before workshop with the search committee. So they asked us about our meetings with the visiting writers and what we thought of them. What I hadn't realized until that point was there was a serious division between the members of the search commitee, which became

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1141802112103526952006-03-07T23:03:00.000-08:002006-03-11T08:34:26.526-08:00

Today was busy. I started in the morning doing a critique for workshop. Then I went to campus to see my teachers at their office hours. First I went to see Brad, to tell him some of the thoughts I had to finish the interview. I needed a better opening since it seems right now to jump in mid conversation. I also told him I'd like him to tell a story, and he had one come to mind. So we'll

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1141701710914155252006-03-06T19:09:00.000-08:002006-03-06T19:29:51.766-08:00

So I got tired of the old look: all that black and also those pictures. I figured I needed to get things simpler here. Now I like this setting but it looks weird that the title is "Non Photo Blue" but it's in an orange background. Crazy. But this type is bigger and I think better to read which is important, don't want anyone going blind out there. As for me, I did spend Friday morning with

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1141373928733418282006-03-03T00:05:00.000-08:002006-03-03T00:18:48.753-08:00

The end of week eight. Lots of work. Another meeting with a visiting writer and potential hire, Anthony Giardina. It went fine, the reading was good. I'll be taking him to see Laguna Beach tomorrow since no one else was around to drive him. So that's cool, I've had lots of time over the last few weeks to hang with writers, which is nice.I have to write an introduction for my seminar paper,

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1141017335264180452006-02-26T20:51:00.000-08:002006-02-26T21:20:02.736-08:00

This weekend I managed to finish Brad Watson's Heaven of Mercury. Brad's a great writer, and has been swell to work with in workshop. His novel I liked very much, and comes alive when Parnell comes on the scene--there's a few sections about necrophilia that are amazing, complex, and yeah, endearing. I also read Benjamin Tammuz's Minotaur, by the suggestion of Brad. A great book. Told in

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1140854072946892192006-02-24T23:43:00.000-08:002006-02-25T00:11:46.770-08:00

So I've been keeping a list of the books I've read recently, here goes:Feb 2006:The Whale Rider, Witi Ihimaera so so. Short, quick prose style, but a little disney-esque. I can't say all that much about it, really.Baby No-Eyes, Patricia Grace Another Maori island narrative. Biotheft and ghosts and replacement children running themes, the prose style at first seems very intriguing

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1140587606998720222006-02-21T21:43:00.000-08:002006-02-21T22:26:46.550-08:00

Once again, it's been too long since I've written.So the winter quarter has seen a lot of action out here. Our visiting writer for the quarter is Brad Watson. He's from Mississippi, and I've been reading his book, The Heaven of Mercury, and it's really good. Some great necrophilia in there. Brad's kind of a good ol' southern boy, real laid back. He lifts the gag rule during workshop, which

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1134798049565832262005-12-16T21:31:00.000-08:002006-02-21T22:24:32.363-08:00

The quarter is, and has been, over. I've spent the last week doing nothing but reading books and watching movies, and occasionally going to the gym. I read In Cold Blood, and then I started reading The Heaven of Mercury by Brad Watson, who's teaching our workshop next quarter. I liked the book, but felt like moving on to something bigger, so I stopped after 40 pages or so. I read some essays

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1133631147415742842005-12-03T09:22:00.000-08:002005-12-03T09:32:28.390-08:00

So Wednesday's workshop got a little crazy. There's a student who doesn't get along well with the teacher. They had some words outside of class before this week. So at the end, three people were supposed to hand out stories for workshop next week--mine being one of them--and we all only get two. The student didn't want the teacher to read his last work. So he tells the teacher, in front of

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1133337032866602202005-11-29T23:44:00.000-08:002005-11-29T23:57:34.856-08:00

Well, my draft is due tomorrow. It's crazy how much I've worked on this in such a short period of time. Four weeks back, I started trying to write a draft to hand in, and for two weeks I wrote in fits and starts, amassed 15 pages of four different story starts that I while I didn't hate, I didn't really get into either. Then I freaked the fuck out two weeks ago because I had nothing.Then I

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1133035979501933782005-11-26T11:55:00.000-08:002005-11-26T12:40:52.740-08:00

