My Odyssey into the world of Fantastic Fiction begins
As kylecassidy  mentioned on his blog, I was recently accepted into the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. It means that I will not be going to Syria this year, but I'd already warned the crew that I was thinking about using this summer to chase different demons. This field season is to be a relatively small one and I realized that if I was going to do some serious writing, it needed to be this summer. Clarion's deadline had passed by the time I decided this, but Odyssey was still open, so I applied. Now I'll be attending that workshop from June 7 to July 18 and, provided I survive the program, I'll become an OdFellow, joining the ranks of at least one of my longtime friends, labrysinthe. If anyone else has experience with this program or opinions on it, please let me know what you think.

Kyle, trillian_stars  and I had drinks to celebrate (how much more writerly can you get) but the full implications of the program have only just begun to settle in my mind as the gin leaves it and only the headache remains. It's an intense program and some have warned me that the extreme criticism involved can cause some writers to implode rather than grow. But I think these potentially stressful six weeks of writing, reading, analyzing and giving & receiving criticism is exactly what I need. It can potentially build community for me as well.

Luckily I've done exactly what I needed to do in order to prepare for Odyssey. As I filled out the application, I also began my own intense program of reading and analyzing short stories like never before, and I've completed and submitted two short stories within the last month. I'm now directing my fiction much more toward the market rather than writing strange things that aren't really classifiable to genre. I probably won't hear back on those slush pile pieces for a while, but just making the attempt is good for me. I want to try to continue to submit relentlessly throughout this summer.

A friend of a friend, who fancied himself a writer and who had just self-published a book was once flaunting his apparent success. So I told him I'd just finished a book. He looked at me with disdain and said he was glad more people were reading. I wonder if he really thought I was telling him I had finally finished _reading_ a book or if he was just trying to be cleverly biting. Either way, I think he had an inflated opinion of himself. I don't want to turn into that kind of person, I want to find out if I have what it takes to make it in the published fiction realm, though. I need community but I've been so much of a loner that getting that has been almost impossible. There are a few people who read my work, but almost none that are writers themselves. I've joined the PSFS writer's group but getting to and from their meetings is difficult for me and I feel bad about relying on others for a ride (especially people I don't really know).

I don't plan to give up archaeology or teaching. I couldn't do that, I enjoy both too much. In fact, the term just ended on Monday and my students were quite happy with the course, many staying after the class to tell me how much of an impact I had made on them. Things like that can't be replaced, it's rewarding to reach your students and help them grow. But ideally I want to teach part time for a living wage and write in the extra time for supplemental income. I think it would be rewarding to also help people escape in fantastical stories that perhaps move them and influence them in different ways.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll attain that goal. Regardless, I've taken the next step in that journey. That Odyssey.