I'm working on the final draft of A Year of Writing Dangerously and just came across this entry about driving up to Lake Arrowhead for the writers retreat last fall. * * * 61. Retreating to Play Driving up to the mountains to conduct a writers retreat, I hear a commercial on the radio,…
Teaching Writing
Teaching Writing, Terrific Books
Contradictions
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 3 Comments
Billy Collins says, "I have no work habits whatsoever…The poem will come along when it arrives. I don't write every day. I try to be on the lookout for creative opportunities, something that might trigger a poem, but I don't sit down in the morning and try to commit an act of literature before lunch."…
Teaching Writing, The Writing Life
Living a Useful Life
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 6 Comments
We had a memorial for my teacher Norma Almquist at my house yesterday. It was one of those perfect California days: bright sun, warm, a breeze, the ocean and sky a clear zinging blue. We sat out in the garden and read Norma’s poems and her niece Nancy with her husband Ed talked about her…
Teaching Writing
A Quote I Meant to Read to My Class Yesterday
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 7 Comments
"I believe in the power and mystery of naming things. Language has the capacity to transform our cells, rearrange our learned patterns of behavior and redirect our thinking." Eve Ensler (Thanks Sharon Bray – I got this off your website.) So many good essays and memoir chapters written in the Advanced…
Teaching Writing
Writing Retreat in Lake Arrowhead
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 4 Comments
There are a few spaces left in my spring writing retreat the weekend of April 30 – May 2, 2010 at the UCLA Conference Center in Lake Arrowhead, California. I gave a retreat there in November and the Conference Center turned out to be an ideal place – old, charming, with fireplaces everywhere,…
Teaching Writing
The Editing Debate & Two Approaches to Creative Writing
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 6 Comments
There’s a wonderful debate/discussion going on in Comments under “Editing Notes” (three posts below.) I want to point out that there are two ways to approach creative writing. One way is writing for yourself – a journal, memoir and essays, an autobiography maybe for your family to read some day. Another approach is toward…
Teaching Writing
More Thoughts On Editing
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 0 Comments
I’ve gone over my students’ papers one more time (at this point some of my notes make no sense whatsoever.) I try to be aware of each student’s unique voice when I edit and not suggest rewriting to the sound of my own voice. I know when you’re edited you often think, oh, no…
Teaching Writing
Upcoming: Workshops and Weddings
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 10 Comments
A number of readers have asked if I’m planning more writing workshops and the answer is yes, but not this summer. (I'm planning weddings this summer.) I'll be teaching at UCLA Extension in the fall and also in the Writers Studio (through UCLA) next February – a four day course on the personal essay. I’m…
Teaching Writing
ArtsDay LA
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 1 Comment
If you live near LA, please put next Saturday March 7th on your calendar for a wonderful free event on the UCLA campus from 10 am to 4 pm: ArtsDay LA. All the arts in Extension are represented and the Writers’ Program is featuring four consecutive sessions designed to lead you through the process of…
Teaching Writing
Back to School
by Barbara Abercrombie • • 0 Comments
I’m teaching two courses at UCLA Extension this fall: six weeks of "Courage & Craft" and a one day workshop "Writing Your Own History", and then in February an intermediate non-fiction four day workshop for anyone who has a memoir or some personal essays in progress. If you’re interested you can go to www.uclaextension.edu or…
