Time to Talk About the Conferences

First:

Oh, wow. These conferences really showed me just how badly I want to be a writer, and to study writing at the graduate level. I met absolutely amazing people, wonderful writers, took inspiring classes, learned so much from workshop. And I did two conferences. Let me just tell you, one is enough, and two is a party. People at those conferences know writers are short on time and money, and they give you your bang for your buck (although, some more than others). So, onto the reviews of the conferences.

Indiana University Writers Conference:

This was the first conference I went to, and while I was excited about visiting the place--everything I'd read seemed amazing--I actually didn't expect it to be as intense as it was. This was one of those conferences where whoever registers gets in, so I expected it to be in the style of easy-as-pie, relaxing, and something where I could just feel good about myself. I imagined that, since I'd gotten a merit scholarship to attend, that I'd be one of the best writers there, and that that would make it easy for me. Being in Bloomington, Indiana-- the atmosphere was certainly relaxed and friendly, and the town felt like a mix of little Oberlin and a-little-bigger Stanford, CA--was an amazing and chill and fun experience. But the conference itself was invigorating and challenging.

So, it's true: I do think I was one of the best writers at the conference. That said, a ridiculous amount of people were on the very same level, and I felt challenged in skill and open to new ideas. People who weren't as "good" weren't necessarily bad writers, but instead, were less-experienced writers. They were just starting up, and one could tell that they'd be real great in no time. What I loved the most was the sheer diversity of everyone and their writing. Every piece I laid eyes on felt different, fresh, and originally belonging to the mind of its writer. I think it's very hard to achieve something like this with any group, but that's a strength of Indiana that I've always been excited about: its diversity. The school pushes for diversity more than any other MFA program I've run into, and that makes a huge difference when it comes to creative writing, or creative anything. More than half of the scholarships were diversity-based, and the program is far more affordable than many around: $50 for the application (which is deducted later from classes), $250 for classes ($500 with the workshop, too, which I opted for), and housing is $45-$70 night, depending on where you stay. The tuition of most places I looked at were $1,000--at least. So Indiana creates even more diversity by keeping costs low.

The classes, which ran from 9-2 with a lunch-panel inbetween, were wonderful. However, I skipped a few, just to retain my sanity (since there wasn't a break) and to have time to have work done. But this is a real good thing about a conference, if there's too much to do.


[I'm going to continue writing this soon, but posting this so you won't have to wait.]

current writing and reads, etc.

So, I know it's been a ridiculously long time since my last post. That's probably because I got real burnt out from the two writing conferences I went to (Indiana U and U of Mass-Amherst), and up until last week I couldn't think a bit about writing about writing. However, I got some good headway on some stories, specifically Strange English and The Naked Diner, and wrote a new story, Icarus, which needs a tiny bit of revision, and started another story that's probably kind-of sort-of a lesbian version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and certainly more modern, and shorter. It's probably less interesting of a plot, but, that's not my focus considering that it's a short-short and Tiffany's is a novella. I really need to work on plot, though, so I'm thinking of purchasing a couple spy novels, hopefully something about a heist, a good mystery, and I got some Truman Capote from Amazon for only about $5 a book: Breakfast at Tiffany's, of course, and In Cold Blood. I probably won't be able to get to these new books for a while, though, because of my Honors Project.

I haven't been submitting anywhere recently but that's because I'm real busy from working on The Truce--I'm on about page 50--and I need 100 pages done by the end of the summer. (Technically, by December, but hell, I want to work on editing the first draft and on the critical essay in the fall semester). So, I'm doing about 5 pages a day this July, so I can unwind a tiny bit in August, and do some reading for the project before I delve into really working on the essay in September-November. I want to have something totally concrete by December, so I can put some finishing touches to everything. Of course, The Truce won't be a final draft, but it will be a good one. And that will be pretty cool. I should contact Prof. Faber sometime in late July, to let him know how everything's going. With all this planning, all of this seems to be going very well--especially since reading Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast really gave me a good kind of voice to come from. Benedetti's a very quintessential Uruguayan voice, so it only makes sense that I pick an essential American one. I'm so excited about this, and I need to stop being silly and just work!

As for reading, I decided that I really need to get back to Virginia Woolf, because Paul Lisicky, who read my manuscript at the UMass conference (I promise to talk about the conferences in the next post), told me I should read her because she'd be good for my work. (He said this in response to Strange English). So I'm reading Mrs. Dalloway right now, and it's absolutely wonderful. I'm sure I'll be finished with the book in a couple of days. I'm also reading Camus' L'étranger in the original French, and while I have to look up words every once in a while, it's ver readable. I should keep doing this, so that whenever I pick up French again (I certainly hope to do it at graduate school--many MFA programs require taking language classes), I can really know what I'm doing.

Just a note: Scrivener, the computer program, has done wonders for me. It's just great.