The Magus Goes Back to School!

2002-11-15 - 4:45 a.m.

Pookie reminded me that we have the 2nd installment of his student loan coming in, so you know what that means?

It means that The Magus is going to school.

Not real school, of course. I've already taken 2 creative writing classes. I know the deal. Show up, someone will talk about dialogue or character or setting, stuff I've already known instinctively since I was 8, stuff that everyone -there- has known instinctively since they were 8, and then after the talk, we'll write. And then after writing, we'll read out loud and compliment each other and bask in mutual admiration, even as I slowly grow convinced that I'm the best writer in the room.

I swear it's not egotism...every writing class has had some good writers, but when I've read some of my really good stuff, I've gotten hushed silence, -tears- from someone, once. Everyone else writes about anorexic girls and their sexually abusive fathers for some reason. Is that a Hot Topic these days? Must all fragile heroines (but resolved and strong on the inside) be suffering from an eating disorder so as to control one aspect of their life while the world crumbles around them?

I don't think I'm capable of writing about someone with an eating disorder. It's been done, and better, by people who actually know something about it.

So, anyway, after someone talks, we all write, and we all read, everyone in the class will pair or group off, to talk with each other or arrange coffee or something, and I will slink out, because no one ever wants to talk with me. Or if they do, they show it by turning their backs. I'm -assuming- that this is because they're too cowed by my superhuman ability to write.

At the last class, there'll be a lot of talk about setting up a writers' group, something I'll be interested in, and something that will flop.

And after it all, I'll have a new stack of new work, some of it probably okay...and really, that will prove that all the angst was worth it.

You may not be able to tell from this entry, but I am really, really, really excited about taking a course again.

Cheers,

The Magus

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