Prepare A Question For Alan Heathcock

Remember that Al will be reading / answering questions in the Surfboard Room of the Payson Library at 12pm, instead of meeting in our classroom. Please remember to bring your books to be signed (and bring your friends!)

Also, please prepare one question to ask Al during the event, either about VOLT or about his career in general. Leave your question in the comments section below. (This is mandatory. :))

See you Tuesday!

C

WIG Master Quiz

FYI, the big quiz on Rust Hills today will be from pages 108-148.

Study up.

C

Sign up for the Second Round of Workshop

It's time to sign up for the second round of workshop. I want to mix up the groups a little, so I will list the following groups below:

Workshop A:

Thomas
Alex
Edith
Erica
Jennifer
Kelly
Jordan
Shannon

Workshop B:

Karl
Ben
Meredith
Seheri
Kelsey
Alana
George
Wendy

Go to the Workshop Schedule tab above to see the available openings. We need one person from Workshop A to volunteer to be the second story in the 10-25 slot, bringing in a story on 10-22.

Leave your preferences in the comments below, first come, first serve.

See you Tuesday.

No Class Today

Well, I've gone and done it. I have thrown out my back in spectacular fashion. I will be spending today as non-vertical as possible.

No worries, though, we'll just move everything to next time, as much as that's possible.

I will also give you more time for your 5 stories. I have created a new Dropbox folder for each student, so please turn in your 5 stories into your folder (you'll have to accept the share invitation) by Wednesday at 2pm.

I have loved reading your Saunders responses over the weekend. What a bright and insightful bunch you are!

See you Friday. Hopefully by then I will not feel like an 80 year old woman.

CH

Toni Morrison and Censorship

I thought this article was super interesting and relevant, given our discussion of Toni Morrison last Tuesday. What do you think? If you had children, would you let them read The Bluest Eye?

(oh, and you still need to comment on the George Saunders post, if you haven't already, for credit. Don't forget!)

George Saunders

We'll talk some about GS in class, but I wanted to point you to this excellent article in The New York Times which calls Saunders' story collection Tenth of December, "the best book you'll read this year." There are tons of little tidbits on the evolution of Saunders' career and how he is seen in the world of literary fiction. Take a read!

Write about something that strikes you in the comments below.
*this post is a mandatory response for a participation point.

Faith and Writing

This week in The New Yorker they have published a big excerpt of the writer Flannery O'Connor's prayer journal, from the time she was in the Iowa Writer's Workshop.

Here's a taste:

Dear God, I cannot love Thee the way I want to. You are the slim crescent of a moon that I see and my self is the earth’s shadow that keeps me from seeing all the moon. The crescent is very beautiful and perhaps that is all one like I am should or could see; but what I am afraid of, dear God, is that my self shadow will grow so large that it blocks the whole moon, and that I will judge myself by the shadow that is nothing. . . .

I always find it fascinating to read about writers who are simultaneously struggling with their art and their faith, and reading Flannery O'Connor's essays about how she viewed herself as a "Catholic writer" in Mystery and Manners was hugely influential in my own writing life as I was studying for my MFA. O'Connor makes the argument that Christian writers will write darker fiction than non-religious writers, because they see a world in danger, but that the best fiction does not attempt to use belief as a hammer to bash over the head of the readers, but as a mirror to hold up for them. Hence O'Connor's gothic tales that show us Bible salesmen who steal wooden legs and philosophical escaped murderers who execute old ladies. . .

For those of you with a subscription to The New Yorker (which is not a bad idea if you want to understand publishing literary short stories), the link to more of her prayer journal is here.

And here is an article on the subject for those of you without a subscription.

What do you think? How do faith and writing come together for you?