"The workshop hums and the honey reeks of thyme"

Virgil.


The Topic of the Month for August is Writers' Workshops.

Summer is a popular time to hold a variety of writers' workshops; some exclusive, others open; some held on vacated summer campuses, others at more exotic locations. Did you get away from it all and go to a writers' workshop this summer? If so, we'd like to hear about your experiences and impressions.

I hope that someone will respond although I know everybody is getting the kids (and maybe themselves) ready for school again. I am curious about the different workshops people attended. Maybe we can keep this for a topic into September? M

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marystojak

Excellent suggestion Mary, let's extend this topic through September. I, for one, will report on the West Virginia Writers' Workshop soon. (I've had some recent difficulties loading the Forum page; not sure what the problem is.)

Jim K.

Yeah, sometimes it won't load for me. M

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marystojak

The West Virginia Writers' Workshop

This past July, in what has turned out for me to be an annual pilgrimage, I drove to Morgantown, West Virginia, out on route 68, a highway that tortures your four cylinders with its miles-long climbs, then has you tapping your brakes down its steep descents. Going downhill you'll see runaway truck ramps off to the side. You'll wonder what it would be like to loose your brakes on an eighteen-wheeler and have to bail out up one of those ramps. The thought makes you give your brakes one more reassuring tap. Route 68 is a prelude to the hilly West Virginia University campus, where you will get an aerobic workout climbing up and down to wherever you are going.

For me, going to the West Virginia Writers' Workshop is going to see old friends. For example, Renee (I'll use first names), a terrific writer, was in my very first workshop. She has since gone on to get her MFA at WVU and is now on the faculty at WVU. Renee, who typifies the hospitality of the WVU faculty, throws a barbeque every year at her home for the workshop participants. This year at Renee's barbeque, I sat between novelist Sheri Reynolds and poet Denise Duhamel talking writing and wolfing down multiple beer brats. And then there's Kori. I met Kori a couple workshops ago and we've kept in touch. She's currently in the MFA program at WVU. Prediction: Kori will publish attention-getting, critically acclaimed work in the not-too-distant future and I will be going around bragging that I know her. And then there's this guy nick-named Kap whom I met this past workshop. You ought to see this guy's writing: he's definitely one to watch.

How are workshops at JHU different from the WVWW? Workshops at Johns Hopkins are, for sure, a learning experience. Usually ten participants, an evening a week spread over fourteen weeks, reading and commenting on each other's work. But, at the end of the semester, that's pretty much that, and you're back to solitary writing. Whereas, going off somewhere to a workshop, like the WVWW, you get to spend quality after-class time with the participants and faculty; you get to know them, to empathize with them, to toss back a few beers with them, and keep in touch with them after the workshop ends.

That's my very brief report on the West Virginia Writers' Workshop; I thought I'd touch on the more qualitative, people aspects of my experience at the workshop. If you'd like to know more, let me know. You can find all the administrative details about the 2008 WVWW here:
http://www.as.wvu.edu/wvww/

See you there in 2009?