the update

So I haven't posted in forever. So sorry, got caught up in stuff.
First, the semester is FINALLY OVER! Thank all the Gods Humanity has ever worshipped! It was seriously starting to get long and exhausting. But we did learn an aweful lot like, I don't like to work in a team :p We spent a whole day watching everyone's presentations which was really interesting. I only had a very small idea of what everyone was doing so I was really surprised by how good everyone else's projects were.

That said, I thought some of them really weren't viable if it had been a proposal for real. But the ideas behind it were really intriguing. We don't know yet which group has the best proposal. I have no idea when we'll be told but I sure hope it's us in Education :D I think we had a very solid proposal. Maybe not the most exciting but in the real world, it's usually the safest option that makes it. Sad but true.

I think my favourite idea was the Trade Fiction division. They were going to do a range of lit in translation but they would translate best-selling novels from other countries rather than literary fiction which is what most commonly gets translated. It's a great idea but I thought it wasn't very realistic. It demanded a very high investment and the risk would have been really high. Still, I would have loved it if someone did that. Also, their presentation was really funny.

We're now in Dissertation/Major Project time but I have done very little work which is making me very stressed which makes me procrastinate even more. Not a good combination. I wish I had picked a Major Project rather than a dissertation. The schedule is more obvious :) Some people on the course are doing real projects for real publishers as in making actual books that are actually going to be sold in bookshops. It's scary but it sounds so awesome too and you have resources and money to do it. I would recommend to future students that they take one of these on (they are usually advertised by lecturers or they come and give a bit of a presentation and take CVs and stuff). I didn't go for it because I thought it was beyond my abilities but I wish I had now. It also counts as awesome work experience and looks amazing on the ol' CV.

I keep forgetting that the dissertation needs to be bound so I have actually a bit less time than the deadline. I really should be working harder :(

Research Proposals

So, Research Proposals are the devil.

We have to write a 2000w. proposal for our dissertation. Based on this paper, they will assign us a supervisor. The thing is, the proposal assumes you've done some research on the subject already: how are you going to research the topic, what resources do you have/need, what's your schedule, how much money etc. I mean, most of us just decided on a subject at the very last minute.

BTW, mine is "Open Access and Creative Commons: Giving your Work Away for Free" . Working title only :)

So here I am, trying to write a proposal that will be acceptable (it's not graded but if it sucks, they don't let you do a Master's but you can still do a post-grad diploma - that's the course minus the dissertation/major project).

I'm not especially interested in Rights but as the proper Humanities scholar that I am, I'm more interested in the social aspects of this topic as well as how I can think of making it profitable to publishers (because I want a good grade on this project ;D ).

I'm kind of looking forward to writing my dissertation but I'd enjoy it more if I didn't have the mammoth NPD project at the same time, let alone the DMP blog to fiddle and update regularly (as my faithful readers will know, not my strong point) and a looooong essay for Children's. Oh, and work experience, which is getting progressively more boring and routine.

*sigh* I can't wait to finish the course and get a real job.

Oh and, I will try to post something other than me whining. I was thinking maybe a post on the history of Children's lit or something like that, distilled from my class notes. I just have to work up some motivation to do something course related. I need a holiday...

2 weeks in and already hating group work

Well, NPD is a bit disappointment. I swear, two weeks in and I'm already hating it. It's the editorial group project all over again but with more work and people taking it very seriously from the beginning.

I'm really, really tired of group work. You know it's bad when you know from the beginning that you're going to end up hating everyone in your group in a matter of weeks. Add to that a very bossy and unimaginative Managing Director and you have a recipe for a very unhappy Chantal.

I don't know, maybe it won't be so bad this time around. The trick is to work hard from the start and make your voice heard (a bit of a challenge for me) so you don't get left behind (and see people take credit for your work so you end up losing points grrrrr!). I'm taking on Editorial and Design work. I wanted to be Managing Director but everyone voted for this other girl *le sigh*. Oh well, at least I get Design which I really wanted and avoided Finance which I didn't.

The other modules are okay, I've very happy with Children's Publishing, we had a great discussion on Friday about gender in publishing. We discussed how women had gotten into publishing through Children's imprints which the men didn't consider important enough to put someone more "qualified" in so they gave it to the women and from there...we invaded and conquered :D

We also discussed the argument that the reason boys aren't being properly catered to nowadays is because it's women in charge, chosing and making books they enjoy hence, girls will like better. Boys did use to read a lot more in the past when men were in charge. I just say, "well, duh, there was no TV."

