I'm really liking the stream-of-conscious feel to the narration because I think it's a great way to show Valeriu through her/her (I think I remember you telling me Valeriu is genderless) personality and tone. Though, sometimes I did get lost, but this seems like a type of story which would benefit from more than one reading, so that's probably why. Though the narration and paragraphs are dense, I'm able to read through it rather quickly because you do a wonderful job in keeping the narration moving and interesting (especially with Valeriu's comments; some of them are hilarious). I also love the first few opening lines - they're a great hook and immediately had me interested.

Some random notes for workshop:

- Paragraph six.
- Content density.
- Imagery/Metaphors.
- Voice.

There's a typo where "lip" should be "limp", I think.

Notes for tomorrow:
-magical realism
-time passing
-story center
-creating inventory
-beginning/ending
-dialogue/dialect
-region

I'm kind of going to leave myself some general notes here and stuff - since tomorrow isn't a formal day of workshop, I'll leave this here for next week. I want to remember what to touch on as well as get general thought down.

The radio, at 2:30 pm on a Thursday in the middle of Texas Hill Country, plays either static or country music. [In workshop I'd like to talk about past and present tense used here and then in the rest of the story and their relationships including your intention with the tenses.]

Welp, this was amazing. I'm really excited to talk about it with you. It captured my attention mostly with the appearance of the grackle and I find myself wondering if all of the Texan vignettes are necessary or if one might be able to standing a cutting. Regardless, this was wonderful. It reminds me of Maybe in its surreal moments and your writing always astounds me with that careful balance of a literary and out-of-this-world language and action. You've already got something really special here. Can't wait to tell you my thoughts :)

General notes for me to remember:
Conflict / outer / inner
The center
First chapter - what does it accomplish