It's been two days since I escaped from Maine, barely missing the Nor'easter that hit Freeport and dumped buckets of snow on top of an already snow covered land. It's also been two days since I left the Winter 2008 Stonecoast Residency, and I'm already missing my friends.

My second residency was nothing short of exhausting and amazing. Ten days of readings, writing, critiquing, and listening have stoked my desire to write. This is a very good thing since I have an incredibly aggressive semester in front of me. Yes, I know, I am an overachiever. Then again, Jason did give me the "overachiever" super power in his Pop'Fic Super Heroes story. How can I let this power go to waste? :-)

I have the amazingly good fortune to be mentored by Nancy Holder this semester. Her experience and my needs (and there are many!) are a perfect match. Over the next five months, I'll be blasting through the first draft of my novel, doing research for my 3rd semester project and thesis, and begin organizing my paper on the art of adapting story from one form to another.

Having a chance to work with Jim Kelly last semester was just what I needed. He's a fabulous story doctor and he has helped to push my writing to the next level. In addition, I had some great workshops this semester with Mike Kimball, Julia Spenser-Fleming, and Nancy Holder. After having my workshop manuscripts critiqued by them, I finally feel like I'm "getting it". Writing is a difficult process, but it's not impossible. The key to writing is time, energy, and a stubborn need to persevere no matter what.

To anyone thinking about writing, my best advice is to just do it. Put those words down on paper no matter how crappy they are right now. Literary beauty comes with revision, and not even Shakespeare can revise a blank piece of paper.