Monday, November 26, 2012

Creative Writing: End of Semester

Creative Writing
11/26 to 12/14 End of the semester
Thanks to everyone for being productive while I was at a conference.
We have three weeks of class left this semester.
In two weeks, by Dec. 10, I will ask you to turn in a body of work, both in the NetClassroom dropbox and on paper.
By Dec. 13, I will ask you to write a Self-reflective piece of writing about the works you wrote this semester and the journey you’ve been on to write more and be more creative.


Due: Mon. Dec. 3 Share any portion of your work in progress OR read aloud to the class
Due: Mon. December 10, 2012  Polished longer work or combination of shorter works. (dropbox & paper)
Due: Thu. December 13, 2012 Self-reflective writing about the works you wrote this semester and the journey you’ve been on to write more and be more creative. Also, what you envision for second semester, a longer work, more fiction, screenplays, stage plays, or poetry?
Write about a page of clear, thoughtful writing. Look through your early works from September/October and trace how your writing has evolved. Address both sentence level writing and your own voice (or your narrator's) as it comes through to the reader and also your journey in terms of creativity and vision and storytelling. 
  Finally, envision where your writing is going, not just the next project, but where you'd like to end up at year's end or beyond. How would you like your writing and creativity to evolve? How do you envision your sentence level writing evolving? Name two projects that you'd like to tackle next semester. (We will also attempt spoken word, as well.)
Due: Thu. Dec. 13 short blurb describing what you’ve written at the end of the semester

Monday, November 12, 2012

Sub plans till Thanksgiving

Sub plans for Dr. James Forman Nov. 15-21
Creative Writing
Five sunrise classes: Thu 11/15  Fri 11/16  Mon 11/19  Tue 11/20  Wed 11/21
Room A-205 7:50-8:30
Begin each class for five minutes with each student selecting a book or a book of poetry or a website of poems to read for five minutes.
Or students may  write a six word memoir or very short four-line poem.
Then, for the rest of each period, students will write on their own projects.
After Thanksgiving, on Mon. Nov. 26 or Tue. Nov. 27, students will be invited to read from their recent writings.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Creative Reading (first)

Creative Reading, then Creative Writing


“Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralyzed force,
gesture without motion” The Hollow Men, T.S. Eliot (MB)

The house seems
To circle around you
Slowly. I circle around you, a wild
Animal near a fire. I remember
I would kill for you. I remind myself
It won't be necessary. –Sharon Olds (GA)

"Verse is dressed up that has nowhere to go,
You took away my glibness with my fear.
Forgive me that I stand in silence here.
It is not words could pay you what I owe."
(Apology for Understatement)-John Wain  (MOB)

"old life blown away in the blink of an eye...nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it"  Shawshank Redemption  (TS)

"His soul stretched tight across the skies
That fade behind a city block"

"Assured of certain certainties,  
The conscience of a blackened street
Impatient to assume the world"  Preludes TS Eliot (PV)

"Maybe that steps begins with giving up ownership of the most beautiful shell on the beach, not simply to save the life of a homely ordinary crab, but as an exercise in resisting the hunger to possess all things bright and beautiful."   Barbara Kingsolver, "Small Wonder."  (JG)

Beauty Myth
"Cosmetic surgery is not "cosmetic," and human flesh is not "plastic." Even the names trivialize what it is. It's not like ironing wrinkles in fabric, or tuning up a car, or altering outmoded clothes, the current metaphors. Trivialization and infantilization pervade the surgeons' language when they speak to women: "a nip," a "tummy tuck."...Surgery changes one forever, the mind as well as the body. If we don't start to speak of it as serious, the millennium of the man-made woman will be upon us, and we will have had no choice.

At least a third of a woman's life is marked with aging; about a third of her body is made of fat. Both symbols are being transformed into operable condition--so that women will only feel healthy if we are two thirds of the women we could be. How can an "ideal" be about women if it is defined as how much of a female sexual characteristic does not show on her body, and how much of a female life does not show on her face?

