I see no need to take me home, I'm old enough to face the dawn.

[raybear]

The thing about the residency is there's a schedule. A very strict schedule in place that's followed uniformly for the most part. Sure, occasionally lectures start a little late or run over a bit, but never more than 5 minutes for the most part, and there are 10 minute breaks built in between every activity, so it realigns quickly. There is some flexibility, it's not required to go to every event, and in fact this past residency, I attended the fewest activities yet, but I was still busy. I still had a schedule to look at every day and decide, do I want to do to that? If not, how will I spend that hour and a half before it's time to go to the next event? It's all neatly compartmentalized into pockets of time and activities. I get so much done.

My life needs a schedule. Maybe I'll start with a to-do list.

I keep thinking I'm just letting myself recover, catching up on sleep, re-acquainting myself with home, the apartment, my life. But I think I'm really sliding down the slippery slope of not doing anything. I am prone to inertia in both directions. Doing something makes me want to do more somethings. Doing nothing breeds contempt.

The one thing I am still doing is reading. I read all of Jane: A Murder in practically one sitting and will probably re-read it again before writing up my annotation. I'm more than halfway through with Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. I have a big pile of books I'm already excited about and even more coming in the mail. I keep thinking about this quote about people who don't read are no different from people who can't read. I keep thinking about my own writing and wonder if I'll ever be able to just read a book again on its own accord without trying to see through the curtain and learn the mechanics, but then I think that I don't care if that's true.

Time to brave the heat and hit the pavement. Maybe I'll bring a book with me.

Comments

[sharkysmachine.livejournal.com]

I don't go to many workshops. Usually the most I can do in a day is like two, not including the mandatory meetings with advisors. I wished I could get more invested in the workshops but there's always something a little off about them. They'll start with a really amazing premise and then they'll want us to do something weird like primal screaming or setting fire to our manuscripts in a dramatic act of letting go.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

I love the lingo that goes with it. At our program, "workshop" is mandatory and it's the three 3-hour sessions where you get your fiction discussed and discuss other people's fiction. "Lectures" are self-explanatory, except if it's called a "lecture", that means it's 2 hours long and taught by a faculty member aka a mentor. "Seminars" are only 50 minutes long and taught by 'seniors' about to graduate and usually suck, or at least the probability of them sucking is much higher. Except for mine which I'll be teaching in December. Then there are also "readings" and meetings with mentors and mentee lunches and all that stuff. (Mentor=advisor) There's one mentor who often includes things in her lecture involving dressing up as a character or a stuffed animal. I never go to hers.

I love that MFA programs are kinda like cults with their own sets of language. Or Landmark Forum.

[trooper6.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute!

When are you hanging out with me?

[raybear.livejournal.com]

um......september?
i know, i know, it's so sad i was in l.a. and didn't see you again. but this time i was just honest with myself and saw only school people, completely immersed in the residency.

BUT, i'm coming back in september for a 4-5 day visit, purely social, just like i did in march, except this time, you won't be in the middle of qualifying exams!

[trooper6.livejournal.com]

Okay.

Then, it's on!

[riverafire.livejournal.com]

A creative writing prof once recommended that I read The Things They Carried. I enjoyed it much more than I expected. I also found it to be one of the most useful recommendations in terms of the mechanics of good storytelling.