Still sick. Jed thinks…

Still sick. Jed thinks I may have the flu. I wrenched a muscle in my back during one of my coughing fits, so taking it very easy today, resting and trying not to move too much. Luckily, I have plenty of e-mail to catch up on, along with one last critique of a Roosevelt student, and two of Vermont students.

Last night's last fiction class was really nice. I didn't do a good job of keeping track of time, so we ran quite late, which was fine with me, though some students had to leave partway through. We talked over how the semester had gone for them all, discussed some aspects of publishing, including my checkered publishing history, and heard readings from their work. Satisfying way to end the semester; a talented class, hard-wroking and a lot of fun to work with. In all the stress and chaos of the last few months, even if I'm sometimes a bit slow about marking up papers, at least the teaching has been a joy throughout.

Sunday afternoon I was on a panel sponsored by IWL (Indus Women Leaders) on S. Asian women in the arts, and at one point we were talking about day jobs, and choosing a day job that doesn't just feed your wallet, but feeds your art as well. I know it doesn't work this way for everyone, but teaching has so far been the perfect day job for me. The ongoing contact with talented students and their work is incredibly stimulating, especially when I can manage to pass along some bit of hard-won writing wisdom to them. That reminds me that yes, I do actually know some stuff about writing, even if it often doesn't seem so when I'm in the midst of the writing itself.

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