So, that hole I fell into yesterday wasn't quite as deep as I suspected. I floated out on a sea of margaritas, bread (bread! I have barely eaten any bread in the past 3 weeks. just cuz.), and good protein (we were hosted to a feast and fell upon it like a pack of wild dogs. I think there were a few packets of peanut sauce and some crumbs in the ( Read more... )

Am trying to pull myself out of the deep hole of despair that I woke up in--at 5 a.m. with a leg cramp and nauseated stomach from last night's pizza thankyouverymuch. Existential crisis? Crisis of confidence? Homesickness? I'm not sure. But whatever it is I'm trying to drag myself out under my own power. I'm ambitious that way. But it doesn't make ( Read more... )

This week's instructor, Robert Crais, has given us short assignments to do this week. We did a set of 20 nouns and 20 verbs having to do with kitchen stuff/food (we find out later what those are for); we did a set of 20 opening lines (we're supposed to pick 3 or 4 of them and write the first 2-3 paragraphs of that story); and, the assignment that ( Read more... )

I was first up yesterday morning for hotseat.

This is sort of momentous because a) first thing Monday morning; b) first crit with a new instructor, Robert Crais. None of us knew what to expect (which will be the same every Monday). Making it even more nerve-wracking was the fact that my story was (is!) a bit of a mess. Turns out that I turned in a ( Read more... )

I didn't blog much this week because, well, I was eaten by a bear. A giant shaggy bear made of words. The worst kind. Stinky. Slobbery. Rather bossy with plot and motivation. Oh, and I also had to read a LOT of my classmates' fabulous stories ( Read more... )

The sleep dep is getting out of hand ( Read more... )

Last weekend was a giant time suck, and I really haven’t had a chance to sit and breathe until right this minute, at nearly 3 in the afternoon on Wednesday.

Saturday: In light of the holiday and the end of our first week here, we decided to have a pot luck dinner. We created “teams” for certain dishes-I was team salad. But I did that thing where I ( Read more... )

I'll back up a bit either later today or tomorrow and fill in Saturday and Sunday and give you the lowdown on how the schedule goes kablooie on those days and what happens on a Clarion weekend. First, I MUST finish a story for Wednesday hotseat, which means that I have to go to press tomorrow afternoon or as early as possible so that everyone has ( Read more... )

I’m actually writing this at 2 a.m. on the 4th. Happy Independence Day and all that. Today was our last class day this week, and it’s a good thing because I-and everyone else-am ready for a day or two off to sleep, do some laundry, take stock of what we learned in the past week, and just recharge for next week. CC Finlay was right when he said ( Read more... )

Got six hours of sleep after a bunch of silliness last night. I holed myself up in my room to finish critting and then went out into the other room to find a “crit party” going on. People were punchy and there was much hilarity about goats, corn, and spray paint. Finally gave in and went to bed at midnight.

Class was blissfully short today-only ( Read more... )