Friday, January 11, 2013

Relevance

I met with the director of my graduate program earlier this week.  I was really worried about my physical limitations, but everything seemed to be OK.  The nerve in my hip was pinched last night, which made sleeping a little difficult. I think if I had taken the time to stretch a few times, it wouldn't have been so bad.  I will definitely do that next time after I get home from class.

I got my admission date bumped up and start class in two Saturdays.  Yikes.

The director said one thing I want to share today:  I need to make all of the assignments relevant for me.

I'm writing historical fiction set in Appalachia between 1830 and 1941.  If I write a research paper, I should write about that time period.  Same with compositions or work for the creative non-fiction class. 

It is my responsibility to make all the work I do relevant for me.

This morning I read Matthew MacNish's perhaps premature post for the A-Z Challenge and had an epiphany.  I will A-Z about the time period I'm writing in.  (Yes, I just used A-Z as if it were a verb.)  My posts will be snippets about the history, the people, the coal mine towns, the culture, how they lived, what their limitations were. 

I wasn't going to do A-Z this year because I need to work on my novels.  But if I make the challenge relevant to my fiction writing and what I'm doing in class, it's definitely worth doing. 

Are you A-Zing this year?  Are you thinking about a theme already? 

26 comments:

  1. That is a great idea! Make your Challenge theme fit the research for you book. And yes, already have my theme.

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    1. Thanks, Alex! I hope it's movie trivia or music.

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  2. It sounds like your director gave you some sound advice. I'm sorry to hear about your hip, I hope it improves a bit.

    Nope, no A-Z challenge for me.

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  3. Starting to toss around ideas for it. I think I need to get serious about it soon if I'm going to try this. Hope your hip feels better!!

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    1. I did it the last two years. I started out with a theme for both but ended up throwing it out and writing about whatever popped into my head. I'm going to need to do these in advance since I've got so many other things going on.

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  4. That period sounds interesting - I'll look forward to reading your musings! Haven't decided whether to commit to the A-Z again yet!

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  5. That's the theme I went with last year for A to Z. I used my travel and research on Wales to come up with posts that I could also apply to the novel. Not sure if I'll do A to Z this year. I pretty much lost the month of April as far as actual writing on the novel. Can't afford to do that this year.

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  6. I can't think of a smarter way to do it. Then you'll not only enjoy the challenge, it will serve a great purpose.

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  7. You know I am! I like your approach, and it totally makes sense! :)

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  8. I am doing A-Z but the only theme I've used it a general writing themed thing. Maybe I'll be something more specific this year.

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    1. I'm sure whatever you do, it will be great. You could do 26 things you can do once you're retired from teaching or what you'll miss.

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  9. I have most of my blog posts set thru the summer (a bit OCD I know...but I like being prepared!) so I won't AZ. I love reading AZs though...they're so creative. Can't wait to read yours!!!

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    1. Wow. That's not OCD, just effiency. I use blogging to warm up for my day's writing. If I write posts in advance, I usually just leave them as drafts and forget about them.

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  10. Love this post! Such a smart thing, to let every bit of writing you do for school (and A to Z) be relevant to your work! And congrats on landing on your A to Z theme! :-)
    Some Dark Romantic

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  11. That's a great approach to getting things done.

    Yes I'll be signing two of my blogs up, but I have no idea what I'm writing about this year. Thinking about it already, though. :-)

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  12. I have a theme for the A-Z challenge on my garden blog -still trying to figure out "x" though!

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  13. Sounds like a great idea! All the best!

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  14. That's a great idea. I have an idea for an A-Z theme, but I like your idea of using the research as a starting point. So we'll see you there.

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  15. That's great, Tonja! I haven't decided whether I'll do the A-Z (I'm always undecided at this time of year, lol)

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  16. I'll probably do the A to Z Challenge, but I don't have a theme in mind... yet!

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