Those that have real majors, when I tell them I have to write a story for class, inform me that I’m lucky I don’t have to do any work! Then I promptly kick them in the face and write a story about it. If only I had the nerve to wear steel-toed boots in public.

For those who don’t know, workshop is stressful for someone serious about being a writer. You’re basically exposing your talent to your peers, who are also serious about being writers for the most part, and who will be critical and mean and nitpicky and doodle on your story or feed it to the goldfish if they get bored with it. Now I wouldn’t have it any other way - I hate the intro peer editing classes in which everyone writes rosy comments like “That’s great how you used the word “buttmonkey” as an adverb” and “Gosh, you sure made that girl-dumps-boy story really fresh and entertaining to read!” All I’m saying is that it’s cause for anxiety, especially in the middle of a week of exams and papers galore. Midterms are such a good idea.

Anyway, my story was workshopped yesterday. I walked in convinced that this would end my writing career; the story, which I had constructed by bashing my head on the keyboard for seven pages, was not my greatest. I don’t know. I’ve just been having such a hard time writing lately - I can’t even keep up with a stupid blog, let alone write something that people will actually look at. In fact, it didn’t turn out as badly as I thought, though when the professor asked the class if there were any parts of the writing they particularly enjoyed, awkward silence followed. Woo hoo!

The problem is I just don’t write that much. I think I’ve even written less since changing over to creative writing. I think I went through eight different ideas for stories for this last workshop, attempted and aborted. So I’m going to make some affirmations, which I will stick to this time, if I have to hire someone to make me:

1. I will edit both of the (crap) stories written for class this semester. Well, I guess I’m doing this already for a grade, but still.
2. I will write one story every two weeks. They will be posted in this blog. They may be pure, unadulterated crap, but I’d better write ‘em or else.
3. I will start, and finish, NaNoWriMo this year.
4. I will balance my checkbook.

If I talk about doing this often enough, maybe I will magically get around to doing it! Right?