You could see the signs of female aging as diseased, especially if you had a vested interest in making women too see them your way. Or you could see that a woman is healthy if she lives to grow old; as she thrives, she reacts and speaks and shows emotion, and grows into her face. Lines trace her thought and radiate from the corners of her eyes as she smiles. You could call the lines a network of 'serious lesions' or you could see that in a precise calligraphy, thought has etched marks of concentration between her brows, and drawn across her forehead the horizontal creases of surprise, delight, compassion and good talk. A lifetime of kissing, of speaking and weeping, shows expressively around a mouth scored like a leaf in motion. The skin loosens on her face and throat, giving her features a setting of sensual dignity; her features grow stronger as she does. She has looked around in her life and it shows. When gray and white reflect in her hair, you could call it a dirty secret or you could call it silver or moonlight. Her body fills into itself, taking on gravity like a bather breasting water, growing generous with the rest of her. The darkening under her eyes, the weight of her lids, their minute cross-hatching, reveal that what she has been part of has left in her its complexity and richness. She is darker, stronger, looser, tougher, sexier. The maturing of a woman who has continued to grow is a beautiful thing to behold.

Our society does reward beauty on the outside over health on the inside. Women must not be blamed for choosing short-term beauty "fixes" that harm our long-term health, since our life spans are inverted under the beauty myth, and there is no great social or economic incentive for women to live a long time. A thin young woman with precancerous lungs [who smokes to stay thin] is more highly rewarded socially that a hearty old crone. Spokespeople sell women the Iron Maiden [an intrinsically unattainable standard of beauty used to punish women for their failure to achieve and conform to it]and name her "Health": if public discourse were really concerned with women's health, it would turn angrily upon this aspect of the beauty myth.

What editors are obliged to appear to say that men want from women is actually what their advertisers want from women.

Women are mere "beauties" in men's culture so that culture can be kept male. When women in culture show character, they are not desirable, as opposed to the desirable. A beautiful heroine is a contradiction in terms, since heroism is about individuality, interesting and ever changing, while "beauty" is generic, boring, and inert. While culture works out moral dilemmas, "beauty" is amoral: If a woman is born resembling an art object, it is an accident of nature, a fickle consensus of mass perception, a peculiar coincidence--but it is not a moral act. From the "beauties" in male culture, women learn a bitter amoral lesson--that the moral lessons of their culture exclude them

Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when deciding what provokes it."  (The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf, AE)

Six words to warm up by

Six word memoir or 4-line poem (warm up on Nov 6)
Quietly typing my thoughts on screen.

Cool as a cucumber under pressure.  --PV

Time goes by
At an undesirable pace
You wonder why
But all you have is space. PB

slower than slow 
I just need to go
uncontrollable and frustrating 
I’m going to start speeding   --MB

Tried, intensified, and died; still alive.  –GA

Milk glass. Half empty, half full. –JG

Clock struck twelve. Got my wishes. –TS

lost in the open, found within   --CB

Two wet noses, two new hearts.

My legs shook, not my voice.

I lost sight of the sun.   --AE

Blinded I ignore, broken I kneel.
The empty demand, the full deny.
Sought my answers—accepted their responses.
When tested: true, when safe: synthetic.
Remarking the evident, evidencing the remarkable.
Competed with expectation (reduced to sabotage).
Having disregarded self-confidence, I pursue self-awareness.

Amiable shell, lost of face,
Wrought by being, denied by space.
Thou redundant self, shan’t yet live,
Whilst scorned by all, thatgod may give.    --MOB

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Could you write a novel in a month?

