Final Post

With the final class of the semester hours away, it's times to reflect on the past several months. I have really enjoyed this class. Once I was able to break out of my nervous bubble, I was able to really find some creativity that I didn't think I had. Not only was this experience beneficial for getting used to public speaking, but I have also learned several cool methods of revision that I will be able to use in a wide-range of subjects for years-to-come.

The end of the semester projects have been fun. I really liked the way that circle's group journal, [fourteen]2, turned out. The cover we chose was neat, and Heather did a cool job of incorporating creativity throughout the various authors' poems. My role in the group, aside from the various formative details we decided as a group, was to edit. I enjoyed reading Charity Stowe's Poems and thought she did a good job of responding and editing her piece to the suggestions of an editor.

To conclude on what will be my last blog in this class, I have really enjoyed the material and have found several methods associated to the creative and revision processes helpful. I feel that the teacher's approach to use mimicking poetry in order to spark our own original creativity very helpful. I play the guitar and have always used sample riffs from various artists to come up with my own songs. In that same sense, we have learned our own poetry/short-story aesthetics through interpret and copying famous poets structure.

Final Blog

I cannot believe that the semester is coming to an end. This class really has taught me a whole lot. From words, to poems, to short stories, I have realized that words really do have a great significance. The way one uses his words can bring its meaning to life, and can have more of an overall inspiration on others around him. The tone and rhythm of one’s words can really make a difference in its meaning. It’s crazy how common everyday words can mean so much! It is the way words are arranged that make its meaning creative. I believe creativity is necessary to thrive, but every person is definitely creative in their own way. Reading a piece of work on paper can be completely different from listening to a person read the poem or story. Sounds of different writings can constantly change from person to person. The poem or story can be taken several ways. This proves that people can be creative without even being aware of actually doing so.

This week we continued revising and finished putting the lit journals together. Our group is still finishing the layout, which I am excited about. I have had a lot of fun in the process of putting it together. We have also been working on our own portfolios. I am currently finishing up my work. I can honestly say that I’ve had a lot of fun putting my portfolio together. In my opinion, it was definitely the most enjoyable part of this semester. At first, I found revising a bit challenging, but as we continued to revise I found it easier and easier. Seeing my own work improve is really nice. I love the feeling of accomplishment!

Week 14

Can't believe class is almost done! This semester flew by so quick! Well to get started I suppose throughout this semester the revision process all semester taught me that I'm the least creative person when it comes to writing! Also I learned that the way you say something can completely change a tone, or a meaning of what you're trying to say. For instance if 10 people wrote one sentence about how love makes them feel, you would have 10 very different sentences and some would probably include some cliches, some may be something you would have never thought of, and others could be very bland. it is all on how you interpret it.

Last week we talked about words and sounds and I personally thought it to be a tad tricky. I didn't really understand where we were getting at with the sound and mouth movement thing, and I didn't see much of a point to be honest. When we watched the videos, I get the performance and how the way you read your work can change they way people take the piece, but I guess I was just confused with the sounds.

I think creativity is very necessary to thrive, but not everyone is creative in the same way. One who is not the most creative writer could be a great painter or whatever there are lots of different ways to be creative. I personally think I lack creativity in writing, but I am creative in many other ways, I work in retail so I experience being creative with merchandising. I've noticed that pictures inspire my writing and I find it much easier to write when inspired by a picture!

The most enjoyable thing for me this semester was probably writing poem, even though I am not the most creative person, it was still nice to get out things you wanna say with poetry.

Final Blog

This semester has been a wild ride. I was so much busier than my first semester, and my grades have showed it. I think though, that I've learned a lot more this semester than I did the last. I've learned more about writing, more about being a student, and more about myself. Particularly as someone who writes in his spare time taking a class like A190 is a sort of measuring stick to let me know how comfortable I feel with where I'm at in my creative works. I also think that it's made me feel more secure in what I'm doing.

My favorite thing about this semester has been getting to read all the other cool pieces in class, and as we workshop see others either accept my ideas and edit their pieces or have them explain why they disagree and get a better understanding of what their works were all about. It is just really neat to be part of someone else's creative process. The hardest part was going back and doing that for myself. I find it much easier to view a piece critically when I'm doing it from an outside viewpoint rather than trying to look at my own work and edit it.

There's still lots to do this week for finals, but I'm glad to have the journal behind me and to work on my portfolio. After all the reading I've been doing lately I'm excited to go back and tear one or two more pieces apart and put them back together like Dr. Frankenstein!

Final Blog! Week 14

This semester has flown by, I cannot believe this is already our last class blog! This week was a busy week, trying to get our literary journal organized and ready to present to the other group, and also trying to get all my revisions done for my final portfolio. It's definitely been a stressful week for this class, and it's only going to become more stressful. For the lit journals, I was in the Circle Group, and was assigned to make the table of contents, and also edit three different pieces of writing, which wasn't bad at all; however, trying to also make sure that my writings are at their best for the other group meant a lot of time and effort went into this literary journal this week.

On Wednesday, we discussed the significance of words, which was actually really interesting! When I read anything, I never stop and actually break down the words, and try and hear all the different tones, pitches, etc., but I know realize that certain words are there for a reason, and without even one specific word, it can completely change the entire piece, which blows my mind! After learning about this, we were then told that we were going to have to basically do this to one of our own writings, whichever one we choose, and read it in front of other students on our last day of English, which I'm not too excited about doing.

The only major struggle that I've come across is with my final portfolio. It's difficult for me to make so many revisions to one piece of writing, having to change it, sometimes completely different from where I wanted it. Without the revising tips, I always become blank, so I have really been trying to use those tips as much as possible. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this class, and would definitely recommend this course to someone! I learned a lot of new things, and have certainly improved my writing skills!

