Love, the Tennis Way, Kind of

I actually don't play tennis. I'm not even sure what love is in the tennis way. Is it when they're tied? or just when they're tied at 2? I don't know. I might look it up later, but that really has little to do with this post. It's about writing again--go figure.

But tennis does relate. Somehow. That is, I heard once that there's a point when someone's learning to play tennis that they progress most by playing with someone just a notch above or equal to their own abilities.

So a few friends were talking in the rat the other day, student lounge, after the President's address, and they were mentioning how they're teaching at university level with only Master's degrees, not PhDs and somehow feel under-qualified. But then I remembered some things I'd been thinking about on my walk earlier that day--kind of in response to a rant in my handwritten journal--about in class critiquing. By being asked to critique each other's writing in class, we're essentially being asked to teach without credentials, aren't we? Unless I'm doing it wrong. But I don't think so. How can you help someone improve without some knowledgeable instruction? Even positive feedback has to have some knowledge behind it, as well as some instruction. Keep this! That's command form.

So why are we asked to do this? Because you sometimes progress when you're just working with your peers--seeing the more limited good things they do rather than being overwhelmed by masterpieces and thinking it's never going to happen in your work. And also because we learn from each other's mistakes. Especially with innovation that leads in different ways, things that might have been considered bad a few years ago, sometimes you wonder why this rule that you don't particularly understand can't be broken. And then you see it in all its flawful glory in someone else's writing and you get it. Those are things that you can't learn from only studying masterful works. So, you've gotta love it--even if you don't know what tennis love is. Somehow, it still works.

Summer Goals Revision

So alas, reality sets in. I thought I'd be working on my Sleeping Beauty novel this summer and surely could get 100 pages out of it. If this tutorial had been like last summer's, I might have. But since Han only requires 8-10 new pages a week, as compared to Hillary's 20, and well, since I'm discovering I really need to know a lot more about Medieval life to take off with that one, it's not going to happen.

But it's seriously all for the better because I'm feeling a little liberated to work on my thesis, which I need to be doing anyway. It's almost the end of June and I'm still just editing into page 25. Only 225 more to go in the next two months. Not so bad, eh? :) Actually, hopefully it won't be that bad. I'll be cutting a lot toward the end, I think. But if the end goes anything like the beginning, I might be adding a lot too. I wish I knew how to show all these facial expressions more than just smiles. You'd see my teeth in a straight line here.

And well, the exercise thing too. Oh, I'm looking again and see I didn't end up including it. Well I should have. I had planned to write 3x a week. But that is revised. Seriously I need to get off my butt, but the weather is not so friendly as I'd hoped.

1. Finish creative draft of thesis (I'm giving myself til Sept 7)
2. Have a draft of my critical part
3. Exercise 2x a week (Reminder to self--go the mall. it's not that far!)
4. Attend the temple each month
5. Get a job

Can I do it? I have a few others I should put up, but I won't embarrass myself. Just in my head.