Found this fascinating. Yes, it's from a very American perspective, but the discussion of college and MFA courses depriving a readership of true literature is an interesting one, as is the discussion on European prizes and American readers.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-nobel-prize-as-a-snub-of-creative-writing/article21150354/
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
2014 Can. Lit. Nominees
I'm always interested in what books get nominated for our awards, and it does appear that we've hit a sort of Renaissance for Canadian Lit. The titles alone (Oil Man and the Sea, for real!) are awesome.
Governor General: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/10/governor-generals-literary-awards-2014-the-finalists.html
Giller: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/10/scotiabank-giller-prize-2014-the-shortlist.html
Governor General: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/10/governor-generals-literary-awards-2014-the-finalists.html
Giller: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/10/scotiabank-giller-prize-2014-the-shortlist.html
Monday, September 1, 2014
Past The Block
I don't believe in Writer's Block per se. Never have. I do understand that there are times we are less inclined to write, sure, and I believe that there are times when the writing is not as good as it could be, should be. But I believe that a writer writes, and even if it's a steaming pile of crap we--figuratively--reach into that steaming pile and retrieve something worthwhile. Even the most unproductive of ventures can produce something as long as you're writing.
I've been having a bugger of a time writing well for the past sixty-two days. I'm a teacher and summer is often my most productive time, and yet this summer was one of the worst for new and good production. I was half way through working on edits to a book I've been done for a months but hasn't clearly come out of the editing stage. It's my finest work so far, with two distinct narrators whose stories meet in the end. I'm very proud of it, and of them. One of them is named David and there's no denying he's a barely-veiled version of myself. David's narration is first person, in fact written in journals while he travels across Europe on a quest to decide whether his life is any longer worth living.
I loved writing David. I loved it because it was so easy. His voice was so similar to my own voice that I really just had to fictionalize events and react to them as I knew I would react to them. He borrowed my voice, or so I thought. In reality he stole it, and I have solved the issue with my blockage.
I'm struggling with this last edit. Life has got in the way, yes. And I find that every time I sit down at my journal to write in my voice, or at my computer, the voice I hear in my head is mine, but the fictional me I have poured into this character. I can't write in my voice because I haven't put David to bed.
As I said, I love that character. If I am able to publish his tale, he and I have a bit of time coming with even greater intimacy than when I was writing him. And, frankly, he and his voice will be attached to me for the rest of my writing career and probably my life, as they appear to be one. I'm fine with that. Now. Once I became fine with that I understood that to take my voice back from David, I needed to finalize his story, to put that book to bed.
It came as a great relief. I mean, the stress of having to finish and hopefully publish that book remains, but now I know what's been in the way. It was a singular experience. I have never heard of any writer who felt they couldn't write because their own creation had robbed them of their voice. But knowing, I know what to do to be past it.
I've been having a bugger of a time writing well for the past sixty-two days. I'm a teacher and summer is often my most productive time, and yet this summer was one of the worst for new and good production. I was half way through working on edits to a book I've been done for a months but hasn't clearly come out of the editing stage. It's my finest work so far, with two distinct narrators whose stories meet in the end. I'm very proud of it, and of them. One of them is named David and there's no denying he's a barely-veiled version of myself. David's narration is first person, in fact written in journals while he travels across Europe on a quest to decide whether his life is any longer worth living.
I loved writing David. I loved it because it was so easy. His voice was so similar to my own voice that I really just had to fictionalize events and react to them as I knew I would react to them. He borrowed my voice, or so I thought. In reality he stole it, and I have solved the issue with my blockage.
I'm struggling with this last edit. Life has got in the way, yes. And I find that every time I sit down at my journal to write in my voice, or at my computer, the voice I hear in my head is mine, but the fictional me I have poured into this character. I can't write in my voice because I haven't put David to bed.
As I said, I love that character. If I am able to publish his tale, he and I have a bit of time coming with even greater intimacy than when I was writing him. And, frankly, he and his voice will be attached to me for the rest of my writing career and probably my life, as they appear to be one. I'm fine with that. Now. Once I became fine with that I understood that to take my voice back from David, I needed to finalize his story, to put that book to bed.
It came as a great relief. I mean, the stress of having to finish and hopefully publish that book remains, but now I know what's been in the way. It was a singular experience. I have never heard of any writer who felt they couldn't write because their own creation had robbed them of their voice. But knowing, I know what to do to be past it.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Of Dragonflies and Community Support
 |
| Audrey Gene busy signing. |
But that's not why I'm writing this. I'm writing this because I made a point to sneak out on my kids' play rehearsal to get there, but really, she didn't need my support. There was a line up for the entire two hours I was there, and besides friends and family, I saw two other local authors, our mayor, and folks from the city. This was an event.
It was great to see this overwhelming support for art, for a writer celebrating and unveiling the results of her craft, something she's sweat over for years. It was good to see a little town telling one of its own that she'd done well.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 12
Chapter 12 In the Writer's Workshop
9. Compare and contrast a first draft of a paper you wrote with a final draft. Make a copy of your first draft on your computer or word processor and triple space between lines. In the margins and spaces, note where you made significant changes to the draft as you revised it. Retrace the steps you took to get from the first to the last draft. How and why did you make the changes you did? What effect did those changes have on the final draft? What did you learn about the writing process while revising the original draft?
10. Find an interview with a writer. . . . Write a case study about the writer, focusing on the writer's particular composing process and how he or she goes about revising. Then compare the process with your own.
15. Choose someone you know who absolutely hates to write, and study his or her process of composing a single essay for a class. Ask the writer to describe the difficulties he or she has with writing. What obstacles did the writer encounter? Did he or she overcome them? If so, how? If not, why? Using the writer's drafts and interviews, compose a case history.
