The Final Memoire

So….it has finally come to this.

Today is the last day of classes and finals week is finally here. This is always an interesting time. Interesting in the full Minnesota sense of the word (meaning when you say it, you raise one eyebrow distastefully and nod your head slowly).

Being busy means creative writing is out of the question…Or is it? I don’t have time to tell you a story but I can tell you what has been good and bad about this week so far:)

Good: Warm windy sunshine which means my solor powered mood skyrockets.

Bad: Papers in disciplines that I’m not very familiar with….Toto, I have a feeling I’m not in the English Department any more….

Good: I bough nutella to make nutella filled pancakes

Bad: I have not made nutella filled pancakes yet

Good: I wrote an academic paper revolving around Once Upon A time. Um, yes please!

Bad: I have to say good bye to the OUAT characters for three whole months after watching the crazy season finale *sniff* I don’t know how I am going to survive! (And what will I do to procrastinate now?? O.O)

So overall verdict: Good. Now I’m off for some paper writing:)

 

Shakespeare Without the Words

Isn’t that like saying Shakespeare without the reason he is Shakespeare?

The Word Wizard

Ok, words may be feeble vehicles for carrying the full wieght of human passion but if you think about it, even people are feeble vehicles for carrying the full weight of human passion. We have so many feelings, so many values, so many experiences and we just want to show them to others somehow. The funny thing is, we don’t just struggle showing ourselves to other people but to ourselves as well. (And that’s when we get great songs like this.)

But words are powerful. Words on paper can change a persons life. Yes, in the sense that fiction can tranform our ideas but also the fact that paper contracts bind us in real ways that we don’t often even think about. Although I do rant about the Top Five Reasons I Hate Being Literate. The point is that words are really important.

I think Shakespeare is powerful because of his control over words. He can manipulate twisty turns of double meanings while keeping an internal rhythm which captures the hearts of the audiences even if they can’t define the rhythm. He is able to capture human passion,” Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” but he makes our cries and rants beautiful because he has not only captured human emotion but tied that to artistically stunning sounds.

I wonder if I ranted in iambic pentameter if it would be more effective?….

What is the point of saying all this? Making Shakespeare “accessible” is running a huge risk of dumbing him down to the point of being worthless. His words are hard but people are hard to and sometimes struggles are worth it, when there is something so wonderful complex that you are trying to figure out. Struggling thorugh Shakespeare has proven to help your brain (duh), it gives you a sense of satisfaction, and it opens up new ways of understanding…not just understanding the broad concept of humanity but hopefully yourself as well.

Is dumbing him down fair to either him or the readers?

 

So the question becomes, is Shakespeare worth translating? The sublties of words can get marred when passed to a different medium. Tranlations of words always fall short. Is he worth dumbing down so kids can understand the basic story line before they can understand his tricky early modern english?

What do you think?

Writing Contest!

I have been writing a lot more lately. I think it is because the book that I have needs to be finished by June because that’s when I get it in hard print (just five copies but I get them for free thanks to winning nanorwrimo And I would like to have the ebook version out by that time as well.

But here’s a little contest which looks like a blast!

It’s more of a submission than a contest but here it is:

The First Line Literary Journal.

Here are the guidelines if you are interested:

1. Start your story with the lines: “I started collecting secrets when I was just six years old.”

2. Any genre but stay around 300-3000 words.

3. Deadline is May 1st so write fast!

I haven’t decided to go with a science fiction piece for this or one involving pirates. Either way it’s going to be loads of fun!

Top Five Friday: Birthday Wish List:)

I am a girl of simple pleasures. I figured a birthday simple birthday wish list wouldn’t hurt. Please add the top five things on your wish list to the comments:)

Mine. Please be mine.

1. I would like the Tardis. Preferably with the doctor. (If you didn’t know it was david tennet’s birthday yesterday;)

2. Eowyn’s dress because it’s basically the perfect dress for doing any melodramatic in, running through a field of flowers, holding a sword, horseback riding…

3. A Lunch Date with Shakespeare. If you are rolling your eyes and thinking it’s not possible you are wrong! Look at the first thing on my list. It makes everything else a complete possibility:)

4. 

