Castle in the Clouds

I was taking an ice cream break and came across PBW 's entry on hypergraphia , which is an uncontrollable urge to write. Apparently the term became prominent after a Harvad neurologist fell victim to a pressing need to write. Her research led her to the discovery of how the brain functions during the creative process. I don't know about you, but I find this whole concept fascinating. So much so, I've actually ordered Flaherty's book, The Midnight Disease . Don't get me wrong. I'm not self-diagnosing here. I don't believe I suffer from this particular pathology. Sometimes I must write, especially if I want to remain civil and happy, but I can resist the urge. I can force myself to focus on my other responsiblities. I'm not so sure a true suffer of hypergraphia could say as much. However, there are a few writers out here in cyberland in think could be suffering from this affliction. I've always wondered how they've churned out book after b

That's the title of the short story I'm working on right now. It's the final project for my Creative Writing class and it's due next Tuesday. I intend to turn it in on Monday. I'm either going to work on it tonight or Sunday; Saturday is out of the question. The story is about a dryad who has been displaced from her grove. She's not simply lost. She's been yanked out of her world and dumped into ours. The story has the potential to become a novel, so it's been a struggle to scale down the scope to a single moment in time and make it feel "complete". I've gotten some great feedback from Gail and the story has already improved dramatically. Once this story is complete I will begin working seriously on my WIPs. It's funny how writing steadily actually makes you want to keep writing. I'm actually anxious to get this short story completed so I can start working on By the Blood .

But I got the link to the test from Tambo and thought I'd give my blog a run through the thing. Here's the results: The following table contains the readability results for http://krista225.blogspot.com/. Reading Level Results Summary Value Total sentences 132 Total words 383 Average words per Sentence 2.90 Words with 1 Syllable 230 Words with 2 Syllables 79 Words with 3 Syllables 58 Words with 4 or more Syllables 16 Percentage of word with three or more syllables 19.32% Average Syllables per Word 1.63 Gunning Fog Index 8.89 Flesch Reading Ease 65.61 Flesch-Kincaid Grade 4.83 Does this mean my blog is hard to read? That's not good! Reading ease at 65% doesn't seem like a good number. I'll need to read up some more on what these results mean and get back to you. :)

100_4289 , originally uploaded by krista225 . Look how big they are!

100_4284 , originally uploaded by krista225 . Brittney's gotten a little chubby and doesn't like to work as hard for her treats anymore. Doesn't stop the boys from trying!

100_4280 , originally uploaded by krista225 .

For my writing class we're supposed to write a short story in 16 pages or less. My rough is currently 15 pages. The only problem with it is that it reads more like a chapter than a short story. I need to figure out how to rework it. I suppose printing it off and grabbing a red pen would be helpful. Know what else would be helpful? Feedback from my critique group. Only one person has actually provided comments so far.

The Sigma Tau Delta Critical and Creative Writing Conference will be held at the University this Spring. When they advertised a Call for Papers I submitted a poem and a short story. I didn't expect to hear anything back. Why not, you ask? Well, I'm not a poet. I only wrote this poem because it was required. The short story is also not my chosen medium. I am, without a single doubt, a novelist. But I had this short story I've tinkered with for some time and figured it wasn't doing any good just sitting on my harddrive. So, I submitted both just to see what would happen. Both pieces were accepted. I have to make any revisions I deem necessary (there were no suggestions) and resubmit the pieces by April 27th. I also need to practice reading them out loud as I have to present them at the conference on May 4th. Egads! What have I gotten myself into? Public speaking is not exactly my favorite pasttime! In addition to being selected and having to present, both pie