16. Choose someone who is in love with writing, and repeat Activity 15. Then write a case history comparing the avid writer with the frustrated writer. See if you can pinpoint specific features of both writers' processes that made writing particular pieces good or bad experiences for them.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
9. Compare and contrast a first draft of a paper you wrote with a final draft. Make a copy of your first draft on your computer or word processor and triple space between lines. In the margins and spaces, note where you made significant changes to the draft as you revised it. Retrace the steps you took to get from the first to the last draft. How and why did you make the changes you did? What effect did those changes have on the final draft? What did you learn about the writing process while revising the original draft?
10. Find an interview with a writer. . . . Write a case study about the writer, focusing on the writer's particular composing process and how he or she goes about revising. Then compare the process with your own.
15. Choose someone you know who absolutely hates to write, and study his or her process of composing a single essay for a class. Ask the writer to describe the difficulties he or she has with writing. What obstacles did the writer encounter? Did he or she overcome them? If so, how? If not, why? Using the writer's drafts and interviews, compose a case history.
16. Choose someone who is in love with writing, and repeat Activity 15. Then write a case history comparing the avid writer with the frustrated writer. See if you can pinpoint specific features of both writers' processes that made writing particular pieces good or bad experiences for them.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 11
Chapter 11 Read Writers' Writing
2. Select a short piece of writing (less than two pages) of a published work and read it aloud, making believe you are the author appearing at a reading in a bookstore or library. Tell the readers how you came to write the selection. What problems did you discover in writing it? How did you solve them? What other solutions did you consider? How would you write it differently today? Answer these and other questions about the selection as you believe the writer would answer.
4. [C]hoose three to five books of the same genre. . . . Sit down in a comfortable chair, and compare the opening paragraphs of each book to those of the others. What were the different approaches used by the authors? How different were the voices between the authors? For whom were the authors writing? Are the audiences different? How can you tell? What techniques do the authors use to draw the reader in? Did they succeed? Write your answers in your daybook or reading journal.
15. Preserve a special section in your daybook or reading journal for memorable, provocative, or disturbing passages from your readings. Share with the class, and talk about why you selected them. Did they make you think? Have you had experiences that gave them special meaning? Did you find them beautiful, ugly, upsetting? What struck you as particularly significant about these passages?
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
2. Select a short piece of writing (less than two pages) of a published work and read it aloud, making believe you are the author appearing at a reading in a bookstore or library. Tell the readers how you came to write the selection. What problems did you discover in writing it? How did you solve them? What other solutions did you consider? How would you write it differently today? Answer these and other questions about the selection as you believe the writer would answer.
4. [C]hoose three to five books of the same genre. . . . Sit down in a comfortable chair, and compare the opening paragraphs of each book to those of the others. What were the different approaches used by the authors? How different were the voices between the authors? For whom were the authors writing? Are the audiences different? How can you tell? What techniques do the authors use to draw the reader in? Did they succeed? Write your answers in your daybook or reading journal.
15. Preserve a special section in your daybook or reading journal for memorable, provocative, or disturbing passages from your readings. Share with the class, and talk about why you selected them. Did they make you think? Have you had experiences that gave them special meaning? Did you find them beautiful, ugly, upsetting? What struck you as particularly significant about these passages?
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 10
Chapter 10 Fit Your Process to Your Task
5. Compare and contrast two pieces of writing in different forms--a researched essay with a persuasive essay, for example; or a reflective essay with an analytical essay. Draw a line down a page in your daybook and outline the main features of the first essay on the left, the second on the right. Discuss your findings in class.
7. Think of a career you might like to enter . . . and brainstorm a list of forms of writing you think you would do in that field. Then arrange an interview with employees in the field, and ask them to describe in detail their writing tasks. Ask to see copies, and note down the main features of particular genres.
14. Join a group of classmates to study three or four genres of television shows (a sit-com, a drama, a detective or cops show, a documentary, a mystery, a made-for-TV suspense film, a magazine or news program, etc.). Assign one kind of show to each person. Take notes as you watch. Think of the writer's role and what features of the genre he or she must emphasize. What kinds of elements characterize certain kinds of shows? Get together as a group and write up an analysis comparing and contrasting the different features of particular television genres.
23. Take a task that you are familiar with on the job, in a sport, or in another course, and list the steps in the process you use to complete the task. Compare that with how you write to see if there are ways you can apply those familiar, successful methods to the writing task.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
5. Compare and contrast two pieces of writing in different forms--a researched essay with a persuasive essay, for example; or a reflective essay with an analytical essay. Draw a line down a page in your daybook and outline the main features of the first essay on the left, the second on the right. Discuss your findings in class.
7. Think of a career you might like to enter . . . and brainstorm a list of forms of writing you think you would do in that field. Then arrange an interview with employees in the field, and ask them to describe in detail their writing tasks. Ask to see copies, and note down the main features of particular genres.
14. Join a group of classmates to study three or four genres of television shows (a sit-com, a drama, a detective or cops show, a documentary, a mystery, a made-for-TV suspense film, a magazine or news program, etc.). Assign one kind of show to each person. Take notes as you watch. Think of the writer's role and what features of the genre he or she must emphasize. What kinds of elements characterize certain kinds of shows? Get together as a group and write up an analysis comparing and contrasting the different features of particular television genres.
23. Take a task that you are familiar with on the job, in a sport, or in another course, and list the steps in the process you use to complete the task. Compare that with how you write to see if there are ways you can apply those familiar, successful methods to the writing task.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 9
Chapter 9 Edit to Clarify Meaning
2. Collect troublesome sentences from your own work. As your writing partner, group, or teacher helps you recognize wordy, unclear, or grammatically weak sentences, add them to your list. Select one or two sentences from the list daily, and work with a partner to rewrite them.
