Last Day of Normal Classes!

Hellooooo everyone. So, uh, a lot has happened in the last month. So much that I was kind of like...Whoa! Spread out good news! I can't take you all at once! So anyways, I'm sure most of you have heard that I got accepted into the NYU publishing program that I applied to. Columbia rejected me right away (I didn't want to go there anyway!) and I was put on the waiting list of the University of Denver program and I didn't really think I had a chance of getting into NYU and then I recieved my glorious acceptance email (yeah, email!) And then I proceeded to freak out.

I am very excited to spend six weeks in NYC but also scared because..hello, it's New York! And also I've watched a lot of Law and Order:SVU episodes, so that can't help the paranoia. Anyways, I'm going to live on NYU campus (hopefully) and our classes are in the Woolworth Building. Do you know what the Woolworth Building looks like? Because if you don't you should google it. Yeah, skyscraper. Me and publishing in a skyscraper. I head off to NY in the beginning of June and return July 16th or so (maybe with a job but if not, a lot of experience that could help me get a job in the Cities publishing houses.)

The next good news I received was in the form of my English Capstone and Nonfiction writing Professor. My capstone is made up of an academic paper as well as a creative writing portion. For my creative writing portion, my professor told me I could work on my book (the book I've been writing and rewriting for the past 4 years). I met with my professor before we discussed it in our class (everyone has to read everyone's stories) and to my surprise, he said that he was impressed and thought it was a good story, with good characters with obvious needs for revision. (I was expecting the "Don't quit your day job" advice which I would have disregarded but actual liking was the best thing I could have gotten. And yeah, I know I need to revise and revise and revise. Little known fact: Authors can revise forever. Basically their agents have to rip the manuscript out of their hands for it to be 'finished')
My professor was impressed with it so much that he began asking around for anyone in the industry to read my book (The professor is a published nonfiction writer with a whole stack of books of essays so he knows people.) He found me a contact...a very impressive person to send my writings to. Like Salman Rushdie big! Like HOLY CRAP THIS GUY IS GOING TO READ MY NOVEL?? (not Salman Rushdie. I'm keeping the name under wraps in case someone googles me and reads this blog!) Anyway, I'm sending my novel to someone very high up in publishing at the end of this week.

This does not mean that I am going to be published. The worst he could read it and not do or say anything with it. He could give me some feedback and still not pass on it. He could like it enough to send it to a literary agent who could not pass on it and send me some feedback. Or this literary agent could take me on and we could work on my book and upon selling my book to publishers. Now the last case scenario is very very VERY unlikely and I am totally aware of that. It's a pipe dream. I follow enough authors to know that rejection is part of the business. I am prepared for years--YEARS!-- of rejection before I get published. So even getting feedback from people in the business would be incredibly helpful and amazing This is a very BIG opportunity for me...so yeah FREAKING OUTTAGE!!!

In other news, today is my last day of class. I spent it finishing my 40 page manuscript of essays for my nonfiction class. Two of the essays are rambles about how I can't smell and also why being from here means you don't freak out every time it floods. There's also an essay on swinging (as in a swingset)and I use it as a metaphor for graduating and the future. I'm not at all certain that this metaphor works but I don't care anymore. I'm graduating and NYU can't reject me based on grades anymore and I will now be foraying into the land that isn't based on a grades system. Thank you, baby Jesus. I don't have any finals just one myth test (oh by the way, I'm consistently beating my friend in that class mwhahahaha) which is only on the past week of material so it should be easy! That being said, this week will be devoted to making sure my book sucks as less as possible before sending it off into the unknown. SQUEEEEE!