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It’s been an insanely crazy week! There were a few hours on Monday when I thought I might have to turn in my thesis next week (when I was expecting late-May), and, as you can imagine, this triggered a sizable panic attack. But luckily for me my thesis advisor has my back and I’m now scheduled to defend June 9 (instead of May 20). Commence sigh of relief.

My novel (!) is now just over 75 pages and I’ve got the entire narrative arc of section one written. It feels incredible to be able to say that. That means I’ll spend the next three weeks revising, revising, revising. I want to tighten this first section as much as possible. For the first pass I think that will mean continuing to drop little seeds for me to grow later in parts two and three of the book. For instance, one subplot that is going to become pretty big in part two had fallen away by page 35 so I went and dropped a few more small details around page sixty, just so the reader doesn’t forget (and so the eventual importance of that move seems believable). Now I know why it took me twenty-five years to learn how to revise: It’s hard!

In short story news, I wrote my first one today in about a year. It felt good, but those particular writing muscles are a bit rusty. I’m looking forward to being able to spend at least one day a week on short stories once I graduate. (I’m supposed to be breathing thesis right now, but I didn’t really cheat because the short story featured characters from my book.) I’m hoping that will mean I can start sending off more short stories again, for publication. I decided to stop (with Sam’s advice) because if an editor likes my story but it isn’t quite right, and he or she asks to see more work, I don’t have anything to send. Oh, I have other short stories, but none are ready to be sent off, and I don’t have the time right now to devote the tens of hours it would take to get them in shape. So I’m waiting.

Other than that, I’m just pushing my way through my thesis reading list. Right now I’m working on The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri. It’s fantastic. Now I just want to find one (or preferably two) more male writers to add to my list; it’s decidedly female-friendly right now with only two men.

Oh, and I need some sort of working title for my book (other than Working Title of Thesis the Awesome). I hate titles.

If you know me at all, you probably know that I loathe Valentine’s Day, but not for the (horribly) stereotypical reasons of loneliness, jealousy, and cynicism (though I admit, I’m a cynic). In fact, it ranks second on my list of dumbest holidays ever, coming in behind Sweetest Day and right in front of New Years Eve. It’s a Hallmark holiday, hands down. It shouldn’t be about showing your significant other that you care—that should be evident the other 364 days of the year.

I’ve been anti-Valentine’s Day for a long time, and it’s often met by disbelief from the men (boys) I’ve dated. For instance, when I told my first real boyfriend that I didn’t want anything for Valentine’s Day, he stared at me for a full five seconds before asking if that was girl talk for “Buy me something or you die,” but I digress.

30 Rock did a just lovely introduction on Thursday between Tina Fey and a young girl selling Valentine’s Day cookies, so like Tina Fey, I will now be celebrating Anna Howard Shaw Day. And I’m going to celebrate it by doing homework and, if I get enough done, spending some time with my Xbox.

For those of you choosing to stay home (or stuck at home, as you may see it), I present, for your entertainment, what I’ve been enjoying on this here holiday. First, Pride and Prejudice in Emoticons, which covers both holidays fairly well. You’ve got a somewhat sweet and sappy love story, but you also have the story of a woman who dared do things her own way. (And did I mention the link is hillarious?) And second, courtesy of my dad, I have a column from the Lansing State Journal on the dreaded Valentine’s Day Box in elementary school classrooms, which sort of gets at my point of the whole ridiculousness of this holiday. (Though by the time I was in elementary school, you either gave valentines to everyone or to no one; that changed in middle school though, three years during which I never received a Valentine from a male.)

Always nice to remember the books I meant to read. Here’s my current and (planned) upcoming reading list.

Current:

• The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner (yeah, yeah, this was on my summer reading list)
• Against our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, by Susan Brownmiller (bit dated but very good)
• A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, by Alberto Angela (voice is annoying and very poorly copyedited, but interesting)
• Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets (I’m not going to say either how long I’ve been working on this or how far in I am)

To-Read

• A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore
• Veronica, by Mary Gaitskill
• Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof

What are you reading? And always remember to support your independent book seller!

I think it’s actually thesis news on my blog here, and if it’s not it should be since I started over in September, and I know I haven’t posted since long before then.

I’m working on a novel for my thesis, one of the few students, I think, who is. And I see why. It’s draining to come back to the same piece day after day, to not get a break from the characters and their lives. Don’t get me wrong–I’m loving writing these characters, and I’ve somehow managed to find a soft spot for each of them–but it’s challenging. Especially when it isn’t going well.

