By Kendall, on November 16th, 2011 
On Tuesday November 15, 2011, in the VCU Commonwealth Ballroom, day 1 of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Festival kicked off with an evening celebrating the novel, writing, reading, and building a career as an author. This two-day festival is a special event recognizing the tenth anniversary of the Award.
The keynote talk was given by NPR book critic and novelist Alan Cheuse, who spoke on “First and Last Novels: Rumblings About Writing and . . . → Read More: VCU Cabell First Novelist Festival and panel discussion
By Kendall, on July 9th, 2010 
Saturday was departure day for most of us. One group left *way* early in the morning to catch early flights, while the other group left mid-morning, once Rob returned from dropping off the early group. I was in the second group–the others in my group were driving back to their homes, so they hopped into their cars once we got to Jonesport, while Rob carried me to the Bangor International Airport for my afternoon . . . → Read More: Norton Island Writers Workshop: Departure
By Kendall, on July 8th, 2010 
Although all the preceding days of the workshop were great, today was a day of big events.
It was our last workshop, and I think everyone submitted some of their best work so far. Besides workshopping everyone’s manuscripts, we also had a lively discussion about publishing, discussing the current state of the industry, the outlook for authors, and how technology is impacting publishers, authors, and readers.
Adding to the magic in the atmosphere . . . → Read More: Norton Island Writers Workshop: Day 5
By Kendall, on July 7th, 2010 
As I mentioned in the last post, most of us spent yesterday taking a break to explore the island. Well, today saw us return to form as we dove back into our writing. The lecture part of the day focused on how to handle verb tense changes (e.g., narrative present versus the present tense of the verbs) as well as “framing” as a story construction technique. We reverted back to our normal routines of eating, . . . → Read More: Norton Island Writers Workshop: Day 4
By Kendall, on July 6th, 2010 
So in my last post I mentioned what a great group we had at the workshop. Everyone took the assignments seriously and strove to write at their best for their fellow attendees.
In fact, everyone was so serious that Tom had to call a timeout. Folks were working really hard–staying up late, even working past midnight to complete the assignments. We were spending all our time in our cabins, in lecture, or eating–we were missing . . . → Read More: Norton Island Writers Workshop: Day 3
By Kendall, on July 5th, 2010 
The weather today was not so rainy, so we met for lecture (after a hasty breakfast + last minute reading of everyone’s manuscripts + sneaking in a shower) in West Camp, which is also the home of the island owner.
Here’s a pic of the beautiful porch at West Camp–lots of space if you want to sit in the shade or in the sun:
And here’s a pic of the room where we met . . . → Read More: Norton Island Writers Workshop: Day 2
By Kendall, on July 4th, 2010 
For our first full day on the island (for most of us), we were welcomed to Maine with a day of rain, and were welcomed to living off-the-grid when Internet for the island went down.
In this pic you can see how an off-the-grid island gets its power–a windmill. You can also see the mist and clouds that sometimes pervade *everything*. And note: waking up to the sound of a windmill’s whoosh-whoosh-whoosh in the middle . . . → Read More: Norton Island Writers Workshop: Day 1
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About
Kendall Giles is a writer and computer scientist on a quest to live an epic life.
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