As you can see, it's been a silent 3+ months around Student: Revisited! Of course, I've been extremely busy--so much so that I decided to NOT worry about blogging for a bit.
Besides, I was head deep in teaching freshmen composition for the first time.
You would've been bored out of your mind (as opposed to before?) listening to me chat about teaching. Probably. As far as all of "my student" talk is concerned, I was just as bad (probably worse) as Kathie Lee Gifford talking about Cody on Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee...
(If you're too young to know who/what I am talking about, don't tell me)
As far as my student life is concerned, I've been submitting my tiny collection of fiction (here is a picture sample for you to look at):
Still no publications, but I'm okay with that...for now. I need to write more and I know it. My "thesis" is so bare bones right now, you'd want to take it out back and put it out of its misery.
Probably. And since this semester has MORE teaching (my favorite thing BY FAR of my MFA career), I'll be super busy again.
Although I will be checking in on a regular basis to talk about my student life. This semester I get to chose my "own text" for my Fiction Seminar. I have to pick "either a contemporary short story collection or a contemporary novel."
It doesn't HAVE to be new-to-me and so I'm somewhat flummoxed because I will be writing a series of annotations all semester long AND as my professor warned: "Be prepared to know this work inside out...You will own it and it will own you."
ACK! I have two ideas...
(1) Little Children by Tom Perrotta
(2) Georgia Under Water by Heather Sellers
(1) is a novel and my favorite "contemporary" work to come out (that I've read) in the last several years. I also got to hear Tom speak in September--which also means I met him briefly and have a cherished autographed copy of said book! Thematically speaking, this work is similar to my thesis (in my opinion).
(2) is the first short story collection that I read that made me say, "HEY! I WANNA DO THAT!" I haven't read it in YEARS, but I found my copy and since my thesis is to be a collection of related short stories, this would be a smart choice.
WHAT TO DO? I will let you know soon. In the meantime, I'm glad to be back!
~~J
