Well it’s been almost forever since I updated here, but I hope to get back to regular posts now. I think.

What’s happened since my last post on March 26th? The biggest news is on the whole degree front. Maybe I shouldn’t put this in writing until I have the diploma physically in my hand, but I’ve finally graduated. I have my MFA in English, Creative Writing. I am NO LONGER a student. At least not officially. I suspect I’ll find reasons to take occasional classes still, but I’m not worrying about completing everything.

Along with nine other students I gave my graduation reading on May 2nd. Matt tells me it went well, but for me it’s all a bit blurry as I was mildly terrified. I’m not a fan of getting up in front of people, something I suppose I’ll have to overcome soonish. Fortunately, the section I chose was full of dialogue between characters who were either angry or afraid, so my voice shaky actually worked out pretty well.

I read second which was a relief since I didn’t have to wait long. The section I chose was a scene where the faerie king visits my main character’s home… this is the only part of novel that references an outside faerie culture and it has very little connection to the rest of the story… which is why I chose it. This allowed me to read without having to explain much since the section stands alone, more related to future books than the current novel. It’s also one of the more intense sections.

Once I was able to relax it was fun to listen to my classmates. I’d actually never met several of them, while a few read from manuscripts that that I remember from workshops.

I’m now working on a final revision of my novel, to get it ready to send off to publishers. I’m optimistic. I’m also trying to get some art together for chapter breaks, so I have at least a demonstration to give publishers when I send in the manuscript, but I’m not at all sure about that. Most writers are not artists. It could be a selling point, but I’ll have to find a publisher who sees it that way, rather than writing me off as amateur.

In other important news I changed dentists and my mouth no longer hurts. So good.

The only other things of possible interest I can report on are a day camping trip for my brother’s birthday and a trip to Washington. I’ll go into details later, which will give me incentive to post again, and with any luck, get me back in the habit. Lots of pretty pictures, coming soon.