Man, this is pretty much the first chance I've gotten to catch my breath since the weekend. My schedule has been all out of whack since the teaching thing, which has been going pretty well, surprisingly well actually.

Nothing like getting up at 5:30 a.m., getting ready, walking the dog, at work by 7 a.m., working non-stop until 12:30 p.m., hauling ass to NC State by 1 p.m., teaching from 1:30-4 p.m., back home by 4:30 or so, and back online for work from 5-7:30 or so. And then try to do some reading or relaxing (the past few nights I've been trying to catch up on Jeffrey Ford's short fiction for his reading tonight, and that's been fun). Then hitting the hay at 9:30 or 10.

One fun story idea that came from one of my exercises with my young writers is entitled "My Son the Orc." As they worked on their stories at the end of class, I wrote a page longhand on the story. Maybe I'll include a quote -- it's pretty fun!

Also in class, as we're focusing on starting out our stories strong, I read some opening paragraphs by James Patrick Kelly (the master of intriguing openings), David Marusek, Greg van Eekhout (they frickin' loved the opening to "Show and Tell" and wanted to hear more!). Also, since we're focusing on setting, I read them the opening to my YA fantasy novel to see if they picked up on the details that it starts a hundred years ago, which they did.

One of my students jokingly accused me of "advertising" to the class, when I told them I'd wrote that. Smart kid. ;)

So it's going well. It's a bit hectic, and the kids really need more interactive stuff than I'd expected -- I see them drift off if I talk for more than ten minutes! -- but that's fine with me. I'm not a fan of lecturing anyway. I'm looking forward to their stories.

Today's Quote:
All my life I've worked hard, chasing after elves and clubbing them with my dull axe. You'd think my boy, a soldier from the High Command of Gribblits the Great, would remember that and not leave the cave door open while I'm sleeping. I mean, is it so wrong for an orc of my age to take a little nap after a good lunch of hobbit-toe soup?

Some days I wish I'd never moved in with my son and his family after I retired from the Orc High Command.