And Time Is Still Marching On

It occurs to me, from time to time, that I do a lot of work that has no bearing on my academic career. This is typically a point that's driven home for me when I realize that having encroaching paper due dates will most likely cut into my blogging and possibly even my novel writing time. Which is a weird thing to think about, to be honest.

So, like an idiot, I volunteered to be the first person to present my short story for workshop in my fiction class in a few weeks. March 22nd is the date. No biggie, I thought smugly as I watched the professor write my name in the slot. That's plenty of time to write a fifteen page short story. Side note: it always amuses me how relaxed I am about longer assignments... it's just hard to get dismayed by fifteen pages when I'm working on something that's currently 163 pages, single spaced.

Wait. Something was off, something in the back of my mind told me I was missing an important calculation, something that would change the entire meaning of this equation. What was it, what was it, what...

I consulted my planner. Checked dates. Nope, nothing the week of the 22nd. I'm good there.

And just a reminder, the professor said, be sure to have copies of your story a week before your workshop date, so we have time to look over them. Still not a problem, March 15th is a long ways off, too. Not quite as long as the 22nd, but.... oh wait. Wait.

Oh.

March 15th is part of that magical time of the year known to college students as "Spring Break." Which meant no class before my presentation. Which meant... that I'd have to turn my story in the week before that. Which meant turning it in on the 8th.

Which meant I have to be ready in three weeks.

Well, shit.

The good news is that I have a pretty good idea for a story, I think. I mean, I hope I do; I guess I won't really know until I actually start working on it, which I really, really should do soon. Fortunately for me, the way I see it, I'm already in the habit of writing every day. So, really, it shouldn't be difficult to replace my novel writing time for short story writing time. I can start that tomorrow, and since I'm still writing, it completely fits in with my goal of Write Every Day. Hey, this won't be so bad!

So why do I feel like my writing class is interfering with my stated goal of being a writer?


How very, very odd.