Weekly Update: 9-9-16 My Dorky Hip Hop Rhyme

Repeating sounds create harmony and flow,

Helps you remember little facts you ought to know.

Hail to thee, three kings of repetition:

Assonance and Consonance and Big Alliteration.

Thus begins the most interesting part of this week's homework.

Yeah, I'm gangsta.

For my class on Teaching English Learners in Secondary Schools, we had to visit a website called Flocabulary, which showed quick hip-hop videos that broke down important topics in subjects, for example, writing a thesis, figurative language, or study skills. It's like a modern School House Rock. We had to watch some of these videos and create our own hip-hop poem. Well, my hip-hop is pretty bad, but my poetry is pretty good, so I wrote a little song about the difference between alliteration, assonance, and consonance. It's pretty funny, but if you picture me trying to spit rhymes, it's absolutely hilarious.

In addition to schoolwork, I netted 3 jobs this week, which is crazy this early in September. I'm supposed to research agents for Three Floating Coffins, but so far, I've done zilch on it. I've barely had time to squeeze in a half an hour of writing a day. On the bright side, I have this Saturday free for the first time in ages, so maybe I'll use it to get stuff done.

And now without further ado: My Dorky Hip Hop Rhyme

* * *

"Repeating Sounds"

Just add music!

Repeating sounds create harmony and flow,

Helps you remember little facts you ought to know.

Hail to thee, three kings of repetition:

Assonance and Consonance and Big Alliteration.

You’re gonna know their names, gonna give them what is due.

And if you mix them up, they'll be coming after you.
But should you forget, don’t break down and sob.

Just take a deep breath and remember Bob.

Heed the story of Bob, better show some respect

Taken down by consonance, he was assonance-d to death.

Right in the beginning, our boy was feeling good.

Bob built a boat out of balmy balsa wood.

Now all these bouncing “B’s make your tongue pretty sick

But alliteration catches your eye pretty quick.

Consonant or vowel, doesn’t matter in the least.

As long as they come first, alliteration’s at the feast.

Alliteration always strings up starting sounds with ease.

And as for Bob, he set out to sail the seven seas.

Repeating sounds create harmony and flow,

Helps you remember little facts you ought to know.

Now Bob was sailing free, when by bad circumstance

His ship ran afoul of some hard consonance.

His bark struck rock and broke open with a crack.

(You’ll be hearing the “k,” not in front, but in back.)

The consequence of consonance is constantly repeating

The consonants in mid or back. The sound is never fleeting. 

To hear the work of mid-word “k,” then let me interject

How Bob quickly panicked when he saw his boat was wrecked.

Heed the story of Bob, better show some respect

Taken down by consonance, he was assonance-d to death.

Feel scared and down, Bob’s head began to cloud.

He let out a shout, bounced overboard, and drowned.

If you want to say “ow,” that’s because it’s the sound

In “drowned,” “shout,” “out,” “bounced,” “cloud,” and “down.”  

From deep inside the word, a repeating of the vowels

Makes you stretched out your mouth, makes you speak from your bowels.

It doesn’t have to rhyme, but it comes pretty close.

Now poor Bob’s dead, so let’s leave behind his ghost.

Repeating sounds create harmony and flow,

Helps you remember little facts you ought to know.

Put it all together, hear the sound repetition

“Bob built a boat”—and we’ve got alliteration.

“The bark struck rock”—courtesy of consonance.

“He bounced out and drowned”—so respect the assonance.

One more time, hear the sound repetition

“Bob built a boat”—and we’ve got alliteration.

“The bark struck rock”—courtesy of consonance.

“He bounced out and drowned”—so respect the assonance.

If these words bash your brain, leave you feeling quite repugnant

Then I’d better stop my rhyme; this repeating’s gone redundant.

Weekly Update: 9-3-16 Summer Triumphs and Sadness

Lost summer days are

dew drops evaporated,

stolen by the heat.  

Once again, I apologize for the lack of updates. For me to blog once a week requires discipline and some semblance of a schedule, both of which sort of collapsed somewhere amidst July and August. To be fair, I wasn't just sitting around, binge-watching episodes of Community and Murder She Wrote... at least not all the time. I did accomplish the following:

• I challenged myself to write 25,000 words (100 pages) in the first three days of July, as part of my Camp Nanowrimo goals. By doing almost nothing but writing from wake to sleep, I did this in 2 days.
• I finished up Camp Nanowrimo with 65,000 words.
• I read 10 books for Brea Library's Adult Summer Reading Program.
• I finished my final draft of Three Floating Coffins, which I then sent to Beta Readers.
• I completely re-worked my website: www.rebeccalangstories.com to make it more professional. 

