AWP

Fun, fun, fun. The AWP Conference in Chicago was the first AWP Conference I've ever attended -- the second writer's conference I've been to. The first one was Indiana University's Summer Writing Conference in 2006, which was incredibly fun as well. It was there that I met two of the three group members of my current writing group, and it was there that the lessons of writing were truly ingrained in me -- writing on a daily basis, taking risks with voice and character, etc. -- but where IU's conference was small, intimate, and personal, with only 200-250 people attending at the most, the AWP Conference was huge. Sprawling. Taking place at the Hilton Chicago Hotel in the loop (downtown, for all you non-Chicagoans), there were thousands of writers, milling around, talking about craft, lecturing on craft, reading from their works, inspiring each other. It was incredible. I'd never been in that kind of atmosphere before, not on that level anyway, and it really blew my mind. That there would be so many people in one place, all of them invested in the one thing that, really, no one outside of the community even knew existed: writing.

A not-so-short list of the things I did, the things I loved, and the things I noticed at the AWP Conference:

• AWP Swag: A nifty all-cloth (with zipper) AWP tote bag. A lanyard with my name on it. A shiny, bible-thick guidebook in every tote bag. A nifty little highlighter with the AWP logo on it.
• Seminar of the weekend: "Midwest Confidential" with Barrie Jean Borich, Bao Phi, Ander Monson, Andre Perry, Ira Sukrungruang, Cheryl Strayed. Being a Midwestern nerd (I'll coin the phrase right now, why not?), I'm very interested in and often write about the experiences of Midwesterners. This seminar featured a writer from the Southeast suburbs of Chicago, a writer from a small town in Minnesota, a writer from the upper peninsula in Michigan, a Vietnamese writer raised in Minnesota, a Thai writer raised in Chicago, and an African American writer in Iowa City. And, as you can imagine, all of their experiences are wildly different. If that isn't a slice of America so perfectly encapsulated in the Midwest, I don't know what is.
• Most frustrating seminar of the weekend: "Hip-hop and the Future of the Black Writer." The title is pretty self explanatory, and I had been hoping that the presenters would speak to problems and possible solutions on the synthesis of popular culture and hip hop (especially with the younger generation), and literature. But there was actually very little attention given to the subject of writing. Instead, it was dominated (despite a couple of very interesting essays) by platitudes on hip-hop and children. I was a bit disappointed that I was unable to take anything away from that seminar.
  
• Writers I got to see read: Stuart Dybek, Charles Baxter. Charles Baxter was replacing a sick James Alan McPherson, and read passages from Mr. McPherson's work and some of his own. Mr. Baxter's reading was particularly moving. I'd never heard him read before, and he has this very deliberate manner about him -- in speech and mannerisms -- which made for a captivating show. Never mind the fact that his short stories are wonderful.
• Writers whose seminars I got to sit in on: Robert Olen Butler, Steve Almond, Achy Obejas, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Robert Boswell. I was a little starstruck to be in the same room as Robert Olen Butler, who spoke very passionately about the value of life experience for writing. Also, Luis Urrea is a fantastic speaker. He tells great stories, and has an absolutely wicked sense of humor.
  
• Attended a fundraiser for a lit mag. Swanky. In one of the penthouse suites at the top of the hotel with an absolutely gorgeous view of the lakefront.
• Sat in on ten seminars in total. Five on the first day, two on the second, and three on the final day. I quickly learned that pacing is key. Doing five seminars on the first day was an absolute beating -- each seminar is an hour and fifteen minutes long, with fifteen minute intervals in between each one. By the time the third seminar rolled around on Thursday, I was sucking air. Frankly, there's only so many consecutive hours one can take on the subject of controlling narrative distance before it all starts to sound the same. I wisely dialed it back on Friday and Saturday.
• Got to peruse the prodigious book fair, but did not buy (one of my two regrets) any lit mags. I was overwhelmed by the volume of choices -- there were, literally, hundreds of book stands -- and indecision stopped me from purchasing anything.
  
• My other regret? I chickened out at Bennigan's for lunch, and didn't choose their world famous Monte Cristo sandwich. What is the Monte Cristo? From the Bennigan's website: "A delicious combination of ham and turkey, plus Swiss and American cheeses on wheat bread. Lightly battered and fried until golden. Dusted with powdered sugar and served with red raspberry preserves for dipping." A heart attack on a plate, and I avoided it. I can't tell you how incredibly disappointed I am in myself.
  

The AWP Conference was probably the most fun I've had in months, which is even more amazing considering that I was really doing more pure learning from a craft standpoint than I ever did in an entire semester at college. Though, that doesn't really say anything, as I was an absolutely awful college student. Next year's AWP Conference is in Denver. I'm already marking my calendar.