Hello Wrimos!
It’s November 5th, Week 2 is just a couple days away lumbering up slowly behind you like a zombie. Right now we’re still in Week 1. Your ideas are exploding like the unstoppable hero/heroine in the zombie apocalypse. With your trusty flamethrower in hand, you’re easily keeping the monsters at bay. In fact, you’re conquering them with no problem!
But at the arrival of Week 2, your flamethrower is starting to lose gas. You’re starting to worry. You might even start to panic. You’re starting to second guess yourself. “What have I gotten myself into?! I can’t defeat 1,667 word zombies a day! Much less keep this up for 30 days!”
It is okay to take a few steps back to reassess your battle plans even though you’re feeling the pressure from falling behind. Your 1,667 word zombies are closing in and they seem to grow faster than you can handle each day, but like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy says, “Don’t Panic!” You can still do it! You can still reach 50,000 words by November 30th.
Remember: “Don’t get it right. Get it Written.” Your research and facts don’t have to be perfect right now. You can go back and fact check and research all you want in December.
If you feel like your plot is shaky and has more holes than Swiss cheese, it’s okay! You are not alone. Everyone else is battling their word count monsters. Some are battling plot monsters. Others have characters that might have turned into monsters. Don’t run away from these monsters. Run with them!
If you’re really stuck, it’s okay to put down your flamethrower and just run to the next safe house and regroup. Find new weapons, grab a health pack, pick up some new ideas, and recruit new characters if you want. Those word zombies can’t break into your safe house. Once you’ve regrouped and recruited, you’ll be ready to knock down those zombies. Just remember don’t take too long to regroup. Those pesky word zombies like to keep growing by 1,667 a day.
Once you get through Week 2, it means you’re halfway there!
~~~
Good luck and keep writing!
~Jennie (AthenaKTT)


Sites about writing fiction:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/07/david-ogilvy-on-writing/


Monday, November 5, 2012

What's Next?

What's Next? What we are working on now!
"Screenplay called Villians" --Tyler
"Poetry" --Paris
Screenplay about Malibu vs. Lebenon. Six word memoir. Short fiction. --Gina
"Suburban girl in a taxi" --Chloe
"Fiction." --Ali
"Girl and her Family" --Paulina
"A novel about a family" --Madeline
                                   --Michael
                                   --Julianne

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Student Thoughts about Creative Reading


“There is no creative writing without creative reading.” Carol Muske-Duke
How does reading help us as creative writers? Explain what “creative” reading might entail? (Think outside the box)
Creative reading allows us to have more widened view of how we can perceive our ideas and stories in different creative ways as well. With out fully copying the author, we still can have an idea of how we can write something so it isn’t boring and more exciting. Creative reading can also expand our imagination. It can open us to new worlds and feelings that we have never seen before. One’s creative writing can improve so much if one reads more because their work would have so much more quality and depth.

Creative reading is anything with a unique voice and clever story telling. Reading helps us as writers because it keeps one in a creative mindset as well as inspires ideas and format. Creative reading will allow you to develop opinion and imagination which is crucial for a creative writer.

Reading other pieces of work allows writers to expand their vocabulary, style and writing in general. You may be inspired by ones piece of work or just want to expand your creative mind.

Reading short Fiction can be easily incorporated into daily life, if we set aside the proper time for it. Before sleeping, if not consumed with homework, is a good time because it allows you to relax and poses a intellectual, however, entertaining opportunity to end the day with. Writing a screen play with a group of friends, would be a great experience because it allows multiple creative minds to collaborate, creating a powerful piece.

-I know that, at least for me, reading sparks imagination. After I'm done reading a work, especially if in colloquial prose, I think, "I can do that." Great writers inspire the next generation of great writers, without a doubt. That's why we study literature in school-- we learn from the most exemplary examples. Creative reading is reading whatever-- whether it be nonfiction, opinion columns, or short stories. I try to read "whatever," always expanding the boundaries of the genres I'm interested in, never liking to stay on one same style for too long and I think it most definitely helps not only my own writing, but my vocabulary and comprehension abilities, as well.

I really love reading, maybe even as much as I love writing. Reading time inspires me to want to write more and gives me new ideas for topics.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Student Feedback and Musings

