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 …
Tag: creative writing instruction
Using Extended Metaphors in Your Writing — Part Three
Welcome to my final post on crafting an extended metaphor that runs the length of your creative writing. These lessons apply for fiction as well as nonfiction, but for the purposes of this series I've focused on examples from my recently published memoir, Committed: A Memoir of the Artist's Road. In Part One of this series …
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Guest Post: How Properly Structured Beginnings and Endings Hold Your Book Together
The indomitable K.M. Weiland is at it again with a new writing craft book titled Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story. We have on occasion posted on each other's blogs and we like to retweet each other. Today I'm providing a new guest post from her that provides a bit of …
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AWP Nugget: Tips for Writers Looking for the Tenure-Track Teaching Job
BOSTON -- You love to write. You need to earn a living. Why not teach what you love? You're not the first person to think of that. Every person with an MFA has entertained that fantasy, and many more writers beyond that. Here at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs 2013 conference, four writing …
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MFA Nugget: An Entire Residency in One Tasty Bite
You may have been following along with me as I blogged from my fourth MFA in Writing residency at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. If you read every post--I'm looking at you, PJ Reece!--then feel free to move on. If you weren't tuning in every day, here's a recap: CRAFT AND OBSERVATION …
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MFA Nugget: Writing to the Reader, and More
MONTPELIER, VERMONT -- "Who is your audience?" Ah, the age-old question. Vermont College of Fine Arts instructor Larry Sutin said in his lecture here at our MFA in Writing residency that he hears that question asked all the time, adding with his usual dry wit, "enough times that it must be a very important question." …
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MFA Nugget: A Follow-Up on Teaching
MONTPELIER, VERMONT -- Allow me to take a moment to step out of the daily postings for a moment here with what I will generously call a bonus post, one that follows well with this morning's post on teaching creative writing. As some readers know, I've been exploring the possibility of providing the course I …
MFA Nugget: The Writing Teacher as Student
MONTPELIER, VERMONT -- It can be a bit trite when we hear instructors say they love to teach because they learn so much from their students. If you're learning from us, we students can say, why are we paying you? But as someone who has also been an instructor, I know this can be true …
Are We Living a Golden Age of Creative Instruction?
So the countdown begins. Having been admitted to her art college of choice, in a few months my daughter will be a 10-hour drive away, living artistic instruction day and night. It's a dream for her, and I'm thrilled (my pocketbook is perhaps less so). I'm also a bit envious--at how clear her creative path …
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