You must have been busy, says my mom

A couple of weeks ago my mom pointed out to me that I hadn't posted anything on my blog since I complained about getting the packet back from Pete. You must have been busy, she said.

That I have. After getting a message that Shelley sent out to all of us MFAers, I realized for the first time that we actually had to turn in 12 of our reading commentaries to the program office. Paste your 12 best commentaries into one document, she told us. I was like, "Twelve best?" I had no idea that we were supposed to write more than 12. I looked it up and found that the MFA handbook says 12-15. I was planning to write 12, but knowing that they would become a part of my permanent record made me want options.

I had only sent two in each of my first two packets, so I knew I needed to crank it up and send three in at least two of the remaining packets. So I did that. It sounds like no big deal, right? What's one more two page paper. Well, it's another book, is really what it is. And in my case, I stopped reading a couple of books, realizing that they were taking too long to read and I wasn't going to get them done in time, and switched to books that for some reason I could read faster.

For the first time ever, I overnighted my packet today. There's no shame in it, I figure. At least it won't be late.

I send only 14 pages of fiction and didn't revise chapter 2 from last time. I think I'll work on that now that I don't feel under pressure. It needs some finessing, since I'm not completely happy with what happens in that chapter. I want to go back and look at some earlier iterations of it and see if I can make it better.

I've got some books in mind to read this time. Wouldn't it be great if I could finish four?

And I have some more of the story that has been dying to get out, so I'm good on fiction for at least one more packet.

So next week, Wednesday or Thursday, you will probably find more gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair right here when I got my packet back. I think I just should look at it until ... The thing is, whenever I open it, it's going to have the same effect on me, so I might as well get it over with. But can I be sedated first?

I've been reading about what the requirements are for getting a teaching job with an MFA and I've been trying to prep myself for the future. I need to do an internship or two, but I don't know how I will manage it with my job. It would also be great if I could sit in on some undergraduate creative writing classes just to watch what they do in class. Maybe I can do that next semester. I'll check into it. In the meantime, I've been investigating creative writing books adn trying to figure out my philosophy of teaching creative writing. What I know about pedagogy could fit into a thimble at this point. But sometimes you know more than you think you know. I'll keep working on it.