Tonight, however, was one of my best writing nights so far. Yeah, some of the middle of the scene I’m working on is pretty flimsy, but I feel that I’ve always had trouble with conflict. Tonight’s scene dealt with the usage of the word raped to describe, well, things other than actually getting raped. What I found most challenging about this scene was to write it from the point of view of a character who is uncomfortable at how much another is offended by the usage rather than from the point of view of the character whose opinion I share (which, if you know me, you know what it is). I’ll be curious, in my meeting next month, to see how well I pulled off separating my own opinions from those of my characters.

So now my question: What books/stories/films have you read/seen that put you in an uncomfortable situation in regard to your own beliefs? For me it’s currently Lolita, a book which I love and am currently rereading as part of my thesis list.

It’s strange to me to be starting summer in mid-June, but that’s how it works on the quarter system. Last week I officially completed my first year of graduate studies, and that’s means two things: First, it’s time for me to start writing my thesis and, second, that it’s time to start on my summer reading. I’ve amassed quite a stack of books to read over the past months, and my goal is to read at least a book per week all summer.

What am I reading, you ask? Here’s a list:

• The Art Lover, Carole Maso (currently reading)
• The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
• Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
• Safe in Heaven Dead, Sam Ligon (my thesis advisor)
• Cronopis and Famas, Julio Cortozar
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

I’m sure there’s going to be more (much more), since I’m reading for my thesis, but I also know I’m going to need some lighter books to break up some of the more challenging ones. Just a few days ago I finished a wonderful book about an owl (Wesley the Owl).

What are you all planning on reading this summer?

This is the first spring break (since I graduated high school) that I can remember having no real commitments: no job, no homework (except writing, but that doesn’t count to me), no pressing commitments. I’m devoting myself to two things: reading and basketball. This post is about reading.

I don’t get much reading done during the quarter due to my workload, so I’m trying for a few hours every day. And here I present to you my spring break reading list. The first section is books I’ve started I want to finish.

• Misquoting Jesus, by Bart D. Ehrman
• The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels
• On Writing, by Stephen King
• The Best American Short Stories 2008, ed. by Salman Rushdie
• 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, by Jane Smiley
• Horse Heaven, by Jane Smiley
• Men Without Women, by Ernest Hemmingway

Then there are the books I haven’t started but want to read (or at least make a good dent in).

• Drift and Swerve, by Samuel Ligon
• Safe in Heaven Dead, by Samuel Ligon
• The Beauty Myth, by Naomi Wolf
• A book of Chekhov short stories that I have yet to order (and can’t remember the edition of)
• Inkspell, by Cornelia Funke

Look for reviews on a least a few of these. I’m off to get some more reading done! What are you reading?

I recently finished reading Susan Faludi’s The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America. This book was recommended to me a little over a year ago by my professional writing advisor at MSU. I bought it on a brass trip (Houston for the sweet sixteen, maybe?) and finally got around to reading it.

In some ways I’m disappointed I put it off: It had so many interesting and well-researched points that I feel would do well to be put more in the mainstream media. But on the other hand, I’ve only recently really developed the language with which to talk about those ideas, so perhaps much of it would have been lost on me a year ago.

First, an overview.

It is undeniable that the attacks of September 11, 2001, had devastating consequences for our nation, for the events of a presidency, our foreign policy, and our sense of what it means to be patriotic. Faludi argues, however, that the attacks were responsible for another change in our national identity, a change that has extensive consequences yet has gone mostly unremarked. When the “phallic” symbol of our nation was essentially cut off, we responded by reverting traditional gender roles. When towers that housed predominately male workers fell, taking mainly male firefighters with them, we talked about how the attacks were against the American family and way of life. The media talked about how we had become an overly feminized nation, how feminism and a departure from traditional John Wayne era gender roles were responsible for making us vulnerable. Fauldi explores the gender-blaming reactions to the attacks, how they are situated in history, and what it might mean for us as a nation.

Now, my thoughts.

This book was incredibly well researched, and Faludi does an excellent job situating the responses into a greater American historical context, which helps her open up her issue from possibly isolated incident to yet another symptom of a specific and gendered way of thinking. She explores such topics as

• the sudden decline in women’s voices in the public sphere in the days and months following the attacks
• why the flight attendant who threw coffee at a terrorist is not discussed but men who only might have been involved are
• the ideas of heroism and sacrifice post-9/11
• the malfunctioning communications equipment that may have resulted in hundreds of firefighter deaths
• the supposed “rescue” of Jessica Lynch and the ways in which the media wanted to (and did) present it

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in digging beyond the myths the media presented (and continue to present), for anyone interested in exploring more deeply the long-lasting and tragic consequences of the events surrounding 9/11.