I have to wait two weeks!!?!? Bah.
| February 28, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Musing on life |
My blood feels like acid in my veins right now. I just finished my job interview. I felt really good for most of it. Then they asked this one trick question. I always fail at trick questions. Always. When I was in high school, I was part of a mock trial competition with my history class. I was cast as the defendant because I naturally come off as a naive, innocent girl. I was cast in this role for a reason. I am kind of just sweetly dopey sometimes most of the time. Trick questions always knock my feet out from under me.
Their trick question was this: How do you feel about having a discussion with a student about the honor principle? My brain didn’t immediately register what they were talking about (student conduct), even though I’d researched it already. Unfortunately, I started babbling before my brain could catch up with my mouth. Fail. Will this horrible blunder shade the good parts of my interview? I hope not. But unfortunately, yes. In this ridiculously stiff job competition, one little mess up is enough to get you out of the running. There are so many candidates that hiring committees need to thin out the huge number of qualified people. I really need a job. I hate interviewing.
In fact, I’d like to suggest a new method for picking candidates. Weed through the resume pile, and then call references before you even bother interviewing the people you’re interested in. I’m sure that my references could come up with more eloquent things to say than I could. Probably better examples of my work, too. Alternatively, I’d be fine with interviews over e-mail or chat. Why is it that this whole process is skewed to benefit people who think quickly on their feet? I don’t. Verbally, I’m a hot mess. If I have time to write out my responses, they are so much better. If employers could just see how well I work with students and how dedicated a colleague I am, I would actually be able to get a job. Instead, I’m stuck floundering around in interview purgatory.
Okay, now I’m just being dramatic. Sort of. I still really hate this process.
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Beautful Deception….
| February 28, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Things that inspire me |
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Inspiration from Paris
| February 27, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Musing on life, Things that inspire me |
Paris: The Luminous Years is one of the best documentaries I’ve watched. It moved me. Painters, writers, poets, sculptors, composers, artists of all kinds came together in Monmarte and Montparnasse to share their ideas and their work. They influenced one another and evolved together.
How do we do this today? Online? I share ideas over twitter, facebook, pinterest, or my blog. Yet, there’s something about exchanging ideas in person. Each conversation is unique and is almost a work of art in itself; creative discussion is beautiful. The artists in this documentary gathered at cafes or apartments or hotel rooms, anywhere there was space for them. Where is there space for me? Where is a community that I can be part of?
In a lot of ways, I view myself as something of an insular being. My experiences happen within my mind; I don’t frequently discuss them with others. Maybe I should. The creation of art is about expressing experiences or feelings in a way that others can relate to. How can I understand and interpret experiences fully without endeavoring to understand the experiences of others? What is the writing experience for others? What is it like to create? How do you learn? Why do you choose to draw the lines as you do?
What I’m saying is that I’d really appreciate belonging to a circle of companions who are like me. I want to be able to commiserate with someone about how confusing it can be to feel an emotion that can only be expressed by a paintbrush on canvas. I know I’ve got it right when the color harmonizes with the chords I feel in my chest. I want to know someone who understands that a perfect relationship looks like a calmly rippling, blue pond in the forest. It is crystal clear on the surface and becomes intensely blue as you look deeper, but the bottom can’t be seen. Further, I want to be able to say that I really feel, see, and wonder about these things without worrying that my confidante will think these are hints of insanity.
Yes, this is just scratching the surface of what really goes on in my head.
Where is your community? What do you give? What do you learn? Who influences you? How does your work evolve?
Watch Toward the Making of the Modern on PBS. See more from Paris The Luminous Years.
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Music to write by
| February 26, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Music to Write By |
This is absolutely beautiful. I hope you enjoy too! Happy writing.
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What will I be?
| February 25, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Musing on life, Things that inspire me |
“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”
- Oscar Wilde
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Might I be employable?
| February 24, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Writing with confidence |
I have a job interview on Tuesday. This one’s at a very small, private college. I am excited about it. I wouldn’t have thought that I’d want to work in residence life, but this job actually looks like it would be a pretty sweet setup. It would basically translate into free rent for a year, plus meal plan, plus getting paid on top of that…. We could start saving up for a house! That would be huge. Oh, and I could finally get a car. I really want one. I could also audit all kinds of classes. I’d take creative writing ones, languages, or maybe art. I love that! We shall see what happens. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
I’m hoping that I do well on the interviews. There are three! Yikes. Two over skype and one in-person. I guess I shouldn’t worry about it. Either it’ll be a good fit or it won’t. Mostly, my interviews have not been great fits so far. Its fine, really. I just need to think positively about this one. Secretly, I wonder if this is the sort of thing that is going to work out because I said I would never work in residence life. I also said that I’d never move back to the desert after leaving my hometown…. Then I spent two years living in Las Vegas. It doesn’t get much more deserty than that. Actually, living in the desert wasn’t all bad. That experience certainly reinforced my conviction that I need to live near water and have trees around.
Anyway, wish me luck. I hope I get this job.
In writing news, I’m just puttering along and planning out my next project. I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries. A particularly poignant one was a PBS production called American Experience: The Great Famine. It is about the 1921 famine in Russia and the American relief effort to ameliorate it. There were a lot of shocking photos. So many starving people, many of them were children. If you get a chance to watch it, you should. It’s on netflix streaming.
As for writing, this month was supposed to be dedicated to world-building. I’ve done a little of that. I am just struggling to keep myself focused because I just keep getting ideas for characters and I want to explore those! Anyway, the process is slow-going, but moving forward and that’s what counts.
