Life update

It is amazing what 24 hours can do, or in this case one email can do....

As some of you might know I am getting my duel master's in Library Science and History. Well one large part of getting the History degree is writing a thesis. I did an under-grad thesis so I thought this would not be much different but it has felt completely different and overwhelming. So overwhelming that I was mentally paralyzed and it was like a cloud hanging over me. I had a plan to do my research over the summer and then come September hit the ground running with writing. Well that would have been good except for 2 things. One I was purely exhausted after last semester that I procrastinated working on my thesis proposal and then rushed to get in for the deadline, I will admit it was not my best work. Then when I sat down with a potential thesis advisor she had a lot of concerns over my thesis it really left me questioning what I wanted to, and I felt completely drained. I have since that meeting sunk away not even wanting to touch my books and I have felt passionless. I have even thought about dropping out of school because I was so uncertain about what I wanted to do. So after I had some hard conversations with my parents I thought about postponing writing my thesis.

Today the thesis councilor emailed me and asked me about my progress and I responded...

I have been thinking it over and wondering if my topic is truly what I want to write about. I have also been wondering if I could possibly not do the class this Fall and do it in the Spring of 2014? I know was "professor" concerned I would be spending all Fall researching and not getting it completed before December. I feel I need more time going over secondary resources and through that figuring out the more if this is really the path I want to take, or what aspect more precisely I want to focus on. 

She responded...
I think it sounds like a good and sane plan to take the fall to do the preliminary research and secondary reading, and then to take the thesis writers' course in the spring. I suspect you will be happier writing your thesis when you have a stronger sense of the sources you will use and the questions you want to ask. This strikes me as a responsible decision.

It is amazing I feel such a relief. So I will not be graduating in December as I thought but in May, which I am totally okay with. I'd rather take my time and do good work than feel rushed and overwhelmed.

In the Fall I will be doing my internship and taking a children's librarian class. The children's librarian class is not apart of my track just something I am interested in and it will be good to see if this is another path.

Sorry if this all doesn't make sense, I am just happy to lessen my mental plate. I know this summer I just want to read novels and get some fun writing in.

I will keep you posted on all sorts of progress and changes in my life.

ssshhh part 2

Hello readers,

For some reason blog spot is working on Internet Explorer but not on Chrome... what? So good news I can post from home. I am just surprised that I cannot get it to work from Chrome. Oh well at least it works some place so I can continue this blog.

I just passed 300 post! So time for some blogging celebration.

Thank you loyal readers who have been around since post #1.

Just good for celebration!

sssshhhh

Screen shot from "I Capture the Castle"

Dear Readers,

I am having trouble with blog spot and composing a post on my computer at home but somehow it is working fine on my work computer. For a bit last night I thought of switching over to Wordpress... but I couldn't get it to feel the same as this blog. I have grown emotionally attached to this blog. So I decided to write at home copy and paste them when I am at work. It should not take me that much time to do the copy and pasting it here (in my composing area) and I am blessed with a job that has slow moments.

Maybe with all that is going on in my life, I should take the sign of blog spot not working as a sign and focus on other things besides this blog. But I come to this blog as a release. I feel better after writing my little nothings and I don't know if I could get through my days without this blog. As I said I have an emotional attachment to this blog.

So I will have to be working on this blog under cover (as much as you can do under cover online).

-Blaire

Dancing through research

I wrote in my post "I do not have a post for today" that I would like to learn more about Edwardian dancing. As much as I love Downton Abbey I feel like it is missing dancing... minus one very important scene in season 2. (If you watch Dowton you know instantly what I am talking about but I love posting pictures of Downton and Dan Stevens.)

{pic}

{pic}

Any way after writing that post I remembered a very helpful resource, Edwardian Promenade, I have used it to find great pictures but it is quite insightful on Edwardian life. So I thought I would take a shot and see what it had on dancing. And I found a very interesting article with a few YouTube videos to give examples. For example...

Link

You might recognize "The Grizzly Bear" from Season 1 of Downton Abbey

 as Thomas and Daisy do a bit of it. 

I know not all my readers are as interested in Edwardian dancing as I am, but I think in writing one should be a truthful as possible even if the story is completely made up it is in the details that matter. One of my favorite authors (besides Jane Austen) is Jennifer Donnelly and I feel she must spend so much time doing research to get the details so accurate, I am impressed. I have always loved historical fiction for this reason because the elements have to be precise for them to be believable but yet the writer can sweep you away in to a world and time we can only imagine about. I know that is why I personally am drawn to historical fiction, the indulgence to escape into another life. 

I hope I can write my character a good dance scene... I feel sometimes when watching people dance you can see their true feelings... Just think what Emma would be with out the ball when you finally see Mr. Knightley admits his feelings (at least to the audience). 

Mr. Knightley: Who are you going to dance with?

Emma: You if you should ask me. After all we are not brother and sister.

Mr. Knightley: Brother and sister.... indeed we are not. 

{pic}

{pic}

So if you are like me and trying to write some historical fiction, I recommend reading history (rather on a blog or in a book), watching period dramas (from a time period you love), and reading other historical novels. I know it may not be official history but I have fallen in love with this series called the Morland Dynasty by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. It starts in pre-Elizabethian era but goes up to the 1920's as this family evolves through time. I  read The Dream Kingdom going from 1909-1912 and I am reading now The Restless Sea about the Titanic and I look forward to going to reading the books about WWI. While I was reading The Dream Kingdom, I underlined lots of text that described society, to the food they ate, to the dresses they wore. I loved it and have gone back to it in writing my own story. 

Okay this post has gotten longer than I thought, so I will leave you with this last photo... 

{pic}

Couldn't resist one more Downton Abbey photo. 

Wishing you the best in your writing.