Wishes do come true

I've been bad about posting. For multiple reasons. First off...this quarter my thesis adviser told me to write a story/ten pages a week until November 8th. I found that blogging was a great way to get into the "writing" mode and it was a good form of procrastination. So as you can see I almost posted weekly during the time I was supposed to be writing a story. I did complete the ten pages-a story a week- for five weeks straight. I was so tired and never in my life would have thought I could have written that much. I have written 60 pages in 6 weeks. That's a lot. I want to keep writing, but it seems without the deadlines it is hard to do. Also- my other course work has been piling up. I have been grading student papers up the wazoo. Every time I grade a bunch I get a huge headache. I really do like my students though. It makes me happy to see a student improve (this is essay #2) based on the feedback I gave them. It makes me happy to be able to get them to talk in discussion section when they won't say a peep for the first ten or so minutes. Once I drop an exercise/activity on them they turn it into a productive and insightful conversation. Yesterday it was about immigration and literature. One of my favorite topics.
This last weekend I went to a really fun party/open mic. I didn't read of course, but it was fun to bond with the first year creative writing graduate students. So life is moving along, but is busy.

I am sooo ready for the holidays.

Here are some pictures from my Birthday trip to Chico:






This one was a birthday wish come true.