Anyone camping in April?

Caitlin Black

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Found another 5 articles that could be useful.

I know I must be on the right track, because the last few searches (of different key terms) kept coming up with the articles I'd already encountered. And given that I'm supposed to show comprehensive knowledge of this area of study, then yeah, it's a good sign. :)

Going out soon, so that's all I'm doing today.
 

Caitlin Black

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Didn't do much today. Read a 6-page article for a research methods assignment (not the big one). Then read 14-ish pages for another reading which I might use as a reference for said assignment. So only about 20 pages read today, but I think I've got a pretty decent understanding of the assignment now. Well, parts of it...

There's another 35-page reading that should help with this paper, but I'll read that tomorrow. Oh, and I also typed up some quotes from this 14-page reading.

Took it easy today, I guess.
 

VP_Benni

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Mid-Month Monthly Progress Report for the Month of April!

*Keep on top of school work (I have far more responsibilities this term than ever) Barely.
*Read at least 3 non-school books (Every 100 pages of Atlas Shrugged counts as one book if I choose to go that direction >.>) Not yet.
*Complete my last scholarship application (though others keep popping up everywhere...) Oh, hey, look at that. I did complete a goal so far this month after all. I was concerned that I probably didn't...
*Write at least 2.5k Nooope.
*Complete 5 of my Day Zero goals 2/5
*Play video games I've watched my Potato play video games but I haven't touched a controller myself...

My rat died yesterday. :( It wasn't exactly unexpected because she hadn't been eating or drinking no matter what I did for about two weeks, but still. I still have no idea how old she was... I had her for ten months, but she was fully grown by the time I got her and maybe up to two years old. At least one. She made the weekend hell though... I spent all but Saturday morning and Sunday evening (when I had to work) paying attention to her. Poor thing.

Sooo... Since I was tending to my rat instead of doing homework, I am dangerously close to falling behind in my classes. I'm going to do my best not to let that happen.

(I intended to type "happen" up there but initially my fingers wrote "hell"... Look who's being optimistic... >.>)

~Amber~
 

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Sorry to hear about your rat. :(
And I'm sure you will catch up soon. I'm always so impressed with you and Cliff on how y'all are always so on top of your studies.
 

mrsmig

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Sorry about your rat, Amber.

After more than a week of writing nothing, I had enough down time during tech rehearsal today to get about 250 words bashed out. That doesn't sound like much, but it was a relief to finally get something on the page.
 

Caitlin Black

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I've just read and noted on 8 pages of a 20-page article for my literature review. Such a dry reading! And I've got another 15+ articles to do after this one... (15 presently, but I may need more.) *sigh*

It doesn't help that I'm feeling a little off. I may be coming down with something...

ETA: And those 8 pages were all I did today for Uni. I did, however, read about 115 pages of a book that wasn't for Uni. *faceplant* I'm just not feeling motivated for homework, I guess... But hey, at least I've got 115 fewer pages of this book distracting me from what I should be doing!
 
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Caitlin Black

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Read and noted on a 6-page article for an assignment. All I have left to do for that is turn my copious notes into a 500-word paper, but I can do that another day - it's not due for another 6 days.

Also read a 40-page article, for the same class, which was a set reading for the first week back after break (so, another week and a half away).

And about 40 pages (so far) of this non-Uni book.

So, about 85 pages for the day, including progress on an assignment. :)
 

mrsmig

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Pecked out another 150 words yesterday. At least it was something.
 

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I learned my lesson now. If you’re in ‘the zone’, don’t go on vacation. What a struggle it has been to get back on track! I’m still not there but at least I wrote some words…
I do want to share this nice app (for android) with you guys: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thinkerers.writeometer

Music is something I really need while I’m writing! If you are writing a badass story or just need some tunes to shake of all your frustrations, I would recommend this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC-GflRB0y4

And now I’ll get back to staring at my screen again!
 

Caitlin Black

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Didn't do much homework today (again). But, I have organised my notes for that paper due next week. So hopefully tomorrow I can actually bring myself to write the paper - it's all there, in sections, ready to be done. :)

What I've mostly done today is read 85 pages of this non-Uni book. But I finished it now, so hey, at least there'll be one less distraction tomorrow. :)

I wouldn't have bothered reading a non-Uni text at this point, except that it was loaned to me by a student and I want to get it back to her. I don't have her contact details outside of Uni, so I had a "by the end of this semester" deadline. And yeah - my 2 weeks without classes was the best time to read it. :)
 

Caitlin Black

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It took about 1.5 hours, but I've just turned 2200 words of notes into 700 words of actual assignment text. Hooray!

The only problem is, it's meant to be 500 words. :tongue Eh, I always overwrite in the first draft, and that's never been a major problem before. Going to watch a DVD soon, then maybe get stuck into edits.

The painful part was that I had to answer 4 questions in only 500 words. But, I think I covered the same ground (slight overlaps) in certain questions, so once I've got it all together, I can hopefully reduce in a sensible manner. :)

ETA: Edited out about 70 words, but still have another 100-odd to edit out... I'll probably have to leave a few things out of the final version, though I'm going to make sure any extraneous fluff is gone first. I got rid of most of the fluff just then, I think, but some may have survived the first edit...
 
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VP_Benni

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Sorry to hear about your rat. :(
And I'm sure you will catch up soon. I'm always so impressed with you and Cliff on how y'all are always so on top of your studies.

Sorry to hear about the rat.

Sorry about your rat, Amber.

