The reading went really well tonight. There were fourteen speakers, and I was number twelve on the list. It was cool to hear my friends in the program read what they're currently working on, since I'm not in their writing classes this semester. There were two in particular that I really liked: Brent's Charlie Kaufman-inspired short-short, and William's Calvino-inspired novella opener. Eight people went, then we had a fifteen-minute intermission to munch on goodies, then the remaining six. I got a few butterflies waiting for my turn, but when I got up there, a strange calm replaced it.

photo by Janet Chui

There was one point where I looked up and lost my place on the page, a brief terrifying moment where I couldn't remember what I'd just read and was on the verge of looking up and saying, "Hang on, wait, I need to start right here..." but then I found it again a second later.

I got a few people come up to me when it was all over and say that they liked it, which was nice, especially when it was just an 1100-word scene in the middle of a larger short story. Nice egoboo too. :) So yay!

I brought some copies of the chapbook with me, but Janet asked me not to try and sell them, and I realized it would have been kinda cheesy. But I will be bringing them to WisCon (at the SLF Small Press Co-op table) and to Trinoc*con (where I'm a guest and will be presumably doing a reading).

The festival is only a week away now. *shot of the world and faint sound of Jason screaming* The next week is going to be absolutely insane. I'm seeing more grey hairs on my head and in my beard. If I can make it through this, I can probably survive a nuclear holocaust.

Tomorrow is a haircut, then a potluck lunch for many of the folks I saw tonight: the graduate students in the creative writing program, both M.A. and M.F.A. On Sunday, Janet and I are going over to my parents' for Easter dinner. I have another presentation to work on this weekend, but we have a little break from school, which is desperately needed.

So Happy Easter, celebration of Gautama the Buddha's birthday, Eostre, Festival of Bau, Feast of Anahit, or Passover. Have a groovy weekend.

Now Reading:
Kokoro by Natsume Soseki

Stories Out to Publishers:
6

Books Read This Year:
23

Zines/Chapbooks/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
7