Okay, this is the pattern that has emerged, so I’m going with it. Though it’s now Tuesday, I’ll talk about Monday. And, so on. ☺
Day 3 (Monday):
I woke up early so that I’d have time to practice yoga and write some. I was glad I did this, because the day sprinted away from me from there and I didn’t catch up ‘til 11 PM, when I was wonderfully relaxed (okay, so this may have had something to do with the two Mac ‘n Jacks) and hopeful that I might finally get a good night’s sleep despite the not-so-comfy (understatement) dorm beds.
What did I do all day?

Kent Meyers spoke at a morning meeting on critique. He said many things that resonated with me. I found myself jotting down direct quotations as he spoke, but I think the line that captures the heart of his talk is this advice on critique: “You take it as a kind of creative pressure.”

After the morning meeting, I had just enough time to grab a double tall soy latte before the first of the week’s workshops. These are the sessions in which my peers critique each other’s work with the guidance of two faculty members. I was happy with how this went. My work was not up for critique, so that certainly helped my comfort level, but the group was refreshingly gentle and constructive. I think plain-spoken criticism is usually less successful in groups than it is one-on-one.
All right…it’s almost breakfast, so I’m going to pick this up a bit, though I have a feeling the next entry is going to be a long one…
I attended two classes. The first was a dialogue class with Ann Pancake, from which I took away some nuggets of good advice, the kind you need to keep hearing and hearing and hearing and a few exercises that I will probably adapt and use in my creative writing class this coming school year. (Yes, I’m pilfering lesson plans…) She strongly praised the book Making Shapely Fiction, which I plan to check out.
The second class was a short-short story class with Jess Walter. Walter is funny and unpretentious, which made this class engaging and relaxed. He challenged us to write the “best” short-short and email it to him by Friday for a chance to win–$10 in dining money here at the campus cafeteria.

From there I went to a graduate presentation of a critical paper, dinner, then another great reading by Lia Purpura, Gary Ferguson, and Brent Spencer, then to a bar/coffee shop where the student were gathering for snacks and drinks.

I promise the next entry will have more-more-more and a taste of the results of my attempt at the shor-short challenge.

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone

So it’s technically Monday morning already, but I’ll start with the events of Sunday and then post later about how today goes.

Day 2: Sunday

They’re easing us in here. One peek at the schedule for Monday and it’s clear that the days will be busy. I’ve given up the notion of trying to fit in a run while I’m here. I think I manage waking up just a little early to practice yoga, but the rest, will have to fall by the way-side for now.
I was up by 5:00 and wandered around campus to find a yoga spot. Though it took some time, I did eventually find a great little spot between two trees. As my arms reached up and back from mountain into a warm-up standing forward bend, a dark bird stretched its wings and squawked overhead, streaming past my line of sight. I knew I’d found the right spot. And after 40 or so minutes of practice, including a final rest in Savasana, I was ready to face the day.
Sunday began with another lovely—still slightly awkward as we get to know the program and each other—meal. Then, we had a long break before the events of the afternoon and evening.
Unsure what to do with myself, I walked off campus, wondering what I might find if I just walked around. What I found was this wonderful little nail shop where I followed my inclination to get a pedicure. “Hop-up.” The middle-aged, sharp-featured Asian woman gestured to the pedicure throne. I noticed how her angled bob made her look fun, though I had no idea whether she was or not, as she leaned in to turn the knob on the back of the chair. I leaned in to the massage. Ah…..
In the end, I had clean, neatly trimmed, seductively red toes and a respite from the mild, but persistent anxiety of what is to come, will I fit in, what if…
On the walk back to campus I had to wonder if it was the effect of the pedicure that prompted the leather-faced man in the outdoor tavern coral to lean over the wooden banister, “Excuse me, young lady,” he said, “but you went this way earlier—looking like a dream–and now you’re coming this way. Would you care for a beverage?” Though I declined, I had to think, a dream? and wiggle my toes and toss back my hair.
At 4 PM, there was a reading, then dinner, then some more readings. Kathleen Flenniken, Kevin Clark, Rebecca McClanahan, And Jess Walter read. I enjoyed every one of the readings, and now I’m thinking I’ll hold off on any book buying until I’ve heard more, browsed more. There’s clearly a lot of talent congregated here and that is exciting and intimidating, but mostly marvelously inspiring. Monday, the fun starts. The pace is picking up…

