Writer's apathy

Apparently the excitement generated by my travel writing class wasn't enough to get me writing on my own. I haven't done anything with the piece that I started that morning, and I've been stymied when it comes to posting anything here. It's that time of year again--the post-midterm wasteland. The students are stressed, the faculty is crabby, my student workers are flaking on me, and I kind of want to kill them all. M. Defarge has been working nonstop for about the last month on the proposal for his master's thesis project, and rather than being sympathetic I've been irritated with him too. It's terrible how other people's stress rubs off on me. They're not even my deadlines or final projects and yet I'm about as frantic as the people who actually have things due.

With three and a half weeks left, I've pretty much written off this semester (sorry; unintentional pun) and started thinking about January. One bright spot in the recent slog is that I'm going to be taking over as "faculty" advisor of the student literary magazine next semester. The English comp. instructor who started it last year is moving to London. While I'd rather take her place there, I figured the literary magazine might be a good second choice. We're having a pizza party the week after Thanksgiving to introduce me to the staff and begin the transition. (I feel like Barack Obama.)

I also volunteered for the newsletter committee for this state academic librarians organization that I belong to. So if nothing else, I'll write at least one thing soon--we're each responsible for 1-2 articles per issue (I think it comes out two or three times a year). I'm sure they'll be fascinating (compiling lists of promotions, etc.), but at least it's something.

Otherwise, I think I need writing prompts to get me going. Feel free to make suggestions!