(Long-Overdue) Recap and Update

Hello my fellow writers!

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I am long over-due in this update, but, if only for my own sake, I wanted to continue the record of our group meetings. At our last regular meeting, we did the following:

• Created “Found” Poems by assembling bits and pieces cut from famous poems
• Constructed “Pantoum” Poems (5 quatrains in which the 2nd and 4th line of each stanza becomes the first and 3rd line of the next, and the final line of the poem repeats the first) from our Found Poems. Given more time, we might have constructed pantoums using our own original text, or by restructuring our own old poems – something for another time! The results were great fun, and I’ve posted Holly’s and Krystal’s poems on the “Writing from Previous Activities” page.

I’ve also posted a Rodgers and Hammerstein song called “I am going to like it here” from the musical “Flower Drum Song.” It is a pantoum form, and, at least by my understanding, has an interesting hidden reading

So, what’s in store for the future of the WriteCrowd?

Well, I was very grateful and encouraged to hear from those who attended the last meeting that you would like to see the group continue in some fashion. Our initial series of meetings officially ended in December, but there has been talk of rotating the hosting/facilitating duties of the group in order to keep it going and bring in some fresh perspective.

More thoughts soon to come.

For now, Write On!

Alex

WriteCrowd #2 Recap

Hello everyone!

Here is a brief recap of things that we did at our meeting last Tuesday:

-Read a quote and poem by Amy Lowell (I have added both to the “outside inspiration” page)

-Everyone had to pass around and smell a bag containing a mysterious element and then complete the phrase “I remember…” And OK….the mysterious element was grass. Great childhood memories were dredged up!

-I left the group to pick one of our members up at BART, and folks decided to repeat the assignment by picking an object in the cafe as their inspiration. Super cool! (Please send me your work, I will post it!)

-We tried out the workshop rubric format and I have made some adjustments; thanks for those who gave me feedback on my poem! It was very helpful!

 

I’m excited for the next one! More details soon

Alex

Thank you all for a great first meeting!

I really enjoyed our meeting on Saturday! I hope those who were able to make it did as well, and I look forward to having more of you join us next time!

Here’s a recap of what we did:

• Read an excerpt from Mary Oliver’s Poetry Handbook about the nature of relationships and the importance of keeping appointments in order for romance to flourish – like Romeo and Juliet. What if one of them was too sleepy for the midnight rendezvous? No tragic love story for us!
• A free-write activity using paint chips (incorporating all the paint names, in order, into a piece of writing in about 7 minutes); if you weren’t able to join us and would like to try this out, I have extra chips!

• Talked about times and places to meet – sticking with Saturday mornings for now (I’ll add specific dates to the “Events Calendar” page soon)
• Talked about place – we will probably mix up our meeting places each time to try out different settings
• Discussed our hopes for the time (discipline! accountability! honest feedback to help us improve! exploring new forms! finding contests and working towards deadlines! consistency! “Don’t get it right, get it written!”)
• Talked about having prompts to jump-start writing projects; I will post prompts for each meeting, as well as bring a rubric for helping us workshop one another’s pieces. If you want to have a piece workshopped, please bring 5 printed copies to the next meeting.
• Discussed good “writing” movies (Such as “Wings of Desire,” “Adaptation,” “The Hours,” and “Misery.” Movie party, anyone?)

Check out the “Prompts” page for prompt ideas, as well as the “Deadlines” page for a link to some really cool upcoming deadlines!

I have a fun activity in mind for our next meeting, which for now is scheduled for  Saturday, October 29th at 10:30, place TBA.  Hope to see you there!

Welcome to the WriteCrowd!

“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?” — Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life)

“One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.” —Annie Dillard (The Writing Life)

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You’re invited to join the WriteCrowd, a new support group for writers, both seasoned and aspiring! Although the group is still being molded and may change in form or content, the current vision is the following:

- Community and support for one another as writers

• Facilitation of activities to generate new work and get the creative juices flowing
• Time to revisit old work and breathe fresh air into old or stuck material through sharing and workshop
• Helping one another be aware of upcoming contests and submission deadlines
• Potential development of a group anthology, organization of a poetry slam, or [insert ambitious pipe-dream here]
• Possible publication in one of Steph Rue’s book projects!

After each meeting, you are welcome to stick around and keep working on any writing that you brought or to develop pieces begun during group activities.

Group meetings will begin in October and continue until Christmas. Meetings may continue afterwards depending on desire/availability/momentum, but for now we are aiming for a 10-week series.

Meeting place is still TBD. Please contact Alex Martin at alexmartin09@gmail.com with questions or comments.