End of year

Well, I will start this off by not apologizing for not writing because it only calls attention to it!

I took classes again this semester, a non-fiction workshop and a capstone class for seniors in the writing program. I read a lot of really great books and some that were disturbing. Good ones were Carrie by Stephen King, You Believers by Jane Bradley, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, and poetry by Tim Geiger and Ashley McHugh. The reading was helpful to me in learning about structure. I think I knew about structure without actually knowing I knew it.

I have also come to the conclusion that I don't read enough. And I have not been writing at all. I really suck. I am reading The Cider House Rules by John Irving right now and I wanted to save this passage because it is really beautiful:

"Spring in St. Cloud's meant trouble; drinking trouble, brawling trouble, whoring and raping trouble. Spring was the suicide season. In spring, the seeds for an orphanage were planted and overplanted."

Very nice.

Because I was so busy with school, I did not do Nanowrimo this year. I thought I would feel bad for missing it, but come to find out I didn't miss it at all. Probably because I have so many novels in various states of flux that I can't possibly be burdened with another one.

That being said, I am taking classes again next semester with the promise to read even more and work on my novel. I think "A Middle Distance" because that one has the most promise and seems pretty grown up to me.

Oh, and I moving to Colorado in the next couple of months. Should be interesting.

Terrible! Terrible!

I am a terrible blogger. I have not updated since March and I am the worst slacker who ever slacked. Now that we have that out of the way, here is what I have been doing. I am taking a couple of writing classes at UT and have been working on that. Mostly a lot of reading. I had no literature in high school so now I am making up for it.

I am not doing Nanowrimo this year because I am so busy with everything else. But that's okay. It is one thing to write a bunch of novels it is another thing to actually do something about it. I am working on a book proposal for my Nanowrimo from '08 right now. It needs a lot of work but at least the hard part of putting it on paper is over, right?

I will keep you posted.

My website is up and running!

I finally have my website (www.carolineifritz.com) up and running. Go visit and tell me what you think!

A lot has happened, writing-wise, since the last time I blogged. I finished and won NaNoWriMo but it was a terrible struggle. I wanted to make my characters crazy and unlikable, but was unable. It was awful.

I am taking three classes at the university, a Fiction workshop, screenwriting, and a literature class. The Fiction and screenwriting classes rock. I have learned so much in Fiction that it has changed the way I look at writing. Screenwriting is a lot of fun and I have learned a lot too. I am a bit embarrassed at how much I didn't know. I am unsure if I am going to return in the fall for more, but for now, I am really enjoying it.