I'm still not sure about Digital Media Publishing. I wish the lecturer would take more time to explain the software and the ideas behind ebooks and such and less time digressing. Also, he stumbles over his words a lot and speaks very fast and I just disconnect and start playing on the internet. The project sound like a lot of fun. We have to pick a Public Domain text (or something on Creative Commons) and make it into an ebook with all the bells and whistles we want (i.e. sounds, video, links whatever). I wanted to do the Malleus Maleficarum but it's a very long text so I don't think I could enhance it as much as I want to because it would be a lot of very repetitive work and with NPD to keep me busy and a dissertation to start working on, I don't think I want to take on more work than I have to.

Another project is to have a blog that we'd update regularly. Yes, I have this one but it doesn't count. Also, I could work on my regular posting here, sorry :) My class blog is at: http://imedia.brookes.ac.uk/perez

I'm doing book reviews. We have to have at least 20 posts by the end of the semester and I figured that ought to keep me going. I can definitely write about 20 books. You're welcome to have a look and comment on how bad my reviews are (or the books, whatever)

Dissertation or Major Project Subject

*Sigh*

The time is coming soon when I have to tell the lecturers what the subject of my dissertation or major project will be. I think I want to work on an environment and publishing subject but I need to narrow it down to something. I can't think of any one particular subject I want to concentrate on.

I'm also interested in Open access, YA, fanfiction, podcasts and blogs. If I could just find a subject that joins at least a couple of these interests, it would be great. I wish I had something I was really into then at least, no matter how bad an idea, I'd know what I want to do. There's a girl in the course who wants to do hers on Twilight, which I think is stupid (not the books, as a topic for postgrad work in publishing) but at least she knows what she wants.

I'm starting to get worried. There really isn't that much time to pick a subject for work that will take months to do and will determine whether I get my M.A. or not.

Run over by my own karma?

I think we'll just say this blog is updated randomly throughout the week :) Makes me more spontaneous and loveable, don't you think?

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I am now in La Rochelle and have easier internet access although I'm still stuck with a stupid Azerty keyboard. Whoever thought it was a good idea to invent different keyboards for different sides of the pond should have been charged for hate crimes. I keep typing q instead of a. I haven't thought so much about my typing since I got my first computer back in the Dark Ages (yanno, before iPods).

Still don't have my own 'puter so I haven't been able to do any writing. As usual, I am now full of great ideas for it and no sign of the writer's block I experienced while in Peru and nothing else to do all day except write. I must have been a horrible person in my last life.

Still no word about where I'm going to be living but I did hear back about the Random House scholarship. I didn't get it. Well, I didn't expect to anyway. I'm still waiting on the Hachette Livre one although it'll probably be a no as well. I really feel bad having mom pay for my studies although I insist on repaying her as soon (and as often) as I can. The student loan option is still open although I probably should get around to it sooner rather than later.

Maybe I should sell a kidney online. In the mean time, I'll go see if I can't find opportunities for getting some good karma credits.

Good beginnings

It's 5h30 am in Paris and I haven't slept yet. Stupid jet-lag.

I'm trying to write as quietly as possible because I'm not supposed to be using this computer. It's one of those annoying keyboards with the "a" in the wrong place.

It's all gone wrong from the start. First, I got , my period the morning we left. Oh joy! 24h travelling over the Atlantic with the cramps fro, hell and a lame Jack Black movie about so,e video store. We arrived the day before yesterday to find out that the one hour wait to leave Caracas (Venezuela) was our luggage being left behind. They were supposed to arrive yesterday morning and of course, they didn't. We're hoping to get our things tomorroz now because today everything is closed. It's the 14th of July, Prise de La Bastille. And I don't even get to go see the parade and fireworks. Dammit!

You know what's great? Everything I own is in those suitcases. Including all my papers which I'll need in England. My offer letter from Brookes is in there! We better get our things back or I'm flying to Caracas and kicking some serious butt! Ok, probably not. But there will be tears and cursing.

And they better not have been opened!

Anyway, we still went to visit Notre Dame yesterday. Paris is indeed gorgeous and I'd show you some pictures if only the camera cable weren't in the suitcase. Stuff is expensive but Air France is going to reimburs the cost of the new underwear we bought (sexy stuff *wink*). Today, we're going to Normandy for dad's birthday so we're getting up relatively early so no sleep for me it seems.

I'm gonna leave you now. I'm afraid someone will wake up and realize I'm on the computer (which is not ours). I'll try to post again as soon as I can.

Happy Bastille day.