Writing
-
Blog Post, Interrupted
Several weeks ago at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention, I presented a paper titled “Othering the Self: The Potential Benefits of Assigning College Students to Write Personal Narratives from a Second Person Point of View.” I intended to blog about my presentation immediately after the conference. But when I returned Continue reading
-
The Letter “A” Is Yellow
This semester I assigned my creative writing students to write a concrete poem—one in which words are placed on the page so that they create an image that helps to convey the poet’s message. One student wrote her poem in the form of a square. When we workshopped it in class, I suggested that the Continue reading
-
Write the Book You Want to . . . wait . . . what?
If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison Who are we writing for, anyway? Since Toni Morrison died in 2019, I have encountered many times the above comment attributed to her. And every time I think of it, something about it Continue reading
-
The Power of Surprise in Personal Creative Nonfiction
People today are over-entertained. They are barraged by a haphazard mix of useful and useless information. They are word-wearied. As writers, if we want to attract and maintain the attention of today’s overstimulated readers, we must show them something new. As a late-career English professor, I sometimes feel that I have seen it all. This Continue reading
-
Writing about Our Obsessions
At a writing workshop I attended several years ago, the facilitator said, “Find your obsession, and write about it.” I have to admit that I was resistant to the idea. An obsession is not necessarily a healthy or positive thing, right? I mean, I thought about my obsessive need to check repeatedly to make sure Continue reading
-
How to Write about What You Don’t Know in Personal Nonfiction
Writing personal nonfiction—memoir or the personal essay—generally requires us to approach our subjects from a first-person point of view. Since we are telling our own stories, we naturally refer to ourselves as “I” and speak as ourselves. We write as factual human beings about our actual lived experiences. By writing in first-person, though, we limit ourselves Continue reading
Do you write about yourself and your experiences? Do you write about traumatic events in your life? Or, do you struggle to find time and motivation to write?
If so, this blog is for you.
Person on the Page 