Is this thing on?

I must be a tad masochistic, starting a blog. My days are already filled to the brim with words. But I guess that’s also the reason the idea of a blog appealed to me. Words are what I know, what I do. I’ve had a long-standing fantasy of tattooing a quill to the skin of my left wrist, so I could remind myself to write always, and to give strangers a glimpse of who I am. But I have a fear of needles (and commitment), so this will have to do. These are the things I want to remember, and the things I think are worth sharing.

Still, maybe one day I’ll get that tattoo.

For those who don’t know me, I’m a twentysomething currently in my second year at the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ MFA program in fiction writing. So there are drafts upon drafts, workshops, readings, edits, submissions, and the eternal mantra: “You must write every day!”  And I do, in some form or another. In order to get myself through grad school, I have a multitude of jobs. I tutor, helping students with everything from basic grammar to literary analysis. I teach a beginning fiction writing workshop two days a week, and sell books at Left Bank in the Central West End on weekends (and Mondays). Each year, from March through October, I usher at Busch Stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals (my first, and therefore purest, love).

So time, I ain’t got. But I still feel like a blog is something worth starting. I’m writing this for my family, so they can get a better idea of what I do all day, every day. I’m writing this for my friends, who are crazy enough to stick by me, despite my best efforts. I’m writing this for the writers struggling through their own MFA programs, or thinking about grad school, so they can learn from my mistakes. I’m writing this for random strangers who are weird enough to want to read about me. Weird is a compliment, trust me. And I’m writing this for me, because I know, despite all the stress and the headaches and the panic and the insomnia, this is where life is changing, maybe for good, hopefully for better. These are the things I need to remember.

Here’s what you can expect from me: general writings about writing, awesome anecdotes about me failing (and occasionally succeeding) at grad school, moments with particularly memorable students, cool things I’ve read, literary goings-on at Left Bank and throughout Stl, general rants about my life, etc. Welcome, and enjoy.