John O’ Connor, a rather funny novelist, was actually one of the only people to keep me interested in workshop. He spoke with great confidence and told his own stories to us which actually had me intrigued. Prior to each reading, he spoke about the story and gave us a small summary. He also told us whether it may be long, short, boring, exciting, interesting, or whatever characteristics might correspond. Knowing that we were young and immature, he began to tell jokes to keep us awake and alive which was actually pretty smart because people next to me began to doze, wake up, laugh, and possibly stay awake for the next 5 minutes. It was quite enjoyable to have listened to him speak with his Irish accent.