Congratulations on completing Writing from Life!

Great job writing these past 8 weeks. It isn't an easy thing to make time for, but your stories and fragments of stories were just lovely. Thank you for participating. Please be sure to send your course evaluations to Marilyn.Blumsack@tufts.edu.

I can attest that they read them and go over them with other board members and take them very seriously.

I believe I've read everyone's pieces at this point and given feedback, but if somehow I missed you, please let me know.

Thanks again and please keep in touch.

More on Blogging

My friend Vicki, also a writing teacher, wrote a post about blogging and publishing that you might be interested in. I'll quote her:

Blogs, online columns, social networking sites and all the rest give an emerging writer the opportunity to create an audience, build readership and even control the flow of information in a way that puts the writer in charge. The availability of these forums, their ease of use and increased connectivity allows writers to create and build communities. These changes are permanent–there’s no going back to a life before blogs–and they are revolutionary.

Writing Groups for WFL Fall 2007

I'm splitting you into two groups so that it's easier to focus on only 3 other writers' work rather than all 7 other writers.

I'm splitting your right down the middle of the list on the right side of the class blog:

group 1 is: Beth, Hal, Bob, and Frank
group 2 is: Elisabetta, Kevin K, Barbara M, and Colleen

Blogging Resources

Hi Writing from Life!

I just wanted to check in and give you some links to interesting blogs and articles. I hope you are all well and I can't wait to see your Week 2 homework assignments.


1.My Mom's Blog

At 82 years young, Millie Garfield is one of the Internet's oldest bloggers, according to The Ageless Project. With an authentic and humorous voice, a knack for story telling and frequent updates, Millie's blog, My Mom's Blog, shows that people want to hear from someone with a story to tell.

2. The Ageless Project

We're sending the message that the personal, creative side of the web is diverse and ageless.

3. World's Oldest Blogger

4. USA Today article with links to seniors who blog

5. A man's response to articles that diss older bloggers

Getting Started

Getting Started

Your job in this first week of class is to get acquainted with blogging and the Blogger software. Once you read through some of the informational pages, please complete the lessons for Week 1.

Some questions you may have---(click on highlighted text for link)

1. What's a blog?

If you can send an email, you can blog.

A blog is a website arranged in reverse chronological order (with the most current post showing up at the top of the page). Tufts alum, Meg Hourihan, is a pioneer in blogosphere and developed the blogger software we are using.

For an article about blogs in the writing classroom, see this article by Charles Lowe.

I have a blog that I started in August 2006 and it's been enormously helpful in terms of my writing. I invite you to visit my blog, see what I've done and how I've used it.

2. How does the class work?

This class is an enrichment experience for you. Participate as much or as little as you'd like and have the time to. I understand some weeks are busier for you than others. Please never feel like you are "bad" because you didn't do all of the homework.

I want you to feel like the class is a comfortable space for you to try new things, practice writing, and have fun. I have homework and of course, I highly recommend you do it in order to get as much as you can out of the class.

After you set up your Blogger account, expect about an hour a week of homework, which includes readings and your writing assignment.

3. To get started, please read blogger's site guide. You can post to the collaborative blog, named Writing From Life Fall 2007, almost immediately by responding in the comments section. I would like you to have a personal blog as well and we will link to your personal blog from the collaborative blog, Writing from Life.

4. Blogging recommendations. Please read about privacy and protection on blogger.

I've chosen for my "Grace Notes" blog to be searchable through Google (so anyone can type up my name and my blog will come up). The Internet is archived so anything you post is there forever. If you don't want something linked to your name, then use a nickname or a fake name. Or password protect your blog. Or only give your student blog address to us, your classmates. Decide what level of privacy you are comfortable with and make your decisions from there.

Please read about privacy on your profile and controlling who reads your blog. The Collaborative Blog (tuftswfl.blogspot.com) is not password protected. Keep that in mind when using your full name. I encourage you to only use your first name when posting to the blog.

5. You may need to have a gmail or google account. I've sent an invitation to all of you for a gmail account.

Thanks for you open-mindedness and your patience. I look forward to working with all of you. If you're stuck, you can always call me. I'll email you my phone number.

6. Do I need to buy books for the course?

I have a list of recommended books, but have not required you to read them. I want the class to focus on you getting writing done so the bulk of your reading time will be reading some short articles I post as well as the other writers' work in the class.

That said, there are many books I would recommend to supplement the work we do here. I have listed them under recommended books.

7. How do I find out the class assignments?

Look on the right hand side of the class blog page and find the title, Class Schedule for a list of the classes. If you don't see the list of classes (for example, the first week's lesson is listed under August and is titled "Welcome to Writing from Life! Class 1 Sept 17")

You can move through the course at your pace and all course materials are present. Keep in mind, there may be slight updates to the class schedule, depending on how the class goes.

8. Will the instructor read multiple drafts of my personal essay?

My main role is as an instructor, educator, and facilitator--not an editor. I will be able to provide extensive feedback on one draft and then brief remarks for your revised draft. As your class leader, I will do this for each of you.

Professional editors will usually charge $60 an hour to read manuscripts and provide feedback. It takes me about an hour to read, analyze, and provide thoughtful feedback for your draft of the short essay. Some students would like more feedback outside of the course constraints and they have hired me privately to provide this service for them. I am willing to consider doing this for you.

Class Policies

This is a study group led by a study group leader. But all study groups members are leaders and should expect to be active participants in the learning activities, reading each other's work, providing each other with feedback, and helping each other with any questions that may arise.

The goal of the course is to end the 8 weeks with a revised draft of a short personal narrative (600-800 words).

Each week of the course students will learn about creative nonfiction and memoir writing and write and develop this essay step-by-step. Students will participate in all the steps of writing a short personal narrative (600-800 words): generating ideas, writing drafts, reading, and rewriting. Every week, students will read from the reading list, complete the weekly learning activities, and contribute to class discussion. Study group members will give each other feedback on development work. Expect intermittent feedback from study group leader on your ongoing work and extensive feedback on ONE working draft only.

All of the lessons will be available at the start of the course, allowing students flexibility in working.

Every other week, students will have short creative writing assignments due on their blogs with the final draft of the essay due Week 7. The creative writing assignments build upon each other and will result in a working draft of a short personal essay.

Students will engage in discussion and provide feedback to each other.

Study group leader will comment briefly on students' on-going work and will provide extensive feedback on ONE 800-word maximum working draft of personal essay. Students will inform study group leader of draft they want extensive feedback on.

Recommended Texts:

*Dinty Moore, The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft of Creative
Nonfiction*Judith Barrington, Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art
*Vivan Gornick, The Situation and the Story
*Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
*Jane Taylor McDonnell, Living to Tell the Tale: A Guide to Writing Memoir