Writers Dreaming

Thank you for taking the time to consider author Maya Angelou's ideas about how dreams play into the writing process. Please do a New Post on your blog  with your answers to 4-6 of the questions on the yellow handout I gave you. Your post should be a decent length (500 words) if you've provided thoughtful answers. Title the post Writers Dreaming.  Also include an image (of Maya, of something connected to dreaming or an aspect of one of your answers) on this post.

If you're interested in learning more about Maya Angelou, her interesting life and her beloved works, you can start at her official website. I  bought this t-shirt showcasing her autobiography (one of my favorite books) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings from a little store downtown next to Maria's called 5# Apparel. Most of the proceeds the store nets are donated to charities around the world. You can also find the t-shirt and others featuring classic, challenged books (ones that have been put on banned books lists at one time or another) at Out of Print. Click the "Shop" link to get to the t-shirts--the site donates a book to Books for Africa for every purchase made. I'd like to do some thinking next week about books that have made a difference to us as people and as writers, and I wonder if you've read any of the classics featured on their other shirts...

If you didn't finish and/or post your color story on Wednesday, please do that today also.

You can continue to customize your blog layout with gadgets in the right column, maybe a new background or header. Click on the Edit Profile link on your Dashboard and fill in the information about yourself. You can also have a look at your classmates' pages. If you're inclined to comment, be sure to be positive and supportive and write in the best English you can. Please don't be lazy and write in all lowercase with no punctuation, and don't leave only meaningless "what's up/i heart you" type comments.

I love that several of you have mentioned you "dream" of becoming professional writers. Leave a comment here telling us why you'd like/not like to be a professional writer and/or what kind of writing you see yourself doing. Stephenie Meyer said on Oprah (in a clip I'd like us to watch next week) that she always heard that was an unrealistic, financially hopeless goal, but I hope that no matter what anyone says, if that's your dream, you go for it. Seems like you'd regret not trying more than you'd regret taking a shot at it...

color story

In a New Post (of at least 300 words, with at least one image and a creative title) on your blog by the end of class on Wednesday, write a short story (fiction or non-fiction narrative) that begins with a sentence that includes the word BLUE.

Start each of the paragraphs (at least 4 total for your story) following with  a sentence using a different COLOR word.  Include at least one image.  If you need more than 4 paragraphs to tell your story, that's fine.  

Use the COLOR word only once in each paragraph, but suggest the color in as many ways as possible. Highlight the details you've used in the color they're suggesting.

For example:

The world had turned GREY. Nothing but mud and asphalt surrounded the unpainted house, little more than a box made of concrete blocks. Charlie, dressed in faded work pants, rubber boots, and a thick wool sweater, steadied himself with a hand on the top rail of a weathered cedar fence. Behind him, nothing but ash-coloured sky, bare trees, and plumes of smoke belching from the factory in the distance. A lone sparrow rested on a branch, one beady eye watching.

Once everyone has had a chance to post today, read as many of your classmates' pieces as you can and leave them a brief, positive comment naming one line or phrase you found especially descriptive or well-written.  

We are moving on to a new theme after today (DREAMS!) so be sure that you have posted all the color-related pieces and responded to as many as you can before you leave today.  

Paint Chip Pieces

Please polish and post the paint chip inspired pieces (alliteration!) you came up with in your journal during class on Monday.  You may group them all in one post or do a separate post for each one.  Include an image for each piece.  Let me show you how to do this if you don't know--it's easy and important to add visual interest to your work.

You should have (in any order you choose):

• 3 haikus 
• an acrostic using a paint color name
• an 8+ line free verse poem that uses the 4 paint color names
• an 8+ line narrative poem using the paint name as a title or in a line

If you finish with this assignment, click around on the info at HGTV about the Psychology of Color, how different colors affect our moods.   There are various color quizzes out there you could try, too.  Or you could continue to customize your blog with gadgets (quotes, images, tools) on your sidebar, or update your profile.  You could also check out what your classmates are posting today and leave them the kind of friendly, specific, supportive comments we are going for.  Thanks!

Thanks for sharing

Finish and polish your Object-Inspired Piece today and be sure that it:

• has a creative title (something more than Object Piece...) and that you have 
• included at least one image (ask me how to do this if you don't know)

While you're at it, it would also be nice if your "I am..." poem had a title (I am... is fine) and an image.

Please make these updates first thing.  If you'd like to, you could also include a brief Author's Note at the beginning or end of your post indicating where you got the idea for your story or which object inspired your piece.  That's optional.

Now...

You all worked so hard on your object pieces--I'd like for you to take some time today to see what your classmates have come up with.  When you've finished your piece, check the sidebar of the class blog and click on the blogs of some of your classmates.

