One of my neighborÕs
granddaughters has a husband who is on his seventh tour in Iraq. She says he
enjoys it Ð I canÕt imagine! I asked her how she handles it (she has two
toddlers and works full-time). She laughed the question away. Most
of America fails to recognize how difficult deployment of a family member or
friend can be. Maybe America is too busy to recognize the seriousness of
the situation. My heart is with those of you experiencing the reality of
wartime deployment.
The fourth veteransÕ writing
workshop began Saturday, September 30 at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort
training building. Nine writers
are participating. A recently
retired marine who worked as a criminal investigator wants to write about his
experience as an investigator. A
Marine lieutenant who served as a mortuary specialist in Iraq wants to write a
book about her experience. A
Marine gunnery sergeant, who is also a wife and mother, wants to write about
the changes September 11, 2001 has brought into her life. A Korean Conflict vet
might write about dancing with British women in Saudi Arabia during the
forties, or about a float during the Korean Conflict, or maybe about swimming
in the Riviera Ð this writer has already completed extensive work on his
memoirs, so he has extensive material to choose from to write about. This workshop group also includes a
writer who completed her first novel while stationed in Japan with her husband,
a civil service employee who is also a poet, and one or two participants who
simply want to explore expressing creativity through writing. Quite a diverse group, and I am looking
forward to reading each writerÕs work.
The format for the workshop
has changed. WeÕre meeting during
four Saturday mornings from 9.am. to 11:30 a.m. Our second workshop will be held after the Columbus Day
holiday. Rather than ask writers
to produce a first or second draft memoir prior to our first meeting, they will
email their second drafts to me on October 10. I will forward their drafts to the members of their small
groups for reading and responses.
I will continue to read each writerÕs work and to provide my comments
for revision of each piece. During
our second workshop, October 14, writers will sit down in small groups to
exchange comments. Then we will
pull together as one for a craft talk.
Writers will revise their second drafts based on each writerÕs synthesis
of readersÕ comments and the craft talk.
Writers will bring their third draft to the third workshop on October
21. During the third workshop,
writers will read their drafts aloud and listeners will record their
impressions to share following the reading. Writers will revise based on these impressions, and they
will read their final drafts during the fourth workshop on October 28. The fourth workshop will be a
celebration of our accomplishments during the workshop and an opportunity to
examine the results of engaging with other writers during the writing
process.
During SaturdayÕs workshop,
I taught narrative and descriptive writing strategies from Tristine RainerÕs Your
Life as Story and from Rebecca
McClanahanÕs Word Painting. I chose examples and models of these
strategies from short-short works of creative nonfiction published by the
e-zine Brevity.org at <http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/index.htm>.
We dove into the work of
writing by discussing:
Rebecca McClanahanÕs,
ÒOrbitÓ:
http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/brev19/mcclanahan19.htm
Jillian SchedneckÕs
ÒTeaching ErrorsÓ:
http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/brev22/schedneck_teach.htmTeaching ErrorsÓ
Lisa Kahn SchnellÕs
ÒCirclingÓ:
http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/brev22/schnell_circling.htm
and,
Bob CowserÕs ÒCrime Scene
PhotoÓ:
http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/brev21/cowser_crime.htm
Using short nonfiction to
teach narrative and descriptive writing techniques is more effective than
attempting to ÒtellÓ it all by using handouts, the whiteboard, and excerpts
from longer works. The beauty of
teaching from short memoir pieces lies in the formÕs compact structural nature
and compacted revealing of events Ð the chronological, logical, or thematic
ordering of events to create an intensified dominant impression that depends
upon exquisite detailing and sensory language to get the point across in a
minimum number of words.
On a personal note, I began
teaching full-time this year. I teach dual-credit college courses
(composition, survey of literature, world literature) for a community college.
I am also teaching eighth grade language arts to students enrolled in a
private school. IÕm struggling
with the eighth graders.... My
creative life is a mix of new and old, past and present, and that mix makes me
grateful for the opportunity to dialog about literature with adult writers in
the veteransÕ writing workshop.