July E-News
After fifteen days of vigorous Lit Festing, the Ferril House is quiet again, and several Lighthousers have reportedly collapsed, pen in hand, mumbling deliriously about narrative arc. Or was it iambic pentameter? Either way, it was fun (and did we say vigorous?). We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated, and to the folks at Tattered Cover, Rock Bottom Brewery, Urban Skye, Above the Rim Fine Wines, Hooked on Colfax, Parisi's Deli, 5280, J. Chris Rock copywriting, and elsewhere who contributed to the occasion. Whether you came to one event, or every event, a great city needs literary community, and you’re it. (Anyone who made it to the participant reading at Forest Room 4 knows the staggering talent that exists in our midst.) More good news from the Lit Fest will be announced in future e-bulletins.
If you have a vague sense that something’s missing, it might be your glasses—we’ve got a couple of pairs that were left here, so give us a call at 303-297-1185…just feel your way to the phone.
There’s no rest for the wicked (apparently that’s us) as the tenth annual Grand Lake Retreat is upon us in just a handful of days. Escape from it all from July 16 to 21, joining instructors Chris Ransick, Laura Pritchett, William Haywood Henderson, Alexandre Philippe, Jenny Vacchiano, Michael Henry, and Andrea Dupree for a literary immersion. (The only prerequisites are this: You must be in the mood for a week of writing, enjoying evening, fireside readings, writing some more, and perhaps hiking in the Rocky Mountain National park at our doorstep). If you've never done Grand Lake, there's no better way to invite a breakthrough in your writing. The lodge is sold out, but if you're interested in coming up and staying off site, we've got room for you. (303) 297-1185.
As many of you know, the incomparable Tobias Wolff will be our guest at this year’s Writer’s Studio, the weekend of September 15 and 16. He'll be our featured guest for an on-stage reading/interview followed by a reception on Saturday, and a seminar on Sunday morning. Details (and tickets) will be available soon, but save the weekend now!
The next round of eight-week workshops starts the week of August 13 (Shari Caudron's courses start a week earlier). We’ve already got a number of sign ups, so take a look at the schedule now. Call us at 303-297-1185 to reserve a spot, or sign up online.
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FACULTY KUDOS
Lighthouse has been selected to present a panel on the Independent Creative Writing Center at the 2008 AWP Conference in New York City (January 30-February 2). We'll be joined by our friends at Grub Street and Just Buffalo to talk the ins and outs of writing programs that exist outside of the academy. Lighthouse screenwriting instructor Alexandre Philippe’s film, Left (which was produced by Lighthouse member Catherine Ostrander’s New Moment Films) just won the Special Jury Prize at the Cinema Jove International Film Festival in Valencia, Spain, and has now been selected by 22 international film festivals. Congratulations to all involved! Playwriting instructor Terry Dodd is directing Three Viewings, a play that opens July 6th at Crossroads Theater, and a staged reading of Lighthouse member Shel Friedman’s play The Gray Man (also at Crossroads) Monday July 30th. Meanwhile, the novelists among us are out and about: William Haywood Henderson is currently a guest at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, from where he’ll embark on a journey to Idaho for research on his new novel, and genre novel instructor Mario Acevedo will be a visiting author at Western State College’s Writing the Rockies Conference this month. And Lighthouse instructor Shari Caudron won the
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MEMBER SUCCESS STORIES
Ever wondered where to find Colorado’s best French toast? Look no further. Lighthouse member Tamra Monahan has just released a new book called Colorado's Best Bed and Breakfasts (Fulcrum Publishing), where you can find all sorts of great places. And Lighthouser Paul Dobransky has just become a first-time author with Penguin. His new book, The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love, includes nine steps for a lasting relationship. Member Evelyn Spence has been busy—she has a new book out called Colorado’s Classic Mountain Towns, featuring guides to Telluride, Crested Butte and elsewhere; and her short story, "Without Design," will appear in the premiere issue of the Whitefish Review, a new literary journal out of Montana. Nice work, Evelyn! Lighthouser Claudia Putnam had yet another poem published: “Never” will appear in the current issue of Literary Mama. Sarah Ockler finally decided to accept one of the many agents that have been tailing her—she and her YA novel Twenty Boy Summer are now represented by Firebrand Literary. We wish her luck! Save October 6 for member Gary Schanbacher's book release party. Migration Patterns (Fulcrum Publishing), a divine collection of literary short stories set in the West, will be published this fall, and anyone and everyone is invited to toast it at Ferril. More details on time, dress code, and other requirements forthcoming! Congrats again, Gary.