But the strange thing is, although while sprinting toward a goal, I feel obsessed, possessed, can't-stop-addicted-like-a-person-watching-Netflicks-without-a-remote, once I achieve it, I feel... well, empty. Sad. As if all my energy has gone through a colander and now there's nothing left.

This feeling was especially prominent after a finished Three Floating Coffins, a 76,000 word novel I started back in 2012. When I finished, at about 11:00 AM on a Saturday, I felt a moment of elation and did a brief happy dance. And then my chest turned to stone and I started to feel more and more miserable. 

It was over. My story was no longer my own; I was releasing it into the world for judgement. I had to say goodbye to characters I'd been carrying with me for four years. I had no one to celebrate with. Simple "Congratulations!" didn't seem like enough. All the stuff I'd put off to finish story came rushing back to me. I stood alone in a hot, empty, messy house.

By 4:00 PM that same day, I was weeping.

But I talked with my friend and fellow writer Rita, and the next week, I went to my parent's house for the next week and got distracted baby-sitting my nephew. Then I slowly started looking at the writing, projects, and tasks I'd neglected. College started August 20th, so I had to prepare for that.

I think that writers--or at least, certain writers like me--can easily become obsessed with work and achievement. A little obsession can help meet goals, but goals can make you feel empty, so it's important to re-connect with people and go out and do something you enjoy. In a summer of doing stuff, I also:

• Spent the week of 4th of July  in Oceanside with my parents, walking the eroding beach, going to farmer markets, and visiting museums and gardens in or around San Diego
• Actually saw some movies: Zootopia, The Jungle Book, and Star Trek: Beyond. (Coincidentally, they all contain Idris Elba.)
• Attended 4 Shakespeare plays: Richard III (Griffith Park), Othello (Shakespeare by the Sea), Cymbaline (Shakespeare by the Sea), and  The Tempest (Griffith Park). Also saw the Pirates of the Penzance (OC Shakespeare) and heard a free jazz concert by Bria Skonberg (Redlands Bowl). 
• Baby-sat my nephew Tyson and went to a small local water park for his birthday.
• Rediscovered my love of cooking and card-making.

And so, with a roller coaster of events, achievements, and emotions, it was hard for me to sit down and blog. But as summer gives way to fall, I hope it will be easier to recommit to a schedule once again.

Now on Daily Science Fiction: Captured in Color

My second paid short story popped in my inbox on August 7th. (Check's still in the mail.)

Captured in Color

Link: http://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/biotech/rebecca-lang/captured-in-color
 
Summary: Love or stalking? A chip in his arm prevents Frank from seeing the girl of his dreams, so he remembers her face by painting her image on the walls.

Excerpt

They'd shut out every photograph, every video, every image of her face. But they couldn't shut out his dreams. Her beauty clawed at his chest, like a living thing trying to get out. So Frank took to the streets with tubes of paint and a can of brushes.

 

Tonight he painted her face on a wall of crumbling concrete bricks.

 

Blue. That was the color of his work. Deep indigo, mixed with violet, as rich as her eyes. Long strokes with a thick brush formed the frame of her face. Delicate swipes created wispy strands of hair. The pent-up pressure of his chest eased, and Frank's heart became as still as a mountain lake.

 

Once more, he saw her.

Once more, the memories rushed through him

 

To read the full story for free, just follow the link above or click here.

 

How the Story Came to Be: Trying to inspire my poet aunt to write a short story, I took out The Writer's Toolbox (by Jamie Cat Caller) and spun the three palette wheels in the Protagonist Game. My aunt was supposed to write a story about "Frank the painter," whose goal was to "find true love," and whose obstacle was "the inspector." While my aunt struggled unsuccessfully to put together of a house painter who was having trouble with a person inspecting his work, my mind ran in a different direction. I was so inspired, I had to write my own story of a vandal and a police officer.   

Weekly Update: 6-26-16: Shakespeare Season Begins

"Hunchback'd toad," they all did groan,

but Richard kept his face a grin.

