So, it has been forever and a day since I wrote. Time seems to keep getting away from me here.

Since I don't really remember everything that has happened this may not be the most enlightening journal, but there are some points I can expound upon.

The first is that Kelly Link is an incredibly sweet woman with a lot of great ideas. I haven't had my conference with her yet (and I think I may not until tomorrow) but I've thought she had some very interesting things to say. I didn't agree with them all, but then she's the published author, not I.

The big news is that Clarion has lost its funding from MSU. This is a really bad thing, and I'm not entirely sure why the college is making this choice. Clarion offers them a lot of benefits that far outweight money. Anyway, there are a lot of people writing letters and emails to try to show the powers that be how important the program is and how much the college has to benefit from it. I would recommend anyone who cares even a little take part. Details can be found at www.msu/edu/~clarion.

I wrote a really unsuccessful werewolf story. The critique pretty much confirmed this. It had a lot of problems, but I think the biggest was that I rushed through it to get it in on time. It really needs a lot more development and thought than I was able to give it. Still, I'm glad it got critiqued because I got some really good comments on where I could take it that I hadn't considered. It's in the revision pile for when I get home.

I also had my conference with Scott Edelman today. He's a really nice guy, and he is very good about identifying exactly what doesn't work for him. Basically he gave me some great advice on ways to figure out which character would be best for each story and better identifying my story arc. Apparently, (and I knew this even if I didn't want to admit it) character is my big weak spot. It's a pretty big weakness to have, but hopefully with effort I can improve.

Other things that have happened, hmm? Last night we all gathered about eight pm to play games and such. This was our introduction to Mafia. It's a really fun game that I suck at a lot. In the first two games I was a villager and got voted off early. In the third game I was Mafia and Ryan caught on to me pretty much immediately, though I managed to scrape up enough support to last a couple of rounds. Well, as one of my classmates said: "I'm not good at lying, and it's not a skill I want to get better at." Still, fun was had by all, and I hope to get to play at least once more.

We also got to watch fireworks last night courtesy of Scott. He apparently really loves the things and he bought a huge box of fountains and such to celebrate the fourth of July. It was really pretty, but I have to admit that I found the lawn before the fireworks mcuh prettier. There were dozens of fireflies dancing about close to the gorund such that they'd blink in and out of blades of grass like fairy lights. As pretty as fireworks are they are nowhere near as magical or beautiful as that. Nature is a constant wonder to me, how it constantly amazes and delights.

We also watched the Buffy musical episode which Kelly had brought with her, and I got to try my first ever (I think) Slurpy. It was a fun night.

The prior part of the week was also full of fun. I discovered that my playing racquetball with Vicki has really improved my hand-eye coordination. At least I think that's why I did so much better than I ever have at ping pong. And a special thanks to Jonathan for playing said game with me instead of having fun at the big drinking party at Kelly and Gavin's. (Jonathan also beat me quite soundly three times in a row at pool fairly recently).

So, today is the barbeque at Lister's. I hope everyone is having fun. It has been kind of rainy today. I wonder if someone will take pictures so I can see what Lister's house looks like. Maybe I should have asked. Oh well. Not a big deal, and this gives me time to get lots of work done. Not that between sleeping until 10:30 am and then getting a migraine until four pm have led to much productivity.

Come to think of it, the headaches have been getting much worse of late. I suspect that I may be dehydrated, but the water here is kind of icky. Maybe I'll get a lift to Meijer's from someone tomorrow and pick up some bittled water. In the meantime I should aly off the caffeine.

Well, I think I more or less got everything. Time to do work. Bye, all!