On Learning New Things

September 20, 2026September 20, 2026 Kara JorgensenLeave a comment

I am an eternal student. Whether it’s doing research for my books or learning new crafts, I am always learning. One thing my partner and I have been talking about a lot lately is eventually trying to make a video game together. My partner is really talented as an artist, and she knows some coding. I would obviously love to help build and write for the game. In order to not be semi dead weight, I decided to learn coding.

For the first time in a long time, I ended up with learning paralysis. Code for some reason felt very intimidating. Initially, my hesitation was that I couldn’t conceptualize how the art part of the game got combined with the lines of code to create what we all play. That hang up caused me to stall out and procrastinate for about a week. A few Youtube videos later, it finally clicked that games were basically a puppet theater that the code manipulated while the player is the only “human” who moves independently. I felt slightly silly for not realizing that sooner, but brains get hung up on weird things. I have a tendency to get stuck on abstract concepts that I can’t link to things I can see. It’s the same reason why I did well in math until I hit calculus where everything felt so abstract that I couldn’t ground concepts in reality enough to do well.

With this exciting discovery fueling me, I immediately starting doing tutorials on GDscript (the code that the game engine Godot uses) and hit the wall again.

While I do Duolingo daily to encourage my mom to keep learning Spanish (and to exercise my own brain), I do not enjoy the learning style that tosses you into learning concepts without context. One of my favorite parts of learning languages in school was the charts that explained verb tenses, pronouns, grammatical rules, etc. I don’t tend to organically pick that kind of stuff up. I just get frustrated when I don’t understand the rationale behind things. I feel like if I can’t put all the pieces together based on what you taught me, you’re doing a bad job. Assuming a student is going to organically pick up anything is a foolhardy endeavor because most won’t, and if you tell people they’re wrong and they get repeatedly frustrated, they quit. I got very frustrated that I was being expected to intuit things that made no sense without added context. At one point, I actually got my partner to look at an answer and explain to me what I wasn’t understanding or missing. Even she wasn’t sure at first, but when we talked it out, we figured out that what I was thinking were coordinates on a grid were actually the slope of the movement.

If you are teaching a concept and don’t explain the various pieces to your student, you are setting them up for confusion and failure. This is a hill I will die on. More information always trumps less.

I do a lot of crafting and have a high frustration tolerance, but even I walked away from this for a day or two because I was so annoyed. After doing some Googling, I found out that GDscript is very similar to another coding language called Python, so I looked into that instead as I figured it was older and would have a lot more information on it. I hit pay dirt. Something I’ve found as an eternal student is that there is a teacher for every student. You just have to find them. Several Youtube videos later, I found someone whose style jived with my brain. His approach is straightforward, detailed, and he spends time breaking down what the various pieces do in terms of syntax and grammar.

After an hour of following along with his video, I was able to create a basic little chatbot, and while it was something small and silly, I left feeling accomplished. That is what learning should feel like. Could I build an app? No. Do I feel like I walked away with comprehensive basic knowledge that will act as a foundation for other things I learn? Yes, and that’s the important part.

What I’ve found helps me a lot when I’m trying to learn new things is planning out that learning. The same guy has a rather cheap beginner course (under $50 with a coupon) with like 30+ hours of information. I plan to watch a few more of his beginner videos on Youtube and take notes until I can take the course. I only have 90 days to complete the course, so I want to make sure I clear my to-do list of a few things first as I’m currently reading/giving feedback on a past student’s novel and have to finish reading a book I need to blurb. By the end of the course, I should have a rudimentary understanding of Python and be able to make some basic things. If I like it and think it’s useful, I can branch out to the more advanced course and go from there.

I know someone out there is reading this and going, “Why not just use AI and vibe code?” Because I don’t want to be dependent upon something else, especially something I despise. And more importantly, I want to learn how to do this myself, so I can expand my skills, make new stuff, and move closer to my goal of building a game with my partner. I can’t do that if I don’t learn the basics and grow from there.

