Great weekend for Writing

I shouldn't have skipped Shakespeare on friday but I don't think(or at least I hope I haven't) I have too many absences yet. I actually go to that class more religiously then any of the others. Here's how it all went down and the main things I learned/gleaned from my experiences with Aggiecon:

Wednesday night: My first experience with the science fiction/fantasy club. Interesting to say the least. I admit that I'm at least equally as nerdy as most of them however I'm a lot more socially functional. But these are the audience I'll be writing for. I need to learn to get them to respect me and interact with them. However I'm not sure I want to join Cepheid Variables (that's what the club is called). The con was actually run horribly for an event. Very unorganized, from being in a sorority and running a huge scale event myself, it could have been done a lot better. The guests should have been treated a lot better as well. I digress.

Thursday afternoon/night: There was a writing workshop by Jeff Turner that started at 3. We ended up going until 8 and I learned SOOO much. The main advice I'm going to carry out asap was to finish my work. Then go back and edit it. What he said made a lot of sense. That after you finish it the sense of accomplishment will bolster your spirits. He thinks actually getting to the end is the most important part because over editing yourself before you get to the end is what he thinks keeps a lot of writers from ever finishing anything. I know there's a lot of stuff that needs to be added but I think I'll feel better when it's actually finished. THEN go back and add the stuff that needs to be added. ALSO! Jeff offered to read my story but I wasn't able to talk to him again. So I'm going to try and find his email. He made me feel a lot better about my chances for odyssey but also gave me a lot to think about. I think I'll see if I actually get in first then figure out whether I want to go or not.

Friday: I went to a few panels. Todd McCafferey said he wants a signed copy of my first book. haha. I think he was just being nice but it did its job.
I hate to say this but I definitely think being around these people has boosted my self esteem. And I think me being attractive will work to my advantage. I was late to one of the panels on saturday and one of the guy writers was like, "it's ok she's cute we'll let it slide." and I actually really tried to downplay myself. I wore only t-shirts and jeans all three days. lol. I digress but I just found it an interesting observation that I can perhaps use this to my advantage in the future when making connections. There was a panel on Mythical Creatures that was interesting. Not much more interesting happened Friday. Oh I forgot there was also an interesting panel on archetypes vs. stereotypes which I found very fascinating. Darlene Bolesny was on that one too.

Saturday morning/afternoon: I went to a bunch of panels the first one was How the Publishing Industry works and they gave a lot of good advice. I think I also really surprised them when at the end I asked if they thought what they write is of literary value. It was something that occurred to me on friday. Because I mean I want to spend my life's work (criticism-wise) on trying to convince people that fantasy writing is important to the cannon. But I wondered whether the writers themselves thought about it. They were all really impressed with the question and pleasantly taken aback. One of them Steven Brust, who actually lives in college station and I want to try and cultivating that contact, said here's the short answer ... if you want the long answer you can follow me outside as I smoke a cigarette. So I followed him outside after the panel was over and talked to him and Darlene Bolesny, another of the guest writers, for awhile. I'm working now on trying to cultivate all the writers I met. Networking at these convention is apparently very important.
Another really interesting thing I got from the panels that day was at the young adult writers panel. How to write for a young adult audience, try to get said novel published and what sets them apart from adult novels. Also it was said you can make a lot more money in young adult because book sales are usually higher. It makes sense. But from everything they said I think the xavier stories may by young adult but because of the complexity I want it to have bordering adult. Like His Dark Materials kind of. I never even thought of them as young adult novels but now I can see where they might be. We'll see.... Or if I don't want them to be young adult I need to change some stuff. Just depends.

ANYWAY! Over all. I really want to be the writers doing these panels. I wanted to be the one answering everyone's questions. But I also think I decided I do not ever want to be a professional writer. I want to write, I want to get published and of course achieve some sort of fame but I don't ever want to start living deadline to deadline. I write for my own enjoyment and to hopefully others, as well as to get my ideas out there in the world. I love teaching people about this kind of stuff and I love literary criticism and applying it to fantasy. Being a professor and being around the kinds of people who provoke thought I think will only help make me a good writer. I don't ever want to quick teaching even if I make enough off writing one day(which I'm not worrying about).

I'm going to take a nap now. Thinking about all that happened this weekend made me exhausted. This week I'm imposing word limits on everyday. And I'm going to try and start getting up early in the morning to write. One of the writers said when you have a job or go to school and write you have to figure out a way to use your brain better. Because if you don't write until you get home in the afternoon your brain is already worn out from thinking all day. She had to make herself become a morning person so she could get writing done.

Writer's thought/quote of the day:
Jeff turner had many theories. I'll share them all with you, I think you'd enjoy them and he names them all. lol. But one he said was really good that writing is like jogging. The time you have to stretch before you're warmed up to run lessens the more often you do it. So the more you write the less time it takes you to focus when you sit down to write. It's a lot like what you've been telling us just with a catchier name and better metaphor.
:D Maybe you can use it on your future classes. I know I'll be using it on mine. I definitely want to get my mfa eventually because I would love to teach creative writing. I'm not just trying to flatter you, you've really inspired me. A combination of you and Abby Bowers are what I aspire to be like when I'm a professor. Neither one of you puts up with any crap, which good students respect you for. You identify with your students, you're on their level but they also learn a lot from you. Both of you stretch your students limits and let them see they have all kinds of potential that they never knew they had. Thanks for being you, despite the man (A&M) trying to keep you down. Keep your chin up. You're making a difference.