My Residency Goals and Expectations

I'm not fantastic at the whole 'leave your life behind' residency concept. I've gotten better at managing my time since my first residency here in Chicago, or, even more laughably, my first residency at Goddard College, where 'manage your time' meant playing Hearthstone in bed and looking for edible food. (First semester of MFA residency sucks, guys. You're looking for a way around while trying to figure out why they accepted you while juggling a mountain of workshops and tasks...)

But I'll admit that I do other work while I'm at residency, try to find time to do art when I'm supposed to be writing, and even keep up some scheduled commitments like student council meetings, Aisthesis scheduled events, and paid work. That's not because I'm a malicious person. It's because I see my time at home annoyingly expended the most by mundane chores and errands, and when I'm out of town, those vanishing is a huge win.

Someday, when I'm even better at residencies, I'll do it. I'll shut off my cell phone--okay, except to call home so my mother doesn't send a search and rescue party--and tell everyone I'm unavailable and stop answering emails. But right now, the work I do is important to me, and I can't shut off things like my classes workload without incurring a huge time penalty later on. The goal of a residency--for me, right now--is to carve out a different niche in time and space for my work. I don't cheapen that by overcommitting to 'other' activities. Nor do I diminish it and risk burnout later by turning off the rest of the world.

​So, without further lead up, here's a list of what I plan to do this week. I wrote it before I left, so even though I'm in medias res as I type this, I haven't modified it at all. I'll post when I get home and let you know whether I was successful:

• Write one flash fiction story and one poem each day
• Review submission markets and make a list of submission targets
• Revise a novel I've been sitting on since November 2013. Not in full, because that'd take a full week of sitting in a chair and still be nearly impossible, but making significant progress on pacing, outlining, and figuring out what should be changed
• Go through a writer's activity book I bought and complete activities/read useful craft links
• Revise short works for publication
• Modify and switch over website. Again, I don't expect this to be fully completed, but I've decided to merge my blog with my static website, so you'll start seeing some changes in that direction
• Go through this daily drawing challenge class
• Make a list of application deadlines for future opportunities
• Meet with a rescue cat that I might adopt...

​Yes, Internet! Hold me accountable. I dare you!