Saturday, June 28, 2008

A Little Overwhelmed...

Well, I got my residency schedule, and it is 10 days of BUSY!  It's all very exciting, and I really can't wait, but, boy, am I going to be exhausted by the time I get home!  In addition to the faculty lectures, and graduate lectures, and readings, and workshops, there are also receptions, cocktail parties, karaoke, dance/games night, and just general parties!  One of the biggest benefits of doing a program like the one at Vermont College is the networking.  Making friends and acquaintances that can help you, either emotionally or at a career-level; people who are in a similar situation as you.
Some of the authors I'll be meeting and learning from are:
Kathi Appelt (author of The Underneath-a strong competitor for the Newbery this year)
Norma Fox Mazer
MT Anderson
Tim Wynne-Jones
Rita Williams-Garcia
Sharon Darrow
Martine Leavitt
(and I found out that Cynthia Letiech-Smith will be returning in January!)
And these are only a few of the talented writers I'll be working with!

Amazing, right?
I'll be posting one more time before I leave, and then I'll try to post each night to keep you up with my experiences in Vermont.
Hopefully this will be helpful to anyone considering attending a low-rez program.


5 comments:

PJ Hoover said...

You are going to get such great feedback! I'm excited for you!
I just met someone this weekend who's going also!

david elzey said...

i never managed to get to my own nightly postings last january -- too much "networking" with my classmates!

as for the busy-busy aspects of the schedule keep in mind that most people find themselves a little burnt out midway through, and as long as you're getting your minimum number of lectures in, it's okay to take a few lectures off for some down time (not tobin's, of course!). everyone always wants to see and do everything, but about five days in there just comes a day where people need to sleep in, or take an afternoon nap.

busy has never felt more fun, or as invigorating.

Michele Regenold said...

The busy-ness of the schedule is partly dependent on how many graduating student lectures there are to squeeze in. I think the class graduating this summer is fairly hefty, 17 or 18? At least that's hefty compared to the 8 souls in my class.

Also, the summer residency usually has the special weekend in the middle, which makes things even more jampacked.

Even though my final residency schedule last January was fairly relaxed in comparison to this summer's, it felt like it lasted about 3 months. But probably that's because I had to give a reading and lecture.

Have a great time, Dawn! I hope you can give yourself permission to skip things once in a while when you need a nap.

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

Dawn, this sounds so amazing and so exciting! Keep us all posted. We can live vicariously thorugh you...

Dawn Buthorn said...

Thanks PJ-I'm really excited too! If I can get past being so nervous!

Hi David-it'll be nice to meet you in person. Thanks for being a regular visitor here! I want to suck up as much info. as I possibly can, and I don't want to miss anything, but if I need to I will.

Hi Michele, I just heard the incoming class is 27 people! That is an unbelievable number, compared to the 8 in yours just a couple years ago!

Thanks for stopping by, Sheri. I'll do my best to keep up with this blog so people who are considering this will have plenty of real-life information to help them decide. I won't sugar-coat it either.