He quick consumed his tadpole kin 

and leapfrogged up the British throne.

Free at Griffith Park

Life Update: It's Shakespeare season. Yesterday, my father, my friend Rita, and I attended the opening performance of Richard III as acted by the Independent Shakespeare Co. at Griffith Park. (Performances are free and run throughout the summer.) Although more traditional than other adaptions of Shakespearean plays done by this company,  Richard III included some fun modern-day twists, such as  a background track of electric guitar riffs and a montage of Richard shaking hands and kissing babies before ascending to the throne in a burst of confetti. The play took place in the evening. In the afternoon, Dad, Rita, and I visited the Getty Center, a ginormous (and free) LA art museum, where we viewed the Romantic landscapes of Rousseau, admired 18th century French furniture, and ambled through the beautiful gardens.

Getty Sculpture or the Isle of Lost Souls?

Writing Update: One of the rock sculptures at The Getty reminded me of the Isle of Lost Souls, a barren rock where sailors are shipwrecked by a sea dragon in the children's fantasy book I'm writing called Three Floating Coffins. Purely by coincidence, I happened to be editing the very chapter where the Isle of Lost Souls was introduced just a few days earlier. I wanted to edit my Coffins novel before Nanowrimo takes hold next week. In two weeks, I finished editing 3 chapters and got about halfway through 2 more. It's progress, I suppose, but I wish it wouldn't take so long. I'd really like to get Three Floating Coffins done by the end of summer, but between Nanowrimo, college, and all the Shakespeare days I'm taking, I've no idea how I will finish it all.

 Summer Tip: The Huntington Library is an awesome, awesome combination of museum and gardens. (I've written about it here.) Unfortunately, it's a bit expensive, with tickets costing up to $25. Fortunately, the museum has a monthly free day--the first Thursday of the month. Unfortunately, there is a limited amount of people who can enter, so you need to order tickets in advance. Tickets can be ordered on the website and printed at home. Tickets for July are already "sold out," but you can reserve up to 5 tickets for August 4th, starting from July 1st, 9:00 am. See website for details.

Book Review: The Scorpion Rules

Title: The Scorpion Rules (Prisoners of Peace, Book 1)

Author: Erin Bow

Genre: YA, Dystopian Science Fiction

(Note: This is one of two books my friend Rita—the queen of YA fantasy romance—gave me to help me relax after a stressful April. A big shout out to her for the recommendations.)

Summary

“Did you know the man who invented the atomic bomb once said that keeping peace through deterrence was like keeping two scorpions in one bottle?…All I did was invent the bottle.”

—Talis

World peace requires certain sacrifices. Princess Greta Gustafen Stuart of the Pan Polar Confederacy just happens to be one of them. A “Child of Peace,” she’s held hostage by the AI overlord Talis. Should her mother, the ruler of what used to be Canada, go to war, Greta will die. And war is coming. The broken remnants of America are in terrible need of water—water Greta’s mother has, but refuses to give. 

And then Elian arrives. The grandson of the general of the Cumberland Alliance, he ought to be her mortal enemy. But his infectious laugh wins her over and his defiant spirit awakens her to the injustice in their lives. Will Greta continue to accept the Scorpion Rules? Or will she find the courage to smash the bottle?

Review

I began reading with certain assumptions about YA Dystopian fiction in mind. This book blew them out of the water.  

Assumption #1: I expected shoddy world-building.

Or, not shoddy, per say, but vague. In my experience, Dystopian fiction is an excuse to mash-up advanced technology with a primitive way of life. That initially seemed to be the case with The Scorpion Rules. In a world with robot proctors and advanced healing technology, why do the children spend most of their day weeding gardens and tending goats?

It is perhaps a strange thing that the children of kings and presidents should concern themselves with the sex lives of a herd of milch goats, but come the end of August, it was time to do just that.

There are reasons, though—the same reasons, it turns out, that people are going back to organic farming. This is a world where over-consumption has damaged the earth so much that Talis, the AI overlord, has forced the people into a sustainable lifestyle. The Precepture—the bubble community of hostage children—is meant to be a model of “environmental rationalism,” so it possible that Greta and her friends are expected to live an extreme agrarian lifestyle most people don’t have to deal with.

Plus, I liked the goats. The Goat Wars was one of my favorite parts of the story. 

