Stonecoast graduate Penelope Schwartz Robinson's first book, the essay collection Slippery Men (winner of the Stonecoast Prize in 07), is being published this month. Today, I put up an author Q/A with Penelope on my blog (www.LisaRomeo.blogspot.com).  Or use this link:  http://tiny.cc/mnsmB

So, um, I got into Stonecoast. Full write-up here.

Who's up for celebrating?

Well, I don't have a real post that tells people how great it was to go to Ireland or tell you how fabulous it was to have that experience. So, instead, I have decided to post this little video to give you a glimpse at some of our residency experiences outside of the workshops. Enjoy!

Any student attending Stonecoast within the last 2 years knows Patricia Smith. She is an amazing poet who has a special talent for bringing her poetry to life whether it's being read on the page or whether she is performing it live. She is someone to see and someone to watch. Keep your eye on her!

When she performs her poetry, you can't help but to feel her words and their meanings deep down in your soul, resonating with your own life experiences. To say she is talented would be an understatement.

Borders has chosen to feature her as one of the poets in on their Open Door Poetry web site. You can watch Patricia perform her poetry and, if you're so moved, you can even buy her book Blood Dazzler.

Patricia Smith's Bio (from the Borders' web site):

PATRICIA SMITH’s latest poetry book is Blood Dazzler (Coffee House Press, 2008). Teahouse of the Almighty (Coffee House Press), was chosen by Edward Sanders as a 2005 National Poetry Series winner, and was also awarded the 2007 Paterson Poetry Prize. She is the author of three previous books of poetry - Close to Death (Zoland Books), Big Towns, Big Talk (Zoland Books) and Life According to Motown (Tia Chucha) and Blood Dazzler (Coffee House Press) will be published in September, 2008. Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, The Chautauqua Literary Journal, TriQuarterly, and other journals, and in many groundbreaking anthologies-most recently Gathering Ground, The Spoken Word Revolution, The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry and Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry. Her poem "The Way Pilots Walk" received a Pushcart Prize.

Readercon was a blast and it was great to see so many Popfic Stonecoasters there! Here are some pictures. You should be able to see me (Sandra), Jim Kelly, David Anthony Durham, Allison Hartman Adams, Rebecca Longster, Michaela Roessner-Herman, Erin Underwood, and Allison's husband. (Also, on my way out of Logan Airport I saw Ann Hood's new novel at the airport Border's -- nice to see!)

Today, we went to The Great Blasket Island. The weather looked a bit dubious, but when you're in Ireland, you can't let a thing like weather get in your way because there is no telling what it may do in the next 15 minutes. By the time we reached the island, a trip that turned out to be a much needed break from our intensive workshopping and studies, the sun made an unexpected appearance and turned Blasket into an island paradise.

The Great Blasket Island is a remote area of Ireland that is just off off of the Dingle Peninsula. The last residents of Blasket left the island in the 1970s and the island has remained uninhabited ever since. Only the sheep, donkeys, and rabbits are left.

The island never had more than 200 residents at any one time, a number that dwindled to a mere 20 by the 1970s. However, there is a very rich literary history that comes from this remote area of Ireland. Over a 50 year period more than 40 books were written by island residents. Each book captured something unique about life on the island, including topics such as what life was like on the island, ancient stories of Ireland, and other more recent stories that were so polished through verbal storytelling that they only needed to be written down.

Here are a few photos that I thought captured the peacefulness and beauty of one of Ireland's greatest gems.

We arrived at the Shannon airport excited and tired. However, the ride through the countryside, especially the trip over the Conner pass, was exciting enough to keep us all awake.

Once we arrived at the B&B we walked around the town of Dingle until our rooms were ready. The time change was a bit difficult for me. I still haven't caught up with myself, but it's all been well worth it.

Yesterday, we had our orientation followed by dinner and then some music by local musicians. I was in bed by 9:00 pm and slept through the night. I'm still a bit groggy, which explains the rather brief entry. I need to get to the shower and prepare for the day.