3. Take a piece of writing, your own or someone else's, and cut it in half. Replace multiple words with one when one will do. Make war on needless adjectives. Cut back on prepositional phrases. Pare to the bone.
16. Have a partner read through a couple pages of your draft and then write one sentence in the left margin next to each paragraph briefly summing up what the paragraph is saying. If your partner has trouble summarizing a paragraph or misreads your meaning, rewrite the troublesome passage, working to clarify each sentence.
18. Read your paper backward, sentence by sentence, starting with the very last one. This technique allows you to pick out mistakes you might normally gloss over when reading logically from beginning to end, front to back.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
2. Collect troublesome sentences from your own work. As your writing partner, group, or teacher helps you recognize wordy, unclear, or grammatically weak sentences, add them to your list. Select one or two sentences from the list daily, and work with a partner to rewrite them.
3. Take a piece of writing, your own or someone else's, and cut it in half. Replace multiple words with one when one will do. Make war on needless adjectives. Cut back on prepositional phrases. Pare to the bone.
16. Have a partner read through a couple pages of your draft and then write one sentence in the left margin next to each paragraph briefly summing up what the paragraph is saying. If your partner has trouble summarizing a paragraph or misreads your meaning, rewrite the troublesome passage, working to clarify each sentence.
18. Read your paper backward, sentence by sentence, starting with the very last one. This technique allows you to pick out mistakes you might normally gloss over when reading logically from beginning to end, front to back.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 8
Chapter 8 Revise to Explore Meaning
3. Give copies of the second half of your draft to your class. Ask them to write a couple of paragraphs each describing what they imagine the first part of the draft to be like. Then pass out copies of the entire draft and discuss ways that their readings of the draft's conclusion may help you revise the first part.
6. List at the top of a draft at least three of the seven writers' senses--seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling, imagining, and remembering. Then go back through your paper and expand the areas that bring these senses into play, incorporating into your draft the details that pertain to each sense. As your paper expands, you may want to go back and pare down other sections where you summarize or tell instead of describe and show.
7. Select one sentence or paragraph that your draft could not be without. Use that sentence or paragraph as your introduction and see where it takes you.
12. Read your paper aloud in a small group, and have your classmates note where you pause, stumble, or otherwise revise your wording as you read. Reading aloud like this lets the draft speak and teases out areas of your paper that want more attention. Go back to these spots and figure out what you intended to say but never said, what you should have omitted but kept, what the draft itself wants you to hear.
23. Collect simplistic endings from television sitcoms and dramas. See how many endings you can find that resolve all the characters' issues and problems within thirty or sixty minutes. Then rewrite the endings to make them more complicated.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
3. Give copies of the second half of your draft to your class. Ask them to write a couple of paragraphs each describing what they imagine the first part of the draft to be like. Then pass out copies of the entire draft and discuss ways that their readings of the draft's conclusion may help you revise the first part.
6. List at the top of a draft at least three of the seven writers' senses--seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling, imagining, and remembering. Then go back through your paper and expand the areas that bring these senses into play, incorporating into your draft the details that pertain to each sense. As your paper expands, you may want to go back and pare down other sections where you summarize or tell instead of describe and show.
7. Select one sentence or paragraph that your draft could not be without. Use that sentence or paragraph as your introduction and see where it takes you.
12. Read your paper aloud in a small group, and have your classmates note where you pause, stumble, or otherwise revise your wording as you read. Reading aloud like this lets the draft speak and teases out areas of your paper that want more attention. Go back to these spots and figure out what you intended to say but never said, what you should have omitted but kept, what the draft itself wants you to hear.
23. Collect simplistic endings from television sitcoms and dramas. See how many endings you can find that resolve all the characters' issues and problems within thirty or sixty minutes. Then rewrite the endings to make them more complicated.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Draft
2. Get a draft down, then write another draft without looking at the original. Include only what you remember or want to remember. Allow the draft to lead you into new areas. Do this again. Then go back to your drafts and select the one you like best, or revise by combining the best elements of each.
9. Start in medias res, which is Latin for "in the middle of things." Don't get hung up on finding a perfect lead, but jump in anywhere. Write a piece of description, a chunk of dialogue, or even the conclusion to your story. Develop an idea for the middle of the piece, or select one image or concept you know you can write about comfortably and start with that.
15. Pretend you're writing in your diary rather than composing a story or assigned essay. Don't try to be deep or complicated. Just get your draft going. Use plenty of time references and words that imply sequence, just as you might in a diary: "That morning . . . " "Later . . . " "After a while . . ." "Then . . ." let these time words propel you forward; you can always remove them later.
22. Take a significant piece of information from the writing you're working on and list all of the ways it can be documented: quotations, statistics, descriptions, anecdotes, and so on. Then develop it, using some or all of these elements.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
2. Get a draft down, then write another draft without looking at the original. Include only what you remember or want to remember. Allow the draft to lead you into new areas. Do this again. Then go back to your drafts and select the one you like best, or revise by combining the best elements of each.
9. Start in medias res, which is Latin for "in the middle of things." Don't get hung up on finding a perfect lead, but jump in anywhere. Write a piece of description, a chunk of dialogue, or even the conclusion to your story. Develop an idea for the middle of the piece, or select one image or concept you know you can write about comfortably and start with that.
15. Pretend you're writing in your diary rather than composing a story or assigned essay. Don't try to be deep or complicated. Just get your draft going. Use plenty of time references and words that imply sequence, just as you might in a diary: "That morning . . . " "Later . . . " "After a while . . ." "Then . . ." let these time words propel you forward; you can always remove them later.
