Writing

I believe in a previous blog entry I mentioned that I would be spending two weeks of my summer at a writing camp.  And...uh...well, that's where I am right now.  Fun stuff.  The program is run by the Kenyon Review and is a residential camp that takes place at Kenyon College (which, incidentally, is John's alma mater).  I've only been here for about a day and a half, but I'm already having a lot of fun.

I've made a few friends, that I'll probably start to stick with for most of my time here.  My roommate is (thankfully) pretty nice, and awesome and all that.  I've also hit it off pretty well with a few people from my class group (we remain in one group with the same instructor for all of our classes).

So far I've met two or three nerdfighters (my roommate is one!), a buttload of Harry Potter fans, and two Doctor Who fans.  It's nice to be in a (physical) place where nerdiness is the norm, and eyebrows aren't quirked at "large" words.  It's also great to be in a place where I can talk about how frustrating it is to have insistent characters nagging in my mind while in the middle of another project, and not receive strange looks.

Today (actually, about a half hour ago from when I'm writing this), we got to hear P.F. Kluge talk about writing, and reading, and avoiding starvation while writing and reading.  I've so far only read one short essay by him, but I definitely intend to read a few of his novels.  From that little that I've read, I would definitely recommend him (and that'll just be my recommendation for the day).  He's also really funny.

I do hope that tomorrow there will be a bit more instruction than there was today.  Though I love prompts and free writing, I would love critique (I mean, I wouldn't love hearing it, but I'd love to have the benefit), and learning how to strengthen the areas of my writing that I feel I'm weak in (like dialogue).

I'm also really excited to possibly have the chance to do editorial work here.  An anthology of all the writers' work is going to be compiled, and it is going to be done by people within the camp (another opportunity to meet new people!).  editing is one of the things I'd love to do (along with Journalism and Library Sciences), and having real practical experience would be wonderful (and excellent resumé fodder!).

I have a secondary blog that I've been sitting on, and haven't posted on yet, but even just being here for one day, I've felt so inspired to write.  That blog is (going to be) dedicated to random thought, poetry and prose.  As well as random rants about politics and injustice I'd imagine.  When I actually start posting there I leave a link here.  I'm really hoping that I'll start updating that on a semi-regular basis.  the best way, I've found from being here so far, to be inspired to write and to keep up habitual writing is to just...write.  Constantly.  So that's what I'm vowing to spend this summer doing.  In addition to cleaning my room.

...Maybe.