2012 Clockhouse Writers’ Conference – East

June 25 – June 29, 2012 – Registration is open

Clockhouse Writers' Conference-East (CWC) is a conference and retreat for graduates of Goddard's MFA in Creative Writing program and overlaps with the program's summer residency in Vermont.

CWC, founded in 1996 by a group of MFA-W graduates, offers an annual conference and retreat that provides time, space, and mutual support for writers and their work, while offering support to the Goddard MFA Program.

CWC is coordinated and run by its participants and includes solitary writing time, group discussions of works-in-progress, workshops and formal readings.  We stay in a dorm (or off-campus, if you prefer) and eat in the cafeteria alongside current MFA-W students and faculty.  We typically host the closing gathering of the MFA-W residency.  This year’s conference will also include the official launch of the annual literary journal, The Clockhouse Review.

When: June 25 – June 29, 2012

Arrive on June 25

Where: Goddard College

123 Pitkin Road

Plainfield, Vermont  05667

Contact: Julie Parent (jparent_nyc@yahoo.com)

A full conference schedule will be sent to all registrants in early June.  In the meantime, here’s the schedule for Monday, June 25:

4:00 – 6:00 PM Arrival and check-in

5:45 – 7:00 PM Dinner

7:00 – 8:30 PM Opening community meeting 

The topic for the plenary panel is “Pictures in Our Heads”

Scheduled presenters:  Jeff Ihlenfeldt, David Waite, and Chrystal Wing

Scheduled moderator:  Julie Parent

Registration Details & Deadline

Download the CWC registration form here:  CWC 2012 Registration Form

Fill out the registration page, and mail it with your $75.00 conference fee to the address on the form.  Deadline to register: May 1, 2012.

Please note that on-campus housing options are limited.  Double-room reservations will be made on a first-come, first-served basis, and requests for single rooms will be filled after that.  If you are considering staying off campus, here are some local options for lodging.

Workshop Proposals & Deadline

Please consider offering a workshop.  See the CWC registration form for more details.

Deadline for proposals: May 15, 2012.

Scholarships

Limited scholarship assistance may be available. Please email your scholarship request to Julie Parent (jparent_nyc@yahoo.com) as soon as possible.

If you are able to make a donation toward the scholarship fund, please do so, and please accept our thanks. You’ll find a donation line on the registration form.

CWC Contact Information

Julie Parent, Conference Coordinator

Email: jparent_nyc@yahoo.com

Kathryn Cullen-DuPont, Lead Steward

Email: kcd@womenandhistory.com

We look forward to seeing you this summer!

Keep writing,

The CWC Board of Stewards

June Station of the Word

Write the first three sections of your next major work and a quick outline - or sketch, or brain stormed ideas, if you prefer - of the rest.

If you write fiction, this might be the prologue and first two chapters or the first three chapters.

If you write non-fiction, this might be the first three chapters or an introduction and the first three chapters.

If you write scripts or screenplays, this could be the first three scenes.

And if you write poetry - last but certainly not least! - this could be the first three sections of the major poem you never got around to writing.  Or the first three stanzas, or the first three perfect lines of the next poem.

In any event,

LET'S GET TO WORK!

As always, I encourage you to share with us what you've accomplished - either by posting it or sending it to this blog, or by writing a quick summary of what you've done in comments below.

And, of course, we'll see you at Clockhouse Writers' Conference June 27 - July 1 this year, won't we?

June Station of the Word

Write the first three sections of your next major work and a quick outline - or sketch, or brain stormed ideas, if you prefer - of the rest.

If you write fiction, this might be the prologue and first two chapters or the first three chapters.

If you write non-fiction, this might be the first three chapters or an introduction and the first three chapters.

If you write scripts or screenplays, this could be the first three scenes.

And if you write poetry - last but certainly not least! - this could be the first three sections of the major poem you never got around to writing.  Or the first three stanzas, or the first three perfect lines of the next poem.

In any event,

LET'S GET TO WORK!

As always, I encourage you to share with us what you've accomplished - either by posting it or sending it to this blog, or by writing a quick summary of what you've done in comments below.

And, of course, we'll see you at Clockhouse Writers' Conference, won't we?

Station of the Word for May

The most creative writing you'll ever do:


Sit down for fifteen minutes with no distractions and brainstorm a list of goals - writing, personal, professional, etc. - you want to have accomplished five years from today.    


Spend another ten minutes prioritizing them. 


Print your top ten. 


Post them on your refrigerator.

Station of the Word for April

This is National Poetry Month, and begins with April Fool's Day.  Let's combine them:


You assignment this month is to take a familiar poem and write a pastiche that turns the meaning on its head.  You might do this with awkward or mixed metaphors, non sequiturs, outrageous rhymes, or . . . .  I'm sure you can think of something.


If you don't want to write a pastiche, you might consider a limerick (the best ones are salacious, of course), or just the worst poem you can imagine.

My favorite worst poem is

Only a Baby Small


Only a baby small,
Dropped from the skies;
Only a laughing face,
Two sunny eyes.

Only two cherry lips,
One chubby nose;
Only two little hands,
Ten little toes.

Only a golden head,
Curly and soft;
Only a tongue that wags
Loudly and oft.

Only a little brain,
Empty of thought;
Only a little heart,
Troubled with naught.

Only a tender flower
Sent us to rear;
Only a life to love
While we are here.

Only a baby small,
Never at rest;
Small, but how dear to us;
God knoweth best.

As I think about it, I shudder.


Please comment - or post your poem - below.


[Don't forget to register for CWC!  Link Here.]

March Station of the Word

This month's Station of the Word is a little different from usual.


Rather than write something, please sign into your account at http:// my.goddard.edu and log on to the CWC Writers Conference page in the right hand column.  Sign up to go to Clockhouse Writers' Conference from June 27 to July 1 this year.


As always, we welcome comments below.

Station of the word for February

Be sure to Register for CWC June 27 - July 1 at the Plainfield campus of Goddard College.  Click here


Create three names for characters.  You might use them in fiction, creative non-fiction, or narrative poetry.  In any event, you're stretching somewhat and focusing and writing.


  When you create these names,
1.  Make the last name concrete (like Stone or Oakes).
2.  Make the first name alliterative or have internal rhyme (Sally Stone; Joe Oakes).
3.  Avoid creating porn star names (Rod Steele, Penny Laide).
4.  Write a short description of each character you create.
5.  Enjoy!


When you have created your characters, please list the names here by clicking comment below.