Carrie Callahan

Part of teaching yourself is knowing when to back off. This is not one of those moments. Instead, I've realized that I'm not pushing myself hard enough! I have too much free time, and too much creative energy left over from other endeavors. I need to add more writing to my syllabus. On that note, I'm announcing the addition to my syllabus of a novel-writing class! This class' aims will be to write about 2,000 words on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday toward a longer fiction work, in addition to the other story writing I'll be doing on Tuesday and Thursday as well. I say "about" 2,000 words because I find that when I put specific numbers on my progress, they distract me from really getting into the writing. Instead, my focus will be on getting into the "flow" and losing myself in my writing in much the same was as I lose myself in reading - not checking word counts every five minutes. I'm hoping this more holistic approach will help me r...

In April of this year, I graduated college. I was quite proud of it, as I'm the first in my immediate family to do so. I'm also proud of how I spent my college time - shoring up The Writer's Guild , being an RA, and generally busting my ass in every classroom to grab each and every coveted "A" (stands for Acceptable - as in, the only grade acceptable). My standards were high. After graduation, I moved to rural Louisiana where my husband is stationed with the military. I thought it would be boring, but idyllic. A place to relax and write. After the hectic pace of university life, however, it was more isolated than relaxed and completely lacking in the underlying academic structure I'd become reliant on to stay focused. For some time I was aimless, depressed even. I thought if I got a job things would be great. Well, McDonald's was about the only place I could get employed and it wasn't exactly an inspiring work environment. Soon my writing outp...