Youth classes now enrolling at CWC

Charlottesville Writing Center announces summer youth workshops:

Classes for Youths

2008 Summer Camp

Creative Writing Workshop
June 16 - 20
June 23 - 27
June 30 - July 3
Grades 4 - 12

Back to School Writing Prep
July 28 - August 1
August 4 - 8
Grades 8 - 12

Registration Form: click here

Each week’s tuition is $165.00.

Times: Monday thru Friday 9 am- noon.

Place: University of Virginia, Ruffner Hall

Goodness gracious, that’s invasious!

Yesterday I was listening to NPR’s Science Friday. Ira Flatow was broadcasting from Milwaukee and the topics were those closest to his audience’s hearts: The Great Lakes, and beer. On the subject of contamination of the Great Lakes, two audience members in close succession questioned the panel about “invasious species.”

I have never heard that formulation before. Is it a Milwaukee thing? I googled “invasious” and didn’t find any satisfying hits. Could it be the result of some confusion with “infectious”? Strange happenings in Milwaukee.

links for 2008-05-16

• When Literary and Prosecutorial License Collide - New York Times
  …“much the same entertainment value you get from watching monkeys fling scat at one another in a zoo.” HT: Dan!
• Ralph Ellison, Truman Capote, and the difference between writer’s block and procrastination. - By Jessica Winter - Slate Magazine
  “Ellison and Capote were both the beneficiaries and the sufferers of perfectionism … which just happens to be a syndrome that correlates with both procrastination and writer’s block.”
• The Blog of Wistar Watts Murray » 10 tips for dating a writer
  2. Would you interrupt a supercomputer when it’s cracking a code? Would you interrupt a jumbo jet when it’s refueling? Then don’t interrupt a writer when she or he is napping.
• 100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library | The Art of Manliness
  “From a seemingly infinite list of books of anecdotal or literal merit, we have narrowed down the top 100 books that have shaped the lives of individual men while also helping define broader cultural ideas of what it means to be a man.”
• cvilleMUSE » Relaunch of Livearts.org
  “Live Arts just did a major redesign of their website….”
• The New York Review of Magazines

links for 2008-05-15

• Science & Spirit
  “Science & Spirit Magazine, published six times each year, explores the relationship between science and religion in the context of our everyday lives.”

Wish I’d had my camera…

Virginia license plate seen on 250 near Pantops:

OMGWTF7

I’m guessing it will be recalled in a few years when the boys in Richmond manage to decode it.

A herald of the downfall of civilization as we know it? LOL!

links for 2008-05-14

• cvilleMUSE » Hypocrite Press: Charlottesville’s Stories in Black and White
  ‘Up until a few weeks ago I had never heard of Hypocrite Press. But as someone much wiser than I once said: “It’s always better late, than never”.’
• EZ Rejection Form Letter: Agent Version
  “With your next novel submission, encourage the agent to fill out this handy EZ Rejection Form Letter.”

Cookbook giveaway

Jenontheedge is giving away a cookbook — you better get on over there!

links for 2008-05-13

• Query Shark
  There’s blood in the water. Is it yours?
• Why you might soon think you’re hearing things
  “After more than a decade of development, technology that directs a beam of sound straight into a person’s eardrums is ready for primetime.” [HT: Brian]
• Should writers be readers? | Books | Guardian Unlimited
  “Reading too much, my brother explained in his English-teacherly way, is a disaster for a writer. To immerse yourself in literature - particularly those of your contemporaries - makes your work derivative at worst, and unoriginal at best.”

Two summer classes available at WriterHouse

From my inbox:

WriterHouse is now accepting registrations for our Summer Session. Space is limited, so be sure to register soon. WriterHouse members will receive a 10% discount on all classes (you can include your membership fee with your class registration).

We are offering two fiction classes, descriptions below. The registration form is available as a PDF on our website.

Questions? writers@writerhouse.org

Summer Fiction Workshop: Deepening and Refining Our Fiction
Instructor: Hilary Jerrill Steinitz
Time: Monday evenings, June 23-August 11, 6-8:30pm
Location: 508 Dale Ave., Charlottesville, Va.
Fee: $200

A writing workshop is a community of sorts, one built on trust, respect, sensitivity, and honesty. In this class, designed for people with previous writing and workshop experience, we will focus on reading one another’s fiction with precision and an eye toward constructive feedback. Student work will provide a springboard for discussions of the elements of literary craft and the vicissitudes of the writing process. Readings of short published works will supplement our discussions of craft; writing exercises will help us to access the imaginative material from which our work grows. Topics of discussion may include: overcoming obstacles to our writing, revising creatively, and preparing our work for publication.

