Some Specifics

Imagery in Writing

This workshop will focus on voice and imagery in poetry. Struggling to find our voice in writing, we want to produce poetry a reader will listen to and read. We will explore subject matter, diction, point of view, syntax and grammar, and imagery to allow the voice of our poetry to distinguish itself from others’. Images can be literal or figurative, translating the world through our five (or six) senses so they produce insights for a reader. In addition to looking at published poets, we will also discuss drafts and revisions, so please come prepared to write and bring along some work you’ve already begun.

Place and Persona

Making a conscious decision to discover or deepen our voice, we will explore setting and point of view in our writing. In addition to looking at published writers, we will also discuss drafts and revisions if there is time, so please come prepared to write and bring along some work you’ve already begun.

Craft

Power up! Using Verbs to Push Your Writing

Verbs power your writing. Too often we reach for the easy choice or inattentively use the passive voice in our writing. This workshop focuses on verbs – finding the right one and shoving it or palming it into place. Bring work to revise and plan to write more.

 Writing Precisely

Using imagery, denotation/connotation, active/passive verbs, and concrete details we can focus our readers into a world we’ve created and that they can share. This workshop focuses on defining, examining, and working with each of these literary devices to improve our writing. Along with writing new material, plan to bring some work to revise.

Ideas For Writing

How to Teach Poetry in the Classroom

“When we go into schools, our focus is to get the students to write, not to teach the theory of poetry.” -- Faith Vincinanza

We will discuss: A) poetry’s affect on people; B) how interpretations can differ; C) how people lose interest as we grow older (no time to wonder, dream, imagine; too burned out and/or disillusioned); D) how to teach many things besides poetry thru poetry (parts of speech, syllables, reading skills, finding the right words, etc); E) how to choose poems students’ can relate to and/or appreciate; F) how to be open to unusual topics, grammar/punctuation, line breaks, word choices and memorization

Writing Jumpstarts  

So much of our writing is based on personal experience through the lens of self. This workshop will focus on developing writing skills based on external prompts and stimuli. As we learn to look outward, we develop a whole new set of experiences from which to write and acquire a brand new “reference library.” Bring pen and paper, partial poems, complete poems, and even the “failed” poems you just can’t give up. Be ready to write, write, and write!