rissy stories

Hey guys!

I’m back with another small update! Again, I can’t give many details about the program, but here’s what I can give you!

Day 7: July 18th, Thursday

On this day, we started with the editing workshop. We split into 6 groups and discussed how to improve the manuscript we read before the program. Then we got back together and were given a surprise that I unfortunately can’t speak on for the sake of future DPI students. However, it was really neat and a great opportunity to ask questions.

We also learned a little more about how editors need to act around authors – that the author is often isolated & insecure (…sometimes?), eager for feedback (tell me about it), possibly blocked (again, tell me about it), possibly obsessed with the book (duh), ignorant of the publishing world (not anymore for me!), smart, creative, and knowledgable.

Therefore, the editor needs to be encouraging, honest and transparent, diplomatic and sensitive, in touch, ready to explain things fully without being condescending, resourceful and creative, and humble.

Remember editors – writers have often been working on their pieces for a long time, and they’ve worked hard on it. Our books are our babies. Treat us with respect.

After lunch, we covered university presses and their role in the publishing industry. A lot of the bigger schools have university presses, like Princeton, Harvard, Chicago, Nebraska, University of Arizona, Penn State, Johns Hopkins, UK, etc. They acquire, develop, design, produce, market, and sell books and journals with a mission to publish work of scholarly, intellectual, or creative merit.

(A lot of these places are currently hiring!)

Lastly, at the end of this day, we went to Levitt Pavillion to see an aerial concert. In other words, a traveling circus partnered with two small bands to perform a show for free.

It was… interesting to say the least.

The opening act involved the newer/lesser-trained part of the circus (which was still pretty impressive to me), but I’m almost positive that the band was extremely high the entire time. They were dressed in seaweed-like clothing and their faces were usually covered, so we couldn’t really see them. And they just acted incredibly strange.

Granted, their music was deemed “experimental,” but I’ve heard experimental music before, and this was NOT that. It just wasn’t good, and it lasted about an hour.

A long, agonizing hour. Albeit, it was full of laughter at the performance, but the music was really, honestly, terrible.

One of my roommates, Kelsie, is an aerialist, so she was disappointed by the circus most of all, which definitely wasn’t MY main issue with it, but still. We were about to leave at that point because everything we’d seen was laughable, but then we realized that they were just the opening act, so we stayed.

Once the veteran part of the circus started performing along with a much better band after the sun went down, and it was pretty captivating.

We left about 3/4 of the way through the main performance because we were getting cold and tired, and we needed to rest up for the next day.

Catch you later!

-Rissy ❤