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So, I wrote a book for one of my classes...Expository Writing. Now, the assignment was to choose a nonfiction writing project that would be four installments...totalling about twenty-two pages. One category he suggested was a memoir....

The first class, he asked a series of questions to generate topic ideas. I saw several themes recurring in my answers. Katrina, stripping, and addiction. And just like that, I decided to write the memoir. My professor encouraged me to go ahead and write the whole thing...he would only grade 22 pages, though.

So, I wrote it. I started the project at the end of August, and finished at the beginning of December. Essentially, it took me three and a half months to write the book. In the summer, I wrote a short story about part of the storm, which was included in the manuscript. The rough draft of the book, that is. And I turned it in two weeks ago...

We had a reading instead of a final, where we each read from our portfolios. The entire class sat there with their mouths gaping open after my reading. It was pretty intense, and a lot of cussing, I noticed when I read it out loud.

My teacher handed out comments on our work...pieces of his comments..." I'm not convinced I was of much use to you, other than to encourage you a bit "(which was exactly the thing I needed to get this book written...I have been sitting on the story for five years...) "I hope you can find the unit of meaning that matters the most to you in the revision process-the word, the sentence, the paragraph, the section, the chapter, the volume, and really polish this around that unit-put your stamp on it-make it part of a recognizable and distinct voice. You are a writer. Now find your editors, publish this, and go on to the next."

I am excited about the revision process. My mind is reeling with thinking about revision, at the level of the sentence...the word...I already have several parts I want to work on first....

And I am excited...about the entire thing.