I am sitting in my room now, trying to get sleepy. It’s been hard today. I’m overwhelmed, hungry and hormonal. Good time to be bi-polar, eh? There’s a lot going on, and I felt like the world and deadlines were swallowing me, so I came back to the dorm, read through a story or two and promptly fell asleep.

It felt great.

I woke around 8, which means I missed the other thesis presentations, (oops) and when I woke, Grace, my suite-mate, offered a field trip to Barnes and Noble. I’ve ridden with her twice now, and we always seem to get partially lost. What does that mean? We get lost….. but in a town as small as Greensburg, you aren’t that lost until you leave the city limits. We left the city limits yesterday. So, yesterday we were completly lost. But today it was just a partial detour… that lasted about 20 minutes. A few former Seton Hill students were doing a book signing, and they encouraged the current students to lend their support. We got there so late that no one was left except a few stragglers and this group of guys I’ve come to adore (more on them later). So, Grace and I did what writers do - we bought books. I found a fantasy novel for 5 bucks, a book about tracking animals - its for research for one of my characters - and a writing book that was kind of an impulse buy. I may return the last one in favor of some others that were recommended to me.

I met with my mentor yesterday. Because I’m not exactly sure what my novel is about, her advice was that I should let myself wander where I will, understanding that I need to focus when I go back and edit. She seemed interested in placing a fantasy novel in the South, but is worried about my execution. The one problem I saw with this is that none of the mentors read any of the works submitted by the students. That felt counter-productive to me. How are they going to know what to advise us on if they haven’t seen what we can and can’t do. It’s a strange process, but I hope it works. She’s a very nice woman and I am very interested in reading her books. I have my first 30 pages due by the 25th of July. Unlike other professors, she prefers everything in digital form. That makes my life a lot easer. I prefer the technological stuff. My e-mail critique group is interesting. One is a mystery writer, I think another will do young adult fantasy and I missed what the third will do. This idea that we are going to edit is kind of nebulous to me, but what I do know is that I will have between 90 and 120 pages to edit on top of my own writing deadlines. I am going to be very busy.

I’ve not had a chance to talk about some of the people I have met, and I know that in my conversations with D and Cat, that my explanations have wandered a bit. All in all, the people really are wonderful here. There are, of course, exceptions, but I don’t want to focus on the negative. The group of guys - Paul, James and Craig - hang together like a pack of puppies. Not big, ferocious dogs - puppies. Craig is one of my e-mail partners. He’s from Long Island (I think), tall (6 foot 3 or so), broad shouldered, in his fourties, with a voice that booms and a smile that beams. He’s rough around the edges in an endearing way. And, he writes mystery. Paul looks like a Paul. He’s a character, and I knew we would be friends when he told me that he started playing WOW to woo a girl…and said girl is now his girlfriend and they play WOW together for a couple hours almost every night. He’s shaped like an egg, balding a bit, but his smile swallows his face. He’s almost cartoonist in his mannerisms, but I don’t mean that in a demeaning way. He’s animated and full of light and life, and he’s a total geek and he makes me laugh. He writes horror and sci-fi. Then there is James, who is the most facinating out of the bunch. He’s a former marine who write speculative fiction (which is a neat way of saying — most genres of popular fiction without one primary focus), laughs like he means it and has stories that stretch the imagination. He looks like a geek writer. He wears skulls on his belt and a dagger on his hip. He’s getting 2 masters desgrees right now - the one here, and then a second at his local university in English Literature. The man is insane, but in the best way possible. He talks regularly about his wife, about his kids, about his love for life and he too has a wonderful smile.

Those three travel together. There’s safety in numbers. And then there are , of course, the women.

But now, I am sleepy. So you get more stories later. For now….