22. Take a significant piece of information from the writing you're working on and list all of the ways it can be documented: quotations, statistics, descriptions, anecdotes, and so on. Then develop it, using some or all of these elements.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 6
Chapter 6 Plan
5. Brainstorm catchy subtitles and order them according to how you want to present information in your paper. When you have finished writing your draft, keep your subtitles or remove them and insert sentences that connect the different stories of your essay.
8. Do a brainstorming map. Discuss with a writing partner the most interesting clusters that emerge on your map and circle them. Then think of a sentence that states the central topic or focus of each cluster. Under each sentence list as many related details as you can think of. Then arrange the sentences according to the order you want them to appear in your paper.
20. Write an unruly draft and go through it paragraph by paragraph, jotting a sentence or two in the margins of the paper and summing up what each paragraph says. Read through your marginalia and see what points are repeated and rephrased in the paper. Use these as your major points for planning your paper.
21. have an outlining fest. Choose and essay or story to read together as a class, and then have each class member draw up an outline for it, being as creative as he or she wishes. You may decide to use the outlining ideas in this chapter. Gather all the outlines into a class binder for ideas on planning future essays.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
5. Brainstorm catchy subtitles and order them according to how you want to present information in your paper. When you have finished writing your draft, keep your subtitles or remove them and insert sentences that connect the different stories of your essay.
8. Do a brainstorming map. Discuss with a writing partner the most interesting clusters that emerge on your map and circle them. Then think of a sentence that states the central topic or focus of each cluster. Under each sentence list as many related details as you can think of. Then arrange the sentences according to the order you want them to appear in your paper.
20. Write an unruly draft and go through it paragraph by paragraph, jotting a sentence or two in the margins of the paper and summing up what each paragraph says. Read through your marginalia and see what points are repeated and rephrased in the paper. Use these as your major points for planning your paper.
21. have an outlining fest. Choose and essay or story to read together as a class, and then have each class member draw up an outline for it, being as creative as he or she wishes. You may decide to use the outlining ideas in this chapter. Gather all the outlines into a class binder for ideas on planning future essays.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Explore
3. Think of a famous or historical local figure you want to find out more about. Begin at the library with biographies about the person, and look in the online database or card catalogue for general information on your subject. Ask reference librarians what related materials are available. Then contact your local historical society and ask them where the personal papers and diaries of the person you have chosen are located and whether you can gain access to them. Such papers, called primary sources, are often housed in university or local town libraries or special museum houses. Sometimes you need official permission to read them, but most institutions will cooperate with you if you are doing research.
6. With a group of classmates, take a sensory tour of a site--a favourite spot in the mountains, a beach, a town, a neighbourhood, or perhaps a place of historical significance. Ask each person in the group to be responsible for one sense--seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, or touching--and to record as many sensory details as possible. Reconvene as a group, and write up a portrait of the site.
11. Walk through a cemetery and observe and record as many details as possible: names and dates, sizes and conditions of headstones, genders of the deceased, relationships, years lived, the vaults, status, and tombstones, the cemetery landscape itself. Write a history of the cemetery just from what you observe. Do you think some "residents" were richer than others? Later, go to the church or public office that keeps the cemetery's records and read them for more information. Visit your local library, and check out newspaper stories and other printed sources about the cemetery and the deceased. Then revise your history according to the new details you gather.
14. Take your daybook to a public space, such as a restaurant or cafe. Write down as accurately as possible the conversations of people who pass by or converse at tables in your vicinity. Pay attention to the sound and rhythm of speech, and record as many comments and dialogues as you can. Don't worry about following any one conversation through from beginning to end. Just try to catch the gist of what people are saying.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
3. Think of a famous or historical local figure you want to find out more about. Begin at the library with biographies about the person, and look in the online database or card catalogue for general information on your subject. Ask reference librarians what related materials are available. Then contact your local historical society and ask them where the personal papers and diaries of the person you have chosen are located and whether you can gain access to them. Such papers, called primary sources, are often housed in university or local town libraries or special museum houses. Sometimes you need official permission to read them, but most institutions will cooperate with you if you are doing research.
6. With a group of classmates, take a sensory tour of a site--a favourite spot in the mountains, a beach, a town, a neighbourhood, or perhaps a place of historical significance. Ask each person in the group to be responsible for one sense--seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, or touching--and to record as many sensory details as possible. Reconvene as a group, and write up a portrait of the site.
11. Walk through a cemetery and observe and record as many details as possible: names and dates, sizes and conditions of headstones, genders of the deceased, relationships, years lived, the vaults, status, and tombstones, the cemetery landscape itself. Write a history of the cemetery just from what you observe. Do you think some "residents" were richer than others? Later, go to the church or public office that keeps the cemetery's records and read them for more information. Visit your local library, and check out newspaper stories and other printed sources about the cemetery and the deceased. Then revise your history according to the new details you gather.
14. Take your daybook to a public space, such as a restaurant or cafe. Write down as accurately as possible the conversations of people who pass by or converse at tables in your vicinity. Pay attention to the sound and rhythm of speech, and record as many comments and dialogues as you can. Don't worry about following any one conversation through from beginning to end. Just try to catch the gist of what people are saying.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Focus
1. Brainstorm a list of subjects that entice you, confuse you, anger you, please you. When you finish your list, jot down one word next to each item that you feel sums it up. Choose words from the list and write them on the board. After all your classmates have done the same, choose six words from the entire list. There may be no rhyme or reason why you choose the words: They may remind you of something or you may simply like the way they sound. Beginning with the first word, free write on each. Then choose one free write you'd like to expand on and with the help of a writing partner, list three more words about that topic. Repeat the process until you have narrowed your focus and gathered plenty of details.
