First Meeting

Some notes from the first classes: first, before I forget, my goal for the class is for you the students to take something concrete away from this class. By this I mean, I want you to learn something and feel your effort was worth the class time, sweat, and rewriting. Each of you may come away with something different, but I want you to know that your writing has improved as a result of this class.

Remember to buy the textbook, Choices, by Thursday, February 3, or as soon as possible. Read the first chapter. We need to find ways to draw out the material so that it is understandable and pertinent.

I also tried to emphasize how writing is filled with failures and successes. That has been true of my humble life in writing, but also in the case of the greatest writers. I also tried to explain that writing is not a private, solitary action, or should not be in all cases. That was Elbow's mistake. I mentioned the case of writing as cooking and also writing as seduction.... Let's see if this helps.