The Real Work

I'm back in Oregon after two weeks of travel, first to upstate New York for a school visit on the Akwesasne Reservation, then on to Montpelier, Vermont, where I'm on the faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Talking to kids about the writing process followed by ten days of intense conversation with those who write for them was an illuminating experience. I feel totally steeped in the storyteller's world, and perched on the perfect launch pad for rewriting my new novel. The proof, however, will be in the pudding. Lofty discourse means little when I start to type. All of the discussion in the world doesn't line the words up right. It's just me and the story I want to tell. Hundreds of choices will be made, hundreds of hours spent making them. Therein lies the real work of writing.