See Where the Heat Is

“You should request Sarah to be your mentor next semester, she’s fabulous!” said Susan Conley, the visiting workshop leader for my fourth residency in Dingle, Ireland, which ended just over one week ago.My upcoming semester is a biggie —I’ll complete my thesis, which I hope becomes a published book of short stories.I followed Susan's recommendation and emailed Sarah and asked if she ’d like to work with me. But the next day, even before Sarah responded, I said to Susan, “I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I was thinking: wouldyou like to work with me? ”The typical residencies for myStonecoast creative writing program in Maine are small enough to know who everyone is yet large enough not to be able to befriend everyone. My recent residency in Ireland included 10 students and two faculty members, a size that allowed me to become besties with everyone. On the second day of residency, I realized something: Susan was amazing.Susan was also on board with my idea for her to mentor me. “I was thinking the same thing last night!” she said.With Susan ’s help, over the next four months I will revise my short stories into about 125 pages of beautiful prose. Well, the 125 pages will be all me and Susan, while the beautiful prose will require the additional help of a leprechaun. During this time, I plan to tell my friends to temporarily f. off s o I can write. Except on NFL Sundays. Priorities.During our intimate week at Bambury ’s Guesthouse on the Dingle P...
Source: cancerslayerblog - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: MFA writing/speaking Source Type: blogs