Not There Yet

Saturday at the Coffee Bean was crowded. Thirteen (later fifteen) of us--easily a small class--all aptly listened as Dean Alfar lectured about stories, various techniques, and terminologies. His lecture was an hour long and it reminded me of high school. Except no one was talking to their seatmate and everyone was paying attention (I hope). For several minutes, I wondered if this was what education should be like: students not only volunteering but wanting to be part of the class. Not any of that force-feeding that typically plagues every school system (can you honestly claim that you wanted to study every single subject in your curriculum?). Not that it was perfect, mind you. Four stories were critiqued that day and with over fifteen participants, we barely managed to finish our peer review at under five hours. There was even a joke thrown around that we should establish a Clarion workshop here: Clarion (Far) East.

At the end of the day, it's back to the life of the aspiring writer with a day job. My writing isn't the best I have yet to overcome a foe I previously thought I had already vanquished: horrible grammar.