*Yawns* Time to Update!

Man oh man do I suck at the discipline of writing consistently. Lyco makes it look easy! At least she puts up a temporary post describing why a full update can't be given at the moment! Geez! I suck here! Blogging is a lot more time consuming than I originally thought it was! 

Anyways, now I have weeks! WEEKS! To catch you all up on! So I should probably get started.

OK So last time on DA1326's Blog (haha sounds like an announcer) I left you all off on the fact that my soldier story was to get reviewed the week following my post and would be edited from there. Anyway, here's a brief excerpt of a paper I had to turn in about the editing process that basically describes the entire workshopping process:

On the day I turned my story in to the class, I experienced the true meaning of “fear”. As I saw my story go from desk to desk, my palms began to sweat. I had to wait an entire week for Judgment Day and was at that moment, already expecting the worst critiques possible. Maybe it was because my peers always brutally criticized my work when I was younger. Maybe it was because I felt my story could’ve been better. Maybe it was because I belatedly realized I kept the typo I had about what the boy’s most remembered memory on the bottom of page 10. Whatever it was, I remember shaking out of fear as I got to my apartment.

Although I knew everyone was respectful in previous workshops, I still felt like they would destroy my story. I truly expected one of those cartoon moments where everyone looks at me with their creepy, distorted faces and strike me with daggers of (literal) criticism (I actually had a nightmare of this very phenomenon the night before my workshop day). 

Despite having this nervousness going on the entire day, I willed myself to go to class. I knew I had to face my fear and take every comment seriously; only then would I become a better writer, but this didn't boost my confidence going in either. I was still rather terrified and remembered the hour before the class and how I tried to keep my mind off the matter in order to keep my sanity. 

When it was finally 6pm, I walked shyly into my classroom and tried to remain anonymous until I reached my seat, but, things didn't work out that way. I think I got about three steps into my class before my two friends in that class saw me and called out to me. They were both chiding me, telling me my story was a moving piece and that they loved it. 

Now, you may be asking what I did/said in response. Did I own up to my story and say "thanks for that!" to my friends? Did I excitedly ask with a "what was your favorite part? Did I just answer with a cocky "I know"?

If you guessed any of the previously mentioned answers...you'd be INcorrect. 

My brilliant response was "But I wrote the soldier story". I thought they mistook my story with  another one and had to clarify.

They looked at me confused and replied, "Yeah, we know". At this point, I was sure they were just being nice to me. I thought they were trying to cheer me up; I mean, I had told them I was super nervous to be workshopped. 

But, when my story was up for worshopping, I expected a quick round of "this story sucked because of this this and this." But I didn't get that at all.

I got lots of POSITIVE feedback, which quite literally left my mouth somewhat ajar. I got many compliments from the writers in the class I thought wrote many more times better than myself. They complimented the flashback, the plot, the ending, the dialogue, the description, even the fact that I brought back the train-stamped shoelaces. I did get a few things to fix up, but the vast majority of my peers really enjoyed the story. 

I swear I was walking on sunshine the moment I got out of class. I WALKED home at night, just to think about and soak up every compliment I received. I was a mix of happy and shocked. As I told people that this happened, many told me it was something that was to be expected, because I write well.

Now, the compliments didn't stop at the end of workshop. Part of workshop was getting written responses from your peers about your story. When I got home, I started reading these responses and they got more and more flattering. Someone told me my story had them in tears throughout majority of it. Now that is some serious business! Most others repeated the same things, but few strayed off from what others said. One person said my ending was similar to that of another story, but I honestly don't think I would change the ending; if I did, the story would feel too rushed and unrealistic. I know because I previously tried doing so and failed coming up with something I was proud to call mine. Someone else said they got confused with the flashbacks, however, I somewhat disregarded this response since this person tended to get confused easily. 

All in all, the workshop ended well. And it was a definite confidence booster. So much so that I volunteered to read my story in front of other Writing: Fiction and Writing: Poetry classes.

The re-write, from the excerpt that I read, gained the approval of my classmates easily and the other classes at least responded to the words I spoke. But I still think this story could use some work, so I'm sending it to Lyco for some editing, and we'll see what she says, whenever she gets to it.

As for writing, I haven't gotten into the kick of creativity. It's not that I have no ideas or time; I have plenty of both, actually. I just haven't been able to fully commit to an idea and write it. I mean, 33 HAUNTS my living days and nights with his presence  (I mean that whenever I notice a time it's some hour and 33 minutes. It takes me 3:33 minutes to beat a round of solitare on my phone. Or something costs $33 bucks and some change. Or the change will be 33 cents. It's EVERYWHERE) but he hasn't spoken to me in a while. Hell, Lady Knight has said nothing to me in months, and she doesn't keep quiet about anything! Poetic musings come and go through my mind but never linger long enough for me to grasp (unfortunately) and KLIYH...I don't even know if I should continue it. I know it's loved by many but I'm just not sure where to go next and it's been a while since my last update... 

Which brings me to this blog. I told myself I'd write a story (anything, really) when I updated my blog. Why? Because, although my phone is all cool and techy, it still can't do things like go on livestream channel chats, watch anime on an anime website or update blogger. So I knew updating my blog meant writing on my computer. So hopefully this will inspire me to write (or at least do something somewhat creative).

I hope to have something done soon! I really do! 

Until next time! Have happy and safe holidays! 

Love
~DA1326

PS And by the way...WE SURVIVED THE APOCALYPSE!!!! >:D