Classes at Bennington are over.  Grades are in.  I already miss the sound of people listening to me.    I got choked up when I drove away from campus.   

My students were interested in the writing life, so I summarized some thoughts, which I'll share with you for fun:

Be generous - to yourself and others. Don't just be "a writer."  Get your hands dirty:  go out and have hard conversations, live abroad, get your heart broken, work weird jobs - become an expert in something. READ.  Have big adventures like Beryl Markham (but write your own books, damnit).  Indulge obsessions. Love words. Only make lives with people who support your work and believe in you. Don't take yourself or your writing too seriously.  Take your writing seriously.  Only doubt yourself when editing. Eschew adverbs, mist, mirrors, and self-righteousness. Be curious.

WORK at it - no really.  WORK.

Embrace rejection; learn from it.  Be tenacious.

Oh yeah.  And bow down to the muse when you have to.  Sometimes you have to.  May she scream loudly in your ear when you need her.