Cheers,
Erin

The Stonecoast MFA residency in Maine begins today. Right now there are over a hundred people winging their way to Portland, ME for 10 days of intensive literary study and workshops.

I'm heading up to Maine for the day to attend the new student orientation since I signed up as a student ambassador. Then I'll be heading off to the residency in Dingle, Ireland on July 9. As part of my residency in Ireland, I'll be doing a 15 minute flash presentation on the Irish poet Thomas Moore. As part of my presentation, I put together this video so that people can hear one of Moore's Irish Melodies, "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Hall."



Once I arrive in Ireland, I'll try to post at least one video update per day for the residency.

Cheers!

The University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing program and Stonecoast Alumni Association are pleased to present Stonecoast Alumni in the City, an evening of readings by faculty member Richard Hoffman, the winner of Stonecoast Book Prize, Penelope Schwartz Robinson, and members of the Stonecoast Alumni Association. The reading will beat 5:00 PM on Saturday, May 3, at Grub Street, 160 Boylston St, 4th floor; admission is free and there will be a cash bar and refreshments. We hope to see you there!

Text from Stonecoast email dated 5/2/2008.

Freeport Community Players Presents
“A remarkably fun new existential comedy. . . immensely entertaining.” –The Phoenix

A sunbaked desert island.

Two men. One hat.

BEST ENEMIES
a comedy about
COWBOYS
WHEREIN Rex and Cody STRUGGLE with ISOLATION, small talk, HOMOPHOBIA,
VERBAL INSULTS and THREATS of VIOLENCE, CRIME and PUNISHMENT, WAR and JESUS,
INSOMNIA, starvation, sunburn, CAPITALISM, cannibalism, INSANITY, a beautiful ANGEL of MERCY, and MURDER.

written by
MICHAEL KIMBALL

directed by
JULIE GOELL

desperate characters portrayed by
Erik Moody * Wil Kilroy * Caitlin Kelty-Huber * Crys Worden * Derek Van Volkenburgh


"Some of Michael Kimball’s humor is black and some of it is blue, and he shoots it at us at a whiz-bang slapstick pace that leaves us alternately laughing, squirming and gasping for breath." -- Boston Globe


Special!! Staged Reading Wednesday, May 7

Freeport Community Center

7 PM * Free Admission * Depot St, Freeport, ME

General: (207) 865-2220 www.fcponline.org info@ddgweb.com

Patricia Smith, one of our Stonecoaster and a poet who will take your breath away, is participating in the 2008 New York Writers Coalition Write-a-thon.

Here's an excerpt from her LJ entry:

I'm taking part in the 2008 New York Writers Coalition Write-a-thon to raise money for the groundbreaking creative writing classes the NYWC offers to seniors, the homeless and at-risk youth. For eight straight hours on Saturday May 17, I'll be writing and workshopping my a** off--energized by your pledge. Please take a moment to glance at my page and help me reach my goal of $1000--so that we can continue to hear the voices we most need to hear.

We all have charities that are near and dear to our hearts, not to mention a restricted amount of money in this tight economy. However, if you have the ability to contribute to the cause, I urge you to sponsor Patricia for this event. You will be helping people who desperately need to find a way to hear and be heard through the power of writing.

Learn more about this event by visiting the website for the 2008 New York Writers Coalition Write-a-thon.

For those interested in the way an MFA intersects (or not) with freelance writing, there are two posts up over on my blog about the subject. Today's is an extra-long post featuring Q&As with some folks who have strong opinions about it – faculty, an MFA program director, successful magazine freelancers and other writers, MFA alumni, magazine editors, an agent. One or two of the names will be familiar to the Stonecoast community. The earlier post goes along with an article I wrote for Mediabistro, "Is an MFA a Boost to a Freelance Career?"


