Back to Reality: Insights from a WPF Newbie

It's Thursday morning and I am still having trouble believing that I have been back from Seton Hill for 4 days. How is that possible? Or perhaps the more interesting question is why do I miss it so much? It's been hard to get back into my regular routine. I work from home and suddenly the house feels to quiet, to confining. I want to be creative and yet my projects feel stilted, the tasks not as interesting as they used to be.  And yet there is so much to do. This never ending list of projects, tasks, chores, and now school work. It doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day.  Still I know that right now, this is my reality. I should embrace it, or at least try to. When I figure out the secret, I will let you know!

For the time being here is what I have already learned.

1. Do all the SHU Critiques prior to the residency. It sucks to have to find time during them to review people's work.
2. Take the day before off for travel. By that I mean, the day orientation starts, at 7 PM, take it off because travel always takes more time than you think. 
3. Take the day after off for recovery. Although to be honest, I wasn't so much exhausted as I was desperate to test out all the new things that I learned. I wanted to dive right into my writing, instead I got to dive right into conference calls and problems that occurred at work during my vacation.  I think part of my frustration stems from not being able to drown in my fictional world for a while.
4. Explain to people what a residency is. They don't know.  Most of my co-workers think I was at a conference, lounging around poolside, and that I was back home by Friday. Even the ones I took the time to explain it to never seem to remember.  Oh well. 

So those are my immediate reflections thus far. Most important for me, I think is taking time off to ease back into to work, to settle into my new routine, and to find that balance. Right now I have no balance and little motivation as a result to do anything, including write or edit. But I have a long weekend coming up and I am hoping that will do the trick.

SHU Day One (or is i zero?)

I made it! I am finally here in Greensburg at Seton Hill University for my very first official residency. Aside from getting completely turned around and finding myself lost before I even set foot on campus, I am having a blast. The rain that seems to have plagued Ohio seems to have skipped past western PA. The sun was shinning, it was hot and humid and just walking from my car to the admin building made me break out into a sweat. Why is it that the college campus is known for having crappy parking.  I love that you can walk everywhere, but at this same time, I just wonder, why don't people just make more parking lots? Maybe it isn't aesthetically pleasing. I mean lets face it. It's a lot cuter to have 4 parking spaces in front of the admin building than say 40.

Okay, whining aside, today was a good day. I've already meant tons of people, from newbies like me, first years, that the actually refer to as the ones, to the 5s who are in their fifth term and I think ready to graduate at the end of the residency. Thus far the faculty is a hoot. The writers are passionate, welcoming and committed to learning and improving their craft. The dorm room is clean, the AC actually works (though it doesn't feel like it until you've been in the building for 30 minutes), and the beds are not too uncomfortable. The only bad thing thus far, there seem to be no trashcans in the suite area, not even in the bathroom. Yet there is a stack of towels placed by the double sinks, I presume so that we can wash our hands, but alas we must carry the dirty, soiled waste around with us until it can be properly discarded.

Note to self: there is actually life in Greensburg. Having family from small Ohio towns and gone to O.U. in Athens I've seen all different types of college towns. The main street and business district is actually a little bigger than I expected. A few miles down the street are all the comforts of home: Walmart, Panera and Starbucks.  I'm going to have to venture back out at some point because I really need to find an alternative pair of shoes, and might want to pick up some milk for the fridge. Can't have my protein shake without milk, though I could but it doesn't taste as good made with water!

I need to go to bed now, maybe read another story and prepare for tomorrow's classes!

Grad School Here I Come!!!

OMG, how did I not post this on my blog?? Sorry my fun loving wanna be writer friends for the unnecessary delay.  The great news is true. I was accepted into the MFA Writing Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University! Yay! I start this June with my first residency and have been working frantically to get everything in order for the trip to PA and going back to school for the first time in seven years (even if it is a low-residency program).  Between financial aid, registration, preparing for the writing critique groups and reading our official program wide book choice (Chosen by Jim Butcher), things have been very busy.

Of course now that I'm in the program I'm crazy nervous! How did I get into this program? What if my writing isn't really good enough? I sometimes feel like this is all just some crazy fluke and my dream of grad school and being a published writer is just that, a crazy dream. Then I remind myself that I was born to tell stories (good or not) and that I can't for the life of me imagine doing anything else with my time.

So yay for grad school. I hope you continue to hang in there with me as I continue this journey for the next three years! And if you have a dream (writing related or not) that you go out there and you find a way to pursue it.

Seton Hill University

So I did it.  I've been thinking about it for years, I mean years, and I finally did it. I made the decision to apply for the MFA Writing in Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University. I am nervous and excited at the same time. As I prepare to submit my application I have moments of sheer panic, when I ask myself what the hell am I doing? Do I seriously think I have the time or the money to do something like this? Am I going to go crazy from sleep deprivation or reality TV withdraw? Hopefully the answer is no. For one thing, I don't sleep as it is. Might as well do something productive with my time. And on the TV, well let's just say that's why I pay the big bucks for a DVR that can record up to 4 shows at a time! I may be able to cut the real housewives, but I am not giving up my teen soaps.  After all I want to write YA. Doesn't that count as research? Hmm...I wonder if I can buy stock in the CW and all their teen angst shows? That would be a good investment given they're as addicting as crack.


My application is almost complete. I've got fantastic friends who have agreed to write glowing letters of recommendation. I've got a polished writing sample. I've got the transcripts ordered from my undergrad program. (BTW--I seriously had no idea what my accumulative GPA was. Do people remember things like that?) All that is left is the Personal Statement. Yes. The dreaded personal statement with no parameters or guiding questions whatsoever. I started a draft last week, before all my traveling set in and rambled on for at least two single spaced pages and never even got to my writing goals! Oh goodness. I guess a little exploratory writing couldn't hurt. I'll have plenty of stuff to cut later, though the delete key just doesn't have the same effect as ripping a piece of paper out of a notebook, balling it up in a crinkly wad and chucking it across the room.  Not that I've ever done that. But I like the dramatics of it all.

So, yes. To answer your unspoken thought, I should be working on that personal statement. I most certainly shouldn't be updating my blog. But oh well. I had five minutes of not sleeping time to use up.