Today was the first full day at Stonecoast.
The morning started off with a general meeting and orientation for all students by Robin Talbot, including a presentation on the Stonecoast in Ireland program by Ted Deppe.
Next was the first workshop. So. This is the where students get critiqued by the other members of the workshop on their submitted stories. I.e., people you may know and may not know will give you feedback on a story you’ve written.
To someone who has bared their soul and poured their heart into creating a masterpiece of a story, hearing criticism is sometimes a very personal ordeal. Someone is telling you how you should have written your story, rather than how you did write your story.
This can be painful medicine to receive, but the wise author listens to their readers and considers recommendations received. Hopefully the comments given are professional rather than personal (for hints on how to make this work, see my post on how to get the most out of a writing workshop).
This semester, in my first workshop, I was the first person to be workshopped, so I was too busy to take pics (will try to post a workshop pic tomorrow). However, the first workshop, focussing on crime stories and led by Scott Wolven and Elizabeth Hand, went very well.
After the workshop, we had lunch, which is always varied, always interesting:
After lunch, I participated as a member of the presentation “The Future Is Next Week — The eBook”, along with eTeam members Magdalen Braden, Jim Kelly, Malissa Kent, Mike Kimball, Mur Lafferty, Adam Gallardo, Derek Hoffman, Taylor Preston, and Genevieve Williams.
We talked about ePublishing, eTechnology, and strategies for publishing in the age of eBooks.
In late afternoon, still at the Stonehouse, we had a Welcome Reception for students and faculty. Since it was summer, we held it outdoors. It was a nice chance to snack on yummy food, chat, and decompress a bit.
For the evening program, at The Inn at Brunswick, Stonecoast faculty member Cait Johnson walked everyone through a new theatre production she is organizing. It was absolutely wonderful and inspiring.
After the “official” Stonecoast program ended, most students and faculty splintered off into groups devoted to fellowship (hanging out, discussing writing/publishing) and fun (relaxing, playing games) or focused on re-energization (catching up on lost sleep).
And some of us went back to our rooms to write blog posts.