- Lisa Romeo (CNF, fourth semester)

The Wolfe's Neck Review

Right now we're in the set-up stage for the new e'zine. As we move forward in the process, I'll post updates here. If you're interested in joining the e'zine team that is bringing The Wolfe's Neck Review to life, please send an email to me at erin_underwood at hotmail dot com and I'll add you to the list.

In the meantime, stay tuned. More exciting developments are on the way!

Not only is David Anthony Durham returning from his hiatus to rejoin the Stonecoast faculty in July, he has also picked up a nomination for the John Campbell Award for the Best New Science Fiction Writer.

Good luck, David. Way to go!

You can also check out the full list of Hugo Award Nominees for 2008 to see if you know anyone else on the list.

If you read Tobias Buckell's blog you'll find this list (see below) of novel synopses from author's who were graciously willing to share their work.

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Excerpt from Tobias Buckell's Blog

( Novel Synopsis Project )

Student News

Mike Beeman has recently begun reviewing books for Publisher’s Weekly. His first review is available at the website now, and he is currently working on his second book.

Carol Berg's poem "Mother" has been accepted for publication in The Journal of the Association of Mothering, special issue on Carework and Caregiving.

Janell Oliver’s essay, "The Hope Center" will be published in the April 12th edition of The Thoroughbred Times, a horse racing magazine that circulates on a national level.

Alumni News

Ruth Foley's poem "Skylark" is included in the recently-published anthology Sinatra: . . . but buddy, I'm a kind of poem.

Tanya Eby Sirois (Fiction '05) won the 2007 Kalliope Literary Journal fiction contest. Her piece “What I Want To Know About My Mother” will be published in the spring.

Lisa C. Taylor’s poem “Enclosure” is upcoming in Pacific Review. She is also reading at Eastern Connecticut State University CCSU Faculty Research Conference on March 29, at the University of Connecticut Coop on Monday March 31 at 7:00; at the Jonathan Trumbull Library in Lebanon, CT on April 10 at 7 (with Still River Writers), at the Chaplin Library, Chaplin, Ct on April 30th at 7, at the Prosser Library in Bloomfield, Ct on June 10 at 7:00, and at the Out of the Blue Gallery Open Bark Reading /106 Prospect Street/Cambridge, MA on June 21st at 8:15 pm.

Raye Tibbitts's Bad Mother Chronicles has recently gone online as a blog for the Portland Press Herald's Raising Maine, where a BBC producer read it and invited her to appear on the radio show World Have Your Say. Hear her podcast and check out other motherhood musings. Her story “Milk & Cookies” appeared in January in the inaugural issue of MotherWords, and she has more work forthcoming in the next issue due out in March. Recently invited to present her third semester thesis on mama zines and underground publishing at the Association for Research on Mothering Conference in May, Raye is still at work on a memoir and as always, busy raising her boys.

Faculty News

An excerpt from Carol Moldaw's forthcoming novel, The Widening, is in the current issue of StoryQuarterly.

Elizabeth Searle's Tonya & Nancy the Rock Opera premiered in Portland, OR on Feb. 21 with Tonya Harding herself enthusiastically in attendence, inspiring nationwide media coverage. This included an AP wire story, extensive clips from the Rock Opera broadcast on CNN, Fox and Good Morning America, (available online), positive reviews in The Portland Mercury and The Columbian newspaper as well as a front-page Portland Oregonian write-up headlined: "'TONYA' ROCKS THE STAGE!" On the fiction front, Elizabeth has a short story forthcoming in Massachusetts Review. She will give an afternoon reading on April 3rd, sponsored by the Harvard Advocate, at Harvard University.

As some of you know, I am planting the seeds of an online literary magazine that will be organized and run by Stonecoast alumni and students, but submissions will be open to anyone.

This will be a slow moving project while it's in the start-up phase. However, please let me know if you want to help (in any capacity), and I'll include you on the email list. Right now, there isn't a lot to do, but we'll eventually get to the stage where we'll need a few more hands on deck to get things moving.


