The honeymoon is over as are my delusions of becoming the Rainbow Brite of creative writing teachers. Remember Rainbow Brite, the most colorful girl in the world? If not, you are too young and should stop reading this post and wait for the next. If you do, then you may find the humor in one my student’s…shall we call it an excuse?…for missing class on the day we had our first short story due: he was tired and over slept (our class meets at 10:00 am). Whaa?

As we head into week two I am already forced into the position of rule enforcer. I’m accepting the advice of the MFA program director, who ensures me it is easier to be tough earlier on than halfway through the semester. True slackers will drop the course because they weren’t serious in the first place and you’re better off without them. Invested students will work hard to overcome the deficit and you can choose to reward them at the end of the semester when they’ve earned it.

I know I drew on a parent metaphor in my last post, but I’m going there again because I can’t help but compare the get-tough-early-theory to my philosophy on threatening kids with punishment: it only takes carrying through on the threat once to make the threat a weapon. Fail to carry through and they’ll not only ignore you, but laugh like diabolical little villains while doing it. I’ll have to practice my stern “mom” face before I head into the next class.