In preparation for our little "Stone Reader" mini-series, I want you to be familiar with the Iowa Writers' Workshop in particular -- where our idiosyncratic hero, Dow Mossman, got his MFA -- and I want you to start thinking about the idea of writing programs in general. As such, read both of these. Please.
This is the Iowa website.
This is an article in The Atlantic Monthly about graduate writing programs in general, and the one at Iowa in particular.
As you read both things, I want you to mull this question over:
What connections can you draw between what you're reading and your ASFA experience?
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Week #4 Prompts
Write a poem of exactly 50 lines. Don't break stanzas. Each line should have between seven and ten syllables. It can be about anything. Let yourself digress, suturing one thought to the next. The poem should start and end with the same word.
Write an essay about you or someone you know learning how to drive.
Write a story that includes the following:
Write an essay about you or someone you know learning how to drive.
Write a story that includes the following:
- a dead king's ghost
- the dead king's sketchy brother
- the dead king's angsty son
- Denmark
Friday, January 16, 2009
Week #3 Prompts
Write a poem to, for, or about Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III.
Write an essay called "Inauguration." It should be about your sixteenth birthday.
Write a story about three friends. Two of them know something the other one doesn't. There's a good chance this story takes place on an unseasonably warm winter day in Alabama in February. Perhaps James Spann appears in the periphery.
Write an essay called "Inauguration." It should be about your sixteenth birthday.
Write a story about three friends. Two of them know something the other one doesn't. There's a good chance this story takes place on an unseasonably warm winter day in Alabama in February. Perhaps James Spann appears in the periphery.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Week #2 Prompts: Let's Get This Party Started!
Write a story. This story has five distinct sections separated by five distinct asterisks. Each section consists of exactly 100 words. There is a new setting in each section. Each section introduces a new character. The climax occurs in section four. The only character in the last section is the new character you're introducing to conform to the fifth requirement of this insane prompt. Probably in this story there is a slight but persistent wind.
Write a three page essay in one paragraph that consists almost entirely of digressions. The essay should be titled either "Beauty" or "Salt."
Write a poem about your least favorite uncle.
(Man. That was fun.)
Write a three page essay in one paragraph that consists almost entirely of digressions. The essay should be titled either "Beauty" or "Salt."
Write a poem about your least favorite uncle.
(Man. That was fun.)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Life Skillz 101: Budgeting
Not just because it's fun but because it can help you start to get a sense of where you want to be as a person (and an artist!) in five years, I want you to complete a mock monthly budget. Here are the parameters:
For hypothetical purposes, we'll say you're going to get an entry-level job in writing or communications. That means your salary will likely be somewhere in the $30k to $40k range, depending on what you do and where you live. (Yes, even if you live in NYC, your entry-level salary is not likely to be much higher than $40k -- could be lower. In fact, generally speaking, the cooler the entry-level job in NYC, the lower the salary.) The convenient thing about this number is it's fairly close to the ballpark of what you'd get with a bachelor's degree and limited experience in most other fields as well.
So after taxes that means your monthly gross pay of $2,500 to $3,500 turns into something like $2,000 to $2,500 net (take-home) pay.
Noodle around with those numbers on the budget sheet I gave you. Think about different scenarios -- what are the numbers like if you live in a major city versus coming back to (staying in) Birmingham? What are the numbers like if you have roommates? What are the numbers like if you have no finance payments (loans, credit cards, etc)? What about if you have significant finance payments?
Use a pencil so you can erase, adjust, and start all over if you have to. Look things up on the internet. Ask your parents for their thoughts and insight. That's part of the assignment, in fact. See if they'd add categories or subtract them, and what their thoughts are in general about starting out life on your own after college.
And if it seems like we're jumping the gun -- talking about life after college before you even apply -- I'll grant you that point, but only to a degree. Financial decisions you make prior to and during your time in college will have an influence on the options you have after it. I want you to have as many viable options after college as possible. College is supposed to open up opportunities (both in the near and far term), not limit them.
We'll sit around and crunch numbers together on Thursday, and that'll hopefully lead us to some great new understanding about how the business of life affects the life of an artist in the great big wide world.
