Second to Last HWG Summer 2015 Workshop

Last night was my second to last workshop with the Houston Writers Guild and the Balance of Summer event. I’ve got to say, these have been incredibly fun and rewarding. Last night was geared toward writers who write by the seat of their pants, “pantsers,” if you will, also called Discovery Writers or Gardeners. I’ll share some excerpts from my notes on here later.

 I’ve been fairly confident in my approach to these sessions, but yesterday I was having one heck of an off day. Seriously, I was more absentminded than I’ve been in a long time. I forgot tasks, I left the lights on when I went out, and all manner of little things along the way. Whatever was going on, I couldn’t get my bearings. And then the workshop actually started. Everything went off without a hitch…until I realized that I was blowing through my presentation much too fast and the power point I’d slaved over only lasted us half the time I’d intended it for!

Let me tell you, my stomach just about fell out. I always leave time for discussion at the end, but writers tend to be introverts and a room full of introverts can be very difficult to get engaged in a group conversation. These ladies were amazing. We talked about their books and projects and how what I’d shown in the power point could be applied to help overcome their problems, we clarified ideas and discussed others at greater length. I was still nervous that I’d let everyone down, but three of the attendees told me that my presentation was great and one stayed late to shake my hand and tell me how much my presentation had helped them. I left feeling like a million bucks, a huge step up from the screw-up I’d been feeling like all day.

I am so excited for the next installment! Each of these sessions has been as much a learning experience for me as it has been for those who’ve attended, and knowing that they have benefited makes me feel like you would not believe. Honestly, I’m getting a little teary writing this.

The next session is August 25^th and will focus on how to help Plotters (or Architects as George RR Martin calls them) bring a sense of the organic to their work. This is going to be bitter sweet for me. This summer has been great and I’m sorry to see it end—the Houston Writers Guild has been an absolute pleasure to work with and I look forward to working with them again in the future. For now though, I’ve got two books to finish getting ready for publication, a wedding to get ready for, and a new semester at SHSU. Life is moving fast!

If you’re interested in participating in my last workshop, here is the link to the Houston Writers Guild’s website: http://www.houstonwritersguild.org/balancer-of-summer-series-with-julian-kindred/

Breaking in the Grad Student: Week 1

I’m a Grad student!

Before anything else is said, I want to give a special thanks to the following people for writing me letters of recommendation.

• Stephanie Evans
• Jim Jackson
• Edward Jensen
• Darynda Jones
• Jack Parker
• Stella Riley 

As of today, I’ve been a grad student for a full week, attended each of my classes at least once, and am pretty sure I’ve still got that “new grad student smell”. I’ve been assured it will soon be replaced by the “tired, cynical, and stressed out grad student smell” but I’m going to do my best to avoid that by keeping well organized and staying ahead of my workload. Or by purchasing stronger deodorant.

Even as I get my feet under me, I can’t help but feel a little like a newborn kitten with my eyes still shut, trying to feel my way around. I took four classes, adding up to a total of twelve hours thinking that would be a light load like undergrad. Apparently I’m an idiot, and even nine hours is uncommon. But having been to all my classes, I think I’m going to be alright with this semester’s workload (knock on wood).

My classes by the way, are…

• Literary Criticism and Theory
• Practicum Publishing and Editing
• Creative Writing: Poetry
• American Literature: 1860-1920

So far everyone’s been incredibly friendly and helpful, and there’s been no shortage of assigned reading material. I forget how my conversation went with a fellow student went exactly, but it was something along the lines of “with all those courses, aren’t you going to be reading about a novel a week?”

It wasn’t the question so much as the tone of incredulity that struck me. Doesn’t every grad student read that much? I read that much for pleasure on just about any given week anyways. Admittedly that’s not the same as reading for papers and deep discussion, but why can’t this be pleasurable too? I’m exactly where I want to be and so far the reading I’ve been assigned has been fascinating, even fun, and sparked a few ideas for essays I may end up sharing as blog posts since I’m unlikely to ever have cause to write them for my classes.

I’ll definitely be putting up some of my poetry from the corresponding class. Heck, maybe I can get some people here to critique, edit and make suggestions! Of course, that demands followers but I can hope right? 

Blog posts, facebook updates, and tweets should be returning to their (ir)regular schedule soon, or at least be FAR more frequent than they've been of late!