3. Do a quick inventory of your clothes, staring with the garments you are wearing now. Don't worry about being thorough; just list rapidly which items come to mind, including shoes, coats, belts, and other accessories. Choosing five of these items from your list, brainstorm a list of associations for each: When did you buy them? Why? Why did you single them out in your list?Where have you worn them? When? Who were they with? What happened on the day you were wearing them? Do any of them have any sentimental value? Select an item form the list and write a story about it, using the details you have jotted down.
6. Wander out into the hallway or situate yourself at the busy entrance of a building. Record a conversation of passers-by. Free write about these conversations, imagining what they mean to the participants, or write about similar conversations you have had with friends.
8. Brainstorm a list of relatives and free write about each. Choose one or two whom you want to learn more about and focus on them, or choose a couple of relatives you know well and want to write about.
11. Make an authority inventory, listing all the things you're an expert on, that you have focused on: the jobs you can do, the things you can repair, the places you've lived or visited, the problems you can solve, the hobbies you enjoy, the people you know, the family background. each of us is an authority on many things, and our best writing usually comes from what we know and care about.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
1. Brainstorm a list of subjects that entice you, confuse you, anger you, please you. When you finish your list, jot down one word next to each item that you feel sums it up. Choose words from the list and write them on the board. After all your classmates have done the same, choose six words from the entire list. There may be no rhyme or reason why you choose the words: They may remind you of something or you may simply like the way they sound. Beginning with the first word, free write on each. Then choose one free write you'd like to expand on and with the help of a writing partner, list three more words about that topic. Repeat the process until you have narrowed your focus and gathered plenty of details.
3. Do a quick inventory of your clothes, staring with the garments you are wearing now. Don't worry about being thorough; just list rapidly which items come to mind, including shoes, coats, belts, and other accessories. Choosing five of these items from your list, brainstorm a list of associations for each: When did you buy them? Why? Why did you single them out in your list?Where have you worn them? When? Who were they with? What happened on the day you were wearing them? Do any of them have any sentimental value? Select an item form the list and write a story about it, using the details you have jotted down.
6. Wander out into the hallway or situate yourself at the busy entrance of a building. Record a conversation of passers-by. Free write about these conversations, imagining what they mean to the participants, or write about similar conversations you have had with friends.
8. Brainstorm a list of relatives and free write about each. Choose one or two whom you want to learn more about and focus on them, or choose a couple of relatives you know well and want to write about.
11. Make an authority inventory, listing all the things you're an expert on, that you have focused on: the jobs you can do, the things you can repair, the places you've lived or visited, the problems you can solve, the hobbies you enjoy, the people you know, the family background. each of us is an authority on many things, and our best writing usually comes from what we know and care about.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 3
Chapter 3 See and Write
1. List songs the you love and that evoke a certain moment in your life. What memories do these songs bring back to you? Think of all the sensory details you associate with these songs and the events they represent--the taste of fruit punch at junior prom, the fragrance of your crumpled corsage, the smooth wooden pew at your friend's memorial service, the grief-stricken look on her mother's face, the feeling of cold water cascading over your body at the shore, the odour of hot dogs steaming on the vendors' carts. Come up with all the memories and sensory details you can for each song.
4. Visit a room or spot you go to every day and see it anew. List as many details as you can, from the unusual to the ordinary. Then circle the details that you noticed for the first time. Return the next day and notice what you didn't notice last time.
6. Try some intergenerational seeing. If you are a young student, think of an issue or topic that an older relative or friend might view differently from you; if you are older, choose a young friend or relative. Write your viewpoint in your daybook and then interview your friend to get his or her perspective. Describe how your ways of seeing are similar or different and why.
9. Hone your sense of touch. Feel the textures of different cloths; run your hand along surfaces; immerse your fingers in liquids; hold objects and test their various weights and shapes. Record your observations in your daybook.
10. Go to a particular site with a writing partner and write about it separately, each from your own viewpoint. Compare notes and discuss the difference and similarities in the way each of you viewed the same space.
15. Visit an isolated or quiet spot, such as a church or wildlife sanctuary. Sit still and listen for at least fifteen minutes. Write down in your notebook everything you hear. Then add a layer of details by describing what you see and then what you smell. Finally, note everything you feel--cold, wind, snow, rain, sun, or heat on your skin. Then write a short descriptive essay about the spot using these details.
19. Take a "smelling tour" of your neighbourhood, jotting down odours and fragrances you encounter as you walk--food, flowers, garbage, rain, anything that you can detect by nose. Try to describe how these odours make you feel, what they remind you of, and what they say about your neighbourhood.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
1. List songs the you love and that evoke a certain moment in your life. What memories do these songs bring back to you? Think of all the sensory details you associate with these songs and the events they represent--the taste of fruit punch at junior prom, the fragrance of your crumpled corsage, the smooth wooden pew at your friend's memorial service, the grief-stricken look on her mother's face, the feeling of cold water cascading over your body at the shore, the odour of hot dogs steaming on the vendors' carts. Come up with all the memories and sensory details you can for each song.
4. Visit a room or spot you go to every day and see it anew. List as many details as you can, from the unusual to the ordinary. Then circle the details that you noticed for the first time. Return the next day and notice what you didn't notice last time.
6. Try some intergenerational seeing. If you are a young student, think of an issue or topic that an older relative or friend might view differently from you; if you are older, choose a young friend or relative. Write your viewpoint in your daybook and then interview your friend to get his or her perspective. Describe how your ways of seeing are similar or different and why.
9. Hone your sense of touch. Feel the textures of different cloths; run your hand along surfaces; immerse your fingers in liquids; hold objects and test their various weights and shapes. Record your observations in your daybook.