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HALF-DAY WORKSHOPS
Plots on the Spot: Creating Great Characters and Page-Turning Stories (half-day)
Saturday, August 11, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, led by Mario Acevedo
You've got characters and maybe the idea for an opening chapter. Now what? How do you not write yourself into a corner? How do you keep the middle of your novel from turning into a soggy mess? In this interactive workshop we'll start by creating characters, their strengths, flaws and motivation, and then brainstorming the plot for a novel. We'll discuss story structure and the building blocks of plot development: the inciting incident, turning points, and the inner and outer stories. Come prepared to have fun. You'll leave eager to get at the keyboard with dozens of hints to crafting a wonderful story. Mario Acevedo is the author of the Felix Gomez vampire detective series published by HarperCollins.
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FOUR-WEEK WORKSHOPS
We’ve resurrected our four-week mini-workshops, starting August 16, 6:30-8:30, with a team-taught course by novelist William Haywood Henderson and nonfiction writer Shari Caudron. The four-week courses focus less on workshopping participant writing and more on close reading, generating new writing, exercises, and the study and discussion of craft.
"Is it a memoir... or a novel?" taught by William Haywood Henderson and Shari Caudron
Four Thursdays, beginning 8/16, 6:30-8:30, Thomas Hornsby Ferril House
Cost for members $150; for non-members $175
Registration: Call 303.297.1185 or e-mail amanda@lighthousewriters.org
You've got some material that would make a great story but aren't sure whether to tell it truthfully as a memoir, or with the creative embellishment (and enhanced privacy) that fiction allows. This course will introduce you to basic storytelling elements, help you get material from your own life onto the page, and begin to shape that material into a work of fiction. The goal? To gain a clearer understanding of what makes a good story, and how your particular story will best be told.
Flash Forms, Or Maximizing Miniatures: Big Things in Little Packages, taught by Harrison Fletcher
Four Thursdays, beginning 9/13, 6:30-8:30 PM, Thomas Hornsby Ferril House
Cost for members $150; for non-members $175
An intensive, discussion-based, skill-oriented workshop exploring the very short literary forms, Sudden Fiction, Prose Poetry and Flash Nonfiction. Using reading samples, in-class prompts, take-home assignments, and light (not mandatory) workshopping, students will analyze and practice strategies for transforming the particular into the universal. Each session will examine particular elements of the short-short, including focus, framing, compression, omission, symbol, metaphor, turn, transcendence, and endings versus conclusions. Think zoom lens over wide angle, snapshot over home movie. Bring paper, pencil, and an internal microscope.
Experimental Structure in the Novel, taught by Nick Arvin
Four Thursdays, beginning in October, 6:30-8:30 PM, Thomas Hornsby Ferril House
Cost for members $150; for non-members $175
This class will be one part book club for writers and one part experimental writing laboratory. We will read novels (probably by Virginia Woolf, Ford Maddox Ford, Italo Calvino, and/or W.G. Sebald) that take unusual approaches to the structuring of story, and we will study the nature and mechanisms of these techniques and discuss whether and how they work. And we will try some writing exercises inspired by these novels, designed to provoke you to attempt some creative narrative possibilities you may not have considered before. The class is for fiction writers and anyone else interested in expanding their range and understanding of narrative technique.
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CALL FOR POETS TO HELP THE BLIND AND DYSLEXIC
If you’re a Colorado poet, check out the Second Annual Colorado Poets Lend Their Voices program though Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. Poets will contribute to recording a textbook on Wednesday, October 17th from 8 AM to 8 PM. If you’re interested in donating an hour of your time, contact Betsy Boudreau at 303-692-9213.
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CALL FOR RESIDENCY APPLICATIONS
Colorado Art Ranch in Durango, Colorado is offering a month long residency for artists and writers. They provide residents with housing and studio space. Residents provide their own travel and food. Finalists are selected by a jury based on quality of work. Residents will be temporary members of a vibrant arts and writing community in Durango. The deadline for applications is July 1, 2007 with notifications on July 15, 2007. Residency dates are September 5 –October 5 2007.
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: SEX AND NATURE
Editors Laura Pritchett and Laura Katers are seeking submissions for a new book exploring nature, sexuality, and the interplay between the two. Editors interested in works that go beyond a sexual encounter outside – rather, they’d like to hear about the ways in which passion for the natural world fuels passion for human bodies, and vice versa; the slippery, juicy, gritty, starry-eyed and magical ways these two powerful phenomena can come together; the ways in which being outdoors can make one feel vulnerable, powerful, or downright sexy; how nature can be sensual, confusing, exhilarating, much like love; introspective thoughts on the entire spectrum of sexuality; ways in which nature might help define sexuality; and so on.
Here are the specifics: Editors are looking for lucid, lively, accessible essays (ones that tell a story!), short stories, and poems that explore the connection between sexuality and nature. Deadline is October 1, 2007; submissions by email only, attached, in Word.doc format to sexandnature2007@yahoo.com. So spend your summer “researching” and writing about these two wonderful topics and where and how they converge.