What recapping looks like

January 7, 2015 @ 8:12 pm | Filed under: ,

recapnotes

 

That’s two viewings plus a bit of rewinding during the writeup. Today I discussed Billy Collins’s wonderful poem, “Marginalia,” with a small group of girls, and I when I got home and flipped open my notebook, I had to laugh at the way I wreck a page. That’s not a self-criticism; I’m used to myself now and the chaotic way my mind works as it wrestles a narrative into order. I write my novels the same way: a chunk here, a chapter there, jumping forward and backward in the story until the bones are intact enough that I can settle down and work on muscles, skin, heart.

 


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  1. Susanne Barrett says:

    I love Downton, but I also adore Billy Collins. it was such a pleasure to meet him and to attend several sessions when he was the featured speaker at Point Loma Nazarene University’s annual Writer’s Symposium by the Sea. As a former student and later faculty member, I was able to attend a special session just for those in the Literature Department, and Collins was simply amazing.

    If you’re interested, here are the links to his poetry reading and major talk at the Symposium–you can also view loads of past Symposium talks filmed by UCSD TV:
    http://www.ucsd.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=24992
    http://www.ucsd.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=24601

    The interviewer is Dean Nelson, my creative writing professor and later office-mate. He’s so much fun–sly and kind simultaneously. 🙂

    This year the speaker is Joyce Carol Oates to celebrate 20 years of the Writer’s Symposium. Tickets are $15 if you’re interested, and other sessions are listed as well at $5 per ticket: http://www.pointloma.edu/experience/academics/schools-departments/department-literature-journalism-modern-languages/events/writers-symposium

    It’s really amazing to have such an incredible resource right here in San Diego!

    Have a lovely week!

    ~Susanne

  2. Melissa Wiley says:

    Ooh, I wish I’d been there! Thanks for the heads up about the JCO event.