Only a Month!?!

Utter giddiness–since I’m traveling a day before the first day of class, there’s now only 1 month until I leave for Martha’s Vineyard and Viable Paradise. I’m pinching myself right now, and I can report that it hurts, so this must be real.

When I got the acceptance, I was blissed out, shocked and amazed. Then I got to work, reading everything I could about VP and past attendees’ experiences (again! I’d read them  during the wait, of course), and outlining my summer reading of the instructor’s works. Let me tell you, that’s a lot of words. A lot of really good words.

Now time is winding down, and the reality of the situation is beginning to sink in: in one month, I will be sitting down with these instructors, and with 23 other students, in order to learn/eat/sleep/talk/live writing. I will really be doing this. (The hairs on my arms are standing on end, and I can feel each unique patch of skin around every single hair.)

I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit (my hubby is choking on his spit at that understatement) of an introvert. Idle chit-chat doesn’t come easily to me. So naturally the social situation there is a wee bit intimidating. But, then again, most writers I’ve met are a bit introverted, so we’ll all be relieved to know we’re all in the same boat, right? Those “big names” have just learned to put on good game faces for the crowds. I can learn this, too (not for crowds, mind you, but just for getting in there. Oh, crap, you know what I mean. I hope. See why I’m not the best chit-chatter?!?).

And then there’s the end-result, and the whole reason for going, which is to focus on writing. My writing will take center stage for a whole week of my time. I’m thinking up what, exactly, I want to ask the various instructors. About their work, about my work, about how to make my work more professional, like their work. About the writing life, and the business end, and all that. And I’m dreaming of the euphoria of pinching myself while I’m there, at VP, and discovering that, yes, it hurts, so it must be real.

These last weeks are going to both fly, and drag. Fortunately, “real” life is keeping me busy during most of it. The last week, I’ll have time to pack and re-pack my bags, endlessly if I must, in order to keep my nerves at bay, and that’s about it. Until then, I have high hopes of finishing first drafts of 2 stories, and doing edits to one or two more. Fortunately, writing never ends. It keeps me sane. Most of the time.

Time to go write.