Good morning, everyone! …

Good morning, everyone! I'm feeling pleased with myself 'cause I asked Roshani to call me at 5 a.m. (7 her time) and she did and I woke up and I'm staying awake. If I'm going to get everything done this semester that I want to get done, I don't get to be lazy anymore. Discipline discipline discipline! I'm stressing a little bit in nervousness; heavy class load (with two teaching classes, there's lots more actual work than last year), plus 12 hrs of tutoring job and unknown numbers of hours as s.s.g. moderator added to my schedule. If I get a little crazy, that's probably why. Right now the plan is to have writing time from 5:30 - 8:30, class, etc. time from 9 - 5 p.m., and then catch up on household things and whatever random stuff (including moderation, probably), in the evening. It's not so bad as it sounds, in that Thursday, Saturday and Sunday don't have any class or tutoring time, so I'll have some catch up time. We'll see how it goes.

Plan for this morning: critique Nancy's story, write a new story to hand in to Fiction class today, write a 500 word short short for class, revise "Deep with Sea" again (polish), make 15 copies of each thing for class. But before that, brush my teeth, make my bed, light a candle, make some tea. :-)

6:55 - Did a pile of paperwork and household stuff. About to start in on the actual work, but wanted to share with you something Kate sent to the Clarion list (she wasn't sure if this was the whole thing):

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Oceans

          I have a feeling that my boat
          has struck, down there in the depths,
          against a great thing.
                                         And nothing
          happens! Nothing...Silence...Waves...
          --Nothing happens? Or has everything happened,
          and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?

-- Juan Roman Jimenez

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11:22 - So, did Nancy's crit, did the 500 word piece, did a quick clean-up of "Deep" and sent it off to Clarion group for final critique, and decided to use "Interruptions" for class today. I'd like more feedback on that piece, and it seemed to make more sense than trying to write an entire new story in the hour and a half remaining to me. Time is going to be my crucial issue this semester, I can tell. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, though...

Got a nice e-mail from an Indian woman thanking me for writing my book. :-) A nice change from the vituperative stuff I generally get from Indians who think I'm betraying their country or some such.