What I Wish Someone Had Told Me in April 2006
(which is when I had been submitting short fiction to magazines for Three years)

Okay. It's the eleventh hour, and my senior thesis is due in one week, and I've yet to start writing. Man. Looks like there's no way I'm going to graduate this year.

This joke has gone stale already. On to what I learned last year!

In September, I realized that there's nothing so valuable as having compassion for yourself. I could wish to have learned this back in my Freshman Year, actually.

Some things, you just aren't going to be able to explain to your non-genre writer friends and family without wasting a lot of energy. But sometimes you should try. My mom asked: "When are you going to stop playing around and write about something real?" And I didn't answer her for a couple of weeks. But when I did answer, I said: "I'd much rather show people what's possible than reflect what is." And she liked that answer. I hope, when your mom asks, she likes your answer as much.

...

Next year: the Fifth-year Senior.