Neha’s comment below was "at least you have time to read." Well, yeah, the reading is all required. It’s just a bombardment of published short stories used for the Creative Writing class, the students’ work, and submissions for the writers group. The furthest I’ve been able to wander on my own for pure enjoyment is into those same texts, Flash Fiction and Sudden Fiction. In Western Civ, it’s the textbook, Candide and Good-bye to All That, which are all full-length.
Right now I’m kind of o/d’d on short story. Between all this reading and the writing I’d done, I’m tired of reading each story two or three times (sometimes more!) looking for plots, story, elements, techniques, etc. I’m getting sick of reading for grammatical and story errors. I’m getting just as sick of looking for the great points as well.
But this heavy load is unusual, and it’s all piled into just a few weeks. I’m really looking forward to getting out from underneath and starting in on those fifty (now, as they’ve multiplied somehow) books lined up on the hearth in the living room.
Ah, two months (and a dumb summer requirement course to make up) and I’ll be free!
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology