Work/ School Balance

As I’m sure everyone knows, I graduated with my BA in December. This was a BA in English. I’m majoring in Creative Writing now for my masters. I walked in thinking I knew maybe not everything, but as much as the other students. I knew it was going to be a different experience because I did online vs. in person for my BA so things were going to be different. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know.

We are now doing weekly workshops in both classes on other students’ works (I have one on Thursday for my short story). I thought I’d be fine reading their works, offering critiques, etc. Well, apparently, there are styles of fiction I had no clue existed, such as hermit crab style. So I’m reading this student’s work and I’m completely confused. I’d never read anything like it before. So I put in that I was confused, but once I understood what s/he was doing I did start liking it. Well, I didn’t exactly get everything in the story until workshop and they went over it. I felt like a complete idiot. I really hope I’m not the only one in the class who felt that way. I also completely misunderstood the assigned readings from that week. I got my money’s worth in class. As I listened to everyone talk I realized how much I didn’t know and I learned a lot about the styles.

I got a lot from my BA, but all of my literature classes were older literature. I think the most recent literature I read for school was in the early 1900’s, which isn’t helping me when we’re reading things by authors from a few years ago. Writing and literature has changed a lot in the past 100 years. So I went into the pieces for this week with a more open mind and I enjoyed them. It does help that they aren’t in any style I haven’t seen before. This whole workshopping thing is new to me. I’ve done it before, but it wasn’t in person. It wasn’t face to face.

What didn’t help matters, and I’m not using this as an excuse, but I ended up sick with a sinus infection last week so I’ve been recovering from that while trying to keep the same pace with work being busy and school. Then I woke up really early Friday with stomach problems. I honestly almost didn’t go into work because of it, but I managed. I kept my head up and my mask on while giving shot after shot after shot. Yesterday I had an appointment with a chiropractor so I went to that and the store then I passed out for about 2 1/2 hours with my dog at my side in her bed. I woke up with that weird, skin tight feeling I get after a deep, healing sleep. It took me a while to wake up, but once I did I was digging deep into school. I ended up staying up late last night reading, but after a nap like the one I had, I wasn’t surprised. I woke up this morning feeling better than I had in a while. Hopefully that’ll help me be able to absorb more school stuff. It’s also a good thing it’s a light week as far as homework. Otherwise, I’d be screwed. My body was trying to tell me to stop and take a break, but I wasn’t listening so it made me and I feel better.

We’ll see how my workshop piece goes on Thursday and I’ll let you know. I’m actually excited about this piece. I wasn’t too sure about it, but I like it.