Critiques

So yesterday I had my critique. A critique is an art school requirement. For the visual or performance artists, a group of people (the panel) walks into a room, sees the work on the wall or in progress, and then critiques it. For us writers, a panel (of four or five) reads our work beforehand (if God is kind to you that day) and then comments. As you can imagine, this can be a nerve-wracking experience at best; some students have been known to come out of critiques crying.

The writing program is still young, compared to all of the other disciplines at the school, and in general neither the writing profs nor the students were well prepared for crits since, as far as I know, no other writing program has them. But generally the kinks have been worked out and the experience is much less painful than it used to be. Apparently, the crits from the early years of the program were particularly brutal and the profs weren’t entirely sure how they should be handling them anyway.

So far, I’ve had three crits. They happen once a semester and you have to do four to graduate, which means next spring will be my last. I have not yet had a terrible experience in that no one has referred to my novel in quotations, as with one of my fellow students. (His crit went something like this; “I don’t think this ‘novel,’ is truly a novel.” He kept trying to explain it was only one chapter of the book, to no avail. The rest of the critique the entire panel referred to his work as the “novel” in a snide way.) I have been told I am mediocre as a writer, however, and this last time I was told my writing (as in the language) was boring. I feel boring is an improvement over mediocre. I will say that the panel participants disagreed among themselves (1 to 3), which helped me not take the whole, “Your writing is boring” criticism personally.

In general I think the crits are very helpful in preparing for book reviews. After someone tells you you’re mediocre to your face, I don’t think it will hurt as bad to read it. And I guess I’m a little less sensitive to criticism than the average student because of the journalism work I’ve done.

One thing I’ve recognized during my MFA experience is how subjective reading is. Writing is not an exact science. Even a critically acclaimed book divides critics and readers. Some people hate certain types of writing or certain scenarios no matter how well they are written; there’s no way to please everyone. I love reading Amazon reader reviews because you will see how divided people are over books. I try to remember that in my own writing. There’s no way everyone will like it.

Nostalgia

When I read articles like this one, it makes me very nostalgic for Austin, margaritas, and Tex-Mex food. (There's plenty of Mexican food in Chicago, but only one Tex-Mex restaurant that serves the food of my people). However, this writer's favorite restaurant is Guero's, which makes me distrust him instantly. There's exactly one thing I order at Guero's: drinks. But, he does name some other good places.

Fire and reading

I took a different driving route to work today, assuming the fire in Pilsen might have snarled up traffic. I drove on Western, the longest road in the world, literally, and it took about half the time of my normal commute. As I drove closer to Pilsen, I could see and smell the smoke from blocks away.

I had planned on eating at the Bean later, my new favorite coffee/lunch spot, but the smoke might change my mind.

In other news, I am reading tomorrow, along with a lot of other SAIC writing program folks, at 1926 Halstead sometime between 6 and 9 p.m.

Lately ...

These days, my life revolves around work, the novel, trying to exercise a
minimal amount, and trying to spend time with Nate. For those who are
interested, I try to wake up at 5 on weekdays and write until 7. Then I
shower, get ready for work, eat breakfast, feed the animals (that makes it
sound like we have a barnyard instead of a couple of pets), work 9-5 (mostly,
unless the Museum has an event), then work out or not, have dinner with
Nate, and hang out.

I'm feeling good, just tired. I like getting up early, because the house is
quiet and it's ideal for writing, but I've never been a morning person.
The pivotal element to me getting up early is the programmable coffee maker.
We got it as a wedding gift, and I set it up the night before. I hear my
alarm but promptly turn it off. The great thing about the coffee maker is
that it beeps when it's finished brewing, so it's become my snooze alarm.
Once I hear the beep, it's much easier to haul my ass out of bed because I
know there is some hot coffee love waiting for me. So far, it's working, but
I have to admit that if I could manage to squeeze in a nap, life would be
much sweeter.

I've been thinking about one of my professors, and how she has her life set
up. She teaches two days a week, so on those days she doesn't write. Three
days a week are devoted to writing. She also gets about six weeks off
between the two semesters and all summer off. She does writing workshops
here and there (short ones, for a week or two) to supplement her income.
Then, of course, she has the sale of her books. I think that's close to
ideal. She's working part time, which gets her out of the house, but she
also has three full days a week devoted to her writing. I covet that. I
don't mind working; in fact, when all I do is write I stay in my head a
little too much. I need to get out and be with people at least some of the
time. Plus, I really like my job. It would just be nice to work less. I can
keep up this early-morning schedule for a while (and I definitely have to
until I finish my novel), but I know I can't do this the rest of my life.

Over the past few years, I've realized that I need writing in my life. I
almost don't even care if I'm good at it. Obviously I want to be good at it
and I want people to enjoy it, but even if I were truly horrible I would
still need to do it (I would just hide it and not show anyone). When I don't
write, I feel out of sorts, and like something crucial is missing from life.
Television I could live without, but reading and writing are critical to my
happiness.