A couple of days ago I drove up to Poetpalooza in Madison, Indiana. The first night I planned on competing in the poetry slam at Village Lights book store, then having a sudden attack of shyness, decided not to do it. Wouldn’t…
craft
Simic’s “The Big War”
by Michael Jackman • • 0 Comments
Sometimes I just pull a book off the shelf at random and read an excerpt. It’s a round-robin style of reading that gets me through the pain of having more books in my library (and on my Kindle, Nook, iBook)…
helping the abstract writer
by Michael Jackman • • 0 Comments
One difficult part of teaching writing, as any writing teacher or workshop leader knows, is working with an author who is committed to abstractions. Sometimes this goes beyond just the apprentice’s tendency to overuse adverbs such as “she laughed sarcastically“ …
indispensable handbook
by Michael Jackman • • 0 Comments
One of my constant companions is William Harmon and Hugh Holman’s A Handbook to Literature. I can’t imagine writing without it. In fact, I now have about five editions. I just like to browse it for pleasure, highlighting the brief…
writing exercise: the last line shall be first
by Michael Jackman • • 0 Comments
At the AWP meeting in DC one theme I heard over and over is how…well, how to put this the right way…how dangerous it can be for a teacher to impose “either-or” ideas of what appropriate creative writing is, and…
writer’s resolutions you can keep
by Michael Jackman • • 2 Comments
It’s not too late to make resolutions for this year or any year. If you are serious about your writing, why not start now. Here’s a list of possibilities, from the logical to the off-the-wall, to help you decide what…
helping the anxious writer
by Michael Jackman • • 1 Comment
Just the other day I received an e-mail from a parent worried about her elementary school-aged daughter. The daughter, who is gifted intellectually, was not developing as a writer, and had been classed as a “perfectionist.” The mom wanted to…