10. Go to a particular site with a writing partner and write about it separately, each from your own viewpoint. Compare notes and discuss the difference and similarities in the way each of you viewed the same space.
15. Visit an isolated or quiet spot, such as a church or wildlife sanctuary. Sit still and listen for at least fifteen minutes. Write down in your notebook everything you hear. Then add a layer of details by describing what you see and then what you smell. Finally, note everything you feel--cold, wind, snow, rain, sun, or heat on your skin. Then write a short descriptive essay about the spot using these details.
19. Take a "smelling tour" of your neighbourhood, jotting down odours and fragrances you encounter as you walk--food, flowers, garbage, rain, anything that you can detect by nose. Try to describe how these odours make you feel, what they remind you of, and what they say about your neighbourhood.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Read as a Writer
1. Choose a piece of reading you have in your backpack or bag--registration instructions, a textbook, a school newspaper, a syllabus, whatever--the more "everyday" the better. Work with a partner on a close reading of this piece. Analyze it from every perspective and try to read "too much" into it. Is the writer of the text you chose detached, friendly, condescending, involved? How can you tell? What words does the writer use to evoke a particular tone of voice? Who is the writer's audience? What is the focus of the piece? Play around with the piece, making it flowery, dramatic, funny, or sad. Reflect on, poke fun at, or argue with what the writer says. Record your responses to the reading in the margins, between the lines, or on a separate piece of paper.
4. Use your reading journal or daybook to "converse" with an author you admire. Imagine how he or she might respond to your questions and jot down answers you think the writer would give. Then stage ba mock interview with [a] writing partner. Play thew role of the writer and have your partner interview you. Answer your interviewer's questions from the perspective of thew writer. Switch roles.
5. Brainstorm a list of favorite childhood books, stories, poems, or nursery rhymes, what you remember about them, through reading them or having them read to you. How old were you? Where were you? Were you alone or did you have sisters and brothers with you? Then free write about your childhood reading experiences and see where it takes you.
10. Bumper stickers, billboards, slogans, even the wording on baseball caps "tell" on the people who write them, post them, wear them. Sometimes they are full of humor and contradictions. A bulletin board in front of a church, for instance, announces the morning sermon: "Jesus Walks on Water." "In Search of Jesus," the board laments that evening. In your daily treks around campus and town, get into the habit of reading signs and jotting them down in your daybook. Read them for surprises, insights and humor. Read them for how they sound and how they work together, for what they say as well as what they don't (but should) say about the people that display them.
12. Go walking at dusk just before nightfall. Glance into the lighted windows of houses and think of what you see as snapshots. Read as many details as you can. Notice the father in the kitchen chopping vegetables for dinner, the woman reading a book in the armchair next door, the bluish light of a television in the window across the street. Listen for conversations and attune your nose to smells. When you get back home, make a detailed list of what you saw, smelled, and heard.
20. Read a poem aloud in small chunks, covering up the unread portion as you go and pausing after each bit to write a response in your daybook or reading journal. Respond honestly, thoughtfully, and specifically to every chunk you hear. Does an image move you or make you laugh? Can you interpret the poet's voice or mood by the words he or she uses? Does the poem make sense to you as you read and consider more of it? How do you respond to the sound and rhythm of the poem? In what direction do you think the poem is taking you? Savor each line and when you finish, read the entire poem aloud and write a final response.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
1. Choose a piece of reading you have in your backpack or bag--registration instructions, a textbook, a school newspaper, a syllabus, whatever--the more "everyday" the better. Work with a partner on a close reading of this piece. Analyze it from every perspective and try to read "too much" into it. Is the writer of the text you chose detached, friendly, condescending, involved? How can you tell? What words does the writer use to evoke a particular tone of voice? Who is the writer's audience? What is the focus of the piece? Play around with the piece, making it flowery, dramatic, funny, or sad. Reflect on, poke fun at, or argue with what the writer says. Record your responses to the reading in the margins, between the lines, or on a separate piece of paper.
4. Use your reading journal or daybook to "converse" with an author you admire. Imagine how he or she might respond to your questions and jot down answers you think the writer would give. Then stage ba mock interview with [a] writing partner. Play thew role of the writer and have your partner interview you. Answer your interviewer's questions from the perspective of thew writer. Switch roles.
5. Brainstorm a list of favorite childhood books, stories, poems, or nursery rhymes, what you remember about them, through reading them or having them read to you. How old were you? Where were you? Were you alone or did you have sisters and brothers with you? Then free write about your childhood reading experiences and see where it takes you.
10. Bumper stickers, billboards, slogans, even the wording on baseball caps "tell" on the people who write them, post them, wear them. Sometimes they are full of humor and contradictions. A bulletin board in front of a church, for instance, announces the morning sermon: "Jesus Walks on Water." "In Search of Jesus," the board laments that evening. In your daily treks around campus and town, get into the habit of reading signs and jotting them down in your daybook. Read them for surprises, insights and humor. Read them for how they sound and how they work together, for what they say as well as what they don't (but should) say about the people that display them.
12. Go walking at dusk just before nightfall. Glance into the lighted windows of houses and think of what you see as snapshots. Read as many details as you can. Notice the father in the kitchen chopping vegetables for dinner, the woman reading a book in the armchair next door, the bluish light of a television in the window across the street. Listen for conversations and attune your nose to smells. When you get back home, make a detailed list of what you saw, smelled, and heard.
