It's one of the largest annual gatherings of creative writers, publishers, and educators in the United States--usually well in excess of 10,000 attendees--and the largest such event for literary writers. Once again I'll be attending the AWP Conference & Bookfair, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs' annual extravaganza. This year the hordes will be …
Category: Education
5 Traits of Creativity Geeks
The timing was perfect: Mere days before leading a workshop on creative thinking at the Florida Creativity Weekend, my memoir Committed was named to a list of "40 Books to Unlock Your Creativity and Get You Started on Your Life's Best Work." I arrived in Sarasota, Florida, feeling I belonged. And that was important, because …
Do You Need an MFA to Write and Sell a Book?
That headline is, of course, absurd. The vast majority of published books are written by authors lacking MFAs, and I suspect that few works of literature we now rank as great were written during an MFA program. That said, Committed: A Memoir of the Artist's Road was my creative thesis in a low-residency MFA program …
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5 Blog Posts that Keep Readers Coming Back
One common misconception I find many of my Loft blogging students have is that they believe their blog is like a book written in real time, with each chapter building upon the last. I have to point out to them that unlike a memoir, where you read from beginning to end, with each post you …
The Fundamentals of Middle-School Blogging
On what topics would an eighth grader blog? Anything and everything, I've learned. During an all-day creative writing workshop I conducted with about forty students at Henrico County Public Schools' Elko Middle School, I read student writings on everything from football to indie music, from wrestling to baking. I also read a powerful "open letter" …
MFA Nugget: Down the Rabbit Hole
Fans of my MFA Nugget series--posts sharing the wisdom and personal experiences of my on-site Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA residencies--likely assumed there would be no more such posts after I graduated last summer. Well, I'm delighted to revive that series--for one post at least--with a guest blog by J.M. Cooper. J.M. currently is …
Why the Arts Matter in STEM Education
My tour of a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) grade school in Akron, Ohio, serves as my launching point for a look at arts education--and the effort to add an A for arts to make STEAM--in a guest post I wrote for Artist Think. This thought-provoking blog is produced by visual artist, writer, and …
The Elusive Nexus of Creativity and Mental Illness
She insisted she killed people with her mind. She was a creator and destroyer of worlds. She also found new ways to comprehend the wisdom of Aristotle and earned four prestigious academic degrees across varying disciplines with top grades and high achievements. She struggled with a diagnosis of schizophrenia yet created a life for herself, …
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The Role of Structure in Creative Free Thinking
Creativity can closely resemble chaos, as it did for me last week when I watched thirty 5th-graders whirling around a classroom with cardboard, duct tape, motors, gears, string and safety scissors. I was witnessing problem solving in action, solutions borne of a broad liberty in thought framed by a specific challenge needing to be addressed. …
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How Does it Feel to Have Earned an MFA?
"How does it feel to have earned an MFA?" It's a question I have heard frequently from well-meaning people, and I have had no answer. It has been exactly one month since I received my diploma in front of my wife, daughter and son in the grand chapel of College Hall at the Vermont College …
The Artist's Road 