Cate said we could write a “What I Did Over Winter Break” post so, since I woke up when it was still dark so I could go run, then worked an orientation event, had a scriptwriting session and got home in time to cook dinner, I am exerting minimal brain power for this listicle-style post:

THE TOP 5 WRITING-RELATED THINGS I DID OVER WINTER BREAK

1. Photo Research
In Eric May’s Advanced Proseforms class, we did an assignment where we wrote about old family photos. When I went to Virginia for Christmas, my family unwittingly conducted a similar exercise. My father had a box of photos from his parents’ house, and I got to rummage around, asking questions. As I’ve mentioned here before, I write a lot about my own biracial identity. A big part of that writing involves my family’s history, so it was cool to see some images and get some answers. The photos in this post are from that old box. That black and white one is my dad. I’m in color. They see me rollin’, they hatin’.

2. Rewriting My Thesis
Over Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to switch my thesis, a fictional novel, from third person to first person narration. I’d actually started it in first then switched to third in 2010, to expand on secondary characters. Well, it turns out I wasn’t writing “East of Eden,”–this book is really about two people, and it’s funnier and quicker-moving in first person. So, first it is. The rest can go to short stories.

In the last month and a half, I’ve banged out 100 pages of a new draft. And no, I didn’t just switch all the “He”s to “I”s. I have to consider what the thirteen year old boy who narrates the story’s perspective would be, as opposed to that of the overall storyteller. What doesn’t he know? What goes over his head? What is he particularly concerned with?

3. Audrey Niffenegger’s Big Books Class
Audrey Niffenegger, the author of “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” is doing a special writing seminar this spring. The class is called Big Books and focuses on large writing projects. I’m technically done with coursework, but I think this would be a cool opportunity to work with a writer that I like and enjoy having a creative community in class, plus I have some scholarship money to put toward tuition. So, I’m going out with a bang.

Me, early 1980s.

4. I’m Writing A Play
This is for my job at Storycatchers Theatre. My coteacher Oz and I have been working on taking the male inmates’ nonfiction stories about their lives and weaving them together into a musical play with a full narrative arc, that the inmates will be performing this spring. The source material is already fascinating and dramatic, so it’s been exciting to work with and to use my writing skills to share stories using mainly dialogue. Plus, since it’s unlikely that these guys are going to want to sing much, I get to write rap lyrics. Look out Raekwon, here comes Mr. Chris.

5. My Story “Red Velvet” in The Chicago Reader’s Fiction Issue
Since moving to Chicago in ’08, I’ve wanted to be in weekly paper the Reader’s annual Pure Fiction issue. It would make me feel like I’d arrived in Chicago as a writer. Well, I got my wish this year. My story “Red Velvet,” an excerpt from my thesis novel, was one of the Editor’s Picks, and they ran it online. Sure, it would have been nice to be in the print version, but…save a tree, right?

WEEK LINKS
See above, dude.