A Day in the Life

I wake up around 7.

Sometimes I need the alarm, sometimes I don't. It depends how active my subconcious is. For example, if I have a vague idea for a piece but haven't got to the stage of character and plot, then I'm much more susceptible to wake naturally. This morning I woke at 6, triggered by vivid images of Mayans, dark matter, and giant blue-black ostrich birds. Unfortunately this was someone else's story from the day before that resonanted with me, so it's a non-starter as a story seed.

I stumble bleary-eyed to the shower, wash in the dark (because those cubicles are claustrophobia-inducing in the light!), and then get dressed while groaning at the stack of yesterday's stories that I've read but not commented on. I sit at the desk, crank the brain machinery, and stare at the wall until a useful insight comes. When that doesn't happen I just write stuff like 'The prose is very smooth' or 'Isn't gravity 9.81m/s2 rather than 10m/s2?'. I'm a goldmine for the other writers! Seriously, I do find that I'm still fumbling around in the dark when it comes to criticising a piece, and especially, suggesting improvements. A lot of this comes down to deciding what category of fiction the story is and then answering the usual questions accordingly. For example, from one writer today, I learnt that a God's motivations, in their opinion, should never be revealed. My criticism tends to come down more on the technical or factual side of the writing. I figure a range of thoughts is a good thing for the author anyhow.

Clarion '06 Likes to Eat Out
Owen Hall's cafeteria sucks big style, but breakfast is usually safe. Around 8.30 I finish the crits and wander over. Since discovering English tea in the hot drinks area, I've pretty much stuck to tea and toast and sometimes porridge. You have to work hard to cock those up. At the table, Steve Berman is usally gesticulating wildly, but I ignore that sit down and eat. At this time, I have trouble following the conversation, never mind contributing so I just smile politely in the British way. It seems to work, but I sometimes get the impression Steve is making fun of my country.

Clarionites put Cockerels to Shame
The crit circle begins in Van Hoosen at 9. Clarion's very strict about keeping private what goes on inside the circle, but I am allowed to say that it involves goat sacrifice, bagels, and iron maidens...only kidding, bagels and iron maidens would be ridiculous. Apparently we follow the Milford technique which involves stopwatches, one-liners, and dittos. Look it up. The crits are often preceded by a mini-lecture from the instructor, but that varies week to week. Also, there is coffee. Average finish time for the circle is 1pm.

Ceallaigh, Will, and Sarah are so Tired they Stumble into a Cyclotron Tour
By this time, everyone's so mentally drained they forget how bad the food in Owen is and get sucked into the cafeteria. Halfway through meals people often realise that they're eating horrible crap, but are too tired to do anything about it. Jokes about the day's reading, collected at the end of the circle, are usually cracked. 'My God, what a terrible first line -- oh hello, Steve' etc. We drift away from lunch, one by one, as if the conversation is keeping us there when really it's work avoidance strategies. What everyone else does for the next two hours is a mystery, but I suspect it involves procrastinating and feelings of malaise, which is what I get.

Go Away! BK Follows the Steve G Method
By 3 I'm usually hunched over my keyboard, fingers moving furiously, and letting the creative juices flow. It's such a release. I do have to find a quiet place to do it though, as the lobby and the cafeteria have too many people for my taste. I normally go down to the basement and sit in the hall where cheesy music is piped 24 hours a day. I've just started to begin to write to music, but I am picky. Aimee described it as a shell of sound which is a pretty neat way of looking at it. Isolation and lack of distractions are my muses.

Taste the Power...or the Sugary Snacks
Two or three hours in one spot is usually enough. Then I often move to the Circle of Power where Sean, Felice, Shveta, and sometimes others can be found. It's a huge round glass-topped table with room for twelve, and we usually stay there the rest of the day unless there's an evening activity. Dinner is transforming into cans of Monster (like a double Red Bull) and blackberry pie early, followed by pizza or chinese later. My productivity here declines but by the end of the day I normally have 1500 words -- 2 of which are perfect -- and lots of silliness. Bedtime is around 2am. Sometimes I watch an episode of Firefly if I'm not too shattered, but that's a rarity.