Final Blog

This is the final blog as we reach the end of the semester. This week we continued with revision exercises and work on our Literary Journals. Our homework was to revise, revise, revise until we have sixteen little darlings for our portfolios. We also chose a piece of our work that we will read outloud on Wednesday the 7th and analized it for sounds and word patterns.

Revision, yuck! Ok it isn't the worst thing on earth, it just happens to be incredibly time consuming. I spent over fourteen hours working on just one revision. I suppose if I were a writer this would be useful but currently its just exhausting since I have a work life outside of school that is extremely demanding. I still feel a bit vague about the "significantly different" requirement so for the most part I'm writing almost entirely new pieces based off of a theme from the original or the opposite of the original. I understand what we are doing as exploring different ways to write poetry and short stories, sort of forcing us to work outside of our comfort areas. What I don't particulary care for in the end result is that I end up with sixteen things that all rough drafts. I never come to that one final work that is complete, amazing, and right. I want a finished piece! I've recognized how much I prefer to write Dr. Seuss style poems. Also, there is something almost druglike when a story grabs ahold of your mind as you are writing it and transports you inside the action. It's the feeling I get when I'm reading a Stephen King novel only generated purely from my own imagination

I'll finish with the most significant thing about the creative process which I've learned from this class. For me it is just sit down and write. Don't be afraid to put crap down on paper. It doesn't have to be perfect the first time. You may have an amazing new idea from something that was junk the first time around. .

Final Blog!

The final blog is already here! The semester has gone by so fast. Throughout the semester I've learned that the creative process can be somewhat difficult...or maybe that's just me. Coming up with the right idea and then finally writing it down can take forever, plus with revisions, it can take a long time.

I really did enjoy this class. At times I felt frustrated and dejected with my work and inspiration, but eventually I would work past the discouragement and all the praises or constructive criticism was worth the hair pulling in the end. I learned so much from this class about poetry and I'm truly glad, it has helped me grow as a writer.

I personally enjoy the written pieces because they are more private and personal, at least to me anyway. I'm not very comfortable with public speaking so writing my pieces were preferable because I could just show someone the poem or read it to them individually. But most of all of our writings and exercises were enjoyable and I learned a lot from all of them.

Final Blog

I'm surprised the last blog came so soon! This week I've mostly been drowned in writing final papers, so it was nice to have the portfolio at well, since it was much more fun/relaxing. I actually ended up writing a few new pieces, since my original work had been revised multiple times before I turned it in (which is usually just how I go about writing). We're also very close to done with the Lit Journals, which were generally fun to work on.

I'm not exactly looking forward to reading my own work this week (I've done readings before, and they're very... unnerving--I usually prefer to talk to about my writing much more than actually read it), but it will be interesting to see how everyone else approaches it. A lot of time it depends: I have a strange belief that most literary writing isn't meant to be read out loud (sort of like Koch says, it's a "different language"--or, according to Samuel Delany, more theoretically, it's an "entirely separate rhetorical space... that happens to share the same vocabulary"), but sometimes it really does bring new life to the work.

Other than that: today I watched a video of Bukowski reading out loud that I really liked, which was interesting because he kept taking shots of whiskey between stanzas. It's extremely cold outside and winter will be here for real in just a few days.

Week 14

We're finally at our last blog! I have really enjoyed writing in our blogs every week to recap what I was taught and have learned. It's something different and creative and has helped me write out my thoughts about our class. This week we discussed the sounds and meanings a word can have. I missed Mondays class, but from the looks of the powerpoint sent out, we were to choose one of our own poems, or short/shorts and analyze the sounds and mouth movements it takes to perform the work and the relationship to the emotion in the piece. I have always known there's significances in each word and by relating the work to music or rhythm can create a different emotion, all based off how something is said or worded. Along with the emotions of words, we continued our editing process for our final portfolio pieces and class journal. Editing each week makes me realize even more how significant creativity is and all the differnet ways there is to revise and look at a piece of work. It has opened my eyes alot and I have noticed alot more about poems and its elements that I would have never seen before.

In all I have really enjoyed this class. At the begining of the semester I thought I wouldn't learn anything too important, but now that this semester is all most over I can say that taking this class has opened my eyes up to alot of elements in writing and reading. I've learned different processes on how to imitate others works, how there's many ways to write a poem and short story and most importantly how to open my creativity up. I never knew too much about these online journals and blogs and how unique they are. This class was differnt from anything I've taken so far and have really enjoyed how we were always doing somehting differnet with all the class activities! The thing I enjoyed most about this class was looking at other poets work then imitating their style with our own work. It taught me alot and was fun at the same time. There is alot of great creative students in our class and working with each other has helped me on seeing things in different ways when piecing our works together.

Final Blog

Hard to believe this is the last one (and not having one last week is really throwing me off my rocker). However, I did like how we focused on the sound of the poems. It's one of those small things I usually wind up forgetting about until someone mentions it. But being able to look over my poem and say it aloud, concentrating on how it sounds, helped me figure out if reading it and saying it were conveying the same messages. It also gave me idea son what I could do to the poem to kind of make the patterns I was finding stick out more or less in a piece.

One thing I'm nervous for though is actually reading it aloud to others. There is a stark difference between saying it to yourself in the privacy of your room, or muttering it in a classroom, than actually sitting in front of others and reading it. If my experience is anything to go by, my heart is going to settle in my throat and it's going to feel like I'm trying to talk through cotton. And be louder than the drumming in my chest. While trying not to garble my words up when I notice I've made a mistake. Maybe I should just stop writing about because the more I think about it the worse it gets. But now that I wrote that, I'm just going to think about it even more. I've got myself into a vicious cycle, isn't that pleasant?

