Technology blues

I've been trying to update the Creative Writing Distribution list for the English Department here at PC. The list was a long running success that in the last year or so just stopped working. We looked into it last year and Tech support said that there were duplications and misspellings that were causing the creature to crash. Just this week Marty transferred 'ownership' of the list to me and I took the list apart, emailing each name on the list, removing the names that bounced back, and inviting people to let me know if they wanted to be removed or preferred another email address, etc. Made all those corrections, tested the list again, and bang! Failed. I've emailed the tech people for help.
For people who think that writers just sit around scribbling and dreaming: it may be that that's all we're fit for. No, I don't mean that. But technology -- yecchh!

A Live Literary Magazine?

Monsoon Voices is a live literary magazine. You might be scratching your head, wondering how that works -- the answer is, wonderfully! Two crazy Phoenix writers met in a coffee house, confessed their love of literature, fell in love with each other, and started Monsoon Voices. Most evenings end up as a cross between a Paris Salon and a hootenany. Readers, singers and audience members meld into a creative riot. Such madness needs time to simmer, however, so events occur only every six weeks or so. Here is a link to Patrick and Traci's nascent blog: http://monsoonvoices.blogspot.com/
I hope you'll visit the blog, and try to come to a reading. I hope I see you there.

To Blog Anew

It's been 11 months since the last post. I'd started the blog with the idea of featuring Phoenix College's writing classes and events, but several things went wrong: due to money issues, the college cut back on classes and strictly enforced minimum class sizes, so that few of the classes I wanted to take actually occurred; the Microburst Writers' conference here on campus coincided with a diabetes complication, so I didn't get much out of it; and generally, I felt a bit of disappointment with all things PC/writing for the past year.
So on returning to the blog I'm going to focus on writing in general, family in small, and people I know and like, specifically. There are several writers I'd like to talk to and then tell you about. Some friends of mine have a 'live literary magazine' that makes me very happy. And my husband and kids have some news that, while not literary, makes me want to write. And so I will.
Soon.

Only one class!

The class in Poetry: First Books will not take place. I don't know if that is due to a lack of teachers or students. It's a shame -- that was to be my weekly workshop. I do still have 'Sit Down and Write' to look forward to, and it begins on Monday. SD&W is a 'WebCT' class -- it never meets in person, so it's an odd kind of workshop. 'Workshop' is entirely the wrong word for it, in fact. The class is designed to ingrain the habit of writing into the writer. I've known more than a few people (some of whom claim to have a blog but almost never post!, she said with irony,) with intentions of writing. Intentions, it's been said, lead to all the worst places. The course requires 450 words a day, five days a week, for five weeks. If you produce properly, you'll have 9000 words at the end, which might be a decent essay or the start of a good short story.
I planned to write poetry, and the instructor indicated that she wouldn't mind that at all; but the layout of the class makes me think I might work towards an essay about why I've never gotten over the love of poetry and how at the edge of 50 I'm decidedly glad I didn't. My essays don't usually run 9000 words, but maybe I can fill in with the sonnet sequence. Well, we'll see.