Fall 2009

New

Big congratulations to Kalena Cook, New York Seminar ‘07 alum who took second place in the Mayborn Conference manuscript competition with her “Birthing a Better Way, including 12 Secrets” submission.

Drop by Melusine online litmag, where New York Seminar ‘07 alum Patty DeLarios is publishing her short nonfiction, “The Last Betrayal,” available in November.

We are pleased to introduce new instructor Misa Ramirez! She taught in California schools for years before seizing her dream and writing her book. Then she had the adventure of getting it sold. You can get her first one, Living the Vida Lola, now and the second one, Hasta La Vista, Lola, in January. (Be warned, you will be jonesing for chips and ‘ritas afterward.) Misa will be teaching the first section of Novel: The Story starting in September! Be sure and check out her websites, misaramirez.com and chasingheroes.com.

Next

Not sure what you want to take next? Uncertain if you want to jump onto a “track”? Perhaps one of our skill classes — Creative Writing Introduction, Grammar, or the always-sold-out Writing Well by Paula LaRoque — is what you’d like.

Our craft classes are those that lead to a specific goal of writing in a certain style, to have a complete project, and to be eligible for the next New York Seminar. They are the track courses: Novel Track, Narrative Nonfiction Track and the brand new Children’s Track.

If you aren’t burning with a specific idea, or you don’t have the time to commit to a series of courses, maybe the passion classes are for you. These courses are for writers who can’t help themselves — in the best possible way — and still want to feel they’re progressing and growing: Screenwriting I and II, Newspaper & Magazine, Ignite Your Creativity (which WILL change your life!), and Short Fiction.

So whether you are learning the skill of writing, developing your craft in writing, or following your passion for writing, we’ve got you covered!

Noteworthy Dates

• September 2 – New York Seminar application deadline
• September 2 – Information session for those just beginning the journey
• September 14 – Creative Writing Introduction begins
• October 1 – New York invitees published on website
• November 18-21 – Writer’s Seminar in New York
• December 3 – Rejection Club at Social in Hotel Lumen

Nonfiction

Mayborn Conference by Kay Winzenried

It happens in our own backyard, every July. The Mayborn, a top nonfiction writer’s conference organized by the University of North Texas’s Mayborn College of Journalism, is a three-day blockbuster event for nonfiction writers, genre authors and reading enthusiasts.

This year’s keynote presenters included prolific travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux, NPR’s This American Life radio show host and producer Ira Glass, and New Yorker Latin American correspondent Alma Guillermoprieto. A duo of Village Voice journalists shared their techniques to penetrate subcultures and social groups to get the story. Skip Hollandsworth, executive editor of Texas Monthly, interviewed Mike Hall, the “patron saint of death row inmates,” for his stories that have helped free wrongfully charged criminals. Self-proclaimed accidental memoirist Stephanie Griest told of her wild and dangerous encounters living and traveling in communist countries, and how she got a book about them published.

That’s only 20 percent of the program line-up!

The Mayborn hosts cash award competitions for articles, essays, and manuscripts which are evaluated in daylong workshops with professional and peer input. Winners for the short pieces are published in the University’s literary magazine, while the top manuscript is offered a publishing contract with the UNT Press. (SMU New York Seminar alum Kalena Cook took second place!) Agents are available for speedy pitch appointments and after-hours in the bar is a remarkable source for scoop and leads. But the main take-away is the literary energy and inspiration that radiates from 300 wired writers, wannabes and friends who are passionate about great stories, creative ways to tell them and outlets through which they can be distributed.

Registration opens in April 2010 for the next sell-out conference. Don’t miss the opportunity to raise your skills and ignite your enthusiasm for the craft of storytelling.

New York

The SMU Writer’s Seminar in New York

New York is the center of the publishing world and the apex of the SMU CAPE Creative Writing Program. Every other year we take a group of qualified students to meet with editors and agents who comment on the students’ work. It’s a unique program – we’re literally the only ones who do it. At the last SMU Writer’s Seminar in New York, three writers entertained four offers for representation. This spring, one of them signed a contract with Harper Collins. Who knows whose life will be changed this November?

Now

For those of you who are registering NOW, here’s a quick check to make sure you’re signing up for the classes that you want, and keeping on track for the next New York Seminar! Due to this fall’s course name changes (below), you may find the system blocking the usually seamless online registration for the next class in your path. Just call 214-SMU-CAPE to register, and we’ll take care of it! Thanks so much for challenging us to grow, evolve and improve, in order to help you become a better writer!

Course name changes:

• Novel 1 became STORY
• Novel 2 became PLOT
• Novels 2.5 & 2.75 became CHAPTERS
• Novel 3 became REVISION
• NNF I became IDEA AND ELEMENTS
• NNF II became ORGANIZE AND IMPLEMENT

Children's Track is entirely new, as is Screenwriting II and Short Fiction

What to take:

• If you were in Creative Writing Introduction and want to go into fiction, take STORY.
• If you were in Creative Writing Introduction and want to go into nonfiction, take IDEA.
• If you were in Creative Writing Introduction and want to go into children's fiction, take FORMATS.
• If you were in Novel 1, take PLOT
• If you were in NNF 1, take IMPLEMENT 
• If you were in Novel 2, take CHAPTERS
• If you were in Novel 2.5 or Novel 2.75 and HAVE NOT completed your novel, take CHAPTERS
• If you were in Novel 2.5 or Novel 2.75 and HAVE completed your novel, take REVISION 
• If you were Novel 3 and want to continue working on a completed project with group input, take CHAPTERS
• If you were in Novel 3 and want to continue working on a completed project with class instruction, take REVISION
• If you were in Screenwriting, take SCREENWRITING II

Whew!

To view course schedules and to enroll, visit smu.edu/creativewriting or call 214-SMU-WRITE.

Note From the Program Director

Why do you write?

I write because I breathe. I breathe to write. My writing is my breath.

I am a writer. It’s not what I do, just my occupation or my vocation. It’s not really a choice. It’s the necessary action in my life in order to bring meaning and balance.

I write to understand.

I write my passion, my fear, my frustration, my obsession. I write my love, my hate. I write from my deepest soul—the words that can’t make it between my lips to be birthed in air, as they are too precarious or too precious. I write my shallowest, bloggiest, fashion-conscious, trendista, that’s-so-last-season self. I write my brain: ruminations about Clausewitz; the Palestinian-Israeli debate; the decision of furniture oil vs. furniture polish; how to train a dog; the progression of mythopoetic thought.

I write my poems—lame ramblings that blush in shame next to Neruda’s, but stand proudly in their right to exist. I write clichés, anachronisms, redundancies. I write shit. I’ve also written best sellers. I write the raging beauty that is the world through my eyes. I write the labyrinthine fascination of the human soul, as I see it. I write lists and journals, Morning Pages and logs.

Like insects have antennae to perceive their world, like cats have whiskers and two-year-olds must put everything in their mouths in order to understand it, I must write. Words are my antennae, my whiskers, the way I taste experience, embrace euphoria and seat knowledge.

Why do YOU write?

Tell us on our new SMU CAPE Creative Writing Program Facebook page. Become a fan! Join in with this group of writers who write. In every newsletter this year, we’ll be publishing some of the reasons in essays, paragraphs, sentences, dialogue—whatever form that YOU write.

Because at SMU, writing is what happens.

See you in class.

Suzanne