I am excited to join fellow VCFA graduates Benjamin Woodard and Sophfronia Scott at the East Hartford Public Library next Thursday. We will read from our work and share the reasons why, with all the urgent environmental, political, financial, social, health, and humanitarian issues facing our world, we keep reading stories and writing our own.…
In 2006, I started grad school at The New School for Social Research with a 1,201-word memoir, assigned in a course, which I wrote by borrowing my sisters' memories. I left with a 21,000-word MA thesis that summed up the research and memory hunting I did in the program. I called it "Chalk Drawings." Much,…
Months ago, partly in response to reports on how many of our recyclables don't actually get recycled, I started a creative bin. It's an old basket into which I chuck clean cardboard, paper, and plastic. When the bin gets full, and when the weather is bad or the boys are under it, I pull out…
In my small wonders workshop, we examine and craft creative nonfiction pieces that fall under 1000 words. I use that word limit because it's how Creative Nonfiction categorizes a "short read." Other markets stop sooner: Brevity caps out at 750 words; River Teeth’s weekly column “Beautiful Things” limits work to 250 words; and 100 Word Story asks for exactly…
1. What is your earliest memory? Why do you think that one has stuck? 2. What about childhood do you wish you could remember? What about childhood do you wish you could forget? 3. Do you trust your childhood memories? Does it matter to you if they are accurate? 4. When it comes to memory,…
