Saturday, November 8, 2014

writing course

In September, I enrolled in Creative Writing 203, writing for children.  Assignment #1 was to write a couple of scenes and link them with appropriate transitions.  Assignment #2 was to use these scenes (or one of them, or an adaptation thereof) in a short story.  We had to post it online.
This happened to coincide with an obligation I had in my Franciscan life--I had to attend Chapter meetings in Boston. Difficulties with airlines, and so on, resulted in a nightmare of a journey.  Originally, I was to fly from Vancouver to San Francisco and from there to Boston. I'd fly red-eye, and arrive in Boston about 7:30 a.m.
When I got there, I'd take a bus to a certain location where I'd be met and taken to the site of the meetings.  Of course, Murphy's Law took over.  My San Francisco flight was delayed, so I emailed my Boston contact and announced I'd be arriving at noon instead of 7:30. This was because I had to go by way of Chicago!  He emailed back that another Franciscan would be arriving from California at that time and would be renting a car--he'd take me to the site. Long story short: The Californian didn't get the memo, and I had to wait until 4pm for the next pick-up!
So what does this have to do with writing?
The assignment was due to be online by Friday night, and I'd still be in Boston then.  So--I wrote the short story while "passing the time" in Vancouver airport, San Francisco airport, Chicago airport (midnight), and then noon to 4pm in the Boston airport.
Once in Boston, I tried to sleep before supper, but couldn't. Finally, I got to bed about 9pm, I think, and woke up suddenly at midnight.  That was when I finished off the short story and posted it online.  From then on I did not have to think about the course while dealing with the Franciscan Chapter business.
BUT--when I got back to class the following week (still jet-lagged) I learned that I had posted the story in the WRONG PLACE!  (I wasn't the only student to have made the mistake.)  A teaching assistant sorted it out, and all was well that ended well.
Oh yes, the course also had a major QUIZ in the only class I missed while away.  Good news: I was allowed to write the quiz before the next class.
RESOLUTION: I'm NEVER going to take a red-eye flight again.  That week I had two of them.  The flight home was Boston to Toronto, then to Vancouver.  Jet-lag lasted at least 2 weeks.

missed October altogether! November catch-up

July, August, September & October this year have been filled with my husband's health issues.  He's had CT-scans, MRIs, x-rays, PET scans, a pulmonary function test, wore a holter monitor for 24 hours, had a bronchoscopy, and heaven only knows what other tests.  When he walks into the blood lab for yet another blood test, the nurses there call him by name.  I've lost track of the number of doctors he's seen in the past four months.  Pneumonia, TIA, carcinoid tumour in his lung which must be removed asap, and pain in his feet so terrible he can't even walk around the house from one room to the next.  Surgery set for November 17th, but he has other work to be done (on his feet) before then.  All this keeps us both very busy.