Day 216: Some thoughts on the coming residency.

I have not seen most of my friends in a year.

I have not been in Maine for a year.

I decided to go to Europe this summer instead. I did my residency abroad.

We won't be going back to the Stonehouse.

We won't be seeing the beautiful woods with the cool tide that I always loved watching.

It won't be exactly the same, and I still haven't processed that in my head.

A lot of my friends won't be there, because they've already graduated. Or they are graduating and coming in later.

A lot of new friends I've never met will be there, and I can't wait to meet them.

I am nervous about workshops. I submitted stories I believe in. I want them to get better.

I worked really hard the last year to be better than I was.

I still have a long ways to go.

I hope I do not get stuck in Newark.

I hope the chairs are more comfortable than they were at Stonehouse.

I hope I don't say anything dumb. It is customary for me to say something really stupid and off-putting by the end of the second day, and I really hope I break my three-for-three streak.

I hope the Popfic Dinner works out.

I am looking forward to the pillow chocolates, although I have promised half of them to Shawna.

I will need to steal someone's pillow chocolates to make up for my deficit.

If you end up missing pillow chocolates, it wasn't me.