On Friday, the 1st of April, Erin Gautsche visited and spoke to our class. She is the program manager of The Kelly Writers House and a recent graduate of Goshen College. This organization is affiliated with the University of Philadelphia. They offer a variety of services to writers in their community such as computer work stations, publishing materials, and staff with lots of experience in writing and editing. She gave us a little bit of personal history, as well as a brief history of the writing house. Her job is to organize events at the writing house such as having poets and writers do readings.Her advice to us was very practical, but it took me by surprise. I had never articulated this to myself before, but the job of an editor is to hound people. You need to find people who write and bug them into giving you their work. It's not glamorous, but it is the reality.
Erin's message was powerful to me. I need to stop waiting for things to happen and make them happen immediately. Take life by the horns and whatnot.
Josh, very glad to know that you got so much out of Erin's visit. Yes--editing is much more hands-on than one might expect. I agree that it's inspiring to learn that established and well-funded programs once started as creative vision put into action. Then the trick is to put your own visions into action and find ways to connect to others who want to invest in them!
ReplyDeleteI agree--that was really interesting. I also felt a little guilty when Erin was asking what kinds of publications are going on on campus and we didn't have much to say. I definitely feel that a lot of writers on campus (including me) are pretty apathetic about actually pursuing creative writing outside of class assignments. As you say, it seems like we just need to become more active and "take life by the horns" and write for fun. I liked the idea of having a little writing cottage of some sort.
ReplyDeleteI felt myself feeling both these feelings--guilt and motivation--as Sarah and Josh mention. I think the guilt (maybe disappointment?) spoke to me in that it made me realize the downsides of attending Goshen in regards to the English department. Though of course it is great in many ways, it made me feel a little sad to comprehend that we don't have a huge flow of new people/ideas/cool writer's houses/many publications and editing options that a big city/university does. Still, as Erin showed, its about the motivation inside the institution that will show itself as beneficial. We all, including myself, could more put ourselves "out there" to reach new English, editing, and publishing experiences.
ReplyDeleteI felt all of that too! Definitely the guilt (which is less motivating than you would think...), but also affirmation for what I already planned on doing post-school - making things myself. I really appreciated Erin's description of how persistent and gritty editors have to be to get the kind of material they want - I think our experience gathering submissions for the MCW Journal has proved that.
ReplyDeleteBecca--You can, at Goshen, cultivate some entrepreneurial spirit, however--as evidenced in Adriel's amazing aerial art the other night, or in Erin's own successful attempt to get all of the experience she could out of Goshen College. Remember that she was once a student here, and took what she learned to a bigger place! We've got plenty of opportunities right in our English Department for students to learn from taking initiative--Pinchpenny Press, Broadside, Red Cents, the CMW Journal--in history there's MQR,Peace Studies runs an online journal. And many other outlets for creative projects as well. So start thinking outside the box;-)
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