Independent Study!

So I've made life a little complicated for myself this semester. I ended up dropping my workshop class because--quite frankly--there was no way I could handle the workload on top of everything else I am doing. So I talked to my program director and she set up an Independent Study for me! I'll be learning about Sequential Art (aka Graphic Narrative, Comics, whatever you want to call them) and hosting a weekly blog to keep track of my progress.

I'm still keeping this blog and I'm going to attempt to keep track of both, but that's going to be... interesting, to say the least. I may cross reference them, but subject matters should stay separate. (This is my more informal entire-graduate-life-experience blog, and the other is strictly on graphic narrative.)

That being said, the second week of the semester is here and I think I've finally got everything squared away. My schedule is locked in, my office hours are locked in, now I just need to fall into a rhythm and STICK to it. Which, seeing as it's already one in the morning, I'm not doing a very good job of. :/

I noticed I forgot how to critically read a whole novel in a short period of time. I've been going way too slow, and it's really hurting me. I need to pick up the pace and just read; I can't note every tiny little thing like I would in a short story or a poem. I wish I could, but time isn't really a luxury that I have. :(

Still, I'm optimistic about this new semester. :)

New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. :)

I've been absent from this blog for way too long, and for that I sincerely apologize. My goal for this semester/year is to be more on top of things. Time management is high on the priority list. So is taking care of myself physically and mentally. I have a huge list of things I'm doing this semester, and I really need stick to a strict schedule, otherwise things will fall apart like they did last semester. (Granted, last semester I walked away from my first semester in graduate school with a 4.0, but the personal cost was much too high. I was too stressed out, got far too little sleep, and was overall unhappy with my personal and professional performance.)

I've already gotten started on being proactive, tonight I send out my first submission of the year! It's a 4-page nonfiction graphic narrative. Here's a peek:




Since I'll be doing a lot of this in the next few months, I figured it would be doubly appropriate.

The comic didn't take as long as I anticipated; I did forget how long it takes to color. Even though the whole comic is in greyscale (the first time I've attempted that) it still takes about two or three times as long as just inking the whole thing. I have to say, though, I'm rather pleased with the result. I've already given Sweet: A Literary Confection the first dibs on the comic; if they don't take it I'll have to see if I can find a home for it elsewhere.

My goal is to send out two sumbissions a month... It's a bit ambitious of a goal, but hopefully I'll be stubborn and keep up with it. On top of three graduate classes, being a GTA for the same two classes as last semester, and organizing/hosting a monthly reading series, it's going to be tight. Especially because I'll be attending three conferences in February! I'm helping host The Florida Writer's Project (the website is ugly, I know, I've been trying to fix that for months), being on a panel at Blank Pages: Creative Writing Symposium (alas, no website yet), and trekking all the way to Chicago for the AWP Annual Conference!

I'm looking forward to the semester, and hopefully you'll all hear from me on a biweekly basis. :]