Well, I'm here....

Here at Clarion. So far everyone is cheerful and friendly, which is comforting. It was a real wrench to leave my family -- I don't think I've been separated from either of them for six weeks since...well, since Margaret was born. More than eleven years ago.

The dorm room is spartan, which I'm enjoying. I've found the Brisbane frequencies for my favorite radio stations. I've got the network connection up and running. I'm unpacked. Houston and Margaret took me to the supermarket to get my personal supplies before they took off. The weather isn't that hot (yet).

I'm not writing anything at the moment; just trying to settle in. Yes, it does remind me a lot of when I left home for college, many, many years ago. Although I hope I have a few more life skills than I did at seventeen!

It's all very intimidating. I want to get my money's worth, and it will be all my fault if I don't. I want to prove I'm a Real Writer, and it will be all my fault if I don't. And yet I have no idea whatsoever how to make those two things happen. I guess I'll have to pretend I'm a character in a story, who has to take each sentence and paragraph as it comes....