It turned out the nanny goats had nosed the gate open and were heading for the melon patch. Now, among the children of Peace, melons are almost everyone’s favorite, because of the way they have to be eaten as fast as they come in. …So everyone who was out was keen to protect the patch. …The cohort of fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds, who’d been waging war against the quackweed in the newly planted kale beds, picked up their hoes and headed over at the quick march, as orderly as a Roman legion.

As the plot progresses, it turns out that both the low-tech farm and the high-tech robots have pivotal roles to play. The world may seem contradictory at times, but it feels genuine and there is a reason for it. Elements of setting, in other words, are not cherry-picked for color. The world functions as a cohesive whole.

Assumption #2: I expected a love triangle.

And yes, this book has one.

“You’re royalty, Greta. A celebrity. Like—like Guinevere.”

 Da-Xie actually laughed aloud. “Guinevere!”

But it didn’t go where I expected. At all.

Elian swung the empty [potato] riddle in one hand and looked from Atta to Grego. “If she’s Guinevere, that makes you two Lancelot and Arthur. Which one’s which?”

It’s not just that I completely mis-guessed who Greta ended up with. The relationship itself was tested in ways I’d never have foreseen, and the future of Greta and her love interest was ambiguous. For those who want a neat little happily-ever-after wrapped in a bow… well, sorry, this isn’t for you. Love is a lot more complicated than that.

Assumption #3: I expected an action-packed ending. 

Don't get me wrong. There is fighting, violence, and high-stakes action that hits about the middle of the book. But the ending—the actual ending—was slow-paced, thoughtful, and character-driven.

We could have talked about any number of things—the work of the garden, the work of the classroom, the recent revolutions in Sidney’s part of the world… We didn’t, though. There are so few moments of quiet. And what is prettier than an apple orchard in summer? The grey and ordered trunks, the sharp-sweet taste of under-ripe apples… We let them conjure a mood of peace and tender-heartedness.

It was also unexpected. Not to say that the ending came out of nowhere or threw out a big twist. About three-fourths of the way through, you know what’s going to happen and it works with what’s been set-up. It’s just that, for me, as a writer, after reading the jacket and the first page, I already have ideas about where the story will go, and this time, I was dead wrong.

On the whole, I found the book to be a thought-provoking meditation on the nature of war and peace and the sacrifices we make. It was deeper and better researched than a lot of other YA I’ve encountered. At the same time, I did enjoy it. I loved the description of the world, I loved the characters, I loved the slow-simmering tension

…and I loved the stupid, stupid goats.

Weekly Update: 6-12-16 Final Jobs and New Music

Counting down the days 

Until summer. Few jobs left.

Grab them while I can.

Life Update: When I made my To Do List for the week, my brain was already halfway on vacation mode. I was thinking about writing, about marketing, about all the bothersome paperwork of higher education that I had put off. I did not expect to get subbing assignments for all five days this week. I was grateful to get them--in the last days before the drought of summer vacation, I needed to store up what money I could, and every day of work helps. My schedule got scrambled and certain things didn't get done. I wasn't heart-broken. In addition to work and writing, I squeezed in a dance class with my friend Ashley, I finished The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow, and I bought new music for my phone.

Writing Update: Rita told me she listened to love songs while she wrote, and this gave me the idea of constructing a playlist based on my characters from The Originals. I planned to do one for each of my point of view characters, but I only got one, for Mel, which consisted of "Heartless" (Kris Allen), "Twilight Galaxy (Acoustic)" (Metric), "All I Really Want" (Alanis Morisette), "The Hunger Games" (James Newton Howard), "Help I'm Alive" (Metric), "A Narnia Lullaby" (Harry Gregson-Williams), "Abraham's Daughter" (Arcade Fire). Yeah, a weird mix, but this is a character who's been tortured by the villain and is dealing with the ensuing trauma.

Lest you think, I did nothing but play around with music, let me add that I also got a total of forty pages written for both Counterfeit Diamond and The Originals, organized a list of agents, edited half a short story called "Lucidity," edited half a chapter in Three Floating Coffins, and thought of a new story after watching a documentary on glass. So a pretty good week.

Weekly Update: 6-5-16 Research

Research devours

my brain. Fuzzy-headed, I

read without restraint. 

