Finding Larth

Yes, Larth, as in the Etruscan equivalent to the Scandinavian name Lars.

I have been negligent of my blog here on WF for the past week or so because Tuesday I learned the writing project I thought was due on the 23rd, was actually due on the 16th. Surprise! So I have been writing feverishly, researching ravenously, and managed to pull a 15 page tragic love story out of my creative pool. But then, what's this? My professor only wanted the story to be 5-6 pages? What nonsense is this? No good story is less than 10 pages! (In my opinion, anyway, and that is with it being double spaced.)

So I edit, rearrange, reword, and restructure segments, sentences, and paragraphs and succeed in making a lovely 9,000 word story into a sufficient 5,000. But oh- wait. It is still too long? By a thousand words, you say? Crap.

Editing again and again, rewording and revising sentences and structure again and again until I am sick unto death of my own story and wish I had never hatched the idea in the first place- alas! 4,700 words and my story is within 9 pages, and 9, my friends, is wholly acceptable to my professor. Why, say you? When 5-6 pages was her first requirement? Because I complained I could not retain historical accuracy of the story, the characters, and the artifacts I incorporated into it, and keep it the shortened length she first required.

No one appreciates an overachiever who, when turning in their work, falls short of the professors expectations for what an overachiever should submit. However, the last project I turned in was supposed to be a slide show containing 45-55 slides including works and sources cited and title page. What I turned in was 33 slides with two slides of sources and works cited, a title page, and a table of contents. So well was my research, she allowed it. And now, she expects greatness from any project I turn in.

Am I flattered? Yes. Does it stress me out, to have the bar set so high, just for me, in a class where everyone else seems to do the bare minimum? No. Because I enjoy research. I enjoy reading. And because, simply, I like to hear myself talk via word documents if I can help it, and when the standard is set so high for word and power point documents, I get in my zone.

But now my project is over; my research into the daily lives and religious practices of the Etruscan civilization is over, and my brief but lovely time with my characters Ramtha, Larth, and Caile, are over. I'm actually sad about this, despite my illness over editing the story so many times.

What's next? British Literature! Huzzah!