DISA...

...ppointment.

The writing class that I had been looking forward to for months was rescheduled and I won't be able to attend. I got a nice little refund (technically, all I've gotten so far is the receipt, but I'm sure the actual money will come through in the next few days). That's how the cookie crumbles!

I'm going to see about signing up for it again when it's offered in the fall, but for now I'll have to keep meandering my way through this. I'm setting a goal for myself to share my work (at least the first few chapters) with one person by the end of August. I need to do it. Get it over with. Rip the band-aid off, but I'm on the uphill of the roller coaster and I don't want to take that first drop.

Antici....

PATION!

One of my least favorite things about being a "grown-up" is that it gets harder and harder to find things to look forward to. (Crap. I ended that sentence in a preposition. I'm in edit mode, so I'm trying to be better. Let's try that again.)

One of my least favorite things about being a "grown-up" is that finding things to look forward to gets harder and harder. When I was in school, I loved counting down the days to the next break- Spring, Summer, Winter, whatever! And birthdays! Oh how I looked forward to my birthday. Now, birthdays are just another day (except I do get to eat cake without any remorse). And summer feels like any other season in my windowless office.

I get the occasional vacation, but only when I save my days like a Western Scrub Jay hoarding peanuts. So instead I've got to find other things to fill my heart with eager anticipation. And I've found one such thing. And it's writing-related! I signed up for a five-week writing course at Emory. I'm pretty excited, because the class is being taught by a published author whose website describes her as a scientist turned writer, with no formal training (like me!).

Emory also offers a certificate program, which I could decide to do at a later time. It involves something like 40 hours of classes over two years. The grand total is $2000, which is pretty hefty. Not sure I'll do that, but I'm not ruling it out now. First things first, we'll see how this class goes.

I thought about signing up for this for the class for months, but I wasn't sure if it would "do anything" for me. Seems like if I want to write a story, I should just write it. And if I want to edit a story, I should just edit it. But after spending almost three years writing the story and months of editing the same five chapters, I'm realizing that things need to change. I'm ready to learn, and not too proud to admit that I need some help. Maybe the class won't solve anything, but maybe it will. I'm willing to try!

Back to school! If it doesn't work out, then I'll have the end of the class to look forward to. (Crap... I'll look forward to the end of class.)