aithne | the hard and the easy

So, I’m back.

I’m getting caught up on sleep, helped by the blessed run of cool days we’ve had, getting my life back on track, doing things that I’ve not done for six weeks. Yesterday it was dealing with mail, today it was getting my hair dyed and dealing with the finances I’ve been putting off for a bit. I’ve been spending time with my sweeties and my animals, and more or less trying to integrate back into my life and picking up my household responsibilities.

The six weeks of Clarion West was completely awesome. By the time it was over, I was so ready for it to end…and yet I miss all of my classmates. That focus, where everything was about writing, I miss that as well at the same time that I’m glad to be home. The last week was rough, made rougher by the heat wave that happened during it, and compounded by the brain burn I was feeling by Thursday or so. I stayed up late on Friday, and got up early on Saturday to take someone to the airport. I came back, packed, took another load of people to SeaTac, came back and helped pack the house. We went out to sushi and then it was time to go, and I was driving south with the echoes of eighteen voices of fellow students, six teachers, the lovely Leslie and Neile, and what seem like hundreds of other people who had useful things to say bouncing around my head.

I haven’t really finished processing yet. Did I have some insights into the craft and the business? Yep, but I can’t articulate them quite yet. Each instructor brought something different to us, and I learned stuff from each of them. I learned at least as much from critiquing other people’s work as I did from writing and being critiqued. It was an experience I am so very glad that I was fortunate enough to have.

And now, it is time to sing a verse of “Tentacle Longing” and go forth and rock it!