Monday, July 19, 2010

Eleven Days Older, Eleven Days Newer

I just finished my first residency at Hamline's MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Think of it as writer's bootcamp: 11 days of reading, writing, listening, learning, absorbing, forgetting, panic, and awe. Awesome awe.

I watched students lead lectures on critical elements of writing. I heard successful authors (Wendy Orr, Deborah Wiles, T. A. Barron) speak about their journeys. I oogled unashamedly at a faculty of 14 established authors who graciously signed their books for my collection. I listened to graduates read from their final creative works, who are now Masters in every sense of the word.

The experience left me overwhelmed, inspired, terrified, nostalgic, nauseated, exhausted, etc. Most of all, it left me feeling ready. Ready to take on my writing. Ready to read more carefully, from a writer's perspective. Ready to take real steps toward becoming a real author. So I sit, butt in chair, waiting for my muse...

Now what? Read? Write? Start a blog?

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