on mfa workshops and the writing of novels

MONDAY

im amazed at myself

i got a level of distraction on me that would have been fatal to woodshed as a young man

but ima desperate man, i hear the clock ticking, and folk depending on me,  im clocking pages,

in spite of hellhounds howling at the door

knocked me off my game for about a week
but i seem to be rolling again

it will take more than this to knock a man as desperate as i am off my game
i got about 4 critical balls in the air and i cant afford to drop not one of them

so far i been dancing, but i know this is unsustainable, ima work till my
will (or my mother) give out, then im going down, if everything

fall into place im still in the game, if not im going down
and until that moment come, ima clock pages

john henry aint got nothing on me

i will die w/this keyboard in my hand, lord lord
i will die w/this keyboard in my hand

all my love

rdoc

SATURDAY

 "I’m thinking about what I can do today, so that when I’m gone, 200 years from now, they will say, ‘We had somebody with foresight.’"

That wasnt me.  Coulda been.  That was King Leruo of the Bafokeng, explaining why he is investing his nations mineral wealth into the education of his people.

“The continent is struggling. There’s got to be somewhere ...where t...hings are different. And that’s what inspires me. Are we going to be a continent of beggars forever,"

Real Leadership, aint nothing like it.  A luta continua.

SATURDAY

i keep wanting to put all this social media thing down but dont seem to be able to
it seems to have become part of my literary process

this was an interesting article about how our minds are shaped by new media
i do not agree w/those who claim new media dumbs us down, distracts us, etc

i believe it can if you let it, the old instead of you got the demon the demon got you

what it can be i believe is training for functioning in the connected 21st century, folk
learning a new way of processing information and the name of the game is making

it work for us, being more effective thru the use of it,
getting ahead of the game, not falling behind

just as the computer has supplanted the typewriter and required a new relationship w/manuscript production
so too has this blog and facebook revised my idea of interacting with the world as a literary man trying to position myself

i refuse to let it be a distraction, a waste of time that could have been used productively, got to be cost effective, i want to be graceful & strategic in my use of new media, i want to keep up

with the times, i want to keep growing  -  i can feel my mind/sensibility evolving into something new and i like that,

im out, im a week behind on my daily schedule, god help me, and got to go back south
next week or so, soon as i get my finances together, get my car back on the road - mother

still not doing well, still wavering on me, feeling a little desperate these days, lost my focus for a moment
but im working again, but i got to do catch up now, instead of 10 a day got to go for 15

if that dont work add a week to endgame

i refuse to not be thru w/this novel this summer, i refuse

went by the library yesterday, a colleague saw me and tried to hold a conversation and i was
like sorry, running late, and steady beaming im not here vibes, this is not me, this is a mirage

ta ta, got to go

rdoc

FRIDAY

so buffalo soldier mention that i should read john killens et al in the june 63 issue of negro digest
im thinking yeah i should do that but where am i going to find that issue of negro digest, so, what the hell

i google it and there it is, every issue of negro digest nov 61 to dec 69, i am not comfortable w/that google book thing but there are some benefits

it is an amazing archive of african american intellectual history, when i get a moment ima read them all

what buffalo soldier was referring to is a panel on 'negro writing" at howard, john, jimmyb, ossie and owen

i pulled out a great quote by baldwin: "One thing about being an artist is that you are produced by a people because they need you."

everytime i read it it makes my eyes water, i might have to put that on my wall of inspiration

i do have a question though, now that google has scanned negro digest into their thing does that mean if an independent black archival site like chickenbones wanted to archive negro digest would they have to pay google for the rights, does googe now own this part of our patrimony that would be a crime

all my love

rdoc

ps: clocking pages dear regulators, life still a struggle, but as long as im clocking pages i can handle it

all my love

WEDNESDAY

i had a very vivid dream last night where the gov gave me a check for 46 million dollars for an invention of
some sort, im going to take that as a sign to get back to work, god send you a sign you should pay attention

interesting piece from danielle evans blog on what you can and cannot get from an mfa program

one of the many points she made is that mfa programs dont teach you how to write but how to edit

that was an astute observation

one of the questions she raised is how to help folk write novels in that workshop format that doesnt lend itself to novel work, this is a question ive struggled with since ive been teaching creative writing mfa

so i added my 2 cents to the dialogue:

enjoyed your post, i see some of my folk have engaged the dialogue, figured i would add my 2 cents, on the question of novel workshops

you raised some very good issues that i will keep in mind for future workshops – always trying to elevate my workshop game

you asked about novel workshops, i have in fact tried to make novel friendly workshops my forte,

i do believe in ramming that 1st draft out, and i tell folk just let it be trash, thats inevitable, but get it out of your head and on paper - then we got something to work with, trash though it be

i believe in working off an outline, i believe working off an outline will save you years of wandering in the
narrative wilderness, folk thnk outlines will lock them down, i tell them outlines are written in water

difficult to critique a novel in a workshop, i let folk bring chapters in but i tell them not to pay but so much attention to the critiques because you dont know what its going to do, your workshop members cant possibly know

i dont believe that critiques, from me or workshops members, are but so viable, like alex said you have to do a lot of extrapolation, you can take advantage of the sentence and narrative feedback but structurally and conceptually you have to go for yourself

ive found a novel is not generally good for feedback until its a mature manuscript, i let folk bring in relatively large segments

but what ive found with novel workshops, which i do regularly is that its mostly a one on one thing, everybody in the workshop may not have read the whole manuscript but i have to have read it

not only so i understand the context of the chapters brought in but so that i can guide the discussion better
not let it wander too far off track for what the student trying to do

but most effective is the one on one, and even that done with a very light hand,

its mostly me going rah rah, you can do it

i have them give me segments as they do it but mostly to give them production goals, i dont really feedback them until theyve got a manuscript, preferably a mature manuscript, because with a novel its just too easy to lead folk astray, specially when they are in early stages and vulnerable to suggestion

the biggest thing is reading the whole manuscript, which when its early stage and bad, can be a daunting chore, but i like working with novels, i like helping students make novels happen

thats the contract, you do the draft, i will do the read

i will give you the best read i got to give

i am a traveler who knows the road

Comments

[BuffaloSoldier]

DOWN IN ARIZONA AND MEXICO BuffaloSoldier salutes JackJohnson. SoulDoctor, if you want an adult conversation about writing and writers and race, there is the June '63 issue of Negro Digest to consider. Four writers discuss their craft, themselves, and their place in mainstream society. Ossie Davis, Owen Dodson, James Baldwin, and John O. Killens. It's worth the revisit. And if this is the first time, good. Cast virgin eyes on these magic men. I'm BuffaloSoldier and I approve this message.