Thanks, guys. :Hug2: I'm trying to stay positive... One thing I'm a little excited about is now (well, summer... I'm far too busy right now) I can get a pair of little guys like I was hoping to get a year ago. Rats do far better in pairs, but I wasn't able to keep Alice in a pair because she was old when I got her and rather temperamental so introducing her to another rat would have been difficult... I'm hoping to get a pair of dalmatian dumbo rats from a rattery about an hour away from here (so cute!), so at least I have something to look forward to. :)

Alice ate pretty much the entirety of last weekend though, and it did drag me behind a little... I ended up ditching a class on Monday to write a paper, not finishing readings for two lectures, and I had a paper due yesterday that I still haven't even started yet. Thankfully, for the latter I was able to get a 24 hour extension, so I have until 5 pm today to finish it (a few minutes less than 7 hours from now).

The only possible way this week could be any worse than last week is if Alice dies again and eats up another one of my weekends, so... :tongue

~Amber~
 

Caitlin Black

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Added a bit to the paper, then edited out some other things and tightened up the language. Overall, I lost about 80 words, so I'm within about 20-50 words of my goal. Woo!

I think at this point, I just need to tighten the language up as much as I can - surely I can lose 20-50 words of a 550-ish word paper through more concise writing?
 

Caitlin Black

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Read 2 articles for sociology (1 per class), which amounted to about 55 pages read. Also just downloaded 3 more readings that I might use in my creative writing essay.

Not sure what I should work on next...

Editing the paper has a certain urgency, as it's due in 2 days, but it's just sooooo little to edit out that I don't need to feel rushed about it. Working on the essay is less urgent, but still due in 8 days, so I feel like I should work on finding quotes for that (I pretty much have my argument already figured out). Or else I could tackle the humongous pile of readings for my literature review, which has a far-off deadline but which I know will take a long time.

*wishes he had a three-sided coin to toss*

ETA: Decided to make some brief notes on the creative writing essay. I now have a general idea of what has to go into it - but I haven't yet decided in what order things will appear. It's one of those "A=B=C=D" sort of deals, so as long as all the elements are there, I can draw my conclusion - but finding the best way to present it is eluding me right now...

ETA2: And I now have a rough ordering for the essay. I don't think I'll do any more for that today... Probably time to work on the research methods paper, or else chip away at my literature review readings.

ETA3: Read 12 more pages of an article for my literature review, finishing that one, and then 13 pages to finish #2. 2 down, 14 to go! (Unless I find more...) So, that brings me to about 80 pages for the day, plus progress on the essay. Woo!
 
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VP_Benni

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I got a B+/A- on that paper I ditched a class to write at the last minute last Monday. :) So relieving... I was expecting a B- at best. It seems like I thought about it enough before I actually started working on it that it turned out okay in the end.

I am pretty much where I need to be this week, though I am a little concerned about having enough time to do readings for tomorrow's English class. I'll see what I can do. Right now, I have my ceramics class in about fifteen minutes. :D

~Amber~
 

Caitlin Black

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Just submitted my sociology paper. Eek!

Eh, now I can cross that off my to-do list. What I still have to do, though, is:

1. Read several things for my creative writing essay, with an aim for finding quotes and other support material.
2. Write the first draft of said essay.
3. Edit it to death and submit within 6 days from now.
4. Finish off 3 readings for next week when classes resume.
5. Chip away at my literature review readings, making notes etc.

So yes. Many things still to do... I might work on the readings for class right now. Something relatively mindless is in order!

ETA: Just did 2/3 readings for next week's classes. Except I remembered there was a 4th one to do, as well. Plus a 5th one I can only do in the library. Ack! Taking a break from reading now, might go get some groceries. 40 pages read so far today. :)
 
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Becky Black

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At 30k of my 35k target, so a few thousand words ahead. I took full advantage of the four day Easter weekend. :D Going to have a day off today and do a bit of brainstorming on the next part of the story before I continue.
 

Caitlin Black

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Found about 10 quotes that I could use in my essay, from 4 sources, which is more than enough I think. That's all I'll do today, and just write the first draft of it tomorrow. That'll still give me 3 days to edit, which is just fine by me. :)
 

Becky Black

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So I had that day off yesterday and did some brainstorming - and one of the main questions to come out of that was "Where has the cat been for the past 10,000 words?"
 

mrsmig

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Congratulations, Becky!

I'm so far behind that I doubt I'll make my goal. My schedule has been ridiculous - writing only in short bursts, and not getting much more than a couple hundred words down. ::sobs::
 

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I'm desperately behind as well. Good news is that I finally feel like writing again, although I won't have time in the next few days. But at least I have that desire again, and it's back with a vengeance. However, it's not for the story I was supposed to do for Camp. That one would just take too much concentration that I still don't have at this point. I decided I'm just going to work on my YA, which since it's not my regular genre and was just for fun, I'm a lot less concerned about where it goes and am more relaxed about it. My main concern right now is just to try to get back into the writing groove again.
 

Caitlin Black

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Read a 13-page article this morning, which means I have 1 more article to read for next week on my computer, and 1 in the library. Hooray!

The more important part of today was the past hour and a half. After being extremely lazy for most of the day, I finally wrote the first draft of my essay. Woo! :D

It came in at 1354 words, and the word count goal is 1500. It can go 10% either way, so 1350-1650, so technically I'm in range (just) but I'd like to make it closer to the 1500 if I can. I have 3 days to edit it, so yeah... 1354 will definitely not be the final word count. :)

Anyway, the first draft is done, so now I can watch a DVD without feeling guilty about it. :tongue