Is it the end of November already? Without seasons to guide you, it’s ridiculously easy to lose track of time in Southern California. While Whittier lives in a Winter Wonderland, I’m left wondering, “What winter?” On Thanksgiving it was 90 degrees. I wrote with my window open. Everyday I say I’m going to retire my… Continue reading A Series of Questions
Well y’all, the holidays are upon us. As my friend Grant keeps saying, this semester isn’t so much winding down and it’s coming to a screeching halt. The less time I have, the more I think about time, how it can work for us or against us, how some people thrive under the pressure of… Continue reading A Day in the Life…
By the middle of the fiction unit it was clear some of my students understood that fiction is not just about randomly inventing but also about deliberately constructing worlds and sharing those worlds in an appealing way. For one, students were not ready to produce so much material. Poetry had been a challenging unit for… Continue reading The Imagination Lives On: The Challenges of Teaching (Genre) Fiction
It's that time of year, isn't it? You're frantically searching Google for any advice when it comes to applying for programs. MFA Draft is picking up, you start writing those letters to your recommenders asking them as kindly as you can to please send that letter (because you have been stalking them on Facebook, and… Continue reading Adventures in MFA Applications
Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, my fall semester is almost over. I only have one workshop left which I hate thinking about because it makes me sad. But now is not the time to feel down, it's the time to celebrate getting through my first semester at UVA! Here's a quick wrap up: Road trips… Continue reading First semester wrap up
