Running the Invincible Summer writing circle (I’ve come to think of it is a circle now at this point; I’ve come to see the vitality of the interaction among the women writing & bouncing their inspiration and styles and voices off of one another), I’ve remembered something so vital, I can’t believe I ever forgot it:

I’m a writer first.

I know it’s rather passe to say “I’ve learned so much from my students, it’s like they’re the teachers!” Well, I don’t really care who thinks what is passe, because I’m saying it.

I’ve been “teaching” this course and watching writers really develop, really grow, and I’ve realized that my own writing has felt (to me) strained for months now. Maybe part of it has to do with blogging and (attempting) freelancing; maybe part of it runs deeper than that. My veins run deep with stories.

So things are taking new & different directions, and I’m in “eccentric artist mode” at the moment. This is unfortunate inasmuch as I’m trying to run a business, but I’m a bit obsessed with this poetry collection that’s been sitting gathering dust.

Eccentric artist mode means scrambling eggs in a saucepan because all the other pans are dirty; it means attempting to vacuum with a novel in my hand; it means doing gogo-dance-cardio workouts in my underwear; standing out behind the apartment for a while swimming in the humid air just so I can go inside and appreciate the a/c all over again; sucking down glass after glass of iced tea like it’s going out of style; moving randomly between the piano and the jigsaw puzzle on the table; forgetting to brush my teeth; and oh, writing a lot.

I enjoy all of this & I feel a surge of energy moving me forward into something new, but I can’t tell you what it is just yet.

But yes, it’s the course & the women writing that have got me writing like a madwoman again, feeling on fire & hungry for more.

And all of this is why I’m doing out-of-character things, like posting youtube videos of the songs that I have on repeat: