brentcsmith.net

I’m here!

I spent Saturday night in Vermont (oh my, what a gorgeous state) and then arrived here on Sunday morning. The residence where we are staying is very nice, better than I expected. Essentially, it is a big house, much more welcoming than the ‘dorm’ experience I was expecting. The weather has been great as well, a little hot during the day but nice and cool at night. I’m told that that will change.

Obviously I am not supposed (nor would I have anyway) to talk about specifics of things that happen in the classroom or specifics about my fellow classmates. I will say though that they (and the Odyssey staff as well) have been incredibly friendly and helpful. There has been very little in the way of opening jitters.

So far, the thing that has struck me the most is the conversation. If you’ve read my bio, then you know I’m a software developer. An office full of engineers is where I spend most of my time around people who are not my family. A typical conversation there might go like this.

“So, you’re going on vacation for six weeks, huh? Where are you going?”

“To a writer’s workshop.”

At this point they stare at me as if a horn just sprouted from my forehead. “Ah, technical writing?”

“No, fiction.”

Now, they are starting to back away. “Really, what kind of fiction?”

“Speculative fiction.”

“What is that?”

“Science fiction, fantasy, and horror.”

At this point, the horns are popping out everywhere. “Oh, look at the time, I have to get my TPS report done.” And they move away as quickly as possible.

Here, not only do the conversations not happen that way, but instead of the typical introductory “Where are you from? What do you do?” the lead-in question tends to be “What do you write?” which is as refreshing as hell and brings a grin to my face every time I hear it.

Tonight was an easy night, I only spent about 6.5 hours on homework needed for tomorrow. I’ll post more as I can.

This time tomorrow I’ll be getting on the road and headed east. I plan to be somewhere in Ohio by Friday night, on the Vermont-New Hampshire border on Saturday night, and cruising into Manchester on Sunday morning.

And then the fun really starts!

I’ve been counting since I was first accepted, there were over a hundred days then. Now I’m in the final stretch. My dining room table is stacked with the stuff I’m bringing; books, pots and pans, linens, printer paper… basically anything I think I might use. The advantage of driving is that I can take as much as I want, I have no idea how people flying in and limited to one or two suitcases will cope. The disadvantage is, well, it looks and feels like I’m moving and I may not be able to see out of the windows of my car.

So what happens in these days leading up to Odyssey? Well about a month ago, we received a book of essays and short stories and instructions to start reading them about two weeks before we leave. There was also a list of questions (essay questions, no true/false here!) to be answered about each one. The answers go into and begin what will become our journal once we arrive. I wrapped that work up Sunday night. It’s one thing to read a story for enjoyment, it’s quite another to pull it apart and dissect it. I won’t even go into the essays!

Secondly, we were asked to pick a favorite short story and bring a photocopy along with a few paragraphs about what we admire about it; what makes it great. I won’t say just yet which story I picked… I struggled with the choice. My favorite short story is “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor, unfortunately we had to pick a story from speculative fiction (fantasy/sci-fi/horror) and that doesn’t qualify. So, I found a story that shares some of the same traits that I admire about O’Connor’s story. The important news it that it is ready to go.

Finally, we have to have a third short story ready to go as it will need to be turned in sometime during the first week, possibly on the first day. I finished the rough draft a couple of weeks ago and set it aside. Last night, I picked it up and read it again and was pleasantly surprised with how happy I am with it. It’s still quite rough, so over the next couple of days I’ll polish it and get it ready to be torn apart as my first critiqued story at Odyssey.

Seven days from now, I’ll be headed off to Odyssey.

One of the things that has struck me as odd in these months since I learned that I was accepted is how little information there is out there from past students. Sure, you can find any number of blogs from past students of Odyssey and the Clarions where they’ve given their impressions after the fact. There’s even a couple that have blogged during the workshop, but never more than two or three times over the six week period. I’ve been completely frustrated in my desire to know what to expect on a day to day basis. Granted, it could be a result of my inferior internet search skills, but I think I would have found something based on the amount of time I’ve spent looking.

So… here’s my plan. Not a promise, because it may turn out that there’s a very good reason that no one blogs about their experience as it is happening. I plan to try and post here as often as I can about what my impressions are–not about the details of the classes, I can understand that they may not want that type of information out there–but my impressions and things that I think might be useful for future attendees and others who are simply interested in the experience.

The posts may not be coherent or readable based on the amount of work I expect to be doing, but surely I can afford five minutes every day or two to put something down, right?