Monday, January 14, 2008

Back To The Grind

Well, it has begun. I don't know what it is about having to spend _one_ hour in class that is so exhausting, but I'm wiped. I do have a three hour class tonight, though... so I guess you could say I'm reserving my strength for later by taking my lil' nap just now. And if you didn't know, we law students are an extremely lucky lot--yes, we REALLY have homework for the first day of class. I had over 50 pages of dry text to read for that one hour class. My brain feels out of shape and not at all happy about having to get back in gear. Especially when all I want to do is work on FI! Don't they know I have better things to do? (g)

Anyway, I'm taking a real fluff, third year course this semester. Law & Literature. (VBG) I've never read any of his books, but it's taught by Richard Dooling. Anyone heard of him? He's an Omaha native, and the cover of his book BRAIN STORM is touted as:

"Brilliant...A Superior tale, a thinking man's John Grisham thriller."
--Richard Bernstein, The New York Times

Hmmm, sounds impressive. How's come I've never heard of him? (g) Oh wait, I've never read a John Grisham either... though I bought several a year or so ago. Anyway, should be interesting. I'm a tad nervous that it'll come out that I'm a writer. I have a lot of friends who like to point that out to professors...and well, what a prime opportunity. I wouldn't want him to draw me into some intellectual convo about symbolism and underlying themes in today's fiction. *WIDE TERRIFIED EYES* Dude, I just want to tell stories... that stuff does a complete fly-by on me.

We're reading five novels...some Plato...one by Dooling...eee. LOL. Never read any of them, so it could get either really interesting, or extremely dry and boring. Time will tell.

I didn't quite reach my goals over break, (i.e. a finished draft of FI) but I'm working on it.

I'm very proud to say that although I didn't get much work accomplished yesterday, I did manage to personally sell a copy of THE SPYMASTER'S LADY to one of my aunt's friends. She had me write down the title and Jo's complete name and said she'd drop by and pick it up today. WOOHOO. And the contest is going strong! I have over a dozen entries already and see I have links coming in from all over the place -- The Smart Bitches, several smaller review blogs, another writer's forum which I can't recall right now. It's so much fun to see the word spread. Thank you for everyone who's participating. Jo is super busy with her next book, so it's nice so many are coming out in her support. Let's keep it going. If you have interested friends, tell them to stop by and jump into the contest.

Okay, I have about 3 hours before my class begins. I'm going to try and get in at least _some_ writing.

4 comments:

Josephine Damian said...

Ooooh, Jen! You are my hero! A writer and a law student! And a blogger and a book reviwer! Just like me! (ok, ok, I'm not in law school, just grad school).

How in the world do you find the time?

I feel your pain with the back-to-the-semester blues. I too had homework due on the first day of class, but did not received the textbook until the day after. In class, the prof admitted that the book was awful! Is it too much to ask that a prof read a book before making us do so? Ugh!

And yes, other profs have assigned their own books as required texts. They always quip it's the only sales they get.

A law and lit class? Cool. I thought the Richard North Patterson legal thrillers were the best. Have you read him?

Susan Adrian said...

Yeah, my classes started today too. :( I thought about you.

Jennifer Hendren said...

Josephine,

LOL, why thank you. :) My secret: I wing it -- a lot.

And ugh, sorry to hear you're feeling the back to school blues. I hope you're nearing the end, too. I'm so excited to get to May, I can't contain myself. Picked up my graduate application first thing yesterday. (g)

And no, never read any of Patterson's books--or really any legal thrillers, to be perfectly honest. Own several, just never gotten around to them. (g) I have read a couple of James Patterson's books -- the Murder Club series, I think it's called. That's the closest I've gotten. :)

Jen

Jennifer Hendren said...

Susan,

ACK! Sorry! :) How much longer do you have?

Jen