No more of that! Revising has been a lot more enjoyable than I thought. At first, when I got two the finals of two poems, I was wondering what else I could do to them. But it came to me like it was the most obvious thing in the world (which I guess it kind of was). I could just turn them into short stories, since I already had one poem that was definitely done and had all of its drafts finished. The one I have done so far turned out rather well, but I'm still experimenting with the last one to make it work. Even once I think I'm done it seems like I have more to do.

Final Blog Week 14

This last week in class we talked about the significance of words. I think words are very, very powerful. However, I also believe many people have trouble finding words to describe feelings. In some cases, words that are said lack meaning, and that is when words are taken for granted. There is a cliche saying that "actions speak louder than words". I think this cliche is over used, however, when it comes down to it, it is true. So many times, people will say one thing, and then their actions contradict what they said.

During the first day of class we watched a youtube video with the blind man. He wrote on his sign blind please help, or something of that sort. Then a woman walked by and changed his sign to, "it is a beautiful day, and I can't see it". The way people reacted to the different wording of the same thing, blew my mind. Sometimes it takes a very powerful message to really understand the meaning of something. You can't watch that video and say, words aren't powerful, because they obviously are. To grasp this concept more, try imagining a world without language. In a world without language, there would be chaos.

Throughout the semester, the most challenging thing for me was writing flash fiction. I never seemed to be happy with the way I wrote a story. I thought, nobody cares about my story, it doesn't have some super deep meaning. I mostly used stories from my own life, or people I know to write. What I enjoyed most this semester was writing poems. I used to write poems when I was in middle school and I saved them in a box under my bed...I reread them in high school sometime, laughed and then threw them away, and I have not wrote any poetry since, until this class of course.

Final Blog Entry (#14)

This week we had a lesson on how to analyze the sounds and mouth movements when reading out loud a poem or short short and the relationship to the emotion in the piece. We had to choose a poem or short short to read out loud for the last day of class. We also had to submit our final revised copies of work for the literature journals.
The constant revisions of my work has taught me that no matter what, that work can still be done to further improve the overall quality of the paper. The feedback given by fellow classmates are crucial for knowing what areas to improve. I feel that is what helped the most since from that I can better analyze what areas they understood and how to make adjustments. I also learned the importance of word selection and how they convey diverse images in people's minds.
I enjoyed writing poems more than short shorts. Yet I remembered writing poems in the beginning of the semester that were basic and too abstract. It was a challenging transition to change from abstract to concrete. Now I find it hard to stop writing with concrete examples. Writing short shorts was challenge because I do not know what to write about or how to start a story. Once I did finally start, I had little to no idea as to how to end it. Figuring out how to end it was very time comsuming for me since I wanted to story to be at least entertaing to read and invoke some sort of feeling in the reader.

Last Blog :( Words and the Editing Process)

I cannot believe this is our last blog!

This week, we continued the editing process and talked a lot more about preparing pieces for the portfolio. Now that I have started editing my poems and have let go of my original ideas and words from my first drafts, I have been able to open up a lot more and be able to really edit my work. Because of this, I have created even better poems and words that are more complete and thought provoking.

I have known that there is significance in words, but that through the creative process new ideas and thoughts can be written and newer, more significant, more poem- worthy words can be created and used for your work. I have really begun to see this because of the editing process and I am glad that we are doing this because it is helping to remind me how important the editing process is to all forms of writing, not just poetry.

This semester, the most enjoyable piece that we had to collaborate was definitely the imitation of the other poets work. I really enjoyed doing this activity because it was almost like a model or guide I got to use to create my very own poem. The most challenging collaborative piece that we had to do was the beginning or I guess I should say the introduction of the short short fictions. I remember we had to choose a line from another poet's short short and build off of it. I found this activity extremely challenging because I just had no idea what to build off of from that one line and then create a whole fictional work. It was hard and I still think that shorts are the hardest to write even though they are fictional works. They just are more difficult to create in my mind. I think I am better at writing non-fictional work because I have an idea already in my head. I guess I am just more of a non-fictional poem writer!

Week 14 - Last week!

* What has the revision or journal editing process or preparing to present one of your pieces before the class revealed to you about creativity? or the creative process? or the significance of words?

* What thoughts / ideas / questions are sparked by this weeks reading / assignments? What are you working on/writing about? What have you enjoyed? What struggles have you faced with the work?

*Do you think creativity is necessary for the human spirit to thrive? What are some other forms of creativity you partake in besides writing for this class? How do (or don't) those creative endeavors influence your writing?

*We've created written, spoken, and collaborative pieces this semester? Which was the most enjoyable? The most challenging?

Week 13

This week in class there was time for us to discuss the final details for our literary journals, everything is slated out with that as long as we get all the final revisions back.  It went smoother than I thought it would have so that's a plus.  We also picked out a piece that we are to present on the 7th.  I chose a poem, this poem was then looked over for Wednesday with a fine tooth comb to determine syllable sounds, and overall tone of stanzas, etc.  I found that my work had a lot of back and forth between fast and slow so with certain lines leaning toward laborious to say.  I wouldn't have looked at it in that fashion if we hadn't discussed it on Monday.  We also did a free write based on photos presented in class.  I did a pretty detailed short story, I would have read it, but I was still finishing it when we moved to the next part of the in class assignment.  I think, given the amount of time, it is a decent work.  Now onto finishing the portfolio,  I only have three final revisions left and then just getting everything in order and writing the creative processes essay.  Hopefully my blogs will lend a helping hand! There have been a multitude of exercises and events that have occurred this semester to affect my style and creativity, the trick is getting these onto paper...

Week Thirteen Blog Entry

This week we focused on reflecting on how words are important and how they work in the everyday world. We discussed why we use words and whether or not they are important. We also got into our individual journal groups to finish working on our literary journals and working out all of the kinks. Getting the Journal ready has been a challenge and has required hard work, but it is worth it.