Because, I already have an entire crew picked out for the ship to;)

For my final and greatest wish I would ask for a wardrobe…except that I have already been to Narnia and it doesn’t quite work that way anyways. So instead, I would be delighted to have:

5.The library from Beauty and the Beast. ‘Nuff Said:)

Happy Friday people! Happy Friday!

Shakespeare In Love (How to Be Like Him)

These are the lessons which I learned from Shakespeare in Love. Well, first let’s start with the trailer:

Now, if you were looking for a how-to be in love/get in love you are going to be disappointed. I am looking at this movie from more of a writerly perspective (not that the writer’s perspective necessary cancels out being a lover as the movie obviously showed), and will tell what valuable things I learned from the movie as a writer.

Keep an open ear like hypothetical Shakespeare did. Some people keep a notebook of quotes and situations that they hear around them. (I am going to start doing this today). Not to be a creeper or anything but people watching gives you loads of information and it doesn’t hurt to embellish the situations/dialogue you come across as you write it down in your  journal. Also, teacher quotes are a great place to look for unusual quotes…well, if you have unusual teachers, that is.

O for a muse of fire! I also learned that having a muse is helpful for writing. In hypothetical Shakespeare’s case it was a beautiful girl but I think that if you keep your eyes and ears open, you can find inspiration in a variety of places. If this sounds exactly like the first piece of advice….it isn’t. That is more about particulars, this is more about getting passionate about what you are writing.

Names. (I am not even going to quote Juliet here but you were probably already thinking about roses and names as soon as I said it). Long and short, names are important. Ethel just is not as pretty as Juliet. I talk more about why Juliet is wrong about names in this post. 

And lastly, I learned that as I writer, I need to embrace the starving artist side of myself. Personally, I am not giving up hope that my best seller will get me a million when I sell the movie rights but just to make sure you don’t get too excited, I would like to point out the fact that Shakespeare is mind blowing awesome and he wasn’t too well off. But the point is, he was still awesome.

How to Solve the Problem of Stress

This post is pretty much necessary for any student or writer. (BTW’s if you really just want to see something funny, skip the movie at the end now). Since I am both a student and a writer, I definitely felt the need to write this.

Alright.

Step One: Work out. Hard. I seriously need to go for a three hour run. Or do a really fun run.

Step Two: Eat Chocolate. Or,  Idk, consume something that puts you in the fun mood. I would say go out for drinks but I’m not 21 till a couple of days.

Step Three: Movie time. I feel like wiping out an entire season of Dr. Who right now. Tomorrow-me would never forgive today-me if I did that so I won’t…but I will be tempted to. (And I will still watch a couple episodes…).

Step Four:  Laugh till it hurts. Have you ever wondered the best recipe for Laugh is? Any-point-in-time-past-midnight + really-awesome-friends and it usually happens automatically. Otherwise, if you need inspiration:

And speaking of mondays….Is it really just monday? Muahahaha, yes, it is just Monday! Fate is against you!

And with that thought, I am off to start my week:) Any other tips to help me maintain sanity? They’d be much appreciated:)

Top 5: Chocoholic Frolic

Chocoholic Frolic: that’s a thing? Yes. It’s an awesome thing!

It’s a 5k that some friends and I ran this morning and I am going to tell you the top 5 facts about it, so you will be inspired to go run and eat chocolate! Not that, you know, anyone needs inspiration to eat chocolate but maybe to run;) Here are five things you should know, if you don’t already, that will allow you to have your own chocoholic frolic:

1. New running shoes helped! What kind of running shoes do you like? I just got the new aspics gel kayano 18 and they are not only the best running shoe ever but the cutest! Score:)

2. Pinterest is not only a time killer but a life saver with amazing healthy chocolate recipes. Yes chocolate can be healthy ( No, I mean beyond being necessary for mental health like normal, it can actually be healthy to eat after running!) Here are the cupcakes my friend and I made which are filled with zucchini and apple sauce and peanut butter :

And by the way, my pinterest name is just my name: Jacqueline Lucca if you were interested in following…

3. Run with people. Because it’s way more fun that way! And having someone who is good at pacing is an extra plus and guarantee  you will run faster.

