Pedagogical distancing.

I am no stranger to teaching. While not formally trained, I have taught one thing or another throughout most of my adult life, from several semesters as adjunct faculty teaching advertising at a college and a university, to teaching Sunday School classes to people of all ages, to teaching many, many workshops at writers conferences.
    But, come November 5, I will set sail on a 50-minute teaching trip the likes of which I have never before undertaken. It can all be summed up in one onomatopoetic word that heretofore described the sound of something moving quickly: zoom.
    Owing to the ongoing coronavirus threat, the Utah Valley University Writers Academy went online this year, and has been in progress since October 9. My presentation, “How to Build a Book Without a Blueprint,” goes zoom Thursday, November 5 at 6:00 pm MST. For the first time ever, I will attempt to convey my message to conference participants via a zoom meeting, where we will all, theoretically, gather around our computer screens to watch and listen and, I hope, participate.
    My presentations tend to involve a lot of back and forth, give and take, question and answer, and interaction with participants. That, in my limited experience on the receiving end, doesn’t always work out too well with zoom.
    Still and all, I am as prepared as I’ll ever be and hoping for the best.
    Ready.
    Aim.
    zoom.

 

Find yourself Write Here in Ephraim.

April 22 and 23 will find the eyes of the literary world on Utah’s Sanpete Valley for the Write Here in Ephraim writing conference on the campus of Snow College in the town of Ephraim.

This is the sixth annual conference, but it’s my first and I appreciate the invitation. I will be hosting a “Writer’s Camp” group on Friday to read and discuss the writing of selected conference participants. Then, on Saturday, I will present a pair of workshops—“Where Cowboys and Poetry Meet” in the morning and “More than L’Amour: Writing the West in the 21st Century” in the afternoon.

The morning workshop will talk about poetry and poetic techniques in general, with emphasis on the folk and literary art of cowboy poetry in particular. In the afternoon, we’ll talk about misconceptions about the limitations of Western writing and explore the many possibilities for writing and publishing, from fiction to nonfiction, historical to contemporary.

And there are several other workshops by other experienced writers on a variety of topics.

Write Here in Ephraim is shaping up to be an outstanding opportunity for writers of all levels to improve their art and craft. Come on down and join the fun.

Road Work.

Last year my workshop schedule wrapped up with a couple of good ones—the Idaho Writers League annual conference and the Kanab Writers Conference. Both those places have had me on the roster more than once, and it has always been a pleasure to participate.

This year’s calendar is so fresh you wouldn’t want to step in it, but there are already a couple of entries. 

In March, I’ll be in southern Arizona for the Tucson Festival of Books. This extravaganza draws more than 100,000 book lovers and is supposed to be good fun. I am looking forward to being there and presenting a session titled “More than L’Amour: Writing the West in the 21st Century.”

A month later, it’s Colorado Springs for the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, where I’ve been asked to present three workshops to the writers who will assemble there. It, too, is a large gathering with a good reputation—rated among the top ten writers conferences by a leading magazine—so I hope I don’t spoil it.

More invitations may arrive, resulting in more workshops and other events on my calendar. I hope so. Going on the road and hanging out with writers and readers is always enjoyable.