This week I am working on revising all of my work for the portfolio that is due the last day of class. Working on revising all of my work has not been easy. To truly revise, you have to try very hard to make your work better and better. It is time consuming but it is really teaching me about how to look at my work with a critical eye and trying to better my own writing style. Overall, the creativity used in looking at your poems and short stories in a different way is good practice for future writing.

Overall, I have learned so much this semester from this A190 class. It has really taught me how to access the best part of my creative self. I have learned how to write, how to look at writing and how to revise and edit work as well. I can honestly say that I have developed very valuable skills that I will use later on in other English classes and in life. I have definitely been exposed to many different writers and types of writing that has influenced and been a part of my own personal writing style.

Week 11, i Think

Creating a literary journal has thus far been an okay process. Our group seems to be very laid back, and we all work well together. We have spaced out the work, and are working on editing right now. Coming up with a title and cover art has been fun. I really think our end product will look really nice.

Overall, I do like being creative, just not in a writing sense. I took a painting and ceramics class in high school, and I really enjoyed those. I love paintings and I especially love the art museum in Chicago. I enjoyed learning how to make my own ceramic pieces, I prefer to create with my hands, as opposed to writing. I do appreciate poets (most of them). And in all honesty, I like the cliche writing. I like cliche love stories, heartbreak poems, sad poems about losing somebody you love. The poems that start getting so abstract and hard to understand, I really don't like those. It is like, what is the point of writing those outrageous poems, if the common person can not understand it.

Week 12

This week we focused mainly on working on our group literary journals. We finalized who is doing what and decided to wait on our journal name until we decide what pieces of work we want for our journal. That is for the circles that is. The circles have about four main people in charge, who were specifically assigned to do the bio page, title page, table of contents page and a person who will decide the order of how the poems will go. As for the rest of us, we all will edit our authors work and decide Monday what pieces we want. I'm really enjoying how my group is working and getting along together. It also gives us a opportunity to get to know each others personalities as well. On Wednesday we did a in class writing activity that I thought was interesting. We were all given a sense and to quickly write about our sense in a 2 to 3 line sentence based of a scarecrow picture. It was something different and creative but I didn't like how fast we had to come up with our lines. Since I'm not that creative I prefer slow group work where we each read our own pieces then the group nicely criticize. Those kinds of exercises helps me notice things I normally wouldn't think of.

As each week passes we are to keep revising our works. It's been quite challenging to keep up with the revisions along with the blogs and class journals, but the 15 and 22 ways to revise has helped me alot. It's been hard to determine which work I think is good enough to revise four times for our final portfolio but I think I have came down to which piece I want. I'm excited to see the outcome of the class journals and can't wait to proceed working on them Monday!

Week 12 Post

With the end of the semester right around the corner, this week has involved working on both the group journal and our individual portfolios. Both Monday and Wednesday's classes included group work. My group, the circle group (we haven't picked a name yet), have decided to print a hard-copy for our journal. We have also deligated our roles and have all agreed to handle the duties for one of person from Square Lit Journal's group; which include revisions and one-on-one interactions.

Working on my portfolio has proven to be quite demanding. The professor mentioned something in class on Wednesday and I feel as though it really applies to me. So often, writer's feel as though their original draft is somewhat absolute. In order to properly revise, one would have to "eliminate their gems." As I work on my revisions, I am finding it quite difficult to fulling modify it. I keep getting to points where I need either completely cut out the parts that I am so convinced are solid or keep them, despite them being too concrete, etc.

Despite demanding, I am enjoying working on both the Lit Journals and Portfolios. Even though I am not persueing a degree that will use my improved ability to write poetry, I will be able to use the methods of revision in the years to come. I look forward to continueing our journals/portfolios and am excited to see how they will turn out.

Week 12

This week we focused on revision and our literary journals. Our groups assembled and finalized our submission guidelines, assigned roles, and talked about the asthetic of our journal. We created a timeline and set goals for completion. In class on Wednesday we did writing revision exercises. We performed a writing chain where each person wrote 2-3 lines which were themed with a particular sense which was preassigned.

I'm very excited about the Lit Candles literary journal. I have some really great people on my team. Everyone is engaged with their particular role in the process and open to ideas. I'm happy that we decided to accept a variety of generes because I think it will make our journal more diverse and interesting, it will have a little something for everyone. I can't wait to see the art and more visual things that we will use. The writing/revision exercise on Wednesday were not very helpful in my opinion. I struggle with fast, off the cuff writing exercises, it is just not how my brain works. Generally I just put anything down because of the pressure and it has no meaning or relevance and makes me feel frustrated. When I write at home it takes me a very long time but I get there just the same.

I'm thinking about the revision process and how it changes my ideas about writing and the creative process. Clearly writing is a very fluid art and words are a dime a dozen. Sometimes I do get attached to my "pets" and will try to rewrite around them. I feel like at this stage I'm really pleased with my first or second drafts (poems) because I spend so much time writing them in the first place I tend to feel like I've gotten it pretty close to right. However, my short stories can use quite a bit of revision, I'm just not certain in which direction to take them.

Week 12

This past week we have discussed with our groups what we want our literary journals to be like. Themes, asthetics, artwork, submission guidelines, anything, and every thing. Then we divided up all of the poems that were turned into us.

I've been trying to revise my poems and short stories but I like them the way they are already! But I'm going to try, it's difficult though. Truthfully I haven't gotten around to revising but I try and keep my writings with me everywhere I go so whenever a spare moment comes up or inspiration strikes I've got them with me.

