Accepted

I’ve been waiting for seven weeks to find out if I’d be accepted to a novel writing program through a northern California university. I received notification yesterday that I was accepted. They only accept “about 30 students per cycle” to this two-year program. I was doubtful I would get in because of the odds.

Seven weeks of ups and downs, optimism and pessimism, waiting and endless indigestion, finally over. The last 34 hours or so have been filled with relief, celebration, elation, disbelief, and nervousness.

Thanks to my family, friends, and coworkers for listening to me drone on endlessly about the waiting. Thanks to everybody that I cornered and forced to hear about my acceptance. Thank you to Mark E. and John R. for your support and references.

Now it’s time to get to work.

Not Quite Dead Yet

First off, this blog is not meant to be about me. I have no need to bore people with the mundane everyday activities of my life. My intention is to just share and showcase my writing, or my attempt at writing, depending on which way you want to look at it. But I disappeared from the blog for a while, and I felt I should offer up an explanation.

Life happens. Holidays happen. Family events happen. Two week-long illnesses happen. And best of all, school happened. I have been diligently focusing on school. (I’m going for a Creative Writing Certificate.) I lucked out and got into a class with a really great professor. He’s a published author, and he has at least thirty years of experience in writing and editing. He’s a goldmine for information and inspiration. He told me that I am “an excellent writer”. My head did not swell, but it was good for my confidence. Writing well and being able to weave a story that keeps people interested are two very different things.

As far as my writing and how that is going, the main novel I had been working on has kind of fallen to the side. I’m not abandoning it, but I am just working on it when I am inspired. I recently had a vision for a new story and I have been working on that quite a bit. It really came out of nowhere and took over. I’m not sure if it will be a short, or if it will be novel length. I have to see where it takes me.

My intention is to post my short story “Vows” on this blog in two or three parts. I’ve gone back and I am editing and expanding it to what I had originally intended it to be. (Long boring story shortened: There was some major editing to try to meet a size restriction for a class.) Hopefully the first part of that will be ready soon.

Thanks for checking in. Please feel free to leave a comment.