Work/ School Balance

I told everyone I was worried about the workshop on Thursday. I’d never done anything like it before, so I was really concerned about what people would say. I thought they’d all hate it. I thought they would tear it apart and find multiple plot holes. Okay, my writing is not that bad and I know it.

When my turn came, I’d sweat through almost everything I was wearing, okay, maybe not everything, but it felt like it. I read my paragraph and I picked the best one in the story. I then sat back and listened as people talked about my story. They loved it. I kept hearing how great it was. They had suggestions, mostly formatting suggestions and a few things here and there. I was very hesitant on the last line of the story, and they told me I HAVE to keep it, but before that, it could use some tweaking.

I have struggled in my classes, thinking I’m not good enough for it in some ways. I felt completely behind. I felt like there was so much stuff that I should know, but don’t. Then I heard my feedback, and I felt I was where I needed to be. I felt like I belonged. I finally wasn’t the person who was an idiot, I was a writer.

Last Monday my teacher said there are three open slots for workshop for his class and while it doesn’t help my grade any, it does give me more feedback. So, guess who decided to do an extra one. So tomorrow I am bringing in two short stories for workshop. Who else would decide to do an extra one with a week’s notice but me. So a little added work, but I’ll get a lot out of it.

Other than this excitement and a sick fish, everything has been reading and writing and work. I think I’m getting there in finding a balance. I think. I did tell sign up for classes for next semester so I’ll have the same teachers on the same days at the same times with slightly different topics. It’ll be interesting.