Learning is something I enjoy. I like expanding my frustration tolerance and working through problems rather than relying on someone else or giving up the second I hit a roadblock. Something I stress to my students, especially my college freshmen, is that frustration and doubting your skills is a part of learning. I remember sitting in my first few weeks of grad school classes worrying I was the stupidest one in the class because I was psyching myself out. Once I grew accustomed to new terminology and the ebb and flow of the classes, I realized I was fine. If I wasn’t willing to sit with that discomfort, I could have missed out on something that has been really important to my growth. It’s the same with learning skills on your own. If you’re unwilling to deal with frustration and discomfort, you’ll never grow. I wish that more people would understand that and embrace that instead of turning to AI or simply giving up.

Errant Plots and Acccepted Proposals

April 29, 2015 Kara Jorgensen3 Comments

The other day I received an email from the director of my graduate program that my thesis proposal was approved! Not only that, but she wanted the file to use as an example of what a proper MFA thesis proposal should look like. I beamed with pride for most of the day, and I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. In the fall, I will officially begin my thesis and finish up with my MFA in May of 2016, which really means I’ll be going into book three full force as soon as possible.

Part of the reason I hoped my proposal would pass in one shot is that I am trying very hard to separate myself from what I wrote in it about book three. For the professors to approve your proposal, you need to show that you have your shit together and are really prepared to take on a big project and actually finish it, so you have to provide a lot of info about your work even if you really haven’t thought it through yet. It’s all subject to change (thank god), but I had to do quite a bit of cooking up of ideas in a brief amount of time. Now, my very anal analytical side wants to take all of my half-assed ideas from the proposal and check them off, but I know it won’t turn out well. The ideas I wrote down aren’t forming the story I would like to read.

Because of this, I know I need to take a step back and re-evaluate my ideas and where the story is going. It’s been on the backburner for about three weeks while I was working on classwork, but now that the semester is wrapping up, I can finally go back to it. It feels great to be able to finally go back to my writing after a self-imposed hiatus, yet it’s daunting knowing that I need to figure this out before moving forward.

My writing style is somewhere between plotting and flying by the seat of my pants. I don’t like to plot the whole thing out, but I need to know where I’m going before I begin writing a chapter. This system gives me structure but allows for fluidity and for my characters to stretch their legs a bit.

At the moment, I feel a bit lost with The Earl and the Artificer. I have a few chapters done, which are shaping up to be a good foundation, but it feels like an insurmountable task to figure out where I’m going. The good thing is, I say this every time I begin working on a new book and by 10,000 words in, I’m usually fairly on my feet. I don’t think the anxiety goes away until I’m two chapters away from finishing it.

I’m also back to reading historical fiction again, which always seems to help. I’ll be outlining and diagramming and creating monstrosities that look more like summoning circles than outlines, but now that my proposal has been accepted and my final paper is well under way, I should be able to finally get into book three. I plan to keep everyone posted on the writing process and what I discover along the way with research or writing or myself, but first and foremost, I must write.

Writing

The Editor’s Eye for the Writing Guy

August 18, 2014August 19, 2014 Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

Whenever I tell other writers that I have written and published a novel, they often ask me about the editing process. For many, editing seems like a daunting and seemingly insurmountable task, but with the help of a beta reader or two, the process can become much easier. I would like to share my process. It is far from perfect, but it’s what I usually do and what has worked for me.

There are certain things that are needed before going into the editing process: a finished novel, an open mind, a critical eye, and the drive to get it done.