Creative Writing: Musings

     
(you may type and email this to jforman@buckley.org or use this sheet)

Your thoughts on the following (bullet points or a sentence) 
(pick two or three):

·         “There is no creative writing without creative reading.” Carol Muske-Duke
How does reading help us as creative writers? Explain what “creative” reading might entail? (Think outside the box)
  •  Six word memoir (write six words that might sum up one’s life)

·         Serendipity: “The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.” How can browsing in a bookstore or library create the element of chance so that you might stumble upon something you never were looking for?

·         Short short fiction: How can we incorporate daily reading or short short fiction writing into our daily or weekly routines? How is this valuable?  Should we try writing collaboratively?

·         Brainstorm some ideas for this course going forward:

Monday, October 29, 2012

Creative Reading, Creative Writing

Let's read poems and other works in quarter two and share what we admire with one another.
Let's meet in the library to discover books there.
Read some screenplays.
Find 'fine lines' in your own work and published work.
Let's consider publishing together, online or in print?
Should we have a small poetry reading?  When? Where
Every day, let's write short short works:
Six word memoirs
140 character novels or memoirs, maybe with a twitter feed.
Collaborative poetry?
Tufte shows us how to use short sentences effectively in our writing.
Let's read some of our works aloud.
In addition, we'll keep on writing.

Monday, October 22, 2012

What We've Written So Far

CREATIVE WRITING WORKS
GINA
·         “How Do I Love Thee”
An imitation with a twist of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's overly romantic "How Do I Love Thee. "
·         “The Best Thing in the World”
A response to Browning's "The Best Thing In The World" questioning the ideas suggested in the original piece.
·         “Untold Fairytales”
The lives of Malibu teen Amira and third world citizen Naala in Lebanon are compared and contrasted in a fictional short story.
·         Imitation of Sharon Olds’ “I Go Back to May 1937”
PARIS
·         “First Internship” Scott Rudin/ Internship Narrative
             (nonfiction narrative about NY internship at 16)
I had my first internship when I was 16 in New York City. Being only 16, I was a nervous wreck at first but as time went on I quickly adjusted and learned so much about responsibility and the city.
·         “Tuesday Evening”
A one act play that explores the art of the conversation between two opposite strangers in a subway car. The longer they are in there, the more we find out about these two characters.
MADELINE
·         “Looking Back”
Nonfiction narrative about post surgery which focuses on a young girl who experienced a traumatic back surgery. Starting from when she wakes up she puts together the scattered pieces of hardship and support she dealt with. This previously untold story gives insight to the true emotions of a patient.
·         “Growing Up”
The current poem I’m writing is about growing up and the things I’ve learned in the process. It is emphasizes changes and hardships as well as joys and achievements. The structure mirrors how I’ve been structured growing up. When I was younger it is free verse and as I get old it becomes couplets.
CHLOE
·         “Dark Face”
Narrative poem about baboon attack on safari.
·         Child of the Night
Short story about a suburban girl who finds herself in the midst of a high profile prostitution realm.

ALI
·         “An Ode to the Rocket”
·         “The Rocket’s Ode Back to You Engineers”
(odes to rocketeers and rockets)
·         “CI-0005, 15:55” and “Sky Lanterns” (Week Two)
Taiwan Trip(台湾的旅:导语)(nonfiction memoir about flying to Taiwan)
I articulate how and why I was able to overcome hesitation-- in this instance, it was manning up and flying halfway around the world, essentially on my own. I think what I want to impart to the reader is that although courage may seem hard to muster, it is invaluable if one is trying to make life meaningful and substantial. Experimenting with conversational prose and lots of personal anecdotes, I am also branching out of another comfort zone: my style of writing. Instead of my normal, rigid verse better suited for poetry, I think that my colloquialisms and sometimes embarrassing insights will make the reader all the more comfortable and, hopefully, my journey all the more relatable and inspiring.
JULIANNE
·         Admitted
·         Admitted Mirrored
      poems about college admissions
·         Black Polo
       poem about being a senior
·         Survival
·         “Growth”: a bound book of poems
My book of poetry is based around the concept of growth. This theme includes the physical and emotional growth of someone, something or a group of people. The book consists of an array of rhyming, non rhyming, and both short and long poems. Although a few poems are more intense, I've included whimsical and upbeat poetry, to keep the reader at their feet. I've started off my book with an opening poem which reveals the theme. Since the opening poem gives away the theme immediately, I thought of the idea of gradually masking each poem. By the last poem, the theme is less obvious, forcing the reader to explore different interpretations of the poem. The first few poems reveal the theme more obviously, however as the book progresses, the theme is less apparent.
