The above picture is one I snapped a few weeks ago while biking around downtown Flagstaff. Yes, biking, something I've only recently been able to do on the daily for the first time in just about 10 years. Before I moved out west, I was super dependent on my car. I needed it for everything.… Continue reading From Week 6 to Week 10: Bending Genre
You go to all your classes. You can’t wait to get there. You’re excited to come out of your cave, to see real live people, to talk about books and writing and life and meaning. You aren’t late to class unless you’re dying. You don’t miss class unless you’re dead. You are reliable, people trust… Continue reading Why You Love Your MFA Program
Classes at Columbia College Chicago are chugging along, so much so that I can see the end of the semester creeping up, and it’s terrifying. (The rapid forward motion of time seems incongruent with the stasis inside my head. Or is it stasis? Is it just being stuck in the past?) I’m taking three courses… Continue reading How To Write A Lyric Poem (and how to challenge yourself with your writing)
At the beginning of the month I scheduled individual student conferences. Students had a chance to discuss their poetry portfolios before submitting them; this was all done before we began the fiction unit of the course. At the University of Minnesota creative writing courses delve into the three popular genres—fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—and that gives… Continue reading (Re)defining Genre
Last Thursday, I was on my way to a quick lunch break when my phone vibrated. Call me immediately. My mom. I was still tired from the night before, where I'd run around trying to grab things for my dad who was camped out at the ICU with his mother, my grandmother. But I had… Continue reading When Life Strikes, Write in Bathroom Stalls.
