The writer Brandon Schrand

... is much shorter than I expected. He came to the school to meet with students and read from his work. The selections he read from his work were excellent; he read a few chapters from Ender's Hotel, his memoir about growing up in the hotel his family owned and managed. He also read from a new book he's writing, which is a memoir in the form of an extended annotated bibliography. Apparently, he was really into pot and Morrison when he was younger, which he humorously insisted was fictional, since his mother-in-law was in the audience. He also seemed to like my question; I asked what he would say to young people who don't feel they've had much life experience who are looking to write nonfiction. He replied that everyone can tie their work in with the greater human experience and thereby make it meaningful. He also encouraged us to find the meaning in everyday life; just because we haven't experienced weird stuff or had great tragedy befall us doesn't mean we can't write something that speaks to the human condition.

Good on you, Brandon Schrand. Good on you.

Back to working on my essay about William Gibson. The more I write, the more I'm convinced I'm just full of it. Sigh. Excelsior!