April began our day with a workshop about teachers and the writer within. Here is an essential list she compiled to help us join the writing community.
1. Read what you want to write
Caveat: explore other genres as well
2. Educate yourself: how-to books, motivational books
3. Write every day: writing exercies, set word count goals
4. Join a writing communty: local writing group, online blogs
5. Attend conferences: informative andmotivational, meet with agents/editors
"If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that's read by persons who move their lips when they're reading to themselves." Don Marquis
Bill Woolum joined both NIWP groups today and presented a workshop on writing. He reminded us to be ourselves, trust how we put together, put fear aside, and Let It Rip. Whether is is working with writing personally or with students, he also reminded us that writing needs to be of the body. According to Woolum, " We feel and remember and experience the world primarily in our bodies."
The Advanced Institute of the Northwest Inland Writing Project is wrapping up today in Moscow. The participants have spent all week examining workshop techniques by using the inquiry process. I am eager to hear more about the workshops these participants could present now.
George Ella Lyons created quite a following where she first published the poem "Where I'm From" in a poetry collection called Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet. If you click hereyou can read the poem and also more about what writers have done with this poem. Here is a version done in the NIWP Summer Institute:
I Am From
I am from a sunbeam mixer
From Nalley Potato Chips, Shasta Creme Soda, and Canada Dry
I am from the old metal clothesline
And coffee perking in a Pyrex pot
I am from the lilacs in spring
The sweet smell of syringa
Whose long gone limbs I remember as if they were my own.
I’m from Sunnyside Chili Feed and Father/Daughter banquets
From Beautiful Bill and Little Poo
I’m from Sunday dinner and Christmas Eve candlelight service
And from trick or treating every Halloween.
I’m from the roads are slick and your eyes will stay that way
And meet me under the clock at The Crescent.
I’m from E. Portland and Cameron Avenue
Beans and bread and Missouri pudding.
From the day Bill cut his foot on the pop bottle to
Mom cutting his toenails before he went to the clinic.
Finding Querencia: When asked to describe a place where we find safety and strength rooted in space or time, I realize that I don’t want my strength to come from without. I want strength to be rooted deep within my soul, to find peace and tranquility wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, regardless of time, place, season, or whatever IS or IS NOT. Yet, what feeds the soul? What provides for that Inner Strength? Nature must…but not all varieties…Yes, I’m picky.
I want sunlight, but not overbearing harshness. I want wide open spaces – but not at the expense of trees and mountains. I want the whisper of a breeze, the warmth of sunshine on my shoulders, the rich scent of sun-warmed pine needles. I need the sound of crickets and birds, especially the mourning dove and the low whoop of the night hawk. I need the chatter of chipmunks. These are things that fill the soul, that provide a reserve of endurance and hope, that help erase the battle scars of daily interaction with humanity.
Author’s Note: I recently found this entry in an old Writer’s Notebook. It was written in July of 2002.
Today the Summer Institute of the Northwest Inland Writing Project began in Moscow at the University of Idaho. Teachers participating come from schools that reach the far corners of eastern Washington and north Idaho including Kettle Falls and Moses Lake Washington, schools in the Palouse around the university, and Lewiston and Kamiah Idaho. During the four weeks the participants will read and reflect on the teaching of writing and be immersed in a writing workshop model of writing for themselves.
Today on the campus of the University of Idaho an Advanced Institute for NIWP began. The focus of the class is to prepare NIWP teacher consultants to and present workshops on topics focused on literacy to area schools in northern Idaho and eastern Washington.There is joy in teachers learning from teachers.