Read your classmates' Object-Inspired Pieces and leave a comment with 3 specific, supportive and complimentary remarks regarding the piece and how it was written.   Nothing critical or suggesting changes at this point...

Include a greeting at the beginning of your comment (like "Hi, Taylor!) and a brief statement of encouragement at the end of your comment (like "Thanks for sharing this!" or "I look forward to seeing more of your work.")

Go beyond a short, generic comment and get specific. As in:  "You really got me with that twist at the end--I would have never guessed it was her sister stalking her all along.  Creepy!"  Or:  "Your use of dialogue was effective and pulled me into the story.  I never thought a conversation between a little boy and his baseball could sound so natural."  Don't cop out and put a rushed, generic comment like, "It was good" or "Nice job."   You can also leave a comment on their "I am..." pieces, too, if you have time.


We'll be moving on to a new theme this week (COLOR!)...

Inspired by Objects

"One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at.  This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity..." ~Edward de Bono

Please post a new piece of writing on your blog inspired by our look at found objects.  Please spend time to come up with at least 500 words (you can type on Word for a word count then copy and paste if you want to).  Also, add at least one image today (click on the icon on the tool row that looks like a photo--I can show you how, just ask).  Be creative and take this assignment in whichever direction you choose:  fiction, narrative, poetry...You may come up with a finished product today or maybe just a good start on something you revisit and finish up on Tuesday when we'll be back in the lab--this piece will be due at the end of class that day.

Some options:

• use one of the objects in the photo above that we passed around during class Tuesday (expand on one of the ideas you jotted down in your journal)
• use one of the objects you found on our walk around campus and the park (you could even steal someone else's object)
• use one or several of the objects you cut out of the magazines Monday
• go back to one of the objects you shared with everyone those first days of class or something someone else shared
• write about something you thought of when we looked at the articles about important objects from history via the V & A Museum, the 101 Things that made America from the Smithsonian, the website auctioning off thrift store items along with writing about them...
• P.S. Here's a link to more information about the 3D printing technology we talked about--scroll to the video at the bottom--this whole idea both fascinates and baffles me and the gun "printed" out makes me think of lots of things to write about)
• you can make a story up or you can write a story that is true
• you could be inspired by a combination of these objects
• the object itself may or may not end up in your writing

I left a comment on your "I am..." poems and I've given credit for those in the gradebook. I'm still missing a couple of blogs functionally linked on the sidebar of this class blog.  If you don't see yours there and/or operating properly, please check in with me.  

When you finish your piece (due at the end of class on Tuesday, 19 January), you can continue to customize your blog page with gadgets in the sidebar, an interesting background, updated profile info, etc.  Be sure you've figured out how to add images--they are an important aspect of your blog and will accentuate your writing.  I can also show you how to put in links like I did (all the purple words above).  It's really easy.

Thanks for making class so pleasant so far!

Stealing authentically

It's been a real pleasure getting to know you all these firstfew days.  I hope you are enjoying our class.  I have been quite impressed with your creativity and willingness to try new things here from the very start, and I look forward to seeing all that you come up with throughout the semester. 

I wanted to gather my thoughts and give you a preview of some of the other ideas I'd like us to consider and be inspired by over the next 15 weeks, all in keeping with Jarmusch's idea that it's more than okay to use everything around you to get ideas, that it's not where you get the idea but where take it. 

I'm organizing in terms of "themes" (rather than genres) and have a variety of activities connected to each to get you started on pieces of your own making.  Here's what I'm thinking (perhaps in this order or with some adjustments):

Writing inspired by:

• Objects
• Color
• Art
• Dreams
• Books
• Music
• Food
• Childhood
• Photos
• Films
• Gifts



Leave me a comment here if you have an idea or something you'd like for us to study or try.

Thanks again for being such wonderful people to end the day with...

XO Mrs. Fraser

Make it yours

Thanks for creating a blog today.  I hope you will continue to add to and refine your layout to make the page reflect your style as we go.  

I'd like to try the project above in class Monday to personalize your spiral writing journals. If you have magazines, comic books, posters, etc. you'd like to cut up, please bring them.  I have lots of magazines in the classroom you can use, too.

Be sure to fill 5 pages in your journal each week!