4. Do it in a pretty spot outside. I don’t know about you but I am a baby when it comes to cold! So that’s my excuse for not having run outside this year at all…till today. And boy, I have been missing out! It’s gorgeous:) And it was by a lake so it was beautiful!!

5. Frolic. I mean, you can’t call it a chocoholic frolic unless your frolicking. I don’t mean you have to skip the whole 3.1 miles but have a lot of fun with it. From this day forward I will call every run I go on a frolic just because I can:)

By the way yes they did have a chocolate fountain at the end which you could dip all your fruit, oreos, and other chocolate in. And they had chocolate milk at the water stops/finish line. Let’s just say…its been a REALLY good day:)

 

21 days till 21 years

There are 21 days till I’m 21 years old.

This is exciting!! So I have decided to describe my spring break in 21 words in celebration of this fact.

However, before I do that, I want to update everybody on my writing life. I am still editing Griffin Tamer. And I’m sick of it. I like to create words and exciting moments, not check grammar and plot like structure hour after hour. I will be so excited to finally publish it this May! Hard work will be rewarded and I will be able to focus my free time on creativity again:) But I’m learning a lot of great skills for writing so I can’t complain too much.

There’s the update. Here is my spring break in 21 words.

1. Sleep

2. Editing

3. Procrastinating

4. Panera

5. YA Fiction

6. Scones

7. Easter

8. Octave

9. Novena

10. Running

11. JillianMichaels

12. DanniAllen

13. OUAT

14. Sisters:)

15. Brother:)

16. PushingDaisies

17. Moments

18. Chocolate

19. More

20. Chocolate

21. Relaxation

 

The Geeky To-Do-For-Fun List

It’s spring break!!:)

Which means I get to catch up on homework. But also means that I get to do what I want with a little more of my time. I don’t know about you but whenever I have extra time I create a great big list of awesome things to do! So I have a geeky to-do-for-fun list. Do you? 

Over Spring Break I want to….

Memorize a Shakespeare Monologue. A new one…because that would be cool (and in the Top Five Reason’s I Hate Being Literate I commented on how people don’t memorize things enough. I figured I shouldn’t be a hypocrite)

Finish a couple of fun books. I have so many that I haven’t even tried to make a list. I just pick up the one that is closest. I have been reading Erasing Time and am really creeped out/over joyed to find that  I could actually survive in a distopian. Seriously, the character of Sheridan reminds me of myself…a lot.

Finish Griffin Tamer. I have been editing it like crazy and have gotten someone to read over it. The verdict: needs some major revamping but I’m excited to have a new direction to go in. I am going to hash out the characters and draw all the action which was piled at the end and make the beginning more exciting as well:)

Write a spoken word poem. Because…why not?

Work out. I have a 5k coming up so running important. I also do Jillian Workouts because they make me suffer quickly and efficiently. And I get results:)

Do you have spring plans? Any literary ones or work out ideas I just need to know about?

Happy Spring!!!!!!!

Top Five Reasons I Hate Being Literate!

As an English major, this post may be my death wish…but… here it goes: Five reasons I can’t stand the fact that everyone in our country is literate!

1. Oaths are made via paper

We just don’t trust spoken promises as much anymore. Now instead saying it on our honor, we with a signature which we put on anything legal and binding. Really?

2. Oral Tradition is lost

When is the last time you’ve memorized Beowulf? Or any other story for that matter? If you have done this lately, you’re cool. But you probably still see my point: story telling is getting lost. Passing down oral tradition via mouth and tales are lost as well.

3. People believe everything written

Not everyone what they read but a lot of people do.This is dangerous when they read things like newspapers which are always biased one way or another. Sketchy!

4. Our tests tend to suck

There aren’t as many oral tests (at least not in America). They aren’t as personal. They aren’t face to face. I see where more personal exams would be hard but still, making things like tests so generalized…blurg! Do they leave room for creativity and the human person?

5. This one is very personal: spelling matters.

Is this point important? I won’t even try to pretend it is. But my life would be easier if we didn’t have to spell.

I’m done venting. And with that, I am going to go write my paper.