And so begins my first day back in class. Tonight is
American Literature: 1920-Present. We’ll be starting off with Hemmingway. I’m
both nervous and excited, a state which I seem to perpetually be in lately. My
veins feel full of lightning. There are some intimidating names on this reading
list and one heck of a project on the syllabus. Of my academic career this
semester, this class will likely pose the biggest obstacle to my goal of 12
titles in 2015.
It’s a lot of reading and a lot of writing, none of which
can be put to use towards my work, which is the greatest benefit of my Creative
Writing class. I am beyond thrilled to start that on Monday. We won’t be
working in a classroom but at the Wynne Home Art Center. Talk about scenic. The
place is steeped with so much creativity you can practically feel it oozing
from the walls.
I’m hoping to expand the critique circles I started last
semester to 2 evenings a week instead of just one, as much to keep me on target
and working as to make the sessions available to a wider audience. The biggest
complaint last semester was schedule conflicts with classes. I’m hoping that by
putting the circles back to back on a Tuesday-Wednesday schedule that I’ll be
able to counter that and draw in more writers. There’s a surprising amount on
campus just waiting to be discovered and I’ve been privileged to read some
pretty amazing stuff.
And none of this takes into account my assistantship. I’m
going to be one busy guy this semester. But you know what? I think it’s going
to be so worth it.
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Why do you complain about the workload of your MFA program as much as you do? I've read "Unicorn out of Time" and heard reviews of "Hawkridge", and to be frank, you should be taking advantage of the reading load that coincides with your classes, graduate assistantship, and graduate experience instead of continually releasing novellas or novels that could greatly benefit from the knowledge associated with other American authors.
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