First Day of Critiques

Monday, June 7, 2004

Went for a great run this morning. Really helped to prepare me for the rest of the day.*

First day of critiquing. We only had two stories to critique (submission stories), so it went pretty quickly. I think everyone did a pretty good job, but two minutes sure go by fast. You really have to gauge what you think is most important for the writer to hear and go with it quickly. And try not to repeat what somebody else just said.

Nina is very good about giving useful information in an encouraging way. With just two stories this morning, we had a little time left, so she talked about first lines. She read several first lines from anthologies by Clarion instructors, then we each wrote ten first lines as an exercise. She told us to use any of them that appealed to us.

Went to Curious Books, a used bookstore in walking distance. Bought way too many books – four or five – but was delighted to find The Portable Faulkner. Three stories to critique for tomorrow (would have been four, but one of them was mine), one of them 13,000+ words.

I’m excited and a little nervous about having my story critiqued tomorrow. But I know that whatever happens I’ll grow as a writer and that’s what it’s all about.

* Postscript 8/18/05 – I strongly recommend some type of exercise before and during Clarion. I ran three times a week during the first three weeks, two times during week four, but none during the last two weeks. I wish I could've kept it going; the exercise really clears your mind of clutter and often helps blocked ideas/stories to spring loose. Plus you just feel better. But I didn't budget my time well during the last two weeks. I began to see that I wanted to spend as much time with these people as possible, even if that meant losing a few steps (or more) in exercise.