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Tag Archives: NaNoWriMo
Twitter in a Creative Writing Class
Inspired by the way Adam Johnson shares innovative classes via Blogger, I decided to create a blog for two of my classes this semester. One is a graduate course on Linked Stories, and the other is an undergraduate course on … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching, Writing
Tagged #amlinking, #amnoveling, Adam Johnson, hashtag, indie lit, NaNoWriMo, Twitter, writing communities
4 Comments
FAQ
So Cathy, what happened? How did your students do? I’m so sorry it’s taken me awhile to update you! The end of NaNo is also the end of the semester, a busy time, as I’m sure you know. Okay: FINAL … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching
Tagged book report, excerpts, FAQ, NaNoWriMo, process blog, results, Studio Days, synopses
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Finding Time for a Big Thing
The last two questions on the midterm Survey Monkey survey I gave to my students: What has been the hardest part of this process? What has been the easiest part of this process? Far and away, they said the hardest … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching
Tagged Annie Dillard, Benjamin Percy, Fiction Writers Review, NaNoWriMo, Reverb10, time management
5 Comments
Changing Habits During NaNo
Survey Question 2: Did you start writing on Nov. 1 or before? 9 students started on Nov. 1 4 students started before Nov. 1 (sometime around Oct. 1) Are you happy with that decision? All the students who started on … Continue reading
The Gamification of Novel Writing
Are Word Counts like “Points”? For twenty years, my writing practice had no structure. I wrote when inspired and I would keep writing until I wasn’t inspired. If I didn’t have a big block of time, I wouldn’t write. I … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching
Tagged AWP, Buster Benson, external rewards, gamification, Generation Y, Inman Majors, Jesse Schell, NaNoWriMo, video games
4 Comments
Writing Together
On Monday, I opened the door to my classroom and my Advanced Fiction students filed inside. I opened up some cookies, scattered some leftover Halloween candy on the desk. I showed them that we’d received another postcard from the students … Continue reading
Publicity as a Motivator
The Ball State Daily News ran a story today about National Novel Writing Month. Seriously. Front page. Above the fold. The neighboring headline read “Sex Study places BSU 31st.” And right above, there was a huge picture of Conan O’Brien. … Continue reading
Five (or Six)
Charles Demuth, Figure 5 in Gold A few days ago, Sonya Chung posted this great essay on The Millions about being a teacher of creative writing and about the uncertainty that’s inherent to the writing life. She mentions a recent … Continue reading
NaNoDra2Mo?
Not only do I want to change the name from “Novel Writing” to “Novel Drafting,” I also want to change it from one month to two. National Novel Drafting Two Months! NaNoWriMo creator Chris Baty says he picked November as … Continue reading