Tag: uni

Writer’s Log 2

WRITER’S LOG 2
26/02-2018

Mission Log:
A short (but important) rationale session

10:59 I need to write a 2000 word rationale about a 8000 word creative piece. It is due in nineteen days, 1 hour and 1 minute. Normally I really enjoy writing rationales for creative pieces, but I’m struggling with getting started with this one. Maybe it’s like a head space thing. I’ve got lots of research already done (I really love research) and a lot to talk about, but it’s a bit scary to write about such a “big” assignment. I can do this, though!

11:11 Not writing-related, but it’s actually, proper snowing today! A nice view from the library. Also, 11:11! Make a wish!

11:29 Had to do a bit of “paperwork”, send some emails (5 emails, to be precise) and figure out some dates for course related events. But now I’m really getting started.

11:36 This is going okay, have finished the introduction plus the first couple of paragraphs. Tips to anyone wondering whether to go to uni or not and/or wondering what kind of course they should do: creative writing. It lets you write about your favourite books into academic essays. There’s something special about being able to quote lines that gave you chills when you read them as a child, and as I’ve basically based my entire creative piece around the book Mio’s Kingdom, that means getting to use quotes like “If only the trees hadn’t grown so close together, […] if only the darkness wasn’t so black and we weren’t so small and alone.”

12:17 Got distracted by an article I’m writing for a  Student Life magazine at the uni. It’s a feature article with lots of pictures and 500 words, about wonderful places in and around Winchester. Not rationale working, but still writing!

12:34 Finished the piece for the article instead, now I can tick that off the list too.

13:12 Done with writing for today, am heading into town for coffees with Jeanette! It’s gonna be great to see her again and to catch up. But first, raiding the library for more books, research is absolutely the best part of essay-writing!

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Recap of the session:
Not the most productive session wordcount-wise, but great for research, decluttering the brain and for crossing things off the old to do list.

Mistake of the day: More typo of the day. “Thing” is now spelt “thign”. Every single time.

Word count of the day: 635 (plus 548 words on the article, to be fair)

Writing location: Library, top floor, computer 48. Not as ideal as computer 57, but it’ll do.

Phone breaks: Getting better!

Beverage of choice: None. I forgot my tea at home and can see it just waiting on my desk, slowly getting cold. It’s a tragic story, indeed.

Mood before writing: “I am stressed”
Mood during writing: “I am significantly less stressed now that I’ve started working” Mood after writing: “I may not have finished my rationale, but I got a lot of other things done”

Question of the day: Any tips for being productive when a thousand things are running around in your head at once?

-Andrea

 

 

Journal #2

Breathe. Sometimes you just need a bit of fresh air. When deadlines clog your brain and word counts don’t act like you want them to it’s like your breath gets stuck in your chest, your shoulders, and you need a change of scenery. For me, fresh air means the smell of salty seas and the sound of seagulls and waves. Whenever things get just a bit too much, I get on the train and I go where I know there’ll be an open sea to greet me, and a beach with sand that can run through my fingers. And just like that, I breathe again.

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-Andrea

Journal #1

Andrea Wold Johansen Window

One day, I’ll have a flat of my own, or maybe even a house. I’m not entirely sure where yet, (haven’t decided on all the small details like what city or country to settle down in) but what I do know, is that my home will have white walls, soft sheets and big windows. Huge, open windows that let in the world, that you can see the sunrise through, that show you days melting into nights.
I want big windows so I can wake up to natural light peeking through the curtains, and because they make me feel connected to what’s outside. I want windows that can help me keep track of the seasons, with views over streets, over trees and over roof tops.

I was lucky enough to get to stay in this wonderful flat in Streatham the other week, and there was something so special about working on a windowsill, enveloped in a double duvet that was both way too big and the perfect size at the same time. Through the dewdrops on the panes, I saw people hurrying past with their groceries, couples huddling together to stay warm and students running after busses with their scarves hanging straight out behind them. As I got my laptop out to write, and the wind rustled the trees outside, I remember telling myself that I don’t think I’ll ever need much more than this, really.

