forever we try

Read: Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich; I'm in a Russian lit class this semester, and I'm pretty sure this is the only nonfiction book we'll be reading. It's both absolutely wonderful and incredibly depressing--in the first monologue a woman remembers nursing her husband, one of the very first responders, while he was dying from radiation poisoning, and it only gets heavier from there--and I think I might end up writing my final paper on it. Maybe. It all depends on if I can work out an okay thesis, but I've already got one critical essay that could be a possible secondary source (there aren't that many critical essays on Voices from Chernobyl, especially in English) and I ordered another one through interlibrary loan, so we'll see.

I haven't had a whole ton of time to just read for fun this week. I'm about halfway through The Left Hand of Darkness, the Ursula K. Le Guin book that I've always wanted to read, and tried to read, but never got around to finishing before. I think a lot of that had to do with me coming to it when I was in high school because I'd loved the Earthsea books so much, and then bouncing off the sci-fi elements pretty hard. I like them a lot better now, and the story doesn't move anywhere near as slowly as I felt like it did the first time, so I should be able to finish it over the weekend.

Written: The first draft of my worldbuildingex  fic, which is...rough. Super, super rough, but I have a workable draft and a good amount of time left to beat it into shape, which was all I really wanted. I have a bad habit of waiting until the very last minute to start exchange fics, and since March is shaping up to be the Busiest Month Ever I didn't want to pile that stress on top of everything else. For a week or two I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to come up with an idea at all (even though I really, really loved the prompts) and so once I finally got the beginning of something that was working (at least kind of) on paper, I pretty much forced myself to just sit and write it all out. So, obviously, it's only a first draft, and it's not pretty. I finished it on Sunday and I'll probably try to get the second draft done over this weekend--I had to fight the urge to scrap everything and start over right away, but after letting it sit for a week I'm glad I did. It might be rough, but I do like the story, and I'd rather have something to work with than nothing to work with. Also, I don't edit nearly as much as I should, so this'll be good practice. 

It's been coming down, off and on, since early this morning. Most of it hasn't stuck, but the inch or so we do have is already helping me feel a little more Christmasy--though that also might be because I've got most of my final papers turned in. Only one more portfolio and a Chem exam to go. I'm going to make an effort to post here more often (and get back into the groove of reading everybody's entries) once finals week is over; all I've been doing for the past few weeks is homework. 

On to the Other Things: 

I'm reading again! There was a (for me, anyway) pretty long stretch over the last couple of weeks/months when I couldn't find anything I especially wanted to read, and didn't have time to read books that weren't assigned, anyway. Now I'm maybe halfway through IT (fingers crossed) and enjoying it so much, especially all the sections featuring the kids. I also just started The Explorer today--it's a middle-grade book by Katherine Rundell that my sister recommended, about four kids stranded in the Amazon rain forest after a plane crash. I haven't read any middle-grade books in so long that I began to forget how much I miss them, especially the good ones. The Explorer looks like it's shaping up to be one of the good ones.  

Still need to sign up for Praxis I and just get it over with. The community college thirty minutes down the road offers it on a few Wednesdays every month, so I shouldn't have trouble finding a slot. I'm still really, really worried about the math. Otherwise I think I should be okay...maybe? I'm not the world's best test-taker, but I've always passed what I needed to pass before, and...yeah, I'd better just go ahead and do it. Especially if I plan on applying for Juncture I next semester like my advisor wants me to. 

My fic output all but stopped last week, since I was rushing to finish so many assignments and too mentally drained to write even when I did have the time. I barely wrote anything this week, either, but tonight I'm determined to get at least a good chunk of one of my fics done. And maybe start the Frank/Karen story I'm signed up to do for Kastle Christmas over on Tumblr. It's my first time participating in a fic exchange--I'm both really nervous and really excited. Especially since shippy fic is not quite my thing. But Frank and Karen are one of those couples that I feel like I can make an exception for--whatever their feelings for each other actually are, they're rooted in such a complicated, wonderful friendship.

Okay, enough from me; how has December treated you guys so far?