Inspiration

One of my favorite parts about Summer Literary Seminars was getting the chance to hear so many amazing authors read their work. Among my favorites was John Dufresne, who read from his collection of short stories Johnny Too Bad.

Aside from having a great sense of humor, his writing was really fresh, and engaging in a way I didn’t know short stories could be. By chance, I was taking my first stab at short story-writing in my UConn class with the aforementioned modern Nevsky Prospect (which is currently untitled) and I loved it. Writing short stories, I mean, not the story itself - though if I do say so, it didn’t turn out too bad. What’s more, when I finished I actually wanted to write more. I have this whole vision in my head of all these stories that can be connected to that one, but which can stand independant of it. It’s almost maddening trying to organize the ideas in my head enough to scribble down the snippets that flash by me.

It’s crazy how inspired I’ve been as a result of the conference. There were so many different writers who I feel so priviliged to have heard read: John Dufresne, Jim Shepard, Sam Lipsyte, Jonah Winter, Josip Novokovitch… It was such a rich environment.

The downside, however, is that my wishlist is growing ridiculously long after hearing what they all write, and even if I could afford the slew of books I’m ravenous for, I don’t have the time to read them before summer is over.