I can't believe it's been six weeks since I posted. Well, thanks to someone named Darren, who stumbled on the site and e-mailed me imploring me to write more--here I am. So let me spend a few minutes trying to recap the last six weeks in general terms.I handed in that first draft, which went pretty well. My teacher Michelle Latiolais had some high praise. I got a lot of constructive feedback

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1128495849747326872005-10-04T23:49:00.000-07:002006-02-21T22:18:55.606-08:00

Well, I've been working on a draft. I have to submit a story in two weeks from Wednesday, and right now I have a mess. So I feel like a mess. Plus, I'm trying to write about my friend Joe, his death, his funeral, etc., so that's a little numbing. Plus, one week of teaching writing composition and already I'm sick of it. Monday I taught class and ran out of things to say after 15 minutes."Well," I

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1127630741453621532005-09-24T23:33:00.000-07:002005-09-26T21:52:33.823-07:00

I can't catch up on everything, but I'll hit a few of the highlights. This week has been "welcome week." From Monday to Thursday, all the new teachers were forced to sit through eight hour days of seminars and lectures about topic ranging from sexual harassment (who hasn't heard this speech?) and web sites and handicapped access and any tiny detail you could imagine, except of course, you know,

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1126777746636379252005-09-15T02:39:00.000-07:002005-09-15T02:49:06.643-07:00

I'm down to once a week with this blog thing. Well, things have been busy. Between flying back to NY, then back here, getting set-up (I finally got a bed, Queen size, for free on Craigslist!) just in time to start welcome week. That starts Monday, and it's basically a series of meetings, mostly concerning teaching, giving us some basics and introducing us to the course material.Tonight I met most

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1126205738092947332005-09-08T11:52:00.000-07:002005-09-08T11:55:38.096-07:00

I received terrible news last evening. My good friend Joe died yesterday, an overdose of prescription meds. He was 25. I'm getting a flight to NYC right now, to attend the wake and funeral tomorrow.He was one of my closest friends.

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1125660720752409572005-09-02T04:23:00.000-07:002005-09-02T04:36:30.170-07:00

Well, I've arrived. Irvine. The land of many strip malls. Parking lots and yogurt stands as far as the eye can tell.I've been here since Tuesday. I moved into my apartment Wednesday, and have been getting set-up since. Little shopping, little computerizing (I'm finally writing from my new home, my computer is set-up, and I don't have to worry about running out of internet time.)I'll try to keep

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1125176761328261962005-08-27T14:01:00.000-07:002005-08-27T14:26:32.536-07:00

Thursday.We woke early that morning. We ate, tried to shake off the morning mountain chill, and got ready for a hike. Our mission was to reach Loomis Lake, another 1,000 ft up and west, into the curl of the mountain area we were in. The trick was, there was no trail after the camp, so we were on our own to cross the rocks and forest. We started off very gung ho, climbed some steep rocks, then

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com53tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1125084935824870232005-08-26T12:28:00.000-07:002005-08-26T13:19:12.666-07:00

continuing form the last postWoody, a blue eyed, bearded, nice guy explained it to me."Yeah, I was just driving through," I said."Uh-oh," he laughed, intimating that that's how people get pulled in to Nederlands. That's where I was. Nederlands. And I could see how that worked: always looking for a nice place to hide away and write a book, this place was sticking to me, after one Latte. And if I

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1124999123546067872005-08-25T12:32:00.000-07:002005-08-26T12:28:17.936-07:00

So, Wednesday the 17th. We slept soundly in Genesse Park, but awoke to flashlights at five in the morning. Sheriff. Right- like I had said, there was no camping in the park. Well, he took our ids, and checked them out. While we waited to hear back from the station to hear back that we weren't wanted for murder or armed robbery ( I was curious myself), the Sheriff asked why I was going to

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14329064.post-1124732976023703912005-08-22T10:39:00.000-07:002005-08-22T11:07:47.656-07:00

This is the second time I'm writing this. I wrote a whole entry, then lost it, and then ran out of internet time. So here's to the second time around:Tuesday morning in Denver. My friend Mo was coming into Denver in the afternoon. I decided to get myself some tourist info at the visitor center to find something to do for the day. It turns out, finding the visitor center was something to do for

PittySinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07665162729446165528noreply@blogger.com1