For hypothetical purposes, we'll say you're going to get an entry-level job in writing or communications. That means your salary will likely be somewhere in the $30k to $40k range, depending on what you do and where you live. (Yes, even if you live in NYC, your entry-level salary is not likely to be much higher than $40k -- could be lower. In fact, generally speaking, the cooler the entry-level job in NYC, the lower the salary.) The convenient thing about this number is it's fairly close to the ballpark of what you'd get with a bachelor's degree and limited experience in most other fields as well.
So after taxes that means your monthly gross pay of $2,500 to $3,500 turns into something like $2,000 to $2,500 net (take-home) pay.
Noodle around with those numbers on the budget sheet I gave you. Think about different scenarios -- what are the numbers like if you live in a major city versus coming back to (staying in) Birmingham? What are the numbers like if you have roommates? What are the numbers like if you have no finance payments (loans, credit cards, etc)? What about if you have significant finance payments?
Use a pencil so you can erase, adjust, and start all over if you have to. Look things up on the internet. Ask your parents for their thoughts and insight. That's part of the assignment, in fact. See if they'd add categories or subtract them, and what their thoughts are in general about starting out life on your own after college.
And if it seems like we're jumping the gun -- talking about life after college before you even apply -- I'll grant you that point, but only to a degree. Financial decisions you make prior to and during your time in college will have an influence on the options you have after it. I want you to have as many viable options after college as possible. College is supposed to open up opportunities (both in the near and far term), not limit them.
We'll sit around and crunch numbers together on Thursday, and that'll hopefully lead us to some great new understanding about how the business of life affects the life of an artist in the great big wide world.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Course Requirements: Micro-Level
This course requires some flexibility, but in general the weeks and days will look like this:
Mon - Wed
3:15 - 4:00...Two options. Read. Write. No exceptions.
4:00 - 4:30...Independent work. Conferences.
Thu
3:15 - 4:00...Group Discussion. Presentations.
4:00 - 4:30...Independent work. Conferences.
A Note on Independent Work. Ask yourself these questions. What can I write? What can I read? What CW work do I have pending? What other ASFA homework do I have pending? What would Peter do? Any of these pursuits are likely to be worthy uses of your time.
Mon - Wed
3:15 - 4:00...Two options. Read. Write. No exceptions.
4:00 - 4:30...Independent work. Conferences.
Thu
3:15 - 4:00...Group Discussion. Presentations.
4:00 - 4:30...Independent work. Conferences.
A Note on Independent Work. Ask yourself these questions. What can I write? What can I read? What CW work do I have pending? What other ASFA homework do I have pending? What would Peter do? Any of these pursuits are likely to be worthy uses of your time.
Conference Drafts
Conference 1. For your first conference, you'll submit new work you've written in/for this class. It must be in a genre other than your third period workshop genre. In general, I'm looking for five (5) poems or a piece of prose (fiction or nonfiction) in the neighborhood of ten (10) pages.
Conference 2. For the second conference, you'll submit finished work in all three genres that you are thinking about sending to literary magazines. I want five to seven poems, an essay, and a story. The prose pieces should be in the neighborhood of ten pages each (within five pages either way) using 12-pt. Times New Roman and standard margins. That's somewhere between 1,500 and 5,000 words for each prose piece. Ballpark.
You can include work from current or past workshops for the final conference. You're trolling for your absolute best work in each genre here. Like, of all time. It's okay to submit work that has won a scholastic award of some kind, but it's not okay to submit work that has been published in any way, shape, or form. Even in Cadence.
Our task will then be to decide what you're going to submit (and where you're going to submit it) for publication.
Conference 2. For the second conference, you'll submit finished work in all three genres that you are thinking about sending to literary magazines. I want five to seven poems, an essay, and a story. The prose pieces should be in the neighborhood of ten pages each (within five pages either way) using 12-pt. Times New Roman and standard margins. That's somewhere between 1,500 and 5,000 words for each prose piece. Ballpark.
You can include work from current or past workshops for the final conference. You're trolling for your absolute best work in each genre here. Like, of all time. It's okay to submit work that has won a scholastic award of some kind, but it's not okay to submit work that has been published in any way, shape, or form. Even in Cadence.
Our task will then be to decide what you're going to submit (and where you're going to submit it) for publication.
Final Project
You will publish and distribute a piece/collection of writing that is not your own. That is all.
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