MICHAEL
·         Vain Prayer
Poem mimicking the nature, tone, and context of prayer in the perspective of a earthly, desperate and desolate man.
·         December’s Evolution
Poem/Play: An unbridled and unfounded effort to invert the hierarchy of creative works, placing writing in a place of primacy in place of meaning.
TYLER
·         “More than Footprints”
Nature poem seeking meaning for one’s imprint; Reflecting on Nature to remind us that we have an impact just as Nature does.
·         “It Really Doesn’t Mean That”
A satirical poem combating the original poem, told from the perspective of someone who is not as positive and doesn’t connect with the vivid imagination and sweet encouragement that poets sometimes offer.
·         “Truths from and Inside Outsider (Poetry Book, on hold for now)
A diary almost except written in poetry, each poem defines certain situations or issues in one specific characters life.
·         Villains (screenplay)
Original project, action, comedy, drama in which underdogs and “zeroes” decide they are tired of being overlooked and underestimated. Having all gone through rough times and sharing a love for comic book villains they decide to join together and become real life Villians. However they aren’t just evil villains they are working against the government and the wealthy who neglect the needy like them. All of the money from their showy heists and major robberies go to shelters and orphanages that the government refuses to tend to. In a paradoxical way they are heroes to the oppressed but to the wealthy or selfish they are their worst enemies.
PAULINA
·         “The Final Goodbye” (long poem)
"The Final Goodbye" is a poem I wrote about a personal experience. I wrote about myself in the third person and how I felt when I found out my grandfather had passed.
·         Girl Displaced (short fictional story)
My new project which has yet to be titled is completely fictional. It's a story about a girl with depression going through social problems and how she tries to live her life while she's caught in several different problems.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Listening to Poetry Recordings

Mornings we will listen to recordings of poetry read by poets.

A sampling:
  1. Maya Angelou “Africa
  2. W. H. Auden “Musee de Beaux Arts”
  3. Elizabeth Bishop “Casbianca”
  4. William Blake “London” (Jon Stallworthy)
  5. Gwendolyn Brooks “We Real Cool”
  6. Emily Dickenson “a narrow fellow in the grass”
  7. Emily Dickenson “After great pain a formal feeling comes”
  8. Emily Dickenson “Because I could not stop for death”
  9. Emily Dickenson
  10. Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken”
  11. Allen Ginsberg “A Supermarket in California
  12. Michael Harper “Dear John, Dear Coltrane”
  13. Robert Hayden “Those Winter Sundays”
  14. Gerard Manley Hopkins “Spring and Fall (M.H. Abrams)
  15. Li-Young Lee “Persimmons”
  16. Robert Lowell “Skunk Hour”

Sunday, October 14, 2012

140 char novels



THE Guardian  Guardian.co.uk 
Twitter fiction: 21 authors try their hand at 140-character novels
We challenged well-known writers – from Ian Rankin and Helen Fielding to Jeffrey Archer and Jilly Cooper – to come up with a story of up to 140 characters. This is their stab at Twitter fiction


Geoff Dyer
I know I said that if I lived to 100 I'd not regret what happened last night. But I woke up this morning and a century had passed. Sorry.
James Meek
He said he was leaving her. "But I love you," she said. "I know," he said. "Thanks. It's what gave me the strength to love somebody else."
Jackie Collins
She smiled, he smiled back, it was lust at first sight, but then she discovered he was married, too bad it couldn't go anywhere.
Ian Rankin
I opened the door to our flat and you were standing there, cleaver raised. Somehow you'd found out about the photos. My jaw hit the floor.
Blake Morrison
Blonde, GSOH, 28. Great! Ideal mate! Fix date. Tate. Nervous wait. She's late. Doh, just my fate. Wrong candidate. Blond – and I'm straight.
David Lodge
"Your money or your life!" "I'm sorry, my dear, but you know it would kill me to lose my money," said the partially deaf miser to his wife.
AM Homes
Sometimes we wonder why sorrow so heavy when happiness is like helium.
Sophie Hannah
I had land, money. For each rejected novel I built one house. Ben had to drown because he bought Plot 15. My 15th book? The victim drowned.
Andrew O'Hagan
Clyde stole a lychee and ate it in the shower. Then his brother took a bottle of pills believing character is just a luxury. God. The twins.
AL Kennedy
It's good that you're busy. Not great. Good, though. But the silence, that's hard. I don't know what it means: whether you're OK, if I'm OK.
Jeffrey Archer
"It's a miracle he survived," said the doctor. "It was God's will," said Mrs Schicklgruber. "What will you call him?" "Adolf," she replied.
Anne Enright
