First Packet Blues

The good news: I survived my first month of the MFA program.

The bad news: I have 23 more months to go.

I turned in my first packet a few days ago. And as soon as I hit “send” I was flooded with self-doubt. Would my advisor like it? Did I read enough books? Did my essays make sense? Well, I guess I’ll know soon enough–I should be getting feedback any day now.

At least for now, I’ve chosen to use Righteous as my main creative work for the semester. I really think this will end up being a great manuscript…if I can ever get the damn thing finished.

I think I was most surprised about how much I enjoyed writing my critical essays for my packet. Don’t get me wrong–I think I suck at writing critical essays–but at least I enjoyed it. And, just writing the essays made me think about books in a way that I never had before.

I’ve also found that I really miss my classmates. I live for their daily emails.

And of course, I really miss spending time with Mrs. V. She’s been a real trooper so far, taking care of cleaning the house and washing clothes and basically leaving me alone when I have to work.

Now if I could only get her to mow the yard, I’d be set.