I do believe creativity helps the human spirit thrive. If we didn't have creativity where would be as the human race? What would we be doing? Even the cavemen had cave paintings! If we didn't have creativity we'd be mute unemotional nonsensical people wandering around Earth just eating weeds and killing random animals. Creativity is a necessity. It warms our hearts and inspires everything we do. Even the simplest most mundane things are someone's creativity and that inspires them to do something wonderful. Creativity keeps people moving, it is the food to our souls.

Creativity (Week 12)

This week we met again in out literary journal groups. Things are finally beginning to make a little more sense and ultimately our ideas are getting organized. Since we had to form these groups, it is helping me to understand what all the work is that goes into constructing a literary journal, which is a lot of prep and a lot of decision making. I am so indecisive so it is probably a good thing that I am not chief editor.

Creativity is not necessarily a need for the human spirit to thrive, but I do think that being creative facilitates a happier individual. Being creative allows a person to let loose and allow their feelings to be put out there in a type of medium that communicates their feelings. Some other forms of creativity that I partake in, besides writing for this class, is sketching. I love to sketch and draw because it just puts me into higher spirits.

I agree with Marvin’s sentiment and I really liked reading this quote about writing. Poetry is the oldest and longest lasting genre (even though there is little to no value in it) because anyone can do it and anyone has the ability to learn to do it well through practice. For years it has been used to help people communicate their views and feelings and so it has lasted over the years. When Marvin says “necessary”, I think she means it’s natural. I believe that Marvin thinks that writing poetry is natural because it is expressing your-self. It is allowing your thoughts to flow onto paper and thoughts are both inevitable and innate.

Week 12 Blog

We turned in our first draft to the other group and continued working on revision. The more we revise in class, I understand how each piece reads a whole lot better. Others’ reviewing my work has really helped give me new ideas. I feel I have improved significantly, especially from the activities that we do in class. Rewriting one of our pieces just from memory was an activity that I really enjoyed. Trying to remember the entire poem without looking at the original copy gave me new ideas.

The revision process requires concentration; a piece can always be edited. I have always thought that first drafts were always one’s best, but recently I have learned that a first draft isn’t always a person’s best. One’s work should be revised at least a couple of times. Creative writing comes to us overtime; the environment which we live in creates different opinions and provokes emotion that each person handles differently. Simply going outdoors can give one several creative ideas. I believe that the creative process is definitely essential for the human spirit to thrive. One can practice creativity without even knowing it; the way a person thinks about certain things in their life gives them the ability to be creative. This allows a person both new ideas and opens up different views of the world.

I disagree with Martin’s statement mostly because writing is one of the most important characteristics one can have. Many jobs, everyday activities, and even forms of communication require reading and writing. Although there are very many different forms of writing, many authors write not only to release their emotions, but to share their emotions. Hearing about others’ experiences and tragedies strike peoples’ interest, but reading about these experiences gives one the ability to be more sympathetic. Considering the fact that people enjoy these types of things, writing can become a way of living. Creativity comes to us naturally. It is just the way that we use this creativity that creates an interesting life.

Blog Entry #12

On Monday, our group was sorting out the roles of each individual and adding the finishing to the submission guidelines. The name of our literary journal was also chosen that day.
I found it interesting that I did not have a whole lot of poems to chosen from to submit the other group. I had to convert some of my flash fiction stories back into poems, which I found quite amusing. It was quite difficult to cut down on words and making seem like a poem again. I had to made some modifications to all the poems, it somewhat changed the original direction that I was aiming for but it still works. Overall I enjoyed it since I have not had a chance to work on a poem lately.
I agree with Marvin, going the poetry route as a career choice is not viewed as normal. When most people think about going into a career field, for the most part, it is for the money and personal interest. While poetry can encourage many to consider it as a possibility, most are discouraged by the market value. I believe it is one of the oldest and longest lasting genres because the wording, the meaning, and the illusions brought up by well written poem can reach people’s hearts. That sensation can motivate others to practice the art of poetry. I also believe it has survived so long because it’s a way to express yourself in an indirect way, masking your feelings behind words. I believe Marvin means by “necessary” as a way to rebel against the norms many people have about the concept of poetry and attempt to change views.

week 12

Workshopping and revising each other's work in class has made me look at a piece of work in a completely different way. When other student's read their poems or short stories aloud in class, they all seem wonderful and perfect just the way they are, until I actually have a hard copy of the writings itself. Being able to visually and mentally see what is being read aloud, doesn't necessarily mean I find many mistakes, and areas for improvement; sometimes there are only positive, uplifting things to say to my fellow classmates, which is a good thing! I most definitely think that it makes us use the creative process in a completely different way, but also, a very useful kind of way. The way I look at it, is it's an opportunity for others to go on a limb with their writing, slightly changing it, or tremendously changing it, which as most author's don't like, it can sometimes make it so much more powerful and enjoyable for the reader.

As the days go on, and the end of the semester is getting near, I would say that most of my creativity currently comes from trying to choreograph my own dance for my Middle Eastern Dance final. Not only do I have to strategize my own dance, I also have to keep a creative, unique mind, so that it's my own, and not similar to anyone else's dance, which so far, has been extremely tricky! It can certainly influence my writing, because dancing always puts me in a calm, relaxing mood, causing my mind to think about things I normally wouldn't take the time to think about, or really focus on throughout the day, and for me, those are the best things to write about!

For the most part, I agree with Marvin's statement. Writing is such a beautiful thing, where one piece can melt my heart, and that same exact piece, another person might read it and want to rip it up. No one makes money off writing because, for the most part, it's for us, the authors. Writing about memories, tragedies, or even what happened the day before, only the author really knows what they are trying to say. Another reason why writing is such a beautiful thing, is because even if the reader thinks the story or poem means something completely different from what the author meant it to mean, it can still be very powerful to one and also very enjoyable!

