One thing I forgot to mention about Tuesday is that when we got back to the hotel that night, I had the daunting task of deciding what I wanted to read at my thesis reading/defense the following evening. I finally settled on two of my favorite scenes from about 2/3 of the way through – my “That’s Amore” scene where Anne and George kiss for the first time and the scene where Anne finds out the identity of the mysterious man she’s been planning this wedding for. I had to write a brief intro to it so everyone would be up to par on the story.

Amazingly, even with the nervousness of this still hanging over my head, I slept well and awoke refreshed Wednesday morning.

We got to campus a few minutes early so I could print my selected scenes and have time throughout the day to read through them several times (and edit as necessary).

First session of the day was our mixed “book discussion” class where we discussed the two communal books everyone was required to read. We had a wonderful thought/debate provoking discussion of Click, Clack, Moo and Holes – actually wish the session could have been longer!

I sat beside David Corwell in this session—David and I were to go head-to-head later in the day for our thesis readings at 5:00. Well, neither of us missed the fact that the clock in this classroom was stopped on 4:55! As if we really needed the reminder.

After Book Discussion, they broke us out into “graded” sessions – all the Ones together learning about the program and expectations, Twos & Threes together learning about the genres in popular fiction, Fours and non-graduating Fives together to hear from Dr. Al everything they will need to do this semester to get ready to graduate in January, and all of the graduating students together for a session on the publishing process with Barb Miller. I’m sorry to say that I spent most of this hour and a half reading through my scenes for later in the day.

After lunch with the “Chicks” (our self-proclaimed/invented “sorority” for current students and alumnae of the romance/women’s fiction genre), we all split up into our chosen workshops, several of us in “Emotional Filters and Crossing Genres.” While it was a wonderful class, I probably didn’t get as much out of it as I could, because as time crept away, I got more and more nervous about my thesis presentation.

When class ended at 4:00, everyone else went away—either back to their dorm/hotel rooms, down to the cafeteria for “dinner” or somewhere else. I don’t know—all I know is that it worked perfectly for me as I had the whole 4th floor to myself, which kept me from feeling quite so frazzled. I wanted to talk a little about the Christian Fiction market and realized I didn’t have a copy of my thesis—hard or electronic—so spent a few minutes looking up some stats (growth and sales figures). I called Mom and tried to walk her through downloading something from audible.com, text-messaged with Jill Henry and Lainey Ervin, and then watched in awe as at least 40 people crammed into the small classroom I’d been assigned. It was literally standing-room-only. God is so good—I’d been worried that only my closest friends would be there, and He provided an audience beyond anything I’d hoped or prayed for!

Barb Miller gave me a glowing introduction and then I took my place at the front of this “full house.”

I talked for about five minutes about my genre and then started my reading. I was on about the third or fourth page (of about 20) when I finally relaxed enough to not feel like I was about to hyperventilate—good thing I left out the part about George’s being British, as there was no way I could have done a British accent!

Right at the 20 minute mark (and at a critical hook in the scene), I stopped and looked up at the audience and my mentors. Hoping I already knew the answer, I asked, “Shall I stop or do you want me to keep reading?” I read another couple of pages, then spent the next fifteen minutes talking about how I came up with the idea, the Real World Templates for my characters, how I came up with the multiple conflicts for my characters, and how I incorporate my Christian Worldview into my writing.

In the few minutes between my presentation and Michael Mullig’s, Barb and Leslie signed my thesis approval forms—in a whirlwind of people coming and going, receiving and giving gifts, and thanking people for their very kind comments.

Since the room I was in had filled up for Michael’s thesis reading, I ended up going down the hall to Lee Howard’s dark/supernatural suspense thesis reading. As soon as it got started, I realized I’d walked out WITHOUT MY THESIS APPROVAL FORM! So I missed the first part of Lee’s introduction worrying about that—but his reading from the prologue of his novel caught and kept my attention (and I don’t think I’ll ever eat marshmallows again).

After his presentation, I rushed back to the other room. Barb searched through her papers, but couldn’t find my forms—and then I saw some papers on the front table which looked familiar . . . my notes and excerpt. My thesis approval forms were right there, sitting Michael’s which he had left behind, too.

Then for the next hour, I was able to sit and enjoy listening to Penny Dawn read from her (already published) thesis—erotic romance—so our audience (most of whom had come to mine and come back for hers) was treated to the full 180-degree spectrum of the romance genre in the course of the evening.

As soon as we could get away, Melissa, Analisa, and I went back to the hotel so I could change clothes before we met all the other girls at Olive Garden for dinner and a celebratory drink. It was a good thing we did go back to the hotel first, as “Jillicious In A Box” had arrived that afternoon. Jill Henry, who because of a grievous error on someone else’s part wasn’t able to come for this residency, had sent us a “care package,” which we took with us to dinner and laughed ourselves silly over the funny, silly, and down-right naughty gifts she sent us—and made the day of our two waitresses who told us they’d had a horrible night until we got there.

After dinner, Melanie Schaeffer came down to our room and I practiced my teaching session for the next day by going through it on the laptop getting feedback from Melanie and Melissa. Students cannot choose which of the graduating students’ teaching sessions they get to attend, so the only Chick in my session was Danielle Hinesley. But it worked out well—I got to practice my session and get feedback with people who wouldn’t hear it again the next day!

What a wonderful Wednesday!