The internet ate my novel, but this is much more fun #careerchange #nolookingback oh but #worldsosilentnow Hey!
Patrick Neate
ur profile pic: happy – smiling & smoking. ur last post: "home!" ur hrt gave out @35. ur profile undeleted 6 months on. ur epitaph: "home!"
Hari Kunzru
I'm here w/ disk. Where ru? Mall too crowded to see. I don't feel safe. What do you mean you didn't send any text? Those aren't your guys?
SJ Watson
She thanks me for the drink, but says we're not suited. I'm a little "intense". So what? I followed her home. She hasn't seen anything yet.
Helen Fielding
OK. Should not have logged on to your email but suggest if going on marriedaffair.com don't use our children's names as password.
Simon Armitage
Blaise Pascal didn't tweet and neither did Mark Twain. When it came to writing something short & sweet neither Blaise nor Mark had the time.
Charlie Higson
Jack was sad in the orphanage til he befriended a talking rat who showed him a hoard of gold under the floor. Then the rat bit him & he died.
India Knight
Soften, my arse. I'm a geezer. I'm a rock-hard little bastard. Until I go mushy overnight for you, babe. #pears
Jilly Cooper
Tom sent his wife's valentine to his mistress and vice versa. Poor Tom's a-cold and double dumped.
Rachel Johnson
Rose went to Eve's house but she wasn't there. But Eve's father was. Alone. One thing led to another. He got 10 years.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Marvell's Poetry (imitate it)

            Had we but world enough, and time,
            This coyness, lady, were no crime.
            We would sit down and think which way
            To walk, and pass our long love's day;
            Thou by the Indian Ganges' side        5
            Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
            Of Humber would complain. I would
            Love you ten years before the Flood;
            And you should, if you please, refuse
            Till the conversion of the Jews.          10
            My vegetable love should grow
            Vaster than empires, and more slow.
            An hundred years should go to praise
            Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
            Two hundred to adore each breast,    15
            But thirty thousand to the rest;
            An age at least to every part,
            And the last age should show your heart.
            For, lady, you deserve this state,
            Nor would I love at lower rate.            20

            But at my back I always hear
            Time's winged chariot hurrying near;
            And yonder all before us lie
            Deserts of vast eternity.
            Thy beauty shall no more be found,   25
            Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
            My echoing song; then worms shall try
            That long preserv'd virginity,
            And your quaint honour turn to dust,
            And into ashes all my lust.                              30
            The grave's a fine and private place,
            But none I think do there embrace.

            Now therefore, while the youthful hue
            Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
            And while thy willing soul transpires   35
            At every pore with instant fires,
            Now let us sport us while we may;
            And now, like am'rous birds of prey,
            Rather at once our time devour,
            Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.      40
            Let us roll all our strength, and all
            Our sweetness, up into one ball;
            And tear our pleasures with rough strife
            Thorough the iron gates of life.
            Thus, though we cannot make our sun
            Stand still, yet we will make him run.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

What we're up to now

The Best Thing in the World

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

What's the best thing in the world?
June-rose, by May-dew impearled;
Sweet south-wind, that means no rain;
Truth, not cruel to a friend;
Pleasure, not in haste to end;
Beauty, not self-decked and curled
Till its pride is over-plain;
Love, when, so, you're loved again.
What's the best thing in the world?


CREATIVE WRITING
1.     Add short descriptive blurbs to our class table of contents
2.     Register for Novel Writing Month and use sunrise to attempt typing 50,000 words in November!  http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/ 
3.     Share in Pairs: share something you’ve written recently or something you finished
4.     Fine Lines: Find a fine line from a poem and one from your own work: share these on our class blog
5.     Buckley Lit Journal: Let’s start sharing with this new publication! (permission to publish must be granted by the author)
6. Keep writing every day in class!! Be Creative!


NATIONAL DAY ON WRITING  Oct. 20, 2012
On October 19, tweet out your compositions of all sorts and post them to Twitter using the hashtag #WhatIWrite and, if space allows, #dayonwriting. Our goals are to share writings publicly while we get #WhatIWrite as a trending topic on Twitter this year just as #WhyIWrite was a trending topic last year.