Saturday at noon, I graduated with my masters in Writing. I’m now officially done with school, which means I’m also done with the job that actually paid me money. Which means, it’s on now.

The next few months should be pretty exciting. I’m looking for a part time job to sustain me finacially while I keep working at RainTown, and a friend and I have a special project in store that I’ll hopefully be able to announce soon. I’m also about 90% done with Whispers (the novel I did for Nanowrimo last year, the ending of which I’ve been slowly picking at since then), which means soon I’ll be into the editing process of that, and able to start on something new. Also, November is just around the corner again, which will mean more Nanowrimo.

Mainly, it’s just weird to be done with school. Possibly forever. I did the traditional college route: straight to undergrad after high school. But unlike a lot of people I know, I didn’t take time off after getting my BA. I plunged right into grad school. I had a few reasons for this. One of them was that the recession hit just as I was finishing my senior year, and I wasn’t keen to do the whole job-search thing in that climate. The second was that I found the publishing program at PSU. I had always planned to go somewhere else for grad school, because that’s what one does, isn’t it? But here was an amazing program right at my finger tips, and I wouldn’t have to break my lease or rent a u-haul. How could I pass that up?

I think I definitely made the right decision. The last two years have been the most fun I’ve had in school since elementary school. I felt like such a part of a community. Ooligan Press, the publishing house associated with the program, is  such a wonderful environment to learn in. All the books are literally chosen, edited, designed, and marketed by graduate students, and they do a great job.  It was so thrilling to have my name in the back of books. And I’ve made some great friends out of the program (some of them I even get to work with now at RainTown).

Although these last two years have been wonderful, I won’t deny that they’ve been hard. Grad school is no picnic, especially when you’re also working. At least I was working for the school, so there wasn’t much extra travel time thrown in, but it definitely felt like a marathon at times. But I think I’m the type of person who likes being busy. Now I’m suddenly not busy, and I don’t exactly know what to do with myself.

Which brings me back to now.

I’m honestly trying to relax a bit, get my energy back so that when the next thing comes up, I’ll be ready. I’m on the brink of a lot of cool things, and expect continuing updates on this blog.