Les Semaines August 2, 2009: Sixth Week of Clarion West 2009

The last week is always so intense for the students and for us. All the work and with the anticipation of saying goodbye. Trying to make all the last stuff count. And each day there are so many this-is-the-lasts. No matter how ready everyone is for it to be over, the end is hard and always comes sooner than anyone expects. I always feel on the edge of forgetting something crucial, something that will cause a crisis, and I know it's the result of just too many little things to do in a short time that has suddenly come upon me, but yikes. I remember how that felt when I was a part of the class myself.

This was a fun week for the students, which they needed after five intense weeks. Not that this wasn't intense, but Rudy Rucker is also a playful instructor, which added relief to the exhaustion and hard work, and got us through Seattle's record-breaking heatwave, as did the air conditioner one of the students had brought in. It sat around for most of the workshop. We had no idea how much we were going to need it.

No more new stories. No more everyone spread all around the house critiquing. No more playing Thing. No more Joni-cooked meals. No more spontaneous squid songs about Tentacle Longing. No more weekly readings or parties. No more Mystery Muses. No more Write-a-thon-ing. Damn. I miss it all.

Now everyone's gone. The doors are closed. We're missing all these people we had just started to allow ourselves to get to know (we try to interfere as little as we can with the group).

It's all over, and I'm in recovery mode. Actually, that's not quite true. Instead of doing nothing and sleeping all day as I sometimes do after the workshop, I got up the next morning and started vacuuming. I've been playing catch up the last few days, digging through the stacks of paper on my desk. Completing the write-a-thon. Paying bills. Getting Stuff Done, which may be a reaction to the fact that it's no longer 103 outside.

Final Write-a-thon Report

Sunday was the last day of the 2009 write-a-thon for me. Throughout the write-a-thon I did pretty well at sticking to my schedule despite the demands of the running the workshop while trying to keep up with the write-a-thon commitment [writing at least one hour per day unplugged from the Internet]. Toward the end, when I suddenly decided to stop fighting doing it this way and just revise the damn thing sentence by sentence, I also started working more (extra) hours and feeling productive and pleased with the work I was doing. [At least until Thursday and the end of the workshop arrived when it all went pear-shaped and I didn't have any writing time again until Sunday.]

Overall, I'm really happy with what I got done. I'm especially pleased that I've come to accept the kind of word-by-word work cutting this novel down to size is and just do it. With good results: I hadn't been keeping careful track of how much I was cutting at the beginning of the write-a-thon, but in the last two-three weeks I've had the previous version of the section side-by-side with the version I'm cutting and realized today that in just that time alone I've cut 50 pages. 50 pages!

If anyone would still like to support me with a donation to Clarion West, I will still send a copy of my now home-made poetry reading CD for any donation $6 and up. This contains poems selected from all my books, including the one I'm marketing now, plus a bonus poem from the Canada Council-sponsored collection that I'm still working on. You can donate by PayPal at the address at the first link there, or you can mail a check to:

Clarion West
P.O. Box 31264
Seattle, WA 98103-1264
U.S.A.

[If you write a check, please note on it that it's to support me and let me know, as I won't find out for a while when they send the final write-a-thon report and thus your CD will be delayed.]

I have to say, unplugging myself from the Internet was key for me. Sad to learn at the age of 50 that you will still let easy entertainment take you from the Real Work. Sigh. But now that I know that just by unplugging the modem I'll get more work done, you can be damn sure I'll be doing it regularly.

Also, if you'd rather support other people, or more people, there's a long list of wonderful participants at The Write-a-thon page.

Songwriter Meme: A Peculiar Value

Using only songs from ONE ARTIST cleverly answer these questions.
Pass it onto 15 or so people you like (or will actually do it) and tag me!
Try not to repeat a song title. It's harder than you think!

Your Artist:
Veda Hille

Are you male or female:
Ponybride

Describe yourself:
Seasoned

How do you feel about yourself:
Born Lucky

Describe where you currently live:
Bedlam!

The first thing you think of when you get up:
Conversation with the Dead

Your favorite form of transportation:
Boatride to Skidegate

Your best friend is:
The Boy in the Woods

Your favorite color is:
Greenery

What's the weather like?:
Oh, the endless fog!

If your life were a TV show, it would be called:
Cowper's Folly

What is life to you:
A Shining Forth

The best advice you have to give:
Dance Alone

If you had to change your name, it would be:
Queen of the May

Your favorite food is:
Plants

How would I like to die:
A Fine End

My soul's present condition:
Strange, Sad

The fault I can bear:
Brutal Telling

How would you describe your sex life:
A Little Pleasure

What you are going to post this as:
A Peculiar Value