Countdown to last residency at Vermont College

This is my last weekend before heading back to Montpelier, Vermont, next Saturday at 6:30 a.m., my last big block of time (my husband has thoughtfully decamped to go hunt pheasants).

What I absolutely have to accomplish with all this lovely time before the residency because graduating depends on it:

• Trim my lecture notes. I timed my lecture a few weeks ago and it came to 41 minutes. I have 45 minutes total, including questions. I need to chuck some more of the historical stuff. I'm sure I care more about that than my listeners will. They'll probably be most interested in the nitty gritty of writing a detective novel.
• Prepare my lecture hand outs and PowerPoint presentation. At a minimum, I plan to give people a bibliography of kid and YA detective novels that shows some of the range of what's being published these days. But I also want to include some useful info, which I still need to decide on. I'm a firm believer that listeners who take notes will remember better than those who rely solely on the lecturer's handouts, so I don't want them to duplicate the lecture, but somehow support it.

What I really want to finish and intend to finish before the residency:

• small tokens of appreciation for my 4 faculty advisors. These are calligraphy projects that I've been working on all semester. I've learned that there are just as many, if not more, decisions to be made about visual art projects as there are in fiction writing projects. Nevertheless, I found it rather relaxing.

What it would be nice to finish but I could live without:

• brief, handwritten notes to all the faculty to go in the gift from our class to the faculty.
  

I also need to try on the dress I'm planning to wear for graduation to make sure it still fits. It also needs to fit in my duffel. Luckily, even though it's cold in Vermont, the rooms where I'll be spending most of my days and nights are usually warmer than I'm used to. So I don't need to take a bunch of sweaters. Still, winter clothes take up more room than summer clothes. So if I need to take 2 bags this time (because of special graduation/lecture/reading clothes), I'll just suck it up and do it. I'm strong. I can lug 2 bags to the airport and then to my rental car.