Creative writing cradles the aspiring author in a cocoon of captivating craft elements and wild ideas. The undergraduate balances work and school, work, procrastination, and mind blanks.
Try to stay productive because undergrad is almost over. You’ve almost made it! Wildfires swallow the surrounding communities. Sit and stare at articles for hours without processing a single thing.
Sit bare naked and exposed in front of the laptop screen. There’s nothing to hide but no words to write. Barricaded by the barriers of a traumatized mind.
Wait and worry about those pre-requisites instead.
Let the pain dissipate gradually.
Graduate.
The virus hits right as the imposter syndrome was starting to subside. Second-semester spirals. Home becomes school becomes work which became a cage as we scramble searching for a separate space.
This is grad school—keep up the momentum. You’re a grad student—keep up the momentum. This is grad school? This is your kitchen, your living room, and your cat who won’t stop getting on top of the counter.
Summer swells with the exhaustion of the last semester and the scattered sentences of a thesis yet to be written. Autumn comes. Those page counts need to be reached soon if those deadlines are to be kept.
Those deadlines are being pushed back again.
A flash-fiction collection concept. Pages that seem to add up with every editing attempt. Try to expand on this. Please provide further explanation for your reader. We need more context. More inner dialogue, please.
Fluid short fiction flows from the fingertips with ease. A larger commitment comes with wordier literary works. Suddenly the piece has inner faucets that need tending to like those loose ends and pacing problems. You’d better revise any problematic plot holes or faulty character arcs as well.
Discussion Questions to Consider:
1. Who’s the killer of the story?
2. Which twists and turns are too trope-thick?
3. Is this influence-soaked work even yours anymore?
Piles of papers containing comments keep the thoughts flowing but at too rampant of a pace. The revision process returns once again. Try to reestablish what the work was hoping to accomplish before being dissected. Is it still the same story? Is it successful? What does successful art look like?
Wait. Worry about what happens after all this and after your defense.
Get it together and let these extra months be your saving grace.
Graduate.
The LEAP Lab 