Finals Leading into a Personal Madness

I know writers are supposed to be a little off-center (we talk to imaginary people and are very concerned with their lives), but this week I'm starting to feel a little more off-center than usual. Blame my finals, Tolkien class, and a basic acceleration of my life for that. It's not much of an excuse for me posting a day late, but it's a start.

First off, I finished my short story for my class on mental illness in film and you will NEVER see it. Honestly, it's not that good. You're not missing anything. Stop it. I will have much better stuff in a week or two, so if you're really that hungry for my writing (and I can't imagine you are) it's coming. Finals and final projects are taking up all my free time, even though I really want to get writing/revising my thesis novel before the summer comes in full swing. I have a few finals and graduation is right around the corner. So, naturally, my mind is elsewhere.

I had the wonderful opportunity to have spring break - a nonexistent thing at BYU - which meant tons of fun with my family, sweet Florida weather, and a lot of time to think on the plane there and back. That, combined with finishing The Silmarillion for my Tolkien class, and before I knew it I had started to create a world. I have a story to go with it, but I actually put it on hold while I drew a map and started writing up a dictionary for the language. This is what I mean by being more off-center than normal. I never create the setting before I find my story and characters. I'm basically writing backward right now, and for crying out loud, I'm inventing a fantasy world with a language and history and everything.

(For those of you who care, the world's name is Cartha and it is split into three Kingdoms: Ferrin, Marinesse, and Agintree. My hero is a fifteen-year-old boy named Alder who has grown up believing he's someone he's not. There are elves and dwarves and humans and another race I made up, the fire-people.)

As for the general acceleration of my life, I've been in touch with a couple publishers who just may...I hesitate to say it and jinx this...publish something I wrote. It might not happen, but I'm starting to get the feeling that everything is going to be okay and my dreams are not far from being achieved.

But then again, I am a little off-center this week.