Tests of Endurance

[thebadmamajama]

I just took the my oral qualifying exams for my French Master's...don't we all love being grilled in front of a jury of Yale and Princeton-ites in a foreign language...the adrenaline was running, I was speaking a mile a minute (of NONSENSE) but there's something about accomplishing the seemingly "unaccomplishable" that allows us to feel more deeply human and inhuman than anything else. What are some of those moments of testing for you that have made you step back and just say, "WOW." (?)

 

[AmateisGal]

Along those same lines, when I was defending my master's thesis in history. Whew. I was glad when that was over, but I also felt pretty darn proud of myself.

 

[TessTrueheart]

I'm in a two year creative writing program at university and I just finished my first novel. I look at that pile of paper and think "WOW, I did it!". Amazing feeling.

And congrats on the exam!

 

[AmateisGal]

I'm in a two year creative writing program at university and I just finished my first novel. I look at that pile of paper and think "WOW, I did it!". Amazing feeling.

And congrats on the exam!

Congrats, Tess! That truly is an accomplishment. I took a picture of mine when I finished it, just so I could remember how it looked.

 

[AmateisGal]

I just took the my oral qualifying exams for my French Master's...don't we all love being grilled in front of a jury of Yale and Princeton-ites in a foreign language...the adrenaline was running, I was speaking a mile a minute (of NONSENSE) but there's something about accomplishing the seemingly "unaccomplishable" that allows us to feel more deeply human and inhuman than anything else. What are some of those moments of testing for you that have made you step back and just say, "WOW." (?)

I am in awe of those who can speak French. I knew a few people in the master's program in French when I was in grad school and they always spoke French to each other. I'm horrible at learning foreign languages, but wish I could learn French and German. Congrats on your degree!

 

[thebadmamajama]

Congrats to all of you, too! This is actually a test to see if they'll allow me to continue on to year 2, so there will be even more fun once the actual 150-book comps come around. Ah. It's good to know there are others who withstood the hell!

 

[Josephine]

Giving birth, with no drugs, to a 10 lb 3 oz baby .

Congrats, by the way!

 

[Feng_Li]

Taking a linguistics written exam and a history oral exam in German. Compared to that, the teacher certification exam for German was a breeze.

In terms of physical endurance, hiking around Switzerland in the winter is probably at the top of my list.

 

[pgoat]

Guess you can say I cave under pressure.....

Giving birth, with no drugs, to a 10 lb 3 oz baby .

That must take the cake. I also imagine those soldiers who had to take Normandy on D-Day had a pretty tough test.

I am always impressed with people taking and passing these exams, but I never fret that much with school myself. Personally I was always more nervous coming to bat with the bases loaded and the game on the line. I should mention I usually do just fine in academic settings, but while I've batted .400 with the bases empty, I am a sure 'out' in the clutch (as in, no RBIs)

 

[Diamondback]

Suffering a whole room packed full of dry-drunks for three hours when you have supersensitive hearing like mine. (These guys can drown out an entire squadron of fighters!)

 

[TessTrueheart]

Thank you AmateisGal! I think I will take a lot of pictures!

 

[Spatterdash]

Finishing a novel and quitting smoking. Quitting was harder. I was terrified I was gonna die in a fiery auto accident and fail to take someone with me.

Funny, the novel was a lot more difficult than anything college ever expected of me. I guess making something publically appealing that came from your imagination is more trying when compared to the pre-conceived concepts academia throws at you.

Now the trick is finding a publisher who agrees that I have something marketable while preparing for the first question that publisher will ask...
"So, what's next?"
Agents ask the same thing, so no dodging this one.

 

[AmateisGal]

Finishing a novel and quitting smoking. Quitting was harder. I was terrified I was gonna die in a fiery auto accident and fail to take someone with me.

Funny, the novel was a lot more difficult than anything college ever expected of me. I guess making something publically appealing that came from your imagination is more trying when compared to the pre-conceived concepts academia throws at you.

Now the trick is finding a publisher who agrees that I have something marketable while preparing for the first question that publisher will ask...
"So, what's next?"
Agents ask the same thing, so no dodging this one.

I'm in the midst of the great agent search myself, and it's NOT fun. Finding one that will take you on is hard enough, but finding one that "fits" you is even harder.

 

[thebadmamajama]

Crazy, I've actually been considering trying to find an agent myself yet have no idea how to go about it (academia after the master's, i've just discovered, isn't right for me--who'd a thunk that literature would be so cutthroat!?). Any tips? fftopic:

 

[Ada Veen]

felicitations, malmere...um......jama?
My french is not so good lol