20. Read a poem aloud in small chunks, covering up the unread portion as you go and pausing after each bit to write a response in your daybook or reading journal. Respond honestly, thoughtfully, and specifically to every chunk you hear. Does an image move you or make you laugh? Can you interpret the poet's voice or mood by the words he or she uses? Does the poem make sense to you as you read and consider more of it? How do you respond to the sound and rhythm of the poem? In what direction do you think the poem is taking you? Savor each line and when you finish, read the entire poem aloud and write a final response.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Writing prompts from Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn--Chapter 1
I run a club for some advanced writing students. Well, I've been bullied into running it by kids who are dissatisfied with having only two levels of writing courses they can take. A constant complaint is coming up with journal ideas, things to write about, seeds to plant.
I often reference two books: Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn. These are where I go for my own little inspirations, when I simply need a little something to get those morning pages going, and often from there the bigger ideas grow, to be groomed into something greater.
At the request of my students, I'm posting some of my very favourite writing prompts from Murray's book. He lists several at the end of each chapter, and these are the ones I've used and loved over the past fifteen or so years. I'll post each chapter separately for the next few days.
Chapter 1 Write as a Writer
3. Find a brianstorming room: a cafe, dorm room, lounge area, or even a spot outside by a river or under a tree. Make it your own. Settle into your space with notebook or personal computer and reserve an hour or so each day just for free writing or brainstorming. Make a daily appointment with your spot, and commit yourself to keeping it for at least a month.
5. Join an Internet bulletin board or newsgroup [chat room or Facebook page]. Explore the hundreds of topics these boards cover and choose two or three that interest you. Make a point to read and respond to the posted entries at least once or twice per week. Be attentive to various "posts," jotting down what you agree or disagree with, what you learn from them, and what you can add. Then post your own thoughts.
9. Check out the many writers' chat areas and bulletin boards on the Internet. "Listen" to the conversations among writers about drafting and revising, how they write, when they write, where they write. Talk with them about your own processes, and choose a mentor from among them. You will find that most writers in these groups will be most eager to discuss your work.
10. Write in your daybook about a project you have completed that made you proud. How about a speech you wrote and delivered as valedictorian? A car's engine you rebuilt during the summer? A dinner you cooked for your parents" wedding anniversary? The skis you refurbished last winter? When you have finished writing, list the steps you took in planning and carrying out your project. When did you first think of it? Did you have to gather information or do some research in order to complete it? Did you have to revise your plans as you went along? How much time did you take? Was the final project worth it? Was it well-recived by others? When you have finished, compare the process of completing your project to the process of writing. How is it similar or different?
16. Hold a "bad" writing contest. With a group of classmates, write a short essay that you consider dull, unfocussed and . . . well . . . just generally bad. Exchange your bad essays with another group. Using the stages of the writing process outlined in this chapter, write up a list of suggestions for the authors of each essay and how you think they could improve it. Don't get stuck on grammatical or spelling errors at this point. Think about the gist of the piece, and read it with an eye toward planning, focusing, and drafting.
17. Imagine your writing as a house and draw a blueprint. Don't worry about being highly technical or accurate. Just divide the stages of writing into "rooms" (brainstorming, free writing, and mapping, for example, might be the doors and entrance ways to your house), and furnish the rooms with details about each step. As you write your essay, keep track of where you have to change your blueprint. Which rooms get the most use? Which do you visit the least?
18. Create the perfect writing area. Splurge on inspirational posters, artwork, a comfortable chair, the right pens and pencils and paper. Go to yard sales or flea markets to buy all the extras that will spiff up your special corner. Make it a place you will want to return to again and again. If you need music while you write, have your stereo and headphones nearby; if you like privacy, enclose the space with a screen. Post pictures of family and friends of of writers whom you admire around your computer or writing desk.
19. Talk to professors in your major areas of interest about writing in that discipline. Ask them to tell you about any articles they have written, how they went about planning and drafting them, how they revised them. Find out what kind of feedback they got from friends, colleagues, and publishers that helped them put together their final drafts.
20. Retype a couple of pages from a published author's work on a . . . computer. LISTEN to the sentences as you rewrite them. Think about the words you are putting down and how the author chooses them. Pay attention to punctuation and the stylistic choices the author makes. [Hunter S. Thompson used to do withis with F. Scott Fitzgerald's work] Then rewrite the passage. Change or add punctuation or leave it out; drop or add details, or go off on a tangent of your own. Move the middle paragraph to the beginning or change the ending. Choose one scene or detail to write about extensively and omit others. Note when and how the focus of the essay shifts as you fiddle with it.
21. Make a list of teachers you remember. Next to their names, jot down writing assignments you associate with them. Select two or three names from the list and in your daybook write as quickly as you can about the the teachers, what you learned about writing from each one, and how you began, sustained, and completed each writing assignment for that teacher. Be humorous or serious or reflective, but try to trace your writing process through each teacher and each writing assignment.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
I often reference two books: Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and Donald M. Murray's Write to Learn. These are where I go for my own little inspirations, when I simply need a little something to get those morning pages going, and often from there the bigger ideas grow, to be groomed into something greater.
At the request of my students, I'm posting some of my very favourite writing prompts from Murray's book. He lists several at the end of each chapter, and these are the ones I've used and loved over the past fifteen or so years. I'll post each chapter separately for the next few days.
Chapter 1 Write as a Writer
3. Find a brianstorming room: a cafe, dorm room, lounge area, or even a spot outside by a river or under a tree. Make it your own. Settle into your space with notebook or personal computer and reserve an hour or so each day just for free writing or brainstorming. Make a daily appointment with your spot, and commit yourself to keeping it for at least a month.
5. Join an Internet bulletin board or newsgroup [chat room or Facebook page]. Explore the hundreds of topics these boards cover and choose two or three that interest you. Make a point to read and respond to the posted entries at least once or twice per week. Be attentive to various "posts," jotting down what you agree or disagree with, what you learn from them, and what you can add. Then post your own thoughts.
