Sushi and Conference Time

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Good run this morning. Good critiques too. Was hot as blazes last night and today, but at least it rained during part of the day. If they use this house again, anybody on the third floor should run his/her ceiling fan and put a fan in the window 24/7. Man, what an oven.

Ate lunch with Nina, Marjorie, Tenea, and Peter. Cindy will love the fact that I ate at a sushi place. (I won’t tell her, but it wasn’t bad at all.) All of these people are so interesting.

Had my conference with Nina. I didn’t really know what to expect, but we talked first about the stories that we submitted to get into Clarion. She had some great ideas about “Who’s Your Mama” and pointed out several problems that I had never considered. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for – a professional who can tell me specifically what needs to be fixed and how to fix it. She said “Train to God” was a painful story for her to read; not because it was bad, but because it's somewhat bleak. I told her that it was painful to write as well. She didn’t have much else to say about it. We did talk about “You Can Say” a good bit. Nina said that if you have something, some issue burning inside you, you have to write it until you feel like you’ve said what you need to say. She recommended that I keep doing what I’m doing – reading, writing, studying stories from other writers I admire. Hooking up with other Clarion members after Clarion is a good way to have another first reader. She told me to give myself time, there’s no hurry. Then we walked for a block or two. This was great. I told her that if Clarion ended today, it would be worth it. She smiled and said, “But it doesn’t end. Not yet!”