Thursday, January 15, 2015

First Day Back in School

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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1 comment:

  1. 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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