Sometimes things are much better than one might expect.

Last night saw the first of six writers visit Chapman University for this year's John Fowles Literary Forum. This was not something the cheese was particularly interested in, though he was required to attend as he is currently enrolled in the class that is taught in conjunction with the Visiting Writers program.

But the night was quite illuminating. The "theme" of this year's Forum is Latin American writers, and while this is not an area of particular interest to the cheese, the fact that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the program means that there is also an art installation from 3 Latin American artists to go along with the readings. All in all it made for a great experience last night.

The first writer, Carmen Boullosa, was surprisingly fresh, and her views on literature and writing were illuminating. Her reading, though, was drop dead genius (it came from a novel that was not read by the cheese' class, though that particular work has not shot to the top of the cheese' "must read" list).

Writing, in the cheese limited experience, is a solitary endeavor. It's lonely, difficult, and in the words of Ms. Boullosa, "a vampire...writing will take everything out of your soul." But sometimes its nice to remind yourself that there are others who have struggled with the same things and come out of the hard times with finished work and made a career out of it.