-Andrea

(Also! One of my poems just got “published” on vocal! I’m not entirely sure why it ended up in the sub category “sad poetry”, but if you want to check it out, just click here.  If you want to see some of the other things I’ve been getting up to, mainly poetry there too, click here for my “Pieces and Performances” page! Thank you xx )

“Norwegian winters”

They moved into number 24 at the age of 23.
Brown doors needed new locks, the garage was falling apart,
but they rolled up their sleeves and went to work.
When Winter and his winds flew down from the north
and blew snow right in where the windows were supposed to be,
they dreamt of a red-brick fireplace and a double bed,
a door you could close and proper curtains.
Outside, the snow grayed like a father of three,
and the leaves wrinkled up like fishermen’s hands
as icicles hung from the roof;
swords and slippery ladders.

He brought hot chocolate in pink elephant mugs,
and an extra pair of socks for cold feet.
She went to bed on the living room floor,
a single mattress with room for two.
It was one of those nights, where the snow and the street lights tried to outshine each other,
and the wind played lullabies through the cracks in the ceiling.

Come here, she said from her spot on the floor,
it’s a night for stomach kisses and seven pairs of mittens.

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-Andrea

Writer’s Log 1,

WRITER’S LOG 1
29/01-2018
Hello! I want to make a series on this blog called The Writer’s Log; a semi-frequent update on the creative process behind my writing and creative pieces, from floaty idea to finished product. However, as I’m currently in the last semester of my third year at uni (how on earth did that happen), I’m also working on my dissertation right now. So for the first log of the series (and for this blog in general), please join me in the editing process on my Extended Creative Project.

My story is a children’s story (9-12 years) about kids growing up in hospital. I love both reading and writing fiction for children, and I’m really fascinated about how books for children approach heavy subjects, like death, illness, anger and loneliness. This story began as a creative piece last year, but after the assignment was handed in, I didn’t feel like I was completely done, neither with the characters or the story. So, I’ve reworked it and am now using parts of it for my ECP.

Christmas this year blessed me with lots of inspiration (and a bit of justified terror as the deadline rapidly approaches) and so I finished the first draft over the holidays. I’ve spent the past weeks editing it on paper, and am now applying all my edits to a word document I’ve saved on three different memory sticks, two computers, and my google docs. Paranoid? Me? Naaaah.
The point is, I’ve got the first draft of my dissertation done, but that is 25 pages of unedited writing. Now, let’s try to make it good.

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Mission Log:
Day 1: First day of editing

12:06 I’m in the library, armed with pink pens and a caramel waffle. Also with a printed Google map over a very small part of London and Mio’s Kingdom in three different editions and two different languages. Let’s go.

12:15 Page 1 done, this is going great.

13:32 Editing your writing on paper is a lot of fun, but getting the changes into the word document isn’t as great. However, different coloured markers for different kinds of edits are very helpful and makes everything a bit more manageable!
Am going for a walk. Just around the library. Not a long one. Promise.

13:55 Okay, I might have gotten stuck in the fiction shelves. Found Philip Pullman’s Clockwork again, and I just can’t resist the whimsical but also kind of terrifying world. “Stories are just as hard as clocks to put together,” it says in there, and that is very true. But back to work now.

14:57 Page 13, right, this is going a bit slow. Have rewritten huge passages though, and spent fifteen minutes figuring out the difference between “scrubs” and “uniforms”. It’s all a process, right?

16:11 Very tired of my own handwriting. Scribbles doesn’t even cut it anymore, it’s more like a long, squiggly line. Have found some cool sentences I forgot I wrote, though. Only 5 pages left!

17:00 DONE! With the second draft at least.

Recap of the session:

Mistake of the day:
It took me seven tries to write the word receptionist. Wow.

Word count of the day:
9183. (Of course, I didn’t write those words today, if anything I tried to cut them out. Currently at 1000 words over the final word count…)

Writing location:
Library, top floor, computer 57. The best computer. Not entirely sure why, it’s just the best one.

Phone breaks:
Way. Too. Many.

Beverage of choice:
I thought it was Four red fruits, but turns out I got rooibos tea from the Food Hall. This makes me a little sad, but is still okay.

Mood before writing: “Got my tea, got my pens, let’s just get this editing over with now.” Mood during writing: “I need to get rid of a 1000 words. And all of this is awful. Can I even write? What am I doing?” Also “Hm, that’s a cool sentence. I love my characters, must nothing bad happen to them ever please and thank you. I’ve got this. Where did my pen go?”
Mood after writing: “I did a thing!

So I think that went okay!

 

Question of the day: -Done any kind of writing lately? What’s your mistake of the day?

-Andrea