Download Feel lost as a beginning writer?

Next Week, April 29th

Spoken
Word
performances!
Everyone is
required
to do
either a spoken word or a visual
poetry/New Media
performance,
 Workshop
mania
which counts as a 7-pt. “quiz.”
th
Week
After
Next,
May
6
These will give you a little
experience with creative writing
in bothMedia/Visual
its most ancient and its
 New
newest incarnations.
performances!

Workshop mania
Spoken Word Performance
Instructions





Perform a spoken piece for the class, roughly 5-10
minutes.
Practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Project. Proe-JECT.
Feel free to use sound effects, music, special garb.
Pay attention to “Spoken Word Poetry” Power Point,
and “What makes a good spoken word performance?”
slide. Also heed the audio samples played in class.
Criteria—Performance should be






Engaging
Inventive
Energetic and/or of adequate intensity
Well-rehearsed
Well-projected, audible
Well-paced
New Media Performance
Instructions


Present to the class some form of visual poetry, whether
electronic or hardcopy.
Presentation should include showing the piece as well as
some narration, roughly 5-10 minutes. You can talk to us
about what you were aiming for, what problems and
successes you had, what possibilities the piece suggests to
you for future work.
Criteria




Materials should be VISIBLE.
Materials should work properly.
Materials and narration should be well-REHEARSED.
Piece should be
o
o
o
o
Engaging
Inventive
Of adequate complexity and interest
Without sentimentality
Coursework Review

Notebook: 30 pts.

Quizzes: 20 pts.

Minimum of 2 Workshop Sessions:
check/no check (this, plus attendance,
participation, and misc. class exercises will
be factored subjectively into final semester
numerical score)

Chapbook: 50 pts.
Quiz points to date: 13
Final quiz: spoken word and new media
performance: 7 pts.
Your Notebook
Minimum 30 typed, double-spaced
pages (or equivalent).
May be hardcopy or electronic.
Should be a fun, plugged-in, and free
kind of writing—notes, idea lists,
drafts, musings, questions, rants,
brainstorming, self-administered
exercises, reading reports, and so
on. Raw, unedited, a chance to be
stupid and wrong.
Your Workshop Experience

Is meant, obviously, to help you
revise and improve your work.
(Material in chapbook should
show progress.)

Is also meant to give you
experience as an editor—both of
your own and others’ work.
Your Chapbook

A chance to see your stuff in
collected form; a chance to see
patterns, personal themes and
obsessions.

A chance to see what your work
looks like as a polished and
complete whole.

A chance to learn how books are put
together.
Feel lost as a beginning writer?
Want to try your hand at publishing?
Have questions about how to get started?
Want to learn more?
Writer’s Link → Organizations → Poets & Writers
Inc.
•Questions for Young Writers
•Call for Submissions (Classifieds)
•Conferences and Festivals
Also check out AWP
•Contests
•Interviews with writers
(Associated Writing
•Articles about the writing life
Programs)
•Ads for MFA programs
Writer’s Link → Online Journals and Magazines
•Try also Writer’s Market, Dustbooks publications, etc.
•Read publisher’s criteria, circulation, years in service
•GET COPIES OF INDIVIDUAL MAGS AND READ INTENSIVELY
To Submit Work to Journals
• Name, email, and address on every page.
• Clean manuscript with pagination.
• Cover letter? Maybe, but be careful.
• NEVER send your only copy.
• Include SASE!!!
• If editors request submissions by email, follow their
instructions exactly.
Poems Scheduled for Today
• No time to discuss thoroughly.
• As we discuss remaining course topics
and as we workshop your stuff during our
remaining class sessions, I’ll have us look
at specific pieces which were assigned:
James Wright, Frank Bidart, et al.
got it?