You haven't been usurped of power if they had the right to take it

There is little in this world as disappointing as having a great idea, but finding out that it isn’t an original idea. Well, you can’t be robbed of something that was never yours, but nonetheless, I feel robbed.

Being a redhead is part of my identity. There are few of us out there in the world, depending on where you hang your hat. In the United States, we make up somewhere between one and two percent of the population. Globally, about the same. There are places where you can find a higher concentration of redheads, though. Ireland, about eleven percent. Scotland, roughly thirteen. However, the long and the short of it is, redheads are rare, and sometimes when you are a redhead, you feel like the only one.

I was being encouraged by some of the faculty at my university to write a book. I was interested in the way redheads are characterized in literature and pop culture, and I wondered if you could even say marginalized. I was doing some research, reading novels, and looking for quotes from great redheads past. Unfortunately, in my research I discovered that someone else was out there. A professor of English, and a redhead, was out there with the same thoughts in mind, and she put it in writing first.

*sigh* Somewhere out there is a woman who shares my fury, but who has stolen my thunder.

***Update: Aformentioned English professor and I have exchanged some emails. There may be a place for me yet. Stay tuned. ;-)

The drawback to reading a book in a day

In the past I have had a few books come into my possession that I was so enthusiastic about reading that I flew through them in a matter of hours, and a price was always paid for this passion. There is a reason they teach reading comprehension to us as children. When one eagerly devours the words on a page, the things that make that work beautiful are often missed. My current goal in my own writing is to examine each part of my stories on a sentence level to ensure that I always express myself in the best possible way, in each and every line. I’m taking a poetry workshop to assist with this project, but it is proving to be more of a headache than it is worth.

Now the demands of a graduate program in English often require you to read a book in a day, which is frustrating but necessary. I’m trying to make a conscious effort to slow down, savor each sentence like an excellent meal, and copy out lines in particular that I love so that I can enjoy them again. I’m going to try to find a way to post these “regurgitations” on this blog, as well. Until then, I’m off to experience more prose with haste!