Tag: Writing Advice

Risks and Revelations

Goddard MFAW faculty Victoria Nelson: The whole thing about risks is that you don’t know whether the risk is a good one or a bad one until after you take the plunge. That’s why it’s a risk.

Reflections from the Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat

Eight workshop sessions.  Thirteen alums.  One Faculty-Alumni dinner.  Four days of writing immersion (counting sleep).  Impromptu community gatherings at Taps Pub, at NCO House 334, in the Commons Café, and on the beach.  Poems and protest pieces and neo-myths and flash-fiction and characters and T.S. Eliot and Borges arising amid a supportive, friendly, welcoming, safe,… Continue reading Reflections from the Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat

CWC&R Registration Opens Wednesday, February 15

Registration  for the Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat (CWC&R) opens on this Wednesday, February 15.   This year’s CWC&R will take place from July 3 – 7 on Goddard’s Plainfield, Vermont, campus.  As always, this conference and retreat will feature:    Opening Plenary Panel Stations of the Word Writing Workshops Individual, Quiet Writing Time A “Life… Continue reading CWC&R Registration Opens Wednesday, February 15

If You’re Going to AWP, Stop by Goddard’s Table

  Are you and your writer friends going to the 2017 AWP Conference?  If so, do stop by Goddard College’s table, which will be in Booth No. 304-T.  Assuming packages arrive safely, and as long as supplies last, you’ll also be able to pick up a free copy of CLOCKHOUSE Volume Four:     There’s… Continue reading If You’re Going to AWP, Stop by Goddard’s Table

Hope is a Form of Energy

Goddard MFAW faculty Michael Klein: The beautiful writer, John Berger, who died a day into the New Year once said to the living: “hope is not a form of guarantee; it’s a form of energy, and very frequently that energy is strongest in circumstances that are very dark.” For all of you, I wish radical hope.

Dear Young Disabled Writer and Disabled Writers Not Yet Born,

Goddard MFAW faculty Kenny Fries: Dear Young Disabled Writer and Disabled Writers Not Yet Born,

You might ask: What does this have to do with the disturbing results of the recent U.S. election? Why is this story important for me to impart to you at this time?

When I was born in 1960 nobody knew whether I would live or die. When, after four weeks in an incubator, my parents were able to take me home, nobody knew whether I’d be able to walk.

Now, here I am fifty-six years later, alive and, most of the time, still walking.

Last Call: Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat

On the fence about attending the second annual Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat?  It’s time to decide!  Registration closes on Sunday, January 15th, so if you’d like to join us, be sure to have your registration form postmarked by that date.  We’re at 60 percent registration capacity, so we still have room for you! We’re… Continue reading Last Call: Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat

Kirsten Childs: Underneath It All

Goddard MFAW faculty Deborah Brevoort gave her Fall 2016 advising group the extraordinary opportunity to connect with the prolific writer, Kirsten Childs. Her credentials span various works, but we had the pleasure of examining her musical, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin. This is a funny and poignant story about a little black girl named Viveca Stanton and her journey of self-discovery.

A Gift for Yourself: The Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat

Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat Fri, Feb. 10 – Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, Port Townsend, Washington Registration is still open for the second annual Lighthouse Writers Conference and Retreat (LWC&R). Revitalize your own work amid the richness of Goddard’s Port Townsend writing community at Fort Worden, while developing strong connections with fellow alumni and Goddard… Continue reading A Gift for Yourself: The Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat

Writ in Air

Goddard MFAW Faculty Keenan Norris: While life still goes on as unpredictably as ever, the sabbatical itself is proving to be the perfect vehicle for productivity. It’s the safest means of going off the grid that I think exists outside of utilizing all that trust fund money I don’t have and selling my majority share in that wildly successful company of mine that doesn’t exist. In all seriousness, I feel really privileged to have this time away from teaching to write, to read, to explore some new creative directions for my work and to assess and re-develop my teaching strategies.

On Giving Thanks

Goddard College MFAW faculty Richard Panek: When I think about giving thanks, I don’t think about what or whom I’m thanking. The feeling is more a sense of general gratitude, even relief; it’s a reminder to myself to be aware of what’s good—an exercise that has become more poignant in recent days.

The Seep, October 8-20, 2016

Goddard MFAW faculty Beatrix Gates: There’s a drought here in Maine, and lately I’ve been studying a seep in the backfield. A seep is a moist or wet place where water, usually groundwater, reaches the earth’s surface from an underground aquifer and pools in a depression. A seep will be found quickly by wildlife and bring new birds and animals to the area. There is every sign that’s true.

Oscar Wilde’s Wild Letter

GoddardMFAW faculty member Victoria Nelson on Oscar Wilde: Unbidden, a voice rose inside me: Oscar, get over it… How honest are we writers when we deliver our version of a real-life story in our memoirs and autobiographical fiction? Do we tell the hard truth about ourselves as well as the other guy? Or do we, every now and then, use our art to justify ourselves and settle scores–we poor victims with better words?

Child’s Play

Kyle Bass, Goddard MFAW faculty: Like the tikes who showed up again and again in my stories, I preferred the company and troubles of adults. It appears my child-self fits a psychological profile for what I’ve become.