I am...Mrs. Fraser

I am...

a daughter, the oldest of 3, raised on small town sports, a life in the country and the desire to be a good girl.

a sister, the first to do most things, lucky enough to have been born with 2 built-in best friends.

a granddaughter, missing the days spent in the country with my Nanny and Papaw and my 9 cousins, riding horses bareback, picking vegetables from the garden, sitting around the old dining room table for meals and domino games, going shopping in a Ford Crown Victoria piloted by my lead-footed grandmother and keeping in touch through letters with my family far away.

a Drury girl, where I learned about Alice Walker, the secrets of Pi Beta Phi, how to live with roommates, and that the world is much bigger than Cassville, Mo.

a wife to Ryan, my friend and partner since I was 19, a man who knows I don't like to talk when I first wake up, who loves me even though I don't like to cook, and who every day makes me feel like the smartest, prettiest, funniest girl he's ever known.

a mother to Macauley, a seventh grader who, just when I think he's left childhood behind, gets out his Legos and dives into a weeklong project, a far more outgoing child than I was, the delight of my life forever.

I am...

sweet tea and chocolate milk, chips and guacamole.

puffy, comfy white couches, ironstone pitchers and platters, chippy white furniture, burlap and linen, mismatched silverware and old photos, flea market finds and treasures that make me smile.

a tattered teddy bear bought with my birthday money in Eureka Springs when I was 8.

tightly folded notes passed between teenage boys and girls in class and church.

photos and scrapbooks and a project always in the works.

big, thick books and glossy magazines.

sleeping late on weekends, especially when it rains, in a soft bed with lots of covers and feather pillows.

I am...

dark blue eyes and my dad's olive skin, black-framed glasses when I read or watch TV.

leggings and Pikos, lots of black, jeans and flipflops, blonde hair in a messy ponytail, Uggs and a cardigan.

in the fourth decade of my life, closer to 50 than I am to 20 now, whether I feel like it or not.

not 16 anymore.

older and wiser, more experienced.

Let's do this!

Blogs are an interactive, visual way to share our writing, and I'm excited for you to create your own. I am providing some written instructions on the stapled handout, but I think you'll really just learn as you go. 

Your individual blog will be like an online, visual portfolio of your work for this class.  You might occasionally post something on your own, but your blog for Creative Writing is not meant to be a diary or like social media.  You will post your assignments to your blog for me (and often your classmates) to read.  You'll get comments/feedback from us right on your posts, too.

What I've set up here is a central class blog where I will post assignments and sometimes my own writing. You can usually check here for directions or what you need to get started, so please take the time to read the information I post. When you create your blogs, I will add each of them to a "blog roll" on the right hand side--from here you can hop on and see what everyone else is up to, and I'll be looking for you to make supportive and appropriate comments on your classmates' blogs beginning in the near future. This whole process of creating a blog might be a new one for most of you, and I appreciate your willingness to jump in and try something unfamiliar. You'll just have to spend a little time playing around with your layout, and I hope you feel free to add your own personal touches and make your page your own. You can start with the basic setup and let it evolve from there.

Some things to know/keep in mind:

• A post is a new entry you create from scratch with your own thoughts and ideas. A comment is an idea or thought you attach to someone else's post.
• While your blog is meant to be a place for you to express yourself and for others to communicate with you, we aren't using our blogs for socializing like facebook or texting. I hope you're kind and friendly to one another, but resist posting casual messages or silly small talk or really anything not related to our work together as a class. Later on, when you've moved on from Creative Writing, you may want to continue your blog and of course then you can do whatever you want with it!
• Since your blog is an "assignment" for a writing class, please attempt to use proper grammar and punctuation. You should not use text-speak or abbreviations or slang that you might use in texting or email. i do not want you to type in all lowercase like this. I DO NOT WANT YOU TO TYPE IN ALL UPPERCASE LIKE THIS. Use complete sentences and your best grasp on writing conventions. This is not to say we won't all make a few mistakes here and there, but we want it to appear that we were trying not to, not like we just haphazardly slapped some stuff down.

I do hope you enjoy this process...I'm here every step of the way so don't hesitate to ask me if you have questions or want some guidance.

When you've created your own blog on Friday, leave the url of it as a comment on this post. I'll link all of them to this page and this will be our home base. You can name your blog whatever you want, but I'll be listing them by your first and last name in the blog roll because it's much easier for me to keep track of that way.  

Your first post will be the "I am..." Poem you drafted on Thursday. You should be able to copy and paste the text from the draft you saved. Add an image or two using the button that looks like a photo (next to the blue word Link) on the tool bar. 

Also, please leave a comment on my "I am..." post telling me something you found interesting or something we have in common.  If you've still got some time after that, you could click on your classmates' "I am..." pieces and leave a similar, friendly comment.  Or you could work on customizing your blog with backgrounds, design choices, gadgets in the sidebar, etc.  Here are some places you can get free stuff to use in your blog design:  Leelou,  Shabby Blogs, Cutest Blog on the Block.