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone

Well, here I am. Alone in a dorm room. I can’t even say, like some here, that it takes me back to my college days. My son was born toward the end of my first quarter of college. In fact, I remember being bummed that I missed the last class of my Poetry Writing course because I was in the hospital giving birth. Not bummed in a strong sense. In most respects, I was so high on life, so overwhelmed with the joy of motherhood, but there was this little part of me that thought, darn, if he’d just waited two more days.
Though it is sort of strange…and well, amazingly quiet here in this room, I’m feeling at home already. It helped to spread my things all over the room right away. I plopped my yoga mat down between the two tiny twin beds (eeny, meeny…) and practiced a short sequence to relax. I mixed up some flow/breath moves with some staying with the pose right up to my own edge, and then just a little over. I brought a flat metal votive holder and a sage candle, which is now lit and burning next to me. I’m walking around barefoot.
There have certainly been some awkward, anxious moments in this day. I mean, wow, I’m so excited to begin, yet so blind as to what is about to unfold for me. It doesn’t matter how many pieces of paper I read detailing my daily schedule over the next eleven or so days, there are still questions, concerns, hopes, and fears rattling around in my brain. Not one person that I interacted with today after hugging my mother and thanking her for the lift, is someone that I knew prior to today. There’s just bound to be some awkwardness in that. The two hour dinner on the patio was wonderful, but we’re all still new, uncertain, warming up for what’s to come and I felt that.
I will be sharing in this blog the specifics of the work—and play—here in my first residency at the Rainier Writer’s Workshop, but today, I’d like to start broader, and dig down and ask myself WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE? It ‘s the sort of question that one must ask occasionally, so as not to wind up lost along the way.

1. I’m here to network. To meet other writers, make new friends, and build relationships that will support my writing life.

2. I’m here to be a better writer. In order to do this, I’ve got to listen, reflect, and practice.

3. I’m here to learn. Whatever I can. Writing specific or otherwise.

That sums it up pretty well. Stay tuned.

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone

Balancing the kind of work to devote time to as a writer is not such a delicate business.
Asanas that require good balance, require focus and attention to the the subtleties of body and mind to hold them steadily for several breaths. If you let your attention drift, or you forget about a limb or part, you’re likely to topple over. Finding balance in writing isn’t that challenging.
A couple of hours ago, I nearly worked myself into a panic, thinking OMG! I’ve hardly written anything new since school let out for summer. I mean, this is supposed to be the time when I write and all I’ve been doing is editing and organizing. I nearly toppled over, until I realized that I still had both feet on the ground.
It’s true, I’ve written hardly anything new for a couple months. However, here’s what I have done:
–organized poems into chapbooks for chapbook project
–finished 4th draft of novel
–wrote synopsis and query for novel
–finished compiling first draft of short story collection
–printed first draft of YA novel for edits
–made some improvements and updates to blog
–read material for Rainier Writer’s Workshop
–set up an online submissions tracker
–submitted some stories and sent out queries to agents for At The Pump

You see, I haven’t written anything new; however, I’m now poised at the starting line, ready to roll. Knowing that I would be starting on my MFA at the beginning of August, bumped getting organized to the top of my priority list. Now, I feel ready for school and ready to move onto the next project with the wonderful freedom of having cleared the path there.

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone

“I started out with nothing in the world but a kind of passion, a driving desire. I don’t know where it came from, and I do not know why-or why I have been so stubborn about it that nothing could deflect me. But this thing between me and my writing is the strongest bond I have ever had-stronger than any bond or any engagement with any human being or with any other work I’ve ever done.” –Katherine Anne Porter

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone