I love Paris in the fall...

I haven't blogged in forever and a day, and realized it this morning when I woke up to a brief rejection email from a stateside lit mag. Thanks, but no thanks, etc.

It's the second time this particular story has been rejected. I think having gone through the "thanks, but no thanks" with this baby has softened the blow. Strange though that may sound. I'm sitting here sipping my morning coffee, watching the morning flights head into GLA, and am not terribly devastated about it. Instead, I'm thinking of a quick turnaround for it. Seeing if I can't have it submitted again by this evening. Since it's edited and ready to go. If a date stands you up but you're already in a dress, you might as well see if anyone else feels like a night on the town, right? (This is entirely an analogy, and not commentary on the state of affairs of my social life.)

It is worth noting however that in the month since I've written, I did have a small acceptance for a short story, in the form of the soon-to-be-published Glasgow University student anthology. So it's not all doom and gloom for yours truly in the literary world.

Also, in the (oops) month since I've written, a lot's gone on:

• Gabriella's been here, and our sisterly bonding has fallen into a blissfully boring domestic routine in which I forget she's not my roommate. It's going to be tough when she's gone (next week, crap) and I'm living alone again.
  

• I received a Merit award on my dissertation, which is huge!
  

• SCHOOL STARTED. The work of a PhD seminar in literature is not to be taken lightly. It's making my head spin.
  

• Though I'm not actually in the PhD program as of now. I'm just doing the coursework. It's complicated. Glasgow offers three different levels of creative writing postgraduate degrees. The MLitt (the equivalent to an American MA) is one year, the MFA is two years (the first year of which is the MLitt), and the PhD (of which year one is the MLitt, year two is the second year of the MFA, and then there are two subsequent years after the MFA year). What this means is that right now, I have an MLitt, completed in August, and am working on year two of the MFA, meaning that after this year, I can walk away (with an MFA) or just keep going all the way to the PhD. Confused? SO AM I. It's a lot of acronyms.
  

• My mom and aunt arrive tomorrow for a week here!
  

• In that week, the four of us are heading to PARIS!
  

Paris Paris Paris Paris Paris! Le meilleur ville du monde! Easyjet in, Ryanair (ughhhhhh) out. Two days, one night, in the City of Light with my three favorite girls. It doesn't get much better than that.

I am making a concerted effort to update this more often.