A finished novel is fairly self-explanatory. I suggest it being finished only because I can sit and edit constantly and not move forward for months. If you think of things you know need to be fixed, make a list and keep it somewhere safe where you won’t lose it (been there, lost several).
Many writers see their novels are their children. No one wants to hear their children being criticized, but when it is in their best interest, you may want to listen to your beta readers and what they suggest. You don’t need to always listen to what they say, sometimes it won’t work or it’s a personal preference, but be open about fixing things. Try not to get too attached to a certain phrase or metaphor. In the editing process, as much as you love that line, you may need to cut it or tweak it. I clung to an analogy comparing England to dingy mashed potatoes but realized the entire chapter needed to be reworked and obviously, the potatoes had to go.
A critical eye goes hand-in-hand with an open-mind. You need to be able to look at your own work and see the problems in it. Where are you lacking? Where is there too much? If you wrote the story over a long period of time, did you style change from beginning to end? There is no way that after a first or second draft your book is ready for publishing. Look harder for mistakes and issues that need tinkering with. One cannot always rely on their beta readers to find every issue, so being self-critical will definitely help when perfecting it before it heads into your readers’ hands. As a reader, what would make you annoyed or want to change?
Seeing a stack of two hundred and fifty pages laying on your table can be incredibly daunting. How will you get through all of it with all your other life commitments? My suggestion is to set a manageable goal for yourself each day or each week. You won’t always accomplish it and other days you will exceed it, but just try to press on and get through it. if you are having a day where you reread the same line over and over, step back and do something else for a while or try reading a different chapter. No one said you had to edit the book cover to cover, you can skip around.

My process for editing, can be a long one and a repetitive one to many, but it’s like a rock tumbler. Each revolution through the story polishes it more and more.

My first editing process (if I hold off until the end of the book) is making the edits I have on my list, things I know need to be fixed, which can include changing characters’ ages or descriptions, changes in continuity or style, passages you have been eying since after you wrote them. I may go through this process more than once just to make sure I got everything. **As a tip, I like to print out my entire manuscript, then make changes with a red pen by writing in the margins or attaching pieces of paper where I have rewritten chunks of a chapter or scene. If you tend to miss your changes, go over the pen with a highlighter (I prefer pink) to make the changes stand out.
Leave your draft alone for a while. Putting away, get some distance from it and make it so you don’t recite the memorized phrases instead of actually reading them. If you haven’t given your book to a few people to read, you should do so now. Their feedback will hopefully be helpful during your next session. Make sure they will give you honest feedback and most importantly, they will actually do it. Explain to them what you want them to look out for and be specific, write it down even.
Read your story, make notes on areas that need correcting or altering and if any areas are boring. As you go through and tweak things (mine tends to be wording and adding more since I’m an underwriter. If you are an over-writer, you may need to prune your manuscript), highlight them and mark them in a distinctive pen on your manuscript. Take the feedback from your beta readers and see what they suggest. If it should be changed, do it now. If you are unsure, save it and wait until you are all done and reread the story again to decide if it needs to be done. Typically, I go through this editing phase about twice. When doing historical fiction or anything that needs research, make sure you fact-check what you are unsure of still.
Leave it for a week or two. Now, reread it. This is going to (hopefully) be lighter editing. Read it aloud. Are there words that need changing? Is any of the dialogue stiff or awkward? Sometimes it may be beneficial to have someone read it to you in order to catch awkward parts that sound fine in your head, and during the reading process, you may also come across typos.
The final stretch! I call this typo time. I was a writing tutor, so I am familiar with most rules of grammar and can correct most of my work (I still need to look up lay v. lie and a few other rules that always need refreshing). If you have certain rules you know trip you up, make an index card of the rule to keep with you while you go through it again, but if you would rather have someone else deal with grammar, I would suggest finding a proofreader online or a friend who is willing to take a look at it. I go over my work with a fine-tooth comb and often hand it off to my mom who is good at catching mistakes I miss. At this point, you are done fiddling with your text hopefully. Word changes may still occur, but remember the point is fine polishing, not overhauling. If you are still unhappy with it, I would go back to step 3 or 4 for another round or two of edits.

The point of this post is hopefully to empower you to be your own editor. The input of others is important, but first and foremost, you should be writing a book you want to read. Take the process into your hands and be self-critical without being self-defeating. It is your work, your book, and while an editor is a great tool, you should ultimately be responsible for perfecting your writing as it is a process through which you will grow to understand your flaws and what you need to do to become an even better writer.