So I went over my Major Project with my Major Project Advisor, sure that she would agree that close to half the collection of fifteen essays really wasn’t up to snuff, which would leave me with a slim volume of fairly well advanced essays to quickly buff up this summer, perhaps while I reclined on the living room couch watching Law and Order reruns and sipping mojitos. Summer time, and the writin’ is easy–yeah, baby!
That was a great fantasy. She liked all but one, and enthusiastically gave me guidance for revision for the rest. (She was right about the one she ix-nayed; it is execrable. I will pull it out and read it to myself every Lent.)
As I had anticipated, some in the collection require very little revision, at least for the MFA project. As for the rest, they desperately need elbow grease, hard labor, toting a barge, lifting a bail, sweat equity, humping, breakin’ rock, and doggin’ it. I’m talking marathon evenings and weekends in the office, in front of the big monitor, cup of tea cooling to my left, manuscripts to the right, my face and hands streaked with red from the Flair pens I use for markup because my eyes are too tired from anything less prominent.
And you know what… it’s a gift, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s probably the last time in my life that I’ll have a really good reason to focus so much time and effort on my writing in one sustained period, at least until I retire, which the way Social Security is going will be in, hmmm, 2036. I’ll keep writing for the rest of my life, every day if possible, but this is my Summer of Writing.
I also feel suddenly protective of those essays I had wanted to consign to the silence. They may never get any farther than the Gleeson Library, but they are part of my education, part of my writing history, and part of a really wonderful time in what has already been my really great life.
Just remind me that I said all this when it’s mid-July, my face is broken out from stress, my hands are numb from keyboarding, and revising those damn essays yet one more time brings on great waves of revulsion and nausea…
Posted on this day, other years:
- Historic districts - 2019
- New job, Community Librarian, Equinox, Woohoo! - 2008
- WordPress 2.2 upgrade caveats - 2007
- Glock 19 - 2007
- Marty Lurie Hits One Out of the Park - 2005
- Patriot Act Presentation Updated - 2004
I am jealous to the core, and encourage you to enjoy the summer in your own little personal essay construction site. Bring a thermos of tea and a little metal lunch box full of M&Ms (my personal writing fuel back-in-the-day), and yes, RELISH this time. Take your laptop outside and write in your garden, pack it up and write at a coffeeshop, write in your pjs, write in your Sunday best, write whenever and all the time. Soak it up. Like me, mix your metaphors. Heck, mix them with a wire whisk if you must…but enjoy every moment you can. Good luck!
Awwww, thanks, Debi–I’ve been thinking about you.
Re M&Ms, I have found that the hand to mouth motion becomes just a little too fast when I’m writing. 🙂 My big treat is to get up and take 5 minutes to make a cup of herbal tea. But we have several cafes locally that offer free wifi, and yes, I should go there occasionally–a change of venue can be inspirational. (Oh, o.k., and my other break is to read People and Entertainment Weekly… even better than M&Ms…)