Summer is a time when many prospective MFA students begin searching for programs. Or maybe you’ve already begun that search, but it is now intensified as the application season approaches. Those who want to apply for an MFA need to have a good idea of their top choices soon, so they can work on craftingContinue reading “How To Find the best MFA program in Creative Writing (for you)”
Category Archives: Education
10 Strategies to Unblock Writer’s Block
A conversation in the Creative Writing Pedagogy Facebook group got me thinking about this issue again. That conversation was initiated by Julianna Baggot’s blog post Is Writer’s Block a Form of Self-Protection. First, let me just say that I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I do believe there are many reasons why we don’t write,Continue reading “10 Strategies to Unblock Writer’s Block”
Value in Residency
We are in the midst of our low-residency MFA’s intense 10-day full residency period. We hardly notice weekends or holidays (except we have the campus pretty much to ourselves on those days, and I need to lock and unlock out building!). This year, we did take a little break on Memorial Day, and that gotContinue reading “Value in Residency”
Summer Residency
This afternoon our Low-Residency MFA program starts its summer Full Residency class — 10 intense days of workshops, seminars, and readings. It’s been a ton of work to get it ready, and I hope everything will go well! All our food is ordered, and the restaurant reservations have been made. Workshop groups have been setContinue reading “Summer Residency”
Talking about Meter
Meter has to be one of the hardest subjects to tackle in Creative Writing, and how you handle it can make or break your students’ experience of writing poetry. Some teachers probably ignore it altogether, which seems a shame, yet others quickly get into the weeds and make poetry seem complicated and impossible to write, whichContinue reading “Talking about Meter”
Another Creative Writing Myth Debunked
Stories and Poems Were Written the Way We Read Them This isn’t a myth we teach, which is one reason I didn’t included it with my previous post: 5 Creative Writing Myths Debunked. Instead, it is one I find a lot of students have when they come to my class. Maybe we all have it, butContinue reading “Another Creative Writing Myth Debunked”
5 Creative Writing Myths Debunked
We all do it. We perpetuate these myths, and often they can be good advice and even good teaching tools, yet just as often these five catch phrases can create stumbling blocks. They aren’t right for everyone in every situation. Know Your Characters’ Motivation This is the myth that started me thinking about writing this post.Continue reading “5 Creative Writing Myths Debunked”
Creative Writing Final Exam
This is a follow-up post to my series on teaching a 4-genre introductory creative writing class: Why 4 Genres?, How I teach 4 Genres in 1 Semester, Part I, How I teach 4 Genres in 1 Semester, Part II, How I teach 4 Genres in 1 Semester, Part III, and Teaching Creative Writing with Literary Magazines. All have been written asContinue reading “Creative Writing Final Exam”
Where Have I Been?
It’s been just over a month since my last post to this blog. Before that, I had been on a roll, posting frequently about creative writing pedagogy issues and my new textbook. So what happened? Life — Okay, Spring Break That’s right. Once every semester, even professors get to take a break. Often this isContinue reading “Where Have I Been?”
Teaching Creative Writing with Literary Magazines
I’m a big fan of teaching creative writing with literary magazines, and have been doing it my whole my career. When I first started teaching Creative Writing, I used the textbook The Creative Process by Carol Burke and Molly Best Tinsley. It is a thin little book with chapters on poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, along withContinue reading “Teaching Creative Writing with Literary Magazines”
Kendall Dunkelberg 