( See more about the online magazine here. )

This list is actually something that I've copied from my personal blog. I still find the information useful to remember, so I figured you might, too.

10 Hints for Writing Helpful Story Critiques

I've been through many workshops and critiques that were done in person and online. The one problem that comes up time and again for critiquers is figuring out how to write a critique that actually helps the author. There are a variety of guidelines out there on how to write a good critique and I've read many of them – some of them came from my college professors, some from online workshops, and others from various writing groups.

Looking back with several years of critiquing experience under my belt, I finally realized that none of these guidelines actually say what they mean. Often times they are too general, too harsh, or too wishy-washy. These guides don't help you know how to be diplomatic, truthful, and helpful with your comments. As a result, writers end up receiving critiques that are vague, take the story in a completely different direction, or are so harsh that they destroy what little confidence a new author has mustered.

Who wants that in a critique? Not me. And probably not you either. So, I put together a list of topics we should consider before hitting the send button on a crit.

( Read the 10 Hints for Writing Helpful Story Critiques )

Note: These guidelines are a "work in progress." If you have additions, comments, changes, suggestions, etc., please let me know.

In order to help new students who are coming to their first Stonecoast residency, here are some lessons learned by students who have already gone through the process. If you have questions or you would like to add your own experiences, please click on the Leave a Comment link.

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There's always a group of people to tag along with. The van will wait for you if you need a ride, and everyone is generous about carpooling.

Each day's schedule is posted on a big board in the lobby at Stonehouse, showing where the presentations are held, and signs are posted on the doors. You won't be the only one trying to find the right room.

The residencies are exhilarating and stimulating, but they can be overwhelming. First time around, I thought I'd end up in "residency rehab," so the midweek break on Wednesday was great, but I was afraid I was missing something exciting. In my 2nd residency, I took advantage of the time to organize and regroup.

In the second residency, I felt much more like part of a community and made wonderful connections with other students. At the first residency, I felt like a lost soul until about day 8. This isn't unusual. The first residency can be little disorienting and disconcerting for some people, but this is not necessarily a sign that they've picked the wrong program.

During meals, everyone just pulls up a chair. It's very informal. Feel free to sit down with students who are in other semesters or genres. Everyone is welcomed.

The thoroughness of some of the other students' workshop critiques was amazing, and for the second residency, I beefed up my written responses. The other thing I did was write my notes on the mss itself in pencil, because I found I wanted to tweak them based on what I was learning during the residency.

Getting my work critiqued the first time was scary, but everyone is looking for things to "fix" in the manuscripts. It's natural to feel bombarded. I learned to take a deep breath and a grain of salt, and listen to all the comments in the spirit of learning.

Before the first semester (and before the reading list comes out) is an excellent time to try to read books by all the faculty - not just those in your genre.

Don't miss the talent show or the open mic, even if you don't participate. Open mic is a great way to learn who your fellow students are and what they write.

During my first semester, I wished I'd budgeted more time to prepare my submissions for the second residency workshops. I was so focused on getting my packets out that the deadline really snuck up on me. Don't wait until the month before they are due.

For the first semester, making the monthly deadlines wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, namely because there was someone eagerly expecting my work. The packet deadlines and workload (on top of my regular life) seemed so intimidating before I started, but knowing that someone was actually looking forward to my creative stuff served as a huge motivator.

When you get to the residency, you're going to have to fill out evaluation forms for the workshops, the faculty presentations, and the graduating student presentations - don't wait until the end of the residency. It's so much easier to either do it as you go or fill the first evals for the first half on Wednesday and then do the others on Saturday or Sunday.

I have decided give this journal an open door, which means anyone can post and join the community. The reasoning behind this decision is to give people the option to participate without forcing them to sign-up for a Live Journal account. Also, this should allow people who are interested in Stonecoast to communicate with students and alumni about their experiences.

We'll see how this goes for now. If it's successful, we'll make it a permanent change.

Cheers,
Erin