By Internet speeds, it’s been years since Clarion ended and not just a month. And the neglectful blogger I’ve been, it was six weeks before that since I last posted anything resembling an update. It’s time I said something, don’t you think? Well yes, but not exactly what you might expect.

Eighteen people met as strangers in late June, in San Diego, and became a family. Along the way, aunts and uncles and cousins, and a grandfather or two, who guided us through the Clarion process. Perhaps the hardest part about Clarion wasn’t the coming but the going and the saying of goodbyes.

I know some of you will find this post while searching for words of wisdom from past Clarion students. Maybe I’ll have something more profound to say between now and then. Right now the experience is still too near to me to properly put it into the kind of meaningful words that I would use to inspire you. Six weeks of doing any one thing in concentration is intense, and internalizing all that knowledge can take years. I’m reading, writing, and editing. I’m not rushing the process.

In the month since the workshop ended, I’ve only been home for a few days. My day job underwent some major restructuring over the summer, which included setting up a new office near Los Angeles and I’ve been commuting from Chicago on a near-weekly basis since my return. That’s given me time to contemplate, but not enough time to overthink. What I’ve come here to say is, yeah, I’m that guy that went to that writing thing. Some day, I’ll have something smarter to say about the experience.