Quartz Mountain

The Courtyard at the Oklahoma Arts Institute

So...today I'm talking about Quartz Mountain, obviously, and so it may get a little emotional.  We'll see.

First off, let me explain what Quartz Mountain is.  Basically, it's a mountain (duh), but it's also more.  The Oklahoma Arts Institute hosts both a summer and fall arts program at the Quartz Mountain Lodge and Conference Center.  The fall program is designed more for teachers or anyone who wants to go (and I think it's only a weekend or so long), but the summer program is more competitive and designed only for Oklahoma high school students.  To get into the summer program (and spend two weeks at the resort studying your art discipline, which would be either photography, film and video, creative writing, orchestra, acting, choir, modern dance, or ballet) a student has to audition.  I auditioned for creative writing (what else?) last year and had the amazing opportunity of getting to go for a fraction of the cost it would be to stay at the resort (a fraction being $200 instead of $2,500, and this year $3,000).  Needless to say, it was an honor, especially to get in for creative writing, which is one of (if not the most) competitive spots to fill at the program.

So, anyway.  I got in, and I spent two weeks in June 2012 learning from Peter Richards, a poet who has traveled all over the world for writing.  I met great people that also love the arts, and an acting student performed MY monologue in the mid-camp talent show.  It was great, and I felt like it was possible for ME, little Candace O from no-town Oklahoma, to become famous for my writing.  Unfortunately, after the two weeks were over, I had to go home, and a week after my return, my dad passed away.  I suddenly couldn't write anything anymore.  I tried.  I started a blog!  How desperate is that?  But nothing came.  Then, in November when I wrote a novel in a month, I crossed a line where fiction would momentarily become non-fiction, and that scared me.  I always kept the two seperate.  Fiction was ALWAYS my escape.  And so I stayed stuck in writer's block.

Then December came around, and I had a choice.  I could schedule a Quartz audition for creative writing, knowing very well that the idea of writing itself terrified me, let alone writing something that would be scrutinized by three-to-four expert judges.  But I felt like I had to go back, to hold onto to something that wasn't connected to my dad's death, and so I scheduled the audition and took on the burden of not only writing a piece at the audition, but also having to write something completely new BEFORE the audition.

My audition was February 10th.  About a week before, I had a breakthrough.  I wrote a short story that was infused with a voice I'd never heard before, a voice that was more mature and solemn and nostalgic.  It was a voice that was completely my own.  I used to think that I'd developed my voice last year before the camp, but now I've realized that I've just now found it.  So I took the piece in to the audition and I wrote an equally mature piece at the audition.  I think it went well, but I don't know what the judges will choose.  I don't know if my voice is the type they're looking for.  And I won't find out until April.  So until then, I'm going to keep on writing because I can, because it's a part of me, and because I KNOW that I can be great someday.


--
Candace