Writing Update: I planned to brainstorm and research for Counterfeit Diamond and The Originals this week--just not quite this much. All Memorial day, I found myself staring at maps and pictures of old Batavia and reading wikipedia articles on Kota Tua Jakarta. All day. And then on Friday, I found a series on Netflicks called Ancient Black Ops, and I used that to get inspiration for battle scenes for The Originals. Plans to do many different things fell by the wayside as research consumed me. At least I was thorough.

Inspiration for the Setting of Counterfeit Diamond

Life Update: Hot weather rolling in has caused my sinuses to drain and ants to invade my newly cleaned counters, much to my great annoyance. I scored a couple of jobs, cashed a couple of checks, did my critiques for the Brea Library Writer's Group, and raked in $9 dollars for my weekly Thursday library volunteering. On Wednesday, I had dinner with my friends Michelle and Debra at Mendocino Farms, a new restaurant serving original sandwiches, and on Saturday, I went to Barnes and Noble with Rita. Today I'm going to have a picnic with the Pendragons. So life is going fine.

Weekly Update: 5-29-16 Potato Salad

Kitchen clean at last.

On sparkling counter, I mix

Potato salad.

Life Update: After letting my house go to pot for a month, I finally had the time to attend to my chores. I spent the week scrubbing, polishing and mopping the kitchen into an acceptable level of shine. Just in time, too; my cousin Mitchell was hosting a barbecue on Saturday. I whipped together my own concoction of warm potatoes, vinegarette, light mayo, fresh parsley, perfectly hard-boiled eggs, and the secret ingredient--raw, chopped apples soaked in cider vinegar and apple juice that gave it that surprise pop. It was the first time I'd been able to experiment with cooking for several months. Having spare time, I feel like I am discovering the simple pleasures of life once again.

Writing Update: Last week, I realized that Camp Nanowrimo, in July, was rapidly approaching, and if I didn't want to end up flustered and frustrated, I needed to start brainstorming now. In April, I wrote the first 50 pages of the second draft of Counterfeit Diamond, a trickster story of a girl with a diamond ring that can change her appearance. For July, I want to write the next 50 pages. As I brainstormed, I was amazed that the story practically plotted itself. I hardly had to do more than nudge it along. Also, for July, I want to type up a third draft of certain chapters of The Originals, the sequel to The Changelings. I'm currently hand-writing these chapters in my notebook. This week, one of my characters get into a battle of wits with the main antagonist. I spent Friday night re-writing said battle of wits 5 times before it looked remotely serviceable. To me, that's the definition of a fun Friday night.

Sorry for the Lack of Updates

Blame it on Cal-State Fullerton.

It's your fault!

The Spring 2016 semester sprang on me like a hungry tiger, and I reacted like a frightened rabbit, with sudden sprints and stops. Although my normal line of work is substituting, writing and its related activities keep me more than busy. Add in a full-time college work load, and I was scrambling just to keep up.

I'm now actively trying to become an English teacher. I have a BA in Creative Writing; what I need is a single-subject credential. Merely, to apply for the credential program in Cal-State Fullerton, I needed to assemble:

• An application to Cal-State Fullerton (with fees)
• An application to the credential program (with fees)
• Essays for both applications
• My college transcripts
• Passing CBEST scores (general knowledge proficiency)
• Passing CSET scores (specific area knowledge proificency)
• CPR training certification
• TB test documentation
• Fingerprint live scan
• Recommendation from 2 college professors
• Personal recommendation
• 4 Prerequisite courses with 45 hours of classroom observation
• Pass an Interview

The despair is real.

The Good News: After about 8 months of hard work and studying, I've finally put together everything I needed to apply to the credential program. I even passed my four prerequisite classes with straight As.

The Bad News: I botched my interview and didn't make into the credential program for the Fall 2016 school year.

Supremely frustrating, isn't it? But I have a few options. I can spend fall taking 2 more classes they recommend (but not require) students take before entering the credential program and get those out of the way. I can then apply for the Spring 2017 credential program and hope and pray I get into that. This time, I might not limit myself to applying only at Cal-State Fullerton. I may branch out to other schools.

And maybe someday I'll actually become a teacher.

Anyway, that's my excuse for not updating this blog for 5 months.

However, now that summer is here, I hope to be able to have some more time to write, to do fun stuff, to breathe. We'll see how it goes, but I will try to update more consistently... starting tomorrow.