And then there was light.

It's been slightly more than a year since I got my graduate degree, and since then, I've definitely come to terms with the fact that it didn't give me superpowers :/ But it's taken that much time for me to reset. I've finally found my way back to writing again, and its great.

The blog is going well—I'm having a BLAST! Come visit @ http://anthroinpractice.blogspot.com and let me know what you think—leave a comment, and feel free to disagree. I'm waiting hear back from a journal regarding my CMC study, and I'm editing another paper I wrote in grad school for the Kroeber Anthropological Society. I've got a great idea for a non-fiction book, and I've started the research for it. So it seems like I've finally climbed out of the void that I sat around in after leaving academia. And you know, what? After having a chance to read some modern science writing, I've realized that I'm good at this. And I like doing it. Sure, it doesn't sound like Malinowski or Radcliffe-Brown, but that's cause I'm Krystal D'Costa—and one day, people are going to be citing me ;)

Krystal

Adventures in the Blogosphere

I've decided to blog about the anthropology I find in everyday events. I'm hoping that this will help me think more about anthropology--and get me used to writing about anthropology in a non-academic way. One of the challenges I am having right now as I work on some fiction is that I feel it sounds too smart. So I hope you all will join me occasionally to help investigate anthropology as it happens.

Krystal

http://anthroinpractice.blogspot.com

Rejection DOES NOT Equal Dejection

So, hoity-toity Ethos has declined my article. The editor actually wrote me a rather nice letter explaining she did not think my piece was a good fit for the journal--bear in mind, that this was the second submission of that piece to Ethos after edits specifically requested by Ethos had been made. Nonetheless, she offered me additional suggestions, but felt that my topic did not adequately address the individual, which is what Ethos claims to focus on. I disagree--my piece is absolutely about the individual--but I am not disheartened. (Okay, well, maybe a little disappointed.)

I sent it out to another journal last night. I didn't make her suggested edits, since they were made for Ethos while making it clear that they weren't for Ethos.) If this other journal has suggestions--and they probably will (hey, I'm a realist)--then I'll go back and take another look. But it was so difficult to let the piece go that now that it's out in the wide world, I want it to stand on it's own before I start to "tweak" it again.

And, besides, I have other writing to do.

--Krystal

A Productive Way to Procrastinate from Reading Freshfolks' comp essays

I revised and sent out four poems to a journal instead of "working." Writing and submitting instead of doing school stuff may be best and sneakiest way to trick myself into doing it. And it made my soul thicker than a playing card. Jayne

For HC - Abstract

Holly, I had to sign an agreement that I would not post any part of my article until the review was completed and a decision made. I learned today that the approx. time frame for this is 2-3 months (which is an agonizingly long time). I'm trying to determine whether I can post the abstract. Once I have an answer, I'll share if I can.

Krystal

PS: I got some "notes" down on paper tonight for my creative piece.

Here's my new favorite writing quote:

From What If?, the book my intro creative writing class is using for fiction, from a Joyce Carol Oates Paris Review interview:

Q: How do you describe the perfect state in which you can write from early morning into the afternoon?

Oates: One must be pitiless about this matter of "mood." In a sense, the writing will create the mood . . ..I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another five minutes . . .and somehow the activity of writing changes everything.


(Promise? OK . . .) Jayne

If it helps at all...

I've learned a way of getting around the scary, and it works most of the time. I don't WRITE. I type notes, words, thoughts, sentences...and then when I have enough, I edit them. I never actually WRITE, because WRITING is scary. So scary, it has to be in caps. If I just "throw things on paper" and then edit them, I skip the WRITING. This works at least in the beginning.

Hope it helps a teeny bit.

Holly

"The scariest moment is always just before you start."
- Stephen King, On Writing

I have an idea. And I think I'm ready to see where it wants to go. I just need to give myself over to it. And it's scarier than I imagined.

But sending my article out has given me a new resolve. I am going to see if I can't get a plot sketch down tonight. I've got the King quotation to keep me moving.

Krystal

HC: Congratulations!! ...and thanks...

Wow, Jayne and Krystal, I am in awe. My fingers are crossed for both of you.

The "thanks" part comes because I am about to rerererererere-read my finished novel. I'm off to Seattle for a week of fun, food, rest, hiking (minor), and reading "Cape May." Four people have read it and made comments, and now I will do additions, deletions, updates, and try to make it better Better BETTER!! That's my goal anyway. Having my sister OPDers in my head and spirit will help a great deal.

Thank you!!

To Krystal and Jayne

Brava!

(from Wendy)

A Nice Boost

I got an email yesterday from the editors at Seven Kitchens Press that my chapbook manuscript is a finalist in the Keystone Poetry Prize. Still 14 mss. in the mix, but the boost is palpable--the "It doesn't suck" affirmation helped get me back to the writing desk this morning, and to a new (kinda scary, which is good) approach to some material. Even a short poem I rediscovered hiding as a writing exercise and revised. Huzzah! Jayne

Submitted!

I sent in my article submission today for Ethos. All I have to do now is wait. It could take a month for the reviewers to get through the piece, it could be six months--BUT, it's done and it's in and whatever may be will be.

I'm ridiculously happy.

Krystal

There's someone on my trail ...

Yes, indeed. It's a team as a matter of fact, not just "someone." It turns out that I lit the fire just in time: "Other" research on digital media is emerging -- and the study has been given the honor of "one of the first to model social influence in a virtual world." AHHH!! I have no one to blame but myself; I've been fiddling with this since I graduated. Well, it's going out. Better late than never ... besides, we can study the same field, right?

From HC to KD: Will you share?

What is your writing project for? Can you tell us? Is it a magazine submission?

First Drafts Don't Have to Be Perfect

In fact, it's even okay if they stink.

(I just needed to remind myself.) Wendy

PS. I decided to include a picture of something that is perfect, just for contrast.

Make way for progress.

My hardass deadline seems to have kicked me into gear. I put the article through some vicious editing (and in the process realized that somewhere along the line my academic "voice" has changed--but for the better!) I'm winding up data collection and expect/hope to have the discussion and conclusion done over the coming weekend.

This is it. I can see the end of the path up ahead, and I'm relieved.

Yay Krystal!

I'm so glad you've decided to send your baby out into the world. That's very exciting.

Knowing when to let go is an endless challenge for me. I remember reading that one author--I forget who--said that she knew she was done when her changes were hurting rather than helping her work. But, personally, I can't always tell when that is. And sometimes, I just say, "Okay, good or bad, I've got no more juice for this particular project."

I'm looking forward to your pirate writing!

Decisions, Decisions

That's it. I have finally come to the decision that I need to stop nursing my article. The constant tweaks and rewrites mean that I won't send this out until well after I have a child and put him or her through college--and by then, my research will be hopelessly out of date. I am setting a firm deadline to submit the piece to a journal by the end of the month. And then I am moving on--pirates, suspense, archaeology all beckon from the shadow cast by this monster. I'm afraid I'll stop writing completely if I don't let it go.

Bound for Vengeance

That's the title of my lez-noir, for which I now have a plot outline! Yay!

Wendy

Jayne, You Beat Me to It

I was planning on posting a very similar post. One addition though: I write more when sitting with a writing buddy, because I feel sheepish procrastinating quite as much as usual!