Winter Blahs

I really haven't been in the mood to post anything lately. I think I got bored of the internet for a while. I haven't even been checking my favorite sites.

I think it's the nasty weather. It hasn't been above 8 degrees whenever I've gone to teach in the morning, and all that makes you want to do is scuttle home, get something hot to drink and wrap up. The water pipes under the literacy trailer have been frozen for 5 days, so if we want to flush the toilet, we have to pack water in from the outside.

It seems as though I've had a project due pretty much every week, and I'm keeping up, but as usual it's right down to the wire. I recruit tutors on my university office hours, and I work all day at the literacy trailer only to come home and work until 11:30 at night getting stuff together for the next day. But I think it's starting to get better. And I like my work, so I'm not really complaining.

I got the opportunity to work smarter, not harder (my favorite motto) coming up this fall semester. I have a collection of short stories that I really want to do something with. At this stage, I've done all the revision that I can come up with, and I don't really even have the time to look at them right now. So I got the guy over the M.A. program to rig things around for me so that I can take a creative writing workshop and still have it count toward my hours. (Creative writers and regular M.A.'s don't mix programs very often.)

I'm of two minds about this. First, I think I need the workshop. I've hit a brick wall in my own ability to really look at my work. I would love to get them into publishable shape. It's been a little dream of mine. Besides, there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to do it on my own time. Working it into my regular course requirements was a tiny bit of manipulative genius. BUT...

There's a reason I didn't come in under the creative writing track. And that's because they're all a bunch of pretentious motherfuckers. Few, if any, want to give feedback on your stuff. They're too busy jerking off on their own work. Our personalities are likely NOT going to mesh. Particularly as I already know at least four of the short fiction writers in the department who would likely be workshopping with me. If it weren't for the instructor, I wouldn't think it would be worth it.

On the other hand, it'll make for some fantastic blogging this fall!

-- Virgil