The deadline is approaching alarmingly soon: Janufor the summer residency, which is the only time period I can entertain doing for ideally 8 weeks. There aren’t any additional requirements for the writer, except to write. ![]() There are no residency fees, they provide three meals a day, and they even offer a stipend! It doesn’t offer classes, or instruction, but gives me one thing I have been craving: time. It is the oldest colonies in the country with an amazing history. This is definitely at the top of my list. Macdowell Writers Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire So without further dilly-dallying, here are the places I’ve decided to apply to:ġ. And while I enjoy listening to writers talk about craft, I can’t see myself paying to eavesdrop on a panel discussion or to pitch an idea for a novel I haven’t gotten past the first 25. Perhaps once I have a manuscript, I’ll become more sociable. I find it utterly droll and pointless at this stage. I have never been interested in networking. Her priorities and those of the other writers in her MFA program at the New School are on craft, but also on networking. My wife, Sona, wrote a blog post on getting the most value out of these conferences for Teen Writers Bloc. So regardless of the reputation, the fundamental question I asked myself was, “Is this my cuppa tea?” Yes, that’s really what I said. It all comes down to what you expect to gain from the experience and whether a particular conference or retreat will do it for you. Especially when you have to travel for them, which is the case for all of the conferences and colonies I’m even considering.Īs with choosing MFA programs, I am a firm believer in saying bollocks to reputation in terms of awards and publication records. They do add up really quickly, so you really have to figure out if it’s worth the expense. So now I’m making things up as I go along. I probably should have added “set aside x amount of money to be spent on my writing” to my Literary Resolutions post for 2011. ![]() But having said that, I did find the panels on historical fiction and even some Young Adult ones I attended with Sona at the Brooklyn Book Festival in the summer of 2010 to be hugely entertaining and a great learning experience. ![]() None of the colleges and universities I have ever taught at offered it, but even if they had, I doubt I would have applied.Īnd the reason is, to be quite honest, I found the whole concept of writer’s conferences, colonies, and retreats rather dull. But I have never taken a workshop directly related to my job as a creative writing instructor (or my aspirations to be a novelist!). I have attended loads of conferences and workshops relating to my work as an instructor of writing, covering things like plagiarism, using technology in the classroom, incorporating grammar workshops and handbooks, and the technicalities of using online rosters and posting things on blackboard, etc. I have been teaching English literature, developmental, and creative writing to college students for several years now.
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