Quick Update: Hurricane bits, McGrath, and the Bastion of Industrial Decline

Hurricane Ike, or at least his remainants, blew through town yesterday. It almost felt like Livingston, MT with all the wind gusts. All I could think about was Greg Keeler's "Hotel Livingston, MT" parody. It gave me a full day inside. Left to reading and writing I got a fair amount of work done the "Bastion of Industrial Decline" novella I've started for workshop. Set in present day Windsor, ON and Detroit, MI, it allows for a small microcosm for the lives being lived under the collapse of North American manufacturing. More importantly though, I started Campbell McGrath's "Seven Notebooks" collection. It's a fantastic read thus far. Highly influenced by the landscapes of Florida (ohh ... childhood memories) and by his time as an instructor of Creative Writing, it is simply put, beautifully written. I also finished up David Berman's "Actual Air" collection. Yeah, he's the lead singer of the "Silver Jews" and that undoubtedly helped get this book published. But, as writers we all have to milk whatever advantages we can. All in all, Berman's book was entertaining. Not life changing, but entertaining. I'll post "New York, New York" shortly here.
Lastly, I'll be giving my first reading on October 10th here in Bloomington. Myself and the rest of the first year MFA's will be hosting readings at the Pourhouse Cafe on Kirkwood. Time is 7 pm and the readings go on both the 10th and 11th.

Notes For Creative Writing Pedagogy

First class out of the way of the semester, and I'm starting to feel a real and solid affinity for this whole instruction of the creative word. Let's face it, most of us have had very poor experiences with those so called able to construct and lead writing workshops. Then again, we've all had issues with those individuals who have told us they can lead. However, in the terms of running a workshop I'm finding that some one needs to play the role of leader. Simply put, there is clear need to have the person charge have the ability to show their expanded knowledge of craft to be able to flex some muscle. There are good writers and bad writers. Most of it has to do with craft, although let's face some people may just not be able to writer (In much the same way I'm unable to say play golf worth a damn).
The whole point here is that 1960s-70s model of the instructor that becomes part of the members of the workshop and fails to show either guidance or strong criticism, is failing his students. How can you progress as a writer if you aren't told your doing something wrong? Yes confidence places a role in the matter, but individual confidence will only improve with individual success. How can a writer achieve individual success without improving their craft? Bottomline here is that teachers should do what their suppose to do: teach. Give good grades, but also give bad ones too. Not everyone deserves an A. They all should work for it and prove their merits in the craft. Oh, and read Stephen Minot's Creative Teaching for Creative Writers