Yesterday was a good day. Some less-than-good things happened (like my upstairs neighbor having two vigorous hours of sex right over my head and getting two rejections on one story in one day), but that doesn’t mean the day was a waste.
I’ll start with the story rejections, because they happened first. The first was disappointing, but not the end of the world. The second one was a little more disappointing, but again, not the end of the world.
The second rejection came from someone whose work I admire and respect very much. I know this person takes the submissions process seriously, so I can trust that my work was considered carefully. Isn’t that all we can really ask for as writers?
And then there was my workshop. At my school, workshops have two parts, the full class and one-on-one conferences with the instructor every other week. Yesterday was my first meeting of the semester with a new professor. Again, a person whose work I admire and respect will be handling and considering my work, which is very cool. I didn’t have anything new to bring to the conference, so we talked about what I’ve been reading and about the little ideas-that-don’t-want-to-play-nice for my new story (I think we managed to at least get them on speaking terms). I left her office feeling so excited for the semester.
When we met for the actual class, I damn near swooned when I saw how smoothly everything went, and how thoughtful all of the commentary was, and how much more this new professor participated in the discussion. I liked my last workshop, but I loved the conferences. This semester, I think I already love both components of the class. I don’t know if that distinction means anything, but I noticed it right away.
My work isn’t scheduled for critique for another couple of weeks, but I’m looking forward to it. Praise is always nice, but I think I’m really ready to have my butt kicked.
(Oh, and that upstairs neighbor? Totally going to be in a story someday. It would be irresponsible of me not to write about him).
