The Uber Rare Blog Post
I realized early this morning that I haven't updated this blog since last June. Last June. That's ridiculous, of course. I'm committed to doing a better job with that this year, and am going to try and post at least once a month. With that in mind...
2015 is off to a busy start. My spring semester classes at Western State Colorado University start today, and my first 8 week class for Excelsior college started last Monday. Teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses - in the same subject - is challenging. The students bring differing sets of skills and concerns to the material, but at both institutions, the vast majority of my students are non-traditional: ages and backgrounds vary greatly. At Excelsior, many of the students are active military, so the online environment is perfectly suited for them, but it can be tricky, too, as they are often called to be away from their computer at the last second. At Western, we're still working through the new curriculum, which means a lot of regular staff meetings and adjustments based on student input.
On the writing front, last fall, I co-wrote a feature film script with a friend, and we're now jumping through the usual Hollywood hoops in terms of rewrites with a producer. We're also working on a television show treatment together and planning our next feature script. I've found the break from traditional fiction really exhilarating from a creative point of view. I imagine I'll come back to it - in fact, I know I will, as I have at least a couple of novel ideas that I want to pursue - but the industry has changed so much that I'm not sure what it will even look like when I do write those projects. (More on that subject later.) I also have a nonfiction book I'd like to finish this year.
In other news... I quit smoking on Monday, January 5th. It's been a week now. People tell me it gets easier, but so far no joy on that front. It's pure fucking misery. We also switched our diet here in the household to a primarily Mediterranean diet. It's working pretty well for Sherri, and I can live with it. One of the things we rapidly discovered was that after a week on that, heavier foods feel really heavy - even things I typically love, like red meat. We're allowing ourselves one cheat day a week, but when we did that, both of us were kind of "blech" with it.
I'll do another post soon on books I've read over the relatively recent past, and I may dive into the delicate subject of what's gone wrong with the book publishing industry. In the meantime, it's back to work for me. I hope your 2015 is off to a great start.
Write on,
Russell
2015 is off to a busy start. My spring semester classes at Western State Colorado University start today, and my first 8 week class for Excelsior college started last Monday. Teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses - in the same subject - is challenging. The students bring differing sets of skills and concerns to the material, but at both institutions, the vast majority of my students are non-traditional: ages and backgrounds vary greatly. At Excelsior, many of the students are active military, so the online environment is perfectly suited for them, but it can be tricky, too, as they are often called to be away from their computer at the last second. At Western, we're still working through the new curriculum, which means a lot of regular staff meetings and adjustments based on student input.
On the writing front, last fall, I co-wrote a feature film script with a friend, and we're now jumping through the usual Hollywood hoops in terms of rewrites with a producer. We're also working on a television show treatment together and planning our next feature script. I've found the break from traditional fiction really exhilarating from a creative point of view. I imagine I'll come back to it - in fact, I know I will, as I have at least a couple of novel ideas that I want to pursue - but the industry has changed so much that I'm not sure what it will even look like when I do write those projects. (More on that subject later.) I also have a nonfiction book I'd like to finish this year.
In other news... I quit smoking on Monday, January 5th. It's been a week now. People tell me it gets easier, but so far no joy on that front. It's pure fucking misery. We also switched our diet here in the household to a primarily Mediterranean diet. It's working pretty well for Sherri, and I can live with it. One of the things we rapidly discovered was that after a week on that, heavier foods feel really heavy - even things I typically love, like red meat. We're allowing ourselves one cheat day a week, but when we did that, both of us were kind of "blech" with it.
I'll do another post soon on books I've read over the relatively recent past, and I may dive into the delicate subject of what's gone wrong with the book publishing industry. In the meantime, it's back to work for me. I hope your 2015 is off to a great start.
Write on,
Russell
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