See you at the AWP!

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs' (AWP) Conference is just around the corner, which means education and information on writing and writing programs for the next three days straight. What is the AWP? Go here for details. Then read my general thoughts on the value of attending the AWP Conference here. You can still register to attend the conference, so don't miss out if you happen to live in Chicago. Have fun, to all those attending, I know I will!

What next?

It's an inevitable question. You've finished all your applications. You've sent your recommendors gift cards thanking them for their work. You've paid all your bills and application fees, hoping that the little money you have left will be enough for graduate school next year. So what's next?

With the very large likelihood of staring down a long, bitterly cold, two-three month winter before hearing anything from the thirteen schools I had applied to, I figured it would be a good exercise, maybe even therapeutic, to take up some kind of activity in the interim to busy myself. But what kind of activities? I made a list of requirements (because I love lists so much) that a potential activity had to fulfill:

1. It had to be cheap.
2. It had to be time consuming.
3. One of the activities has to be in the realm of writing.

I think the third point is the most important. As a default, I think we all realize that writing is naturally going to be one of the things that we pick right up when our applications are all finished. It occupies us. It's what we do. At the same time (and I don't think I'd be alone in saying this), unless you're the kind of person has tremendous amount of self-motivation, writing in this time of year, especially when all we can think about is how and when schools will accept or reject us, is a very difficult prospect. Making writing fun again through some kind of activity is a necessity.

The most obvious way to do this is taking some Creative Writing classes. Something local is always convenient, and if you live in a big enough city, you can probably find some form of "Continuing Studies" Creative Writing courses at the major university, and to a lesser extent, at the community college. But are they any good? It depends. I've taken my fair share of Creative Writing classes at nearly every level of college, except graduate -- I've taken classes as an undergrad at Purdue, as a post-grad student at the Graham School of Continuing Studies (Chicago University), and community college classes at the College of Lake County. To be completely honest, the only class that had any "meat" on it was the one I took as an undergrad at Purdue, and even then, I don't know how much of an honest assessment that is, since I was just starting out as a writer. The main problem with every other class I've taken (and I suppose you could include my Purdue experience in there as well) is that these courses are intended for beginners. They were the kinds of courses where by halfway through the semester only half of the students showed up (the ones who hadn't had their stories critiqued in class yet), and where we were still learning the mantra of "show, don't tell." It's an unfortunate fact, as "Fiction II" or "Advanced Creative Writing" courses are, in my experience, far and few between.

I don't want to say there isn't any value in beginning-level courses. On a community-level, it's a great place to meet other writers. Sure, you'll bump into a lot of beginners the majority of which don't even stick with writing, but once in a while, you'll run into other passionate, outstanding writers. All of the people in my first writing group came from the Graham School class. It's also a great way to simply get started writing again; the communal act of writing (not to mention the strict deadlines) makes it purposeful.

I am, however, a big proponent of Writing Conferences. Typically, conferences don't satisfy points one and two of my list (cheap and time consuming), but where they lack in sustained distraction and price, they more than make up in sheer fun. I attended Indiana University's Summer Writing Conference a couple years ago, and it was incredible. For a full week I was immersed, without any outside interfering media -- little internet access, no TV, etc. -- surrounded by nothing but the beautiful Bloomington campus and other passionate, dedicated writers, talking, eating, breathing, and sleeping nothing but writing. In fact, to this day, two out of the three writing group members in my current writing group I met from that conference, both of which are good friends.

Which is why I strongly suggest, for the upcoming winter months, going to the AWP 2009 Conference this year in Chicago, February 11-14, 2009 Why? First, unlike the usual summer conferences at most major schools, the price of admission is only $185 if you aren't a member, $40 if you're a student! That's incredibly cheap. The Indiana Writers Conference was about $500 to participate, and ran me about $1,000 total for room, board, transportation, and food. Second, check out the schedule of events starting Thursday. Over a hundred events for just one day. Interested in readings by alumni from the University of Michigan? They got that. Want to learn about censorship in creative writing? They got that too. The graphic novel as a literary form? Ditto. Friday and Saturday's schedules are more of the same. Just the idea of wall to wall seminars on nothing but writing, writing, writing for three straight days makes me salivate.

So that's what I'll be doing. It was a stroke of fortune for me to have this year's AWP Conference in Chicago (free room and board). But even then, I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice missing out on this conference if you can afford it, especially considering how much cheaper it is than most summer conferences. And if you can't afford it? Well... there's always the Creative Writing course down the street.