Sunday, June 27th, 1999

We met with our new instructor, Judith Tarr. Judy seems quite nice. Like James Morrow and Michaela Roessner, she wants us to continue to polish our prose. But she also wants to teach us about research, idea generation, and novel writing. Yes! Several of my favorite subjects.

Judy wants us to up our production this week, and to try new things, so instead of going out to see the Matrix tonight I am trying to finish a rough draft for my humor piece about the Weekly Weird News. What is the life of a tabloid newspaper reporter really like? Although I'm quite capable of writing comic relief in a serious story, I've never written humor for its own sake. Humor is probably one of the most difficult art forms; so much of it depends on context and personal taste. But what fun it is to try!

Judy also offered up her kitchen for anyone who wants to cook group meals. This would be wonderful. I miss eating my own cooking and long to escape the horrible offerings of Owen Dining Hall.

Pregnancy Update

I have now gained back a pound of weight I lost the week before. Yay! I'm now back at my pre-pregnancy weight, rather than below it. My belly continues to grow, but I now look pregnant rather than fat. (I consider this to be a vast improvement.) I still get surprised sometimes by how fast my body is changing. Not only is my belly larger, but it has started to harden, too.

Healthwise, I'm doing great. Lisa and I continue to swim each day, which makes for a wonderful sanity break from the Clarion madhouse. And I'm still eating. And eating. Did I tell you that I was eating? Yeah, I guess I did.

Hmm