This is my first semester back in the classroom. It’s been over ten years since I’ve taken a class. Since it’s part of the benefits package with my job, I thought I’d take advantage. I chose, for my inaugural course, American Science Fiction.

The class is awesome. A guy I sorta know from buying books at the store is teaching it, and he keeps it entertaining. What’s really great is that he gives us an “alternate final,” if we so choose. Rather than take a formal test, we can do something artistic or creative and submit that. Is anyone surprised that I’m taking him up on that (and possibly doing more than expected)?

My project is going to be a novella, probably in the 15K-20K word range. The book is going to feature my professor as the main character (in name and occupation primarily, but also with a few inside jokes). And, since he lists plagiarism as a huge no-no in the syllabus, the book is going to be entitled: The Plagiarist.

I hope to have a draft and edit done soon enough to get an actual copy made by my book printer, so I’m pounding away at it. What I think I’ll do is put up chapters right on my site as soon as I have them written. They’ll be perfectly rough, giving you a sense of what my initial draft looks like, but the story should be intact. Just about everything else will be up for revision. I’ll talk more about the project as I’m wrapping it up (including my professor’s thoughts and grade).