9. Check out the many writers' chat areas and bulletin boards on the Internet. "Listen" to the conversations among writers about drafting and revising, how they write, when they write, where they write. Talk with them about your own processes, and choose a mentor from among them. You will find that most writers in these groups will be most eager to discuss your work.
10. Write in your daybook about a project you have completed that made you proud. How about a speech you wrote and delivered as valedictorian? A car's engine you rebuilt during the summer? A dinner you cooked for your parents" wedding anniversary? The skis you refurbished last winter? When you have finished writing, list the steps you took in planning and carrying out your project. When did you first think of it? Did you have to gather information or do some research in order to complete it? Did you have to revise your plans as you went along? How much time did you take? Was the final project worth it? Was it well-recived by others? When you have finished, compare the process of completing your project to the process of writing. How is it similar or different?
16. Hold a "bad" writing contest. With a group of classmates, write a short essay that you consider dull, unfocussed and . . . well . . . just generally bad. Exchange your bad essays with another group. Using the stages of the writing process outlined in this chapter, write up a list of suggestions for the authors of each essay and how you think they could improve it. Don't get stuck on grammatical or spelling errors at this point. Think about the gist of the piece, and read it with an eye toward planning, focusing, and drafting.
17. Imagine your writing as a house and draw a blueprint. Don't worry about being highly technical or accurate. Just divide the stages of writing into "rooms" (brainstorming, free writing, and mapping, for example, might be the doors and entrance ways to your house), and furnish the rooms with details about each step. As you write your essay, keep track of where you have to change your blueprint. Which rooms get the most use? Which do you visit the least?
18. Create the perfect writing area. Splurge on inspirational posters, artwork, a comfortable chair, the right pens and pencils and paper. Go to yard sales or flea markets to buy all the extras that will spiff up your special corner. Make it a place you will want to return to again and again. If you need music while you write, have your stereo and headphones nearby; if you like privacy, enclose the space with a screen. Post pictures of family and friends of of writers whom you admire around your computer or writing desk.
19. Talk to professors in your major areas of interest about writing in that discipline. Ask them to tell you about any articles they have written, how they went about planning and drafting them, how they revised them. Find out what kind of feedback they got from friends, colleagues, and publishers that helped them put together their final drafts.
20. Retype a couple of pages from a published author's work on a . . . computer. LISTEN to the sentences as you rewrite them. Think about the words you are putting down and how the author chooses them. Pay attention to punctuation and the stylistic choices the author makes. [Hunter S. Thompson used to do withis with F. Scott Fitzgerald's work] Then rewrite the passage. Change or add punctuation or leave it out; drop or add details, or go off on a tangent of your own. Move the middle paragraph to the beginning or change the ending. Choose one scene or detail to write about extensively and omit others. Note when and how the focus of the essay shifts as you fiddle with it.
21. Make a list of teachers you remember. Next to their names, jot down writing assignments you associate with them. Select two or three names from the list and in your daybook write as quickly as you can about the the teachers, what you learned about writing from each one, and how you began, sustained, and completed each writing assignment for that teacher. Be humorous or serious or reflective, but try to trace your writing process through each teacher and each writing assignment.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
100 Years of Memories: Celebrating Strathmore's Centennial
Below are tow links to the centennial book I wrote for the Town of Strathmore.
http://shop.polishedpublishinggroup.com/100-Years-of-Memories-Paperback-978-0-9878126-0-5-STRATHMOREPB.htm
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Books/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Paul+Sonsteby&page=1&rh=n:266239,p_27:Paul+Sonsteby
http://shop.polishedpublishinggroup.com/100-Years-of-Memories-Paperback-978-0-9878126-0-5-STRATHMOREPB.htm
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Books/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Paul+Sonsteby&page=1&rh=n:266239,p_27:Paul+Sonsteby
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Writing is Mostly Seeing
det at digte det er væsentligt at se
I saw it on a wall in a museum in Trondheim, Norway in 2001. Just a quote, rendered in Norwegian with the English translation underneath. No indication of source, although I've since seen it attributed to Ibsen, Voltaire, or Ibsen quoting Voltaire.
I took a picture of it--this was in the last dying days of film photography--because I remembered thinking, "Yep, that's it." It wasn't as if I hadn't already heard this before. I'd been writing creatively for long enough to know that seeing is one of the main activities of the writer. It was the "mostly" that stuck with me.
Mostly. How bold. There are so many things that writing could be called: creation, effort, editing, doubt, celebration, art. . . . Seeing? Mostly seeing. That struck something in me.
It's interesting because I deplore adverbs most of the time. I teach my students to avoid adverbs, they're just window-dressing on a week verb. Frequency adverbs are the worst because whenever you say "never" or "always" the person you say it to will cock their head and ask: "Really? Never?"
But this one was right. Writing is mostly seeing. Writers are aesthetists in that we watch and appreciate the world and that we synthesize and disseminate the information the world provides us. We thumb through our mental or our literal notes, and we use what we have watched to help us create.
Writers are students of humanity.
I have a copy of that photo from May 2001 on the wall in front of me. I want to see it every time I sit down to write. I scrawl this quote at the beginning of each of my journals. When I teach a writing class, it always appears at the top of the syllabus (Often accompanied by "Murder your darlings" and "When in doubt leave it out.") I want to remember that, I want my students to remember it.
Writers cannot create by closeting themselves off in some dark room devoid of sensation and human contact. The created world needs to be inspired by the existing world. For art to imitate life, art must watch and know life, because the reason art exists is to tell life more about itself.
This is why as writers we must go out and see, because writing is mostly seeing.
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