Week Twelve Blog Entry

I definitely believe the creative process is essential for the human spirit and mind to thrive. To practice creativity is to allow that part of your brain to open up to new things which will allow great new ideas to come to you that otherwise wouldn’t have. I believe it’s very important and it’s not easy either to access your creativity, especially when you are not used to tapping into it.

I mostly disagree with Marvin’s opinion because I do believe that people want you to write. I am one of those people that want other people to write and to create. The part about not making money on it probably has something to do with whether or not you really want to make money. For example, if all you want to do is get your feelings out or write crappy poetry, than you probably won’t make much of a living on it. But I believe that if you want to make it big and important, you can. You just have to put in that effort and get your stuff out there and I believe that you can make money from it.

As far as the necessity of writing poetry, I do think that it is one of the most unique ways to express oneself and that no matter the amount of money that can be made from it; people will always want to read it and to obtain it. It works and speaks to most humans and it almost seems like a natural way to express feelings and that is why I believe it is so necessary to the human spirit.

Week 12

So, the revision process is both really awesome sometimes, and other times it can be really frustrating. One thing I hated seeing was a work of mine transforming into something worse, and having to figure out how it got that way. But that might just be me thinking that the first was the best. Thankfully, I was able to get past this with some of my poems. In fact, the exercise we did in class, when we had to rewrite it from memory, helped me a lot. I got a few more ideas to kind of inject into the poem.

I can't imagine trying to live my life without writing or other forms of creativity. Listening to music has had such a bug impact on my life that trying to go on without that makes me shudder. It would be empty. Unhappy. And losing that ability to vent my feelings at times, or try to bring smiles or tears to others, is just heartbreaking to me. Without it, communicating ideas would just fall flat. Some of the greatest (and even some of the worst) things that have happened in history wouldn't have happened. I just-I think you need it. It's like breathing.

I agree with the sentiment to an extent. While you can't get rich (with a few exceptions) you won't have to live in a gutter either. From what I've heard and with some experience from others, I've found that writers are able to earn themselves a stable living so long as they are able to manage their finances. Abilities can be turned into a way of life-it's usually money smarts (or lack-thereof) that winds up screwing anyone over. As for why-it's because someone out there wants to read it, listen to it, experience it. It's an experience, is a great way to say it. And the person writing does it because it gives them a chance to share their experiences, give their own little bits of insight. Giving another person an experience-making them cry with your words, or smile and laugh, or nod and stop with silent awe-that's a power a lot of writers appreciate. Not only that, but creativity is such a big part of the world. It's how they solve problems and gain an edge.

Week 12

Week 12 Revision Process

The revision process has opened up a lot of different ideas that I previous wouldn't have come to realize in ordinary circumstances.  With others viewing my work, they reveal things that may be trite or if phrases or sentences are awkwardly written.  Also giving advice and constructive criticism to help modify that which needs it.  I haven't had many avenues, of late, to be creative other than this class.  My other classes are mainly science and math.  I've always had random thoughts pop into my head such as jokes or idiosyncrasies that I notice throughout the day that pretty much go by the way side unless I blurt them out at the time of conception.  Humans should be and need to be creative, that's how our society advances and figures out solutions to problems and fine tunes common sense.  If creativity wasn't a human gift we would still be banging sticks together and grunting in a forest trying to figure out what that ball in the sky keeps rising and falling.  I don't agree with Mr. Marvin either.  Poetry doesn't have to be just in written form in stanzas and filed away somewhere.  Poetry is music of any type, opera, certain movies, musicals, plays, interpretive dance, and the list can go on forever.  Money can be made doing just about anything, maybe Mr. Marvin's maniacal, misleading mantras make more motivated men millions....

Week Eleven Blog Entry

This week we started out finishing up the literary journal presentations and then went straight into workshop on Wednesday. This workshop was very different from the last one. The first one I was in a very talkative group but the second group was very quiet and workshop was not as helpful. The feedback on paper was helpful, but there was no discussion so it was much harder to deduce my fellow group member’s feelings about my piece of writing.

This week made me concentrate and think more about my revision process and what revising means to me overall. It is not always the easiest thing to do, but once you get the hang of revising your own work, it starts to get a little easier every time you do it. I also started to think about the class literary journals and what exactly I would like them to look like and contain. The creative juices were seriously flowing and I am seriously considering submitting some work into the IUSB Analecta for this year.

Inspiration seems to be coming very easy to me right now. I think it’s because I am keeping in mind what some famous person once said about “You should write what you know.” I tend to try to make my poems and short stories as close to real experiences and stories that I have heard or experienced in real life. I tend to write a lot about my parents. I think they led very interesting lives growing up and they have so many fascinating stories that I love to use those as good material for writing in this class. I definitely have no shortage of inspiration.

Week 11

This week we finished our individual presentations on literary journals. Then, we divided into groups to workshop a piece of work for our portfolio or journal submissons. We ended by breaking into our Circle/Square groups to begin planning our group project Literary Journals. Our homework consisted on revising our works for our journal/portfolio submissions.

I thought that my journal presentation went very well. I was prepared and felt comfortable with my topic. It seemed like it took much longer than I expected. I hadn't practiced my presentation out loud or tried to time it in any way so I expected it to be very short. The workshop experience was new and more enjoyable than I had thought it would be. I'm continually amazed at how good the pieces from my classmates are. I read a lot of their work and think, "that could be a piece I just pulled out of an actual literary journal". I hate to sound like I think I go to school with a group of substandard intellectuals, that is not the case. In reality I just have such a respect for writers and a well constructed finished product that I believe it is some magical gift that only a few people get in life. It is really great to see that writing is more something you practice or an art form that you refine you refine your talents for.

