I can't hold this in, I have to share it before I burst.

Today, two unbelievably good things happened to me.

We got our midterm portfolio evaluations back in my English 101 class. I was expecting an "A", but I wasn't expecting to read this in the teacher's comments section:



Now that is a compliment. My professor is certainly not an "easy grader", so this is a Really Big Deal. Holy crap. I swear, I almost cried when I read that. I learned an entirely new definition of "elated" today. But wait! It gets better...

After English 101, I have my Creative Writing: Poetry class. We've been workshopping poems for the past 2 weeks, and today was my day to be workshopped. I had submitted a first-draft poem called "In The Middle", in which I do some serious playing with white space and exploring the concept of feeling trapped, but I was really worried about the fact that this poem is nothing like anything our class had seen yet. I read my poem out loud (note to fellow poets: you know that moment when, during a reading, you fall into the most perfect "voice" and you just NAIL it? That was me today) and waited for the rest of the class to have at it.

They loved it--I mean LOVED it. It was the first time I'd really noticed the whole class united in excitement about a poem that we were workshopping. I have never received a response as enthusiastic and positive as I did today; I was absolutely floored.

Then I got back a poetry review response that I'd done for the "Wicked Alice" site, and my teacher had made a comment on the bottom, underlined twice: "YOU should submit here!". That is high praise coming from a teacher who flat-out told us that undergrad poems are not usually literary magazine material. Holy crap. Again.

So yeah. Today I feel like a million bucks, and every doubt and anxiety I've felt about switching to an English/Creative Writing major and setting my sights on an MFA has simply melted away...at least for now.

:cry: :party: :bounce: :woohoo:

Wow, sweetie!

Good for you!

That is just outstanding news!

I'm not one little bit surprised either...your poem in the Poetry Group is incandescent...

Keep on keeping on!

Biggo congrats!

:party: :toast: :bounce: :bounce: :toast: :party:

:hug:

I've learned so much this semester. Everything I've written up until now was just me going on whatever small amount of instinct I had, but learning how to write poetry in a classroom setting is just amazing. I want to go back and edit everything I've ever done in order to apply what I've learned, lol.

And to top it all off, it's Friday! I have a small English writing assignment to turn in tonight, and then my weekend is free! Wooo!

That must make you feel like a brazillion bucks!

but I copied that Congrats graphic! :)

I found it with a Google image search, so it's not really mine. Enjoy.

Congrats!

Post it in your journal here after it's done, so we can read it again and again!

Congrats!

:bounce:

this poem deals with a lot of white space/odd structure that's hard to translate to DU text boxes. I can probably take a screenshot of it and post it as an image file, though! :hug:

but





I love white space




Minimalism,





underrated



Wall-to-wall text




impenetrable





:evilgrin:

I know that feeling. Since I've gone back to school, I've been getting really positive feedback from professors and other students. It makes me feel so wonderful when it happens.

:yourock:

:woohoo:

I've been feeling so damned down lately, worried about my major choice. I'm afraid that, although I lovelovelove to write, I'm never going to become "good" enough to be successful at it. Days like this ease that anxiety a little, for which I am extremely grateful. :hug:

:thumbsup:

Congratulations!

You clearly made the right choice and deserve the praise you're getting. :hi:

Good for you. You have every right to feel great -- celebrate! :toast:

:bounce::hi::

Just kidding

of hard work involved. I love stories like this one. Congratulations!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

Sorry about the MS Word AutoCorrect lines and stuff--I tend to ignore them and I forgot they were there until I'd already created the image and uploaded it, lol.

your real name posted to this board?

Very powerful piece, by the way. :thumbsup:

Although I do appreciate your concern on my behalf, and your compliment! :hug:

I know it can be easy to overlook something like that occasionally.

You're very welcome! :toast:

This is a marvelous use of metaphor and anthropomorphosis to create imagery.

"Every energy feeds this place" and "It anticipates with teeth" are practically making me sweat. I also love "this place" — it's as if you're at once describing its power over you ("This... this place! What is this place?!") and cursing it, like "goddamned" is unspoken between the two words.



You're good. You're very, very good. :)

That is an awesome piece of work! Umm.. get outta my head :)

:hug:

:evilgrin:

Congratulations! Hard work pays off and sometimes talent helps too. It sounds like you are an astute student and brilliant scholar. :hi:

Getting this kind of feedback is nothing but GOOD for you. Don't let your fears erode the hope this has given you :) :toast: