I don't even know how long I've known about the University of Iowa's Summer Writing Festival but for at least 4 years, I've been telling myself this would be the summer I would finally sign up for one of the workshops and go. Iowa, or anywhere in the midwest in July, is otherwise nowhere I want to be. The only upside to a midwest summer are the Jesus-is-coming thunderstorms and only then when they aren't accompanied by a tornado warning. When the wind isn't picking up to bring a rapture storm, it is still and stifling and filled with insects. Having gone to school in Nebraska very close to the Iowa border, I also have a reflexive border predjudice and can't think of Iowa without recalling the acronym Idiots Out Wandering Around, a term coined by the countless Nebraskans stuck behind Iowa drivers on I-80.
But what Iowa DOES have is a well known and prestigious MFA program for writers and a Summer Writing Festival featuring workshops of all sorts. It was to be my writing vacation and a place to refresh my eyes, ears, and soul. For the first time in all the years I've been considering actually doing it, this was the year it looked like I might actually do it. I had picked out a workshop, called to check availability, researched flights, printed out the registration, and then didn't go. I felt like that V8 commercial:
I know already the excuse I will have for not going next year as I am sure to be chest deep in the logistics of moving back to D.C. or wherever I'll go next but maybe just maybe, I'll endure the terrible drivers, insect pestilence, and the see-saw of stillness and violence in the weather so that I am not again sitting in my underwear near the end of an unremarkable summer thinking, "You could have gone to Iowa."
2 comments:
You'd have met some hardcore writers there I'm sure.
I love how people make fun of their neighboring states. It's almost like "rooting" for your own state, the way you would for a sports team. In Southern Wisconsin, drivers with Illinois plates are known as "FIBs," F--ing Illinois Bastards. Since living in New York I've been tickled by "B&T assholes" (Bridge & Tunnel, usually referring to those from NJ) as well as "Massholes" (as in Massachusetts). I love the IOWA acronym :)
Don't beat yourself up about not going to the conference! You're obviously dedicated to your writing (as well as talented), and if it's something you really want then you'll definitely make it there!
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