Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Wandering writers brought together: inspired, changed.

at Two Writing Teachers!
It's been an amazing two-and-a-half weeks at the Columbus Area Writing Project!  Every day, we learn and write and grow so much that I feel like I'm just overflowing with writerly wonderfulness!

For this morning's quick-write, Robin guided us through an exploration of short, structured forms, with types of poetry and prose both familiar and new.  She pours book floods out to us every day (Kelly Gallagher would be so proud!), and today's mentor texts included delights such as Tap Dancing on the Roof (I'd never heard of sijo!) and Not Quite What I Was Planning.  She then challenged us to play with short forms during our 10-minute quick-writing time.  I didn't get very far then, but the idea stuck in my head and crawled out again on the way home as I was brainstorming slice ideas.

So, here are some short forms to capture my CAWP experience.

1. Six-word memoir: did you notice it in the title of my post?  If not, look again!  :-)

2. Tanka: At CAWP, whenever we need to focus as a group, come together from writing or an animated conversation, or ground ourselves from tension, one of our co-directors leads us in the following ritual:

Kevin intones, "Breathe."
We gulp luscious life and pause,
away from the world.
Together, we push out stress,
finding selves in a new place.

3. Haiku: this just happened!

Husband cooks dinner:
pouring, stirring, simmering.
Grateful, I can write!

9 comments:

  1. Love it and love that you are enjoying the Writing Project. It's a game changer for sure. Kudos to hubby for cooking too : )

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    1. It's delightful, Lee Ann -- so much fun and so much learning! (And my husband is the BEST!) :-)

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  2. I love that you are so inspired by the Writing Project. It's the best thing I ever did. My 8th graders love writing six word memoirs...and six word book reviews...and you get the idea. Enjoy the rest of your time with it--and dinner by the husband!

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  3. This experience was meant for you. You have embraced and absorbed every lesson. Your joy comes through your words loud and clear. I love "writerly wonderfulness."

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  4. You write serious words about writing, but then you end in a way that leaves a smile on the reader's face! Such author material in you!

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  5. That husband of yours is a good guy. Birthday surprises... dinner... so much in-between. I hope you're doing some writing for him too.
    CAWP sounds wonderful! Keep sharing.

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  6. Glad you are having such a great experience. I've never heard anyone say any differently. Enjoy!

    Cathy

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  7. It's something I hope I get to do some day, Jennifer. What a wonderful time it sounds like. Thank you for sharing so much today & the other times. I liked all your pieces, have also done the six word memoir, etc. Challenging, isn't it? I liked the haiku, your husband is certainly terrific!

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  8. The Writing Project just sounds so amazing. I love the idea of supportive people to write with, ideas for inspiration, and tiiiiime! Enjoy!

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