Hi friends & writers,
I’m
Michelle Lee, bosom buddy of Elisabeth McKetta and writer of short stories,
poems, plays, as well as writer of academic whatsit as a professor of English
at Daytona State College. When teaching writing classes and mentoring writers,
I usually only suggest things I actually do myself as a writer, and this
summer, I have been wading into dark water. I have been going into places that
might be taboo, places that might spark my friends into thinking, “Could this
be true?” even when it is not.
It’s
difficult to wade into murk, where you call on emotions, ideas, or even
experiences that are purposefully hidden, restrained, and/or painful – or even
those that might seem dangerously shocking to admit (for you and for the
reader). So my task for you, dear writers, is for you to wade with me. Write
about something you dare not write about. You choose whether to fictionalize it
or remain true.
Tread
water, writers. See what keeps you afloat and makes you sink.
Michelle
PROCESS: EXPLORING
THE CATALYST
As writers, we
have the opportunity to counsel and heal ourselves through language. We can
spill our hurt onto a page and, afterward, look at it from a distance. We have
the opportunity to exorcise demons through imagery, then thumb our noses at
them when they become nothing more than black letters in a file that we can
easily close. But the key is the catalyst.
Try this: Write
the name of something (a person, an object, a wish, a feeling, or a desire)
that you cannot or should not have. Then, make a list of 5-10 reasons why. Then,
next to those reasons, just down the way that makes you feel. If you are a
poet, shape that list into a poem. If you are a fiction writer, shape that list
into a rough idea for a short story. A non-fiction writer? Shape that list into
a piece that reaches out to readers and says, It’s OK to feel this way.
FEATURED VENUE: SCYTHE
LITERARY JOURNAL
Send Scythe
3 – 5 of your best poems, the ones that haunt you and stand by you and impel
you to thrive. Send the poems that burn a hole in your hand when you cannot
write them down fast enough. Send these poems in the body of an email to
chenelle23@gmail.com. Online submission deadline: July 21, 2012
Submission
guidelines here: http://scytheliteraryjournal.com/
PROMPT
“Taboo means ….” (2 min)
GUEST BLOGGER BIO: Michelle S. Lee is an assistant professor of
composition, literature, and creative writing at Daytona State College. She earned both her M.A. in Creative
Writing and her Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of Texas at
Austin. Her work, both poetry and fiction, has been featured in Tattoo Highway, Bateau Press, pacificReview,
580 Split, and Fickle Muses as
well as other publications, but most recently has appeared in the journals, Sliver of Stone and Psychic Meatloaf. Another poem is forthcoming this summer with Northwind magazine. You may contact her
at leem@daytonastate.edu.
No comments:
Post a Comment