Ah.  Relief.  I presented my MFA thesis paper this morning– Survival in Childhood Memoir: Propelling Story by Building Character.  It was a chore to cut down a 20 page paper to a fluid 15-minute presentation, but I think it turned out well.  Of course I am always my own worst critic, but aren’t we all.  I was uber-impressed by my cohorts as well.  Mixed in with our MFA paper presentations were students in the class behind us (where I was in January), who presented readings from their MA thesis drafts.  Heard some great stuff!!  The readings finish up tomorrow, with another chock-full day.  Can’t wait to hear more.

Then, Monday, the class work begins.  For the MFA at Wilkes, the first and only residency is mornings dedicated to publishing and the business of writing- then a craft class shared by both MA and MFA students- then the afternoon class on the arts-in-education track.  Ultimately after this residency, we in MFA go on to teaching or publishing internships.  At first I was leaning toward teaching, but I feel like with my promotion, sales and marketing background, I am now considering a publishing internship.  We’ll see.  That’s what this week is about.

But all in all, today was about seeing all the friendly faces, most of which I haven’t seen since January.  I am so excited for this week to roll out!!

SCAVENGER HUNT

So, I sit at my iMac writing this blog, but I should really be tending to the torn-off spiral notebook page with random contents.  It’s as if I was sent on a scavenger hunt in my own apartment:  can opener.  hair dryer.  wash cloth.  clothes in dryer.  cough syrup. These are some of the things I forgot in my hasted to unpack a suitcase from a five-day stay at a hotel in Boston to re-pack for a seven-night stay in a dorm at Wilkes.  I live three miles from campus, but I choose to live on campus because it’s just the thing to do– to be near everyone, to bond, to have fun and to be close to both classrooms and barrooms.  : )

I will try to blog more from the residency, but they say the MFA residency is intense once Monday starts.  And WI-FI in the dorm is sketchy.

P.S.  I am actually leading a craft class on Monday on “Social Media for the Anti-Social Writer” where the main focus will be Twitter, but bascially, I will get to use my everyday job to tie it into my passion of creative writing.  So excited about that!