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Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
| February 23, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Reviews |
Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
In a nutshell: Vampire Academy fans will recognize the characters featured in this book. Sydney, the Alchemist who helped Rose while she was on the run, is the main character in Bloodlines. She’s still in trouble with the Alchemists for disobeying orders to help vampires, but when an emergency situation arises, her expertise is called upon. She’s sent to Palm Springs to be part of the security detail assigned to hide Jill Mastrano Dragomir, the only living relative of Queen Vasilisa. Vasilisa’s reign is only secure so long as she has at least one living relative, so her opposition have made attempts to assasinate Jill. Palm Springs is supposed to be one of the safest places to hide because of the low vampire population and because it is virtually uninhabitable by Strigoi. Little does everyone know, this time, the Strigoi and other vampires aren’t the ones they should be worried about.
What I like about this book:
1. Hmm…. Everything? Yes. Everything. Couldn’t put it down.
2. Sydney is quite different from Rose. Where Rose was impulsive and extremely vocal about her opinions, Sydney is quiet, a little obsessive compulsive, and responsible. What they have in common is that they are both passionately committed to protecting the people they care about. It is that core of the personality that makes me love these characters so much. Sydney is great because I can see her going through the process of beginning to question what people have always told her about the way the world works. Her personal experiences with Moroi and dhampirs aren’t what people led her to believe they’d be. She actually kind of enjoys spending time with them and can easily see their humanity. I love that. Sydney also has struggles with her body image. She doesn’t think too much of herself and she is surprised when she gets compliments. I love the potential for her to come into her own self-confidence in this series. I can’t wait to read more!
3. Adrian. I love Adrian. He was one of my favorite characters in Vampire Academy and I was really bummed that he was left heartbroken and still kind of directionless at the end of the last series. I can already tell that he’s going to decide who he wants to be in this series. I can’t wait to see what happens! And I hope he and Sydney get together.
4. I love the way that Mead puts her characters through hell. She’s so good at it!
5. I appreciate the way that Mead puts enough false trails into her stories that I can’t just automatically figure out who the bad guy is. I love to try to puzzle it out as I’m reading. She always keeps me guessing.
Drawbacks to this book:
1. I want Sydney to have more Alchemist allies. It seems like she doesn’t really have anybody that she can really trust to talk to. Although, maybe she wouldn’t talk about her feelings anyway, she’s not the type to let anyone know she’s suffering.
Overall impression: This book is on my list of favorites. I couldn’t put it down. I love the story world that Mead has created. I’m glad that she’s writing more.
If you like: vampire ya fiction, you need to read this. If you liked Vampire Academy, Twilight, or Blue Bloods, you’ll probably like this.
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Writing Quote of the Day
| February 22, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Things that inspire me |
Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
– Graham Greene
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Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
| February 21, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Reviews |
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
In a nutshell: Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella. In this version, Cinder is a cyborg and the best mechanic in New Beijing. She spends her days working in her booth in the marketplace to earn money for her horrible stepmother to spend on fancy dresses. Things start to get interesting when Prince Kai visits her booth in hopes of getting his android repaired. Just after he leaves, a woman across the marketplace is stricken by the Plague (Letumosis, an incurable disease that kills its victims within days). There’s also an impending threat of war between Earth and Luna, which can only be avoided if Prince Kai agrees to marry the Lunar queen. Too bad Cinder’s got a thing for him.
What I liked about this book:
1. This is a really interesting re-telling of Cinderella. I love that it is set in the future with a cyborg Cinder. Great idea!
2. I like the character of Cinder. She’s been well-constructed. I like the way Meyer has given her a personality that incorporates both her human and cyborg aspects well. When she gets flustered, she processes it through her cyborg mind – temperature and adrenaline spikes. Yet she develops strong attachments to a few people in her life – her step sister, Peony, for example.
3. I liked the atmosphere of the story. There are hovercraft, netscreens, androids, etc. The marketplace was a particularly well-done part of the setting. I liked how it was described as bustling, chaotic, with vendors of all sorts. I’d love more cultural atmosphere in the next two books. What does the rest of the world look like in this future? How has culture adapted?
Drawbacks to this book:
1. The plot did not feel seamless to me. To me, it felt like the story was too big to fit into one book. It felt like all the stuff from this book had to happen as setup for the next two. However, that didn’t make for a particularly engaging plot in this first installment. As I have mentioned before, I like it when each book in a series contains its own completed plot. As I was reading, I felt more like I was being given necessary information than being drawn into the story. This took a toll on the emotional pulse of the story as well.
2. Prince Kai feels a little flat so far. He’s just bordering on complexity, but hasn’t quite gotten there. Is he a playboy type character? He seemed to take a shine to Cinder without really knowing anything about her. His persistence in pursuing her seemed odd to me because I can’t understand what draws him to her. Additionally, he seems to be a little petulant about his duties as royalty. And I didn’t see him grieve for his father, even in a private moment (that would have been a good bonding point for him and Cinder b/c her father is dead too). Anyway, I’m not sure if he’s been intentionally created a little immature because he’s going to go through some tremendous growth in the next two books. I’m hoping so.
Overall impression: This is a good book. It was fun to read, especially for the uniqueness of the setting and the character of Cinder. I’m hoping that the next two installments carry stronger plots within them (the overall plot of the series is good, subplots for each book need to be complete too).
Urgency to read: Put this on your list. It is definitely worth a read if you enjoy a good fairy tale retelling. And cyborgs.
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You’re right, Mr. Doctorow.
| February 15, 2012 | Posted by ljquillyn under Things that inspire me |
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