I think that saying creativity is necessary for the human spirit to thrive is a bit of an over exagerated statement. The human spirit can thrive on very little, just look at a few third world countries for proof. Currently I work between 75 and 85 hours a week in addition to attending class and doing homework so I have no time for outside creativity, yet I thrive. Would life seem more fulfilling and enjoyable with a little creativity in my life, definitely. But I don't really suffer without it. I know that this is the season of purpose in my life and that this too shall pass. Creativity is more like the icing on a delicious cake than the flour that binds the batter.

Week 11 Blog

This week began with the remaining presentations from the lit journals. They took a little longer than I expected, but I really enjoyed listening to everyone’s presentation. I found it interesting how many of the submission guidelines were so similar. I was impressed with my journal. Many of the pieces had a lot in common. Each piece I read kept me interested and I wanted to read more and more! This project/presentation really helped me compare several pieces. I believe I can compare similarities and differences between many pieces much better.

The class also got to work shop again, which was my first time doing the exercise (since I was absent the previous class). At first, I found participating a bit difficult, but as the exercise continued I found it easier. I like reading others’ pieces and getting feedback on my own work is also beneficial. I am looking forward to more work shop days. I feel that the feedback I receive will help me with the portfolio. I am also excited to be creating our own lit journals. Each group seems to be having fun creating the rules for submissions and all of the required guidelines. I cannot wait until we exchange our work with the other group. This will be interesting!

Basic Assignment 2

* What has the revision or journal editing process revealed to you about creativity? or the creative process?

*Do you think creativity is necessary for the human spirit to thrive? What are some other forms of creativity you partake in besides writing for this class? How do (or don't)  those creative endeavors influence your writing?

* In all likelihood poetry and fiction is not the way to become a millionaire or as poet Cate Marvin says, No one wants you to write, which is why you can’t make any money doing it, and frankly what I like about poetry is that you can’t make any money doing it. It’s the one thing that’s not a commodity. It’s a big f*ck you to the rest of the world, really, you know? It’s the most crazy, beautiful, extravagant, and necessary thing to do.
— Cate Marvin, featured in From the Fishouse.

a) do you agree or disagree with the Marvin's sentiment?
b) why, if there's no market value in poetry, is it one of the oldest and longest lasting genres?
c) what could Marvin mean by "necessary"?

Week 11

This week the class finished up presentations and we began working in our groups for the literary journal project.  Our group, lit journal square, has fourteen members and so far we are working to get everyone in a spot so we can began getting all the ducks in a row to get the journal completed on time.  We got all of the spots ready and split up but we are having some difficulty getting everyone picking spots, so today we will probably be working on that aspect and go forward from there.  After that is complete we just need to get the submissions from the other group and we will be in great shape.  I set up an email for submissions by the other group and everyone in my group has access to that address.  We also has been making great progress in our forum, a lot of people have gotten involved and it looks very promising.  We have some awesome ideas for the bio portion.  This should get pretty interesting.  The most intensive part will be working with the other group on editing their works, and how far this editing should go.  Also picking the pieces to create an overall theme.  This is definitely a group project hat everyone needs to be held accountable and everyone needs to perform.

Week 11

This week we wrapped up our literary journal presentations and started on our own journal. We also had another workshop day. Im really enjoying the workshopping. It not only gives me some things to work on in my own writing, but it is also like having a private reading by others in the class of their pieces. It's interesting to see everyone else's interpretations of the assignments and to see what the other creative minds in the classroom created.

I'm excited to get started on the journal project. I think this is a really neat idea and it gives an insight not only to the writing process but also to the editing side of events. Coming up with submission requirements and hearing everyone's ideas about what we should include or how we should organize the journal is a lot of fun. The whole project is going to be a great melding of minds not only from the pieces we receive but also from within our group about how to proceed and publish. I'm a co-editor unless their are objections within the group today and I'm excited about getting to take part and help out in every phase of the project. I just think it's going to be a great ebb and flow of creativity.

Week Eleven Post

Continuing further into the semester and drawing near the submission date of our literary journal, our focus this week involved finishing group-presentations and joining with our groups to discuss details.
Overall I enjoyed the group-presentations. I feel as though every student found at least one detail to which they either liked/hated something in their journal with a certain extent of emotion. I know that I enjoyed how the author's in my detail used great imagery and specific, concrete wording that related clever, fictional themes to real-life events.
Breaking into our groups, we discuss introductory details involved in our literary journals. As a whole, my group decided to do a paper-back journal of fictional stories/poems. A member of our group has access to a printing-press via work and has volunteered to be the editor-in-chief. We are bring in title suggestions with a related photo on Monday.

Week 11

Were getting closer and closer to our final project! This week we finished up the presentations, which I was the last to present and found it way easier than I thought it would be. I enjoyed listening and learning about the others journals as well as mine, which helped us understand all the different ways journals can be set up, along with its guidlines. We are continuing to revise our own poems for the class journal and just started getting into our seperate groups for the seperate journals. The class was split up into random groups; the cirlcles and squares, and went over the basic details for this project. For the 14th each group needs to have the basic guid lines and instructions on what their journal is going to require. I unfortunatly had to miss class Wednesday because I've been really sick, so I'm not sure what is exactly going on with my group but I will find out tomorrow and hopefully be involved in some way! Although I think the circles (my group) have decided to accept mostly poems because we're not to fond of the short stories.

I'm glad we have moved on to the final project because I enjoy working in big groups. We can learn from each other and see all the creative works we each have. I'm sort of getting tired of revising our own poems though, because mine aren't good to begin with so I dont want to revise them and put dumb poems in the journal haha I'm running out of poems! It should be interesting and fun once we have the whole journal together and I love that it will be online for anyone to see it and submit to it! Pretty sweet.

week 11

This week was very similar to last week. We listened to presentations and then spent more time workshopping. The only assignment for this week was to revise a piece of our own writings, either a short story or a poem, and bring it to class for workshop day. We were given a list of thirty-seven ways to revise, and only had to chose one, changing it slightly. I like having workshop days with classmates; I think it's a great way of editing and revising.

