While we all are destined to reach a point of stop-breath finality, our routes towards this summit traverse different topographies, navigate different twists of watercourse, and feel different illuminations of heat. Still, we mark similar paths: we all are, simply, in time, going to die. I think of this truth, in one way, as belonging… Continue reading The Soft Parade: A Writer’s Response to COVID-19
Tag: creative writing
An Epiphany of Hope: Sherri L. Smith’s Writing Process for “The Blossom and the Firefly”
Sherri L. Smith had been working on writing her Young Adult novel The Blossom and the Firefly. Late one evening, Sherri made a declaration to her husband. Three days before the editors deadline, she announced that she had just completed her first draft. But the conversation that followed made her rethink everything. In an interview… Continue reading An Epiphany of Hope: Sherri L. Smith’s Writing Process for “The Blossom and the Firefly”
Writer in the World Podcast EP. 9: “The Voice”
Faculty member Kenny Fries, a leading voice in the disability arts and disability studies world, talks about high standards, research, humor, and finding ways to be in the present time. A poet, memoirist and essayist, and also a librettist, he says that traveling and living internationally is “as necessary as blood.” “Most of my work… Continue reading Writer in the World Podcast EP. 9: “The Voice”
“Three Long Mountains and a Wood”: Where Language Has Led You
by Julia Bouwsma As a poet who lives off-the-grid in the woods of Northern New England, my working practice has come to align with the seasons. In winter I hunker down and write, recalling my first winter in Maine when I hunched by the woodstove watching the snowdrifts swirl and amass at my kitchen window… Continue reading “Three Long Mountains and a Wood”: Where Language Has Led You
Enchantivism: Activism for Introverts
“If you want to change someone’s mind, tell them a story.” – Dr. Craig Chalquist, PhD, depth psychologist, Pacifica Institute Dr. Craig Chalquist has created a course in how to use dreams, myths and deep storytelling to inspire positive change. He is also a master gardener, which adds an ecological element to the work–our well-being… Continue reading Enchantivism: Activism for Introverts
CLOCKHOUSE: Call for Volume Seven Submissions
CLOCKHOUSE seeks submissions in poetry, drama, fiction and nonfiction for its 2019 issue Clockhouse is an eclectic conversation about the work-in-progress of life–a soul arousal, a testing ground, a new community, a call for change. Clockhouse seeks submissions in poetry, drama, fiction and nonfiction for its 2019 issue. We are interested in diverse voices and… Continue reading CLOCKHOUSE: Call for Volume Seven Submissions
Alchemy of the Word News
In today’s Craft Book Spotlight, The Writer magazine gave our very own all-faculty compilation, Alchemy of the Word, a nice shout-out: “When National Book Award winner and acclaimed memoirist Maxine Hong Kingston praises a book, you sit up and pay attention. “Whether you’re a young beginner or a veteran writer like me, you’ll get support… Continue reading Alchemy of the Word News
Dear John McCain,
Dear John McCain,
I think of your tap code late at night when I am lonely. You broken and spent in the Hanoi Hilton tapping out “Are you okay?” to the guy on the other side of the wall.
Emails to a Young Writer, or I Am Not Friedrich Nietzsche:
On Writers, Writer’s Block, Generosity, Creativity and Community
Writing By the Seat of Your Pants
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about thrillers. About why recently I’ve been reading them compulsively at all hours of the day and night. Maybe the subject for a new book? I’m thinking about that. In the meantime I devour them at a great rate.
From Fear to Yearning to Write Fiction Now
“Fiction is the art form of human yearning.” – Robert Olen Butler
“We are living in the most fearmongering time in human history.” – Barry Glassner
“I think what we need to do is to remind people that the Earth is a very dangerous place these days. That ISIS is trying to do us harm. And that the president’s commitment is to keep the country safe.” – Sean Spicer
Dear MFAW,
Dear MFAW people,
I’m guessing that, for the majority of you, your first desire to write was a way to express an emotion that you were having difficulty feeling or understanding.
How to Rewrite
A few weeks ago, a student wrote and asked me why I had given him an A- instead of an A as a final grade. This wasn’t at Goddard, obviously. I also teach television at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, which is far from our program and not just because of the letter grades, urban… Continue reading How to Rewrite