Hilary Jerrill Steinitz was a Henry Hoyns Fellow as well as a Jacob Javits Fellow at the University of Virginia, where she received her MFA in fiction in 1999. She has received grants and fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and the Ragdale Foundation. Her stories have appeared in the New England Review, the Southwest Review, and Zoetrope: All-Story, and have been listed with distinction in Best American Short Stories. One of the founding members of WriterHouse, Steinitz is working on a
novel, The Fitting Room.

Beginning Fiction: Getting Your Sea Legs
Instructor: Gina Welch
Time: Tuesdays, June 24-August 12, 6-8:30pm
Location: 508 Dale Ave., Charlottesville, Va.
Fee: $210

This course will cover the basics of writing short fiction. We will look at published stories and essays to explore how manipulations of conflict, plot, character, and voice give a writer control. Students will write short exercises and at least one story, which will be submitted to class for peer workshop. Assigned writers will include Edward P. Jones, Deborah Eisenberg, George Saunders, and Amy Hempel.

Gina Welch holds a BA in History from Yale and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow. Her first book, Salt and Light, is forthcoming from Metropolitan Books in 2009.

—————————————
WriterHouse Information
writers@writerhouse.org
www.writerhouse.org
508 Dale Ave, Charlottesville VA
434-296-1922

Better World Betty liked the ball!

Better World Betty on the Treehugger’s Ball:

I had a blast! The talented Trees on Fire played music for all to dance, as massages, tarot readings, face painting, and human-powered smoothies were being enjoyed.

Back up, human-powered smoothies?

Yes. Someone in Charlottesville (no one would tell me who) owns a bike with a blender affixed to the back. Plop in your berries from the local market, some twin oaks tofu, and some juice and start bikin’, baby! (Betty needs one of these, folks.)

Heh, I know who it belongs to. Betty could probably find out by calling the LEC administrative offices. Bikes and blenders (and other attachments) sold separately.

Join an online discussion with Lauren Baratz-Logsted

BookBalloon is hosting an on-line discussion with Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of books for adults, teens, and kids. Her latest series, The Sisters Eight, was co-written with her husband Greg and daughter Jackie. Registration and participation at BookBalloon are free and simple.

links for 2008-05-12

• Amazon.com: The Hero: Jon Krakauer: Books
  Coming October 14.

links for 2008-05-11

• Language Log » Latest stock market casualty: consumer dictionary companies?
  From the amusing typo department: “Our view has been that the market, generally speaking, is in pretty good shape with the exception of the financial service companies and the consumer dictionary companies,” he said.
• TypeRacer
• Readerville: The Trove
  “Denis Johnson’s Higher Power appears in the Winter 2008 Issue of The Virginia Quarterly. Besides being a rare inside look at the reclusive writer’s life, it’s a great primer for Johnson’s body of work.”
• GOOD Magazine | Blog - Incomprehensible Tragedy In Burma
  Burma links.
• Lexicographical Longing - Online Dictionaries - The Medium - Virginia Heffernan - New York Times
  Sad news about the O.E.D.

1% Challenge

I meant to post the 1001 list as a page, not a yea-long post, but that’s how it goes in Blogland. Once that “publish” button is pushed, it’s out there. So now the challenge — from pages turned:

…why not commit to the 1% Well Read challenge? Ten books from the list below before the end of February 2009

The 1% Well Read challenge:

The goal of this challenge is to read 10 books in 10 months from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. For you non-math people, 10 out of 1001 is approximately 1%, hence the title. The challenge will run from May 1, 2008 through February 28, 2009. You may change your list at any time and cross-posting to other challenges is permitted. The only requirement is that your ten book choices must be on the ‘1001 List.’

I’m already 10 days behind! I see so many books on that list that I want to read, and so many authors who are new to me. I’m not going to pick any particular ten, but I feel good knowing the list is there to refer to.

links for 2008-05-10

• New from Slate: The Hillary laugh and more political ring tones. - - Slate Magazine
  ‘Get one of these clips, and you’ll hear John McCain say, “My friends,” every time you get a call. Or if you’re in a less friendly mood, you can switch to the “Shame on you, Barack Obama!” ring tone.’
• Daniel Radosh’s Rapture Ready! - By Hanna Rosin - Slate Magazine
  “Reading Radosh’s book is like coming across another planet hidden somewhere on Earth where everything is just exactly like it is here except blue or made out of plastic.”
• Steampunk Moves Between Two Worlds - New York Times
  “There seems to be this sort of perfect storm of interest in steampunk right now…If you go to Google Trends and track the number of times it is mentioned, the curve is almost algorithmic from a year and a half ago.” [CvilleWords note: “Algorithmic”?