INAUGURAL WRITING WORKSHOP

INAUGURAL WRITING WORKSHOP

The first workshop. I am ready. No more red tape, just a venue designed for 12 students and an audiovisual system prone to moodiness. Back-up plans are in place – my colleague Mike is coming along to help in any way and I have made copies of my PowerPoint presentation for distribution should the AV system play up.

Ten students are waiting for the workshop. Hooray. More start arriving. And more still. They say the venue is hard to find and they are right – a small terrace tucked in the courtyard of a complex of buildings, one of which is behind scaffolding in the throes of a conversion into student accommodation. Mike brings down more chairs from the upstairs classrooms. We squeeze in.

I begin with a question – what is the difference between academic and creative writing?  The students discuss how squiggles artfully arranged on the page can effectively transmit human experience. The next slide hones in on emotions and the power of the senses to show rather than tell. More students, more chairs, a buzz of excitement. I think of the Bloomsbury group and the Algonquin writers. Chat to your partner, I say. The AV system has a fit. I hand out copies of the presentation and call the technology repair guys who promptly arrive. In a jiffy they have things working and Mary Oliver arrives on screen. She reads her wonderful poem, Wild Geese: …Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine… Despite her advanced years, her presence is commanding, her voice electric. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely/the world offers itself to your imagination,/calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting…

My creative writing students have reason to believe this inspiring poet. In a heartfelt manner, they recite Wild Geese to one another.

25 students have  savoured creative writing for the best part of ninety minutes. I take much pleasure from this. They leave, each equipped with a blank journal soon to be brimming with their fresh musings.