We played a trick on Eric yesterday. He had turned in a 14,000 word story to be critiqued on Friday, and so Thursday night Karen C. went around to everyone and hatched her dastardly plot. We got into class yesterday, and when it came time for his story to be critiqued, we went around the circle as we usually do, but everyone apologized and said that they hadn't read it. A few people said, "Well, I got to page 15, but then I fell asleep." I told him I liked the title. We got all the way around and back to George (we'd already briefed George on the joke), and then he started laughing and said, "No, I can't do this." Even the Clarion "helpers" fell for it, and Eric later said he didn't realize it was a joke until everyone started laughing. But he took it very well and is even now plotting his revenge. (Of course then we gave him our real critique.)

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Burke's wife and child came up to visit for the weekend. His son is 15 months old, and is totally cute. They're running up and down the halls right now.

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Week two is over, and we went to the party last night for George's send-off. I met Lucius Shepard, Howard Waldrop, Eric Nylund, Syne Mitchell, Patrick Swenson, and a zillion other people. This week was a busy one, but I got a lot out of it. I learned a great deal about structure and plotting and how to make a story that takes the reader along for the ride.

Again, I'm not sure if I can yet apply the knowledge, but at least it's somewhere in my head.

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This morning we went over to Jeff's apartment (3 blocks away) and Chiara made breakfast for us--pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit, coffee. It was most yummy, and a nice break. This weekend is not going to be very relaxing though, since I signed up to turn in a story on Monday, and I'd really like to make it. I have my basic idea/premise, but I'm still trying to flesh out the actual story.

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I hate holidays when there's no mail delivery. Especially when I'm expecting mail.