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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Tuesday night writing club.

Just so you know how "un-hip" I am... when my husband called the community the "Tuesday night writing club" I had no idea it was a reference... apparently this album was a big deal a while back.... oh well, just one more confirmation of my tragic lack of coolness and deeply absent knowledge of popular culture... apparently this gal dated some bike rider from around here. But that is not the point.

Last night our group met and we had read a piece that SAM had submitted to a journal and had gotten back to "revise and resubmit", a popular refrain in the academic world. I was amazed at how harsh and specific the feedback was. But... here is why SAM continues to inspire me. He had responded to all the critique from the editors, done the revisions and then sent his new draft (including the letter) to our group and asked for more feedback. The group was honest and in spite of the fact that he is in some ways our boss (perhaps leader is a better word) we had a lot to say and he seemed very grateful for our critique.

I am learning more and more that this whole thing - life, graduate school, writing is all a process and the only way we can learn from our mistakes- is for someone to kindly (hopefully) point them out. I think about how much better my writing and my thinking has become as a result of all this.

I am hoping that I can continue to meet with this group after I have finished...

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