Jennifer Trautwig

Here is my workshop piece. I hope the link works, Download file. It is a short story entitled Over the Rainbow. Enjoy!

Have you ever had the joy of running with a dog? Okay . . . maybe joy is a bit silly sounding. . . Let me see if I can come up with a better word . . .

I couldn't decide whether I was enjoying the experience or whether it was something akin to a dentist visit--a necessary evil that results in some semblance of a positive.

This is what I wrote in class . . . only a bit expanded upon. As unbelievable as some of the things I've written about may be, they are all true . . . they could easily be lies, in fact I wish some of them were.

I guess my point in this was that, as much as I hate to admit it (because I didn't particularly care about Slater), most of what was written in Lying could be true and the average reader wouldn't necessarily be able to tell the difference. It doesn't make me like her anymore. . . or feel any more sympathetic . . . it's just that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. . .

I was driving home the other day and suddenly found myself singing along to a song that was totally alien to me. Or at least I thought it was totally alien . . .

I’ve recently updated my email account. Apparently Hotmail and Msn are now Hotmail Live and Msn Live. I’m not quite sure what that does for either one—except to change the look of each of the pages, but it has made my life one step closer to hell.

Here is my new and improved review--

was interesting. I'd like to have something more impressive to say there. . . but somehow interesting is the best I can come up with . . .

It looks like I may be getting a leave replacement position. I’ve been subbing in a high school for the last week and it looks like the teacher will not be back this year. What a spectacular opportunity for me . . . I love it. But I’m beginning to wonder about the psyche of the average high school senior—Do they really hate absolutely everything? I swear . . . I do something good, they complain. I do something bad, they complain. There is truly no way of pleasing them . . . so I begin to wonder: Do I just give up trying? I know the logical answer is no . . . but . . .

Simply put . . . I am sticking with my short story Over the Rainbow I haven't been able to put much thought into it. Well, that's not quite right. I like to say I'm stewing. It's all happening beneath the surface. I am taking into account all of the suggestions and comments made by the class--working on those that I thought had merit and will continue to consider some of the others . . . I feel like some might change my core story a bit too much though . . .

Motivating question. . . hmmm. . . I guess I am most interested in the whole concept of reality . . . what is it? Can we create our own reality? Who's to say that one persons alternate reality is really insanity . . . perhaps some people are better off left to their created reality . . . The whole issue of color/monochrome is very important to my story but I'm not sure I want that to be the main focus. I mean, clearly, it is a huge part of my story but I'd like my story to mean so much more than that. In the end I think I'd like the focus to be not on this fear but rather on the morality of curing the insane (if that makes any sense). After all, who is to say which reality is best for someone trapped between two worlds . . .

I guess we'll see where it goes. . .

To be perfectly honest, I've never been particularly crazy about Keats . . . its funny how one's tastes change.

are kind of at a standstill. . . Life is way too crazy busy for me right now and I feel like I am mentally exhausted. I sit down and begin contemplating my story only to end up feeling like I am trying to force the issue. Needless to say, that's not helping. I have begun trying to create greater clarity and switching up some sentence structure. Too much though at times and I end up feeling like I am not remaining true to the writer I am. I think my style tends to be more wordy with clauses and every time I try to simplify, I end up feeling like I'm dumbing a sentence down or something. . . I don't know. I'm not sure my creativity is flowing very well right now and there just doesn't seem to be the time to let it come naturally. . . :(