I am still amused by the concept of “workshopping.” Its an actual action one can do and does in an MFA experience, or in writing. Every time I hear someone using it as a verb, chuckles start up across my mind and work hard to suppress an external expression because I don’t want to offend. I just am trying to get familiar with the verb form of the term.
But I realize that I am not that unfamiliar with it. Yet, I am also not sure what I am doing here. That last point I suppose is part of my continuing existential crisis.
Where have I encountered “workshopping” before? I thought the idea odd- people gathering together to sit and critique one another. What if you dont like to share your work publicly, or you don’t like someone there? But in the writers world, workshopping is a critical component to one’s craft.
In fact, one of the first times I ran across “workshopping” was when I read Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild”. She spent a long time “workshopping” what eventually became Wild. I also had two friends, one Jason Magabo Perez who workshopped with VONA, and Taz (from #GoodMuslimBadMuslim podcast) who had encouraged me to apply to VONA and who was part of the South Asian group of creatives who organized workshopping and creative circles in Los Angeles.
But to workshop my work, I still had no clue what that would look like or what I should expect from the process. Right now, I feel apprehensive at the idea of strangers having read my work and are about to discuss the selection amongst themselves (while I sit there listening and taking notes!).
While we are verb-ing nouns, I need to come up with how to properly do “touristing” in Miami. I want to take advantage of being here and not having family to visit. Usually trips out to Miami were done with family time as a priority, leaving little time to go explore the place. But now family is living in Boston, and Miami is just another city for me to come explore in equal parts.
By the way the University of Florida campus is such a nice small encapsulated campus. Very easy to get around, and the architecture along with the garden like outdoor environment is just splendid place to spend time writing. Everywhere I go I run into wildlife and nature doing its own thing despite humans manicuring and controlling it.
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