Monday we finished up the class presentations on literary journals or magazines. The presentations finished early, so we started discussing what our next big assignment was, a literary journal for us to do. We were assigned into two different groups, and as we separated we discussed some of the main things we want to include in our own literary journal. I am actually excited for this assignment, because not only will it help us by editing our peers writings, but also how to set up our own journal for others to subscribe too! The homework for the weekend, and what I still have yet to do, is to revise a poem for our lit journals.

This week has greatly inspired me to learn more about literary journals. Even though we had to give presentations over one specific lit journal we choose, actually having to make one of our own with a group of other students has made me learn even more! Being inspired to complete a literary journal is very exciting for me, and gives the class more time to work together. Being creative also comes into role when it comes to this project. One has to not only make it artistic, but also diverse. It has to be appealing to others, and enjoyable for the reader.

Week 11

This week we were to do workshop in class, however, my car broke down and I was busy getting a new one and wasn't able to make it to class. Frustrating, because I feel SO far behind. We are to continue to revise our pieces of work. And revising them 3 times just seeems like a lot right now. To be completely honest I don't care about what I write, and I don't take what I write seriously, so it is really hard for me to care about what I am doing in this class, but I still want a good grade so here I go...Revising work is not a fun task for me. I have no desire to do any creative writing again. In fact creative writing is, and always has been, the least interesting thing in school that I am asked to do. I am just counting down the days till the end of this class.

I am so sick of revising pieces. I don't think my work is good to begin with, and then I have to revise it 3 more times, and make them that much worse. This class just is not fun for me anymore. I have struggled finding inspiration. I keep struggling coming up with something interesting or writing something someone might care about. Sometimes I wonder what the point of it all is anymore.

Making a literary journal just seems like, silly. The fact that we are actually going to make our own seems strange. We aren't going to make any new issues, it will be printed once. Then never be looked at again. In fact, I will probably throw my Indiana Review literary journal away as soon as this class ends. The artistic process of it all is great for some people, just not me..

Week 11

This week, we focused again on workshopping and actually started working on the lit journals. I'm thinking Lulu will probably be easiest: it's cheap to print out copies, easy to use, and the final product won't be very expensive. Other than that, I can't even really think of any ideas--a PDF would maybe work, but it seems like it's just one step below Lulu, where you can put stuff on display as an ebook anyway.

The workshopping has gone well so far, though I find myself thinking it would probably be better if, as a class, we'd had more experience with reading/writing before moving onto workshopping (so there would be more vocabulary, background, and influence to bring to the critque, and familiarity with what writing actually is). Either way, the results have been decent so far; I'm glad people seem to be enjoying the process quite a bit.

This week, I finished reading Haruki Murakami's "1Q84" (which was extremely good), and also read a novel by Mary Renault called "The Mask of Apollo". I'm really glad we're doing the lit journals mostly in-class, because this is the last free time I'm going to have for an extremely long time--next week, I've got three papers (two of them involving research) to start, and a huge amount of work for my Japanese class.

It snowed for the first time a few days ago. I feel sorry for all the people on Wall Street.

Blog Entry #11

This week, we had our second workshop day. After all the groups were done with the workshop, we got into a circle with our literary journal group. The meet’s main focus was the admission guidelines and how many people should occupy a specific job role.
I had some trouble revising one of my previous poems; for the most part I could not keep it a short enough for it to be considered a poem. After a while of experimenting I just gave up on my attempt to keep it a poem and wrote a flash fiction. Looking at my previous poems, I noticed that can elaborate on it and just convert all of them into flash fiction. I found myself writing only about darkness, love, or betrayal themes. I tried to change the theme of some of my previous work and I feel it isn’t as powerful as the original. I also noticed that I struggled more as well to come up with the proper wording for it too.
As I realized that writing about different themes, other than the ones I used to, are more difficult for me I decided practice writing in a different theme like joy and happiness. I did this on my free time and a few poems a day. I did this for three day and then tried to revise my poems. It was like describing something that I couldn’t even see for myself. After a while of trying out different word combinations and imaging it in my mind; it came to me as naturally as my previous poems.

Work-Shopping and Lit Groups (Week 11)

This week we worked on work-shopping again. Since we had previously done work-shopping in another class, this time it was a lot easier to jump right in and start helping with others revisions. In my small group we talked about how we cannot imagine revising a piece three different times. We definitely think that this will prove to be a bit of a challenge, but am hoping that the finish protect reflects mastery in the poems aesthetics. We also began to meet in our literary groups, which is proving to be a lot more work then I would have imagined constructing a lit journal would be, but a lot of work does go into it all!

From this week’s work- shopping, I was reminded of the idea of en media res, which I think I will use to partially revise one of my poems. This idea of starting in the middle of a story at the beginning of the poem, I think will add a lot of depth to the poem by allowing the reader to instantly become engaged in the work and start it “in the middle of things”. In addition to this, reading the other people’s poetry allowed me to see that there are so many different ways to create and write poetry and that the subject matter is not in any way restricted, covering a vast array of different subject matters.

After this week, I am beginning to realize the true extent of the artistic process when it comes to poetry and fictional work. Coming up and brainstorming subject ideas, seems the easiest. Then from there pre-writing by a free-write, characterization chart, or beginning to just construct a poem. After the initial poem is written, the revisions on it can begin. From our work-shopping in class, it seems as though through editing and having other people read the work before or after a few revisions can really help the poet zero in on how they can improve their work. Other readers, can point out flawed thinking or confusing ideas or images in their poem and help to eventually better the poem to its full extent.