Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic

Mini-me is off to the Juniper Writer's Workshop this week. I'm proud of him for putting himself in a position to get this opportunity and even more proud of him stepping way out of his comfort zone and going off to do it.

University of Massachusetts
Amherst library

There's a reason I've nicknamed this one "Mini-me." Had I been given the opportunity to do something like this, I'm not sure I could have screwed up the courage to go. So many things that would need to be done that I'd never done before and there would be multiple people critiquing my work. He's much the same way but it's something I've encouraged him to work through and he's much more brave than I am!

He's been great about checking in (better than I would have expected), but he's been kept busy and even has "homework" when he's not in sessions so we haven't had much chance to talk. Can't wait for him to get back so I can get all of the details and read some of what he's been working on.

 During the day they are working on writing; in the evenings there are readings. The first night he was excited to hear James Tate, Pulitzer-prize winning poet, read and was impressed with Mitchell S. Jackson, who read from his book The Residue Years (so much so that he bought the book). I'm sure he'll come home with one or two more books tucked in his bag.

Have you ever done anything like this? The whole idea of taking a week to hone your writing skill has me giving NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) some consideration. I've got these idea percolating away in my brain...