We Don't String Popcorn Necklaces, but We Do Have Creativity Resources!

On Saturday, April 2nd, at 9am,  I'll be presenting on a panel at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference, "We Don’t String Popcorn Necklaces Here: Brain Science and Assessment Beyond Craft." 

The panel moderator, Laura Valeri, has created a Google doc with a list of resources about creativity, brain science, and more, gathered by Laura, Brendan Constantine, and me. Go here to view the document!

The Cave of Making and Making the Most of Time

I haven't been much of a blogger for a very long while, so when Superstition Review asked me to write a guest post on their blog leading up to the AWP Conference in Los Angeles, I jumped at the chance to force myself to write prose. And force myself I did, pushing past all levels of procrastination and distraction to send the post to the editor, only a few days after I had originally promised.

Cueva de las Manos, Argentina

The title comes from the phrase that started rolling around in my head while I was working on poems, and poems were working on/in me. I ended up talking a bit about my writing process and the image of the cave for creativity (borrowed, I discovered, from dear Uncle Wystan--I am on sabbatical, so I am actually writing for the first time in a very long time--and also about the panel I'm on with Laura Valeri, Brendan Constantine, D. Gilson, and Zohra Saed.
Go here to read it!

I love the image at left, which I found by Googling "cave" and "creativity." According to this article in the Smithsonian, experts now believe that most cave art was made by women, based on the measurements of the handprints and stencils like these.

little star

The little angel in this photo is much bigger now than she was on Halloween 2003. But it remains one of my favorite images of Stella, so I can't resist putting it up here.

I'm writing again. It sound simple, but it is a Very Big Deal. Right now I'm at the Antioch Writers' Workshop, getting feedback on excerpts from my memoir in progress, Little Star. It's been an amazing week, and I feel encouraged and scared and excited and all the things you're supposed to feel when you're really in the midst of something.

I'll post more about the workshop, and what I'm working on, soon.

absence makes the...

blogger feel guilty. i am not going to even use capital letters in this posting because i feel very, very small as a blogger right now! it's been a full summer: three classes, four conferences, two rental cars, one new relationship (!), one new apartment (!!), one fantastic classic rock concert, a couple dozen books sold (i think), lots and lots of miles and not enough hours of sleep.

i am still surrounded by boxes, slowly settling in, just in time for things to start up at school again and take over my brain entirely!

some links to show what i was up to:

conferencing and communing:
west chester poetry conference
ocean state writers' conference
antioch writers' workshop
sewanee writers' conference

addictions, libations, birthday celebrations
brother bear's coffee cafe
young's jersey dairy
stirling's coffee house
lombardi's pizza
sugar sweet sunshine

romance, excitement, tlc
craftbar
new jersey transit
ferguson / commonhealth
look see chinese restaurant
bottle king
yes

i'm still here!

I've been totally swamped. I will try to bring you up to date little by little. Right now I'm desperately trying to finish a bunch of comments for my online students, while preparing to give the "First Books" talk at the Antioch Writers' Workshop in lovely Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Many thanks to the good people at Brother Bear's Cafe for the righteous java and unlimited wifi (I was literally there for seven hours nonstop yesterday, after a nice yoga class--that's a lot of Grateful Dead tunes)!

AWP--a haze, a daze, a-dazzle

Last week I spent four days with writers from all over the world at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual conference. This year it was in NYC, and it was a madhouse! The conference was sold out--7500 people registered--and of course there were many off-site events in this literary mecca in addition to the panels, readings, and book fair at the conference.

Some highlights:
---Moderating a lively discussion in the Multi-Genre Pedagogy Forum session with a great group of creative writers/teachers. I hope to post more about our discussion soon.
--Carly's panel "Speaking Through Silence: Women Respond to Rape and Assault" including readings from her important new anthology the why and later
---"The Personal Narrative: The Art and The Health of It." (Diana Raab, Mindy Lewis, Michael Steinberg, Kyoko Mori, Phillip Lopate, Molly Peacock)
--"Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction." (Paul Morris, Robert Boynton, Lee Gutkind, Meredith Hall, Barbara Lounsberry)
--"Overlooked Foremother? Marianne Moore in the 21st Century." (Sharon Dolin, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Catherine Daly, Timothy Liu, Moira Egan)
--"Blockheads: A Roundtable Discussion of the Pleasures and Pains of the Prose Poem." (Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Kim Addonizio, Beth Ann Fennelly, Patrick Rosal)
--Mark Strand's reading (with Rae Armantrout)
--Getting my contributor's copy of Letters to the World: Poems from the WOM-PO Listserv, and meeting fellow WOM-PO members at the panel and party.
--Reception at the Center for Book Arts--a fabulous display.
--Parties (not one, but two!) for the Contemporary Poetry Review. Meeting Martin Amis for five minutes. Seeing many, many friends, including the West Chester and Sewanee crews. Sipping an 89 Margaux (on the house) at Maison (thanks Erin and Adam!). All-too-brief time with fellow poe-bloggers Sandra , Reb, and Mary. Spotting "Professors Strike Back" star Jerry Williams. Brief hug with Jill and Jess.
--last but certainly not least: spending time with Kate and Mark from Red Hen Press and finding out that Saint Nobody will be out in time for the 2009 AWP Conference in Chicago!

Anything I've forgotten? Let me know!

I think I've finally recovered (somewhat). And it's time to put together a panel proposal for next year!