Halfway through residency 3

We're about halfway through the residency, though only a third of the way through the workshops. One is always scheduled for graduation day. I suppose to make sure students stick around for graduation.

So far I've attended the following faculty lectures (these aren't exact titles):

• Julie Larios, the creative writer as critical reader
• David Gifaldi, searching for story ("stories are born from living matter")
• Uma Krishnaswami, the three levels of dialogue
• Margaret Bechard, making your characters miserable so you have a story
• Marion Dane Bauer, how to write a picture book

I've also attended these lectures by graduating students:

• Candy Dahl, three levels of character landscape development
• Chris Maselli, superheroes in children's literature
• Bruce Frost, breathing life into picture book biographies

I've learned something new in every lecture, but I was most inspired to try something new by Chris's lecture about superheroes. I asked him if he discovered any girl superhero novels in his research, and he said no. He speculated that writers may have shied away from superheroes as characters because the comic book industry has such a firm hold. Nevertheless, it's an interesting idea. I love strong girl characters.

Years ago my sister Stef and I fiddled around with a female comic book superhero. I can't remember what her power was though.

Yesterday we had faculty interview times so that we could go around and talk to faculty to help us decide who to check on our adviser forms. I talked to six faculty members. Three sounded interested in my topic--girl detectives in YA lit.--so they're the ones I put on my form. We'll find out who our new advisers are on Monday or Tuesday.