Day 10: Up again.

lizshine74by lizshine74

In On writing.

As karma would have it, the facilitator that I griped about in my last post, will be my mentor for the coming academic year. ☺ Oddly enough, I take this as a blessing. Though I may not have left that workshop feeling very good, I am able to recognize good advice and expertise when I see it. Aside from that news, it was a mellower day that left me time to walk and reflect. I did attend a class on storyboarding taught by Brent Spencer that left me with some practical tips for writing.
I also found out that though I go home Wednesday AM, I’m going home to an empty house. The good I can find in this ultimately sad fact (I miss my people) is that I plan to take advantage of this time to write and revise. This whole experience has been mind-blowing. I can’t really describe it, but you’ll see what I mean as I continue to post about this experience which will be ongoing until summer 2011. One more day here. Then I’ll be back to posting from daily life.

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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

lizshine74

lizshine74

Liz Shine teaches high school English, writes, edits, and coaches other writers from her home in Olympia, WA. When she begins to feel overwhelmed by it all, she simply looks up at Mount Rainier in the distance and gets back to work. If that fails, she heads to the ocean. She is a founding editor at Red Dress Press. Her Substack Make Time is her gift to writers, like her, trying to magic time in this crazy, busy world. All of those posts are cross-posted on the blog here. You can see more of her writing at lizshine.com and find her on Instagram {@lizshine.writer} cooking, traveling, and in other ways seeking moments of awe. She has been an active participant in communities of writers since the early 1990s. She’s learned that two things feel truly purpose-driven in life: writing and coaching other writers. In the in between (because one cannot be driving for a purpose every moment), she enjoys looking for wonder and connection. She is a lifelong yoga student, an enthusiastic walker along streets and trails, and an amateur gardener and vegetarian cook. She lives in Olympia, WA. She believes in the power of practice and has been practicing writing since some time in the early 90s when she became an adult in the rain-soaked city of Aberdeen. Writing began with journaling, as a way to understand a confusing, sometimes violent coming-of-age. She writes mostly fiction, some nonfiction, and poetry, and holds an MFA from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writers Workshop. She is a founding editor at Red Dress Press.

3 comments

  1. Liz Shine says:

    kelli and manek,
    Thank you for your words of wisdom and encouragement. 🙂
    I’m home today, but so exhausted from the whole experience, that it’s all I can do to drag myself from room to room, unpacking a few things here and there. Almost slept in ’til noon, and now it’s not quite ten and I’m ready for bed.

  2. Manek Mistry says:

    Hi Liz–

    I’m very excited for you (and little envious)– it sounds great.

    I think critique groups in a class setting can have a lot of edge… it’s a mix of insecurity, ego, and actual insight. Hard to determine which is which until you achieve some distance.

    I look forward to hearing about it.

    Manek

  3. Kelli says:

    L–

    When we had our graduate thesis workshop, I also received “more information than I could possible handle.” I pretty much broke down. It was overwhelming–even the *good* feedback was overwhelming.

    I have never really been a fan of the large workshop and I’m definitely not a fan of the mixed-genre workshop. I have said some stupid stuff in those workshops and have had stupid stuff said to me.

    Just remember, we are all insecure solitary writers and in a room full of other writers we sometimes lose our way. Some of the best work is criticized quite terribly and we have to move past that (esp b/c I really don’t think you can take what is said in these workshops to heart, writers can funny in large groups, nervous and may just be so worried they’re making a good impression, have absolutely no idea what passes from their lips).

    Anyway, I am SO interested in who your mentor is. Initials? MCB would be my guess.

    I’m glad you made it through another residency. Wishing you continued good work.
    be well.

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