The Baking Demon

Hmmm...maybe I really am finally conquering the baking demon. Not only have I know successfully made chocolate chip cookies three times but  I did a totally weird experimental recipe tonight, because I had the stuff and needed to take a dessert to a church thing tomorrow ... and it's actually pretty darn edible.  Yippee!

Ah...the Rollercoaster

So I've been in a process of applying and interviewing for a job at Green River Community College in Auburn, WA.  It was a job I really wanted and thought I was a good fit for.  I found out today that the job came down to me and one other person, and they went with the other person.  The e-mail they sent me turning me down was possibly the nicest rejection I've ever received, in fact they made it clear that if I lived in the area or ever ended up in the area, they would love to have me as a adjunct.  It's always hard to come so close to something you think you really want and then have it not work out, but at the same time, overall, it was an amazingly positive experience.

The Last Big Hurdle

Graduate school has been a hard road, there's no doubt about it.  In fact I told a professor today that if it hadn't been for his class I might have quit during my first semester at the U.  Along the way I've met some amazing friends, and worked with some truly awesome faculty members...and today was the last truly stressful day of my grad student life.

My dissertation is defended.  And though there's still some revising and bureaucratic university stuff to do, in May 2013 I will be Dr. Jenel Cope.

Dissertation Defense Draft

So I don't know whether to be relieved or terrified, but I just sent the defense draft of my dissertation off to my committee. If all goes well I'll be defending it on November 15.  Wish me luck!!!

Things I Vow Never to Do in My Own Fiction

So this is basically a list of things I'm pretty much sick of seeing in books, television and movies, and my reaction to that is to make my own solemn vow, here and now, never to stoop to them in my own stories.

I Vow to Never...

1. Give a character amnesia. Temporary addlepation from being shot or hit in the head is one thing, but total, or near total, amnesia as a plot device is getting old.

2. Bring a character back from the dead.  This doesn't include the zombie, ghost, vampire category, since they're still dead, they just manage to be interesting even when dead.  Not that I'm planning to write a vampiric-zombie-ghost story or anything, I just want to keep my options open.

3. Create a hero who must leave his love interest and/or friends "for their own good" because his life is oh so dark and dangerous.  Seriously, I hate that.  Suck it up and trust your people already.

That's all I can think of for now, and if any of you ever catch me doing any of these in my own writing you have my permission to burn my prose in effigy. 

One Draft Down

Sent my dissertation conclusion off to my committee today.  Yippee!  I may actually finish this someday.

2 Quick Lists

5 Things I've Been Happy About this Week
1. Tracy made dinner last night and it was yummy.
2. My Young Women Counselors are awesome and remember things I forget.
3. Gorgeous, gorgeous weather
4. The discovery of Pinterest
5. Getting to read Shannon Hale's Palace of Stone

5 Things I've Been Grouchy About this Week
1. At least two bacterial infections, one of which makes me dizzy
2. My inability to finish my dissertation conclusion
3. Garden snails (GROSS) that are eating our tomato and cucumber plants
4. The fact that there are only 24 hours in a day
5. That though I have an appliance called a "dishwasher" it doesn't actually do the dishes for me :-)