September 3 - first class

Today you introduced your selves, set up your blogs and established an email for the course, and then we sort of randomly talked through the syllabus and the took a look at the calendar. I realize it is a lot of information all at once, but hopefully - through keeping things posted here and being in touch - it will all fall into place.

For Thursday, September 10:
Read: Joan Didion "On keeping a notebook" =>click the link for a pdf - if you don't have adobe reader on your computer- you can get a free download for the software to open this document at http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

Alexie, "Superman & me" p. 128 in your book,

and Beard, "Out there."

And read about keeping a journal in your text book, p. 7.

Write: Blog 1: your definition of creative non fiction.

And don't forget to bring your spiral notebook to class - we are going to get started on some writing to help you think about/ discover idea/experiences you would like to write about.

Also, I will set up links to your blogs on the course blog. After I have the link list set up - start working on making links to your classmates blogs. To create a blog list, sign into your blog account and view your blog, click "customize" (up in the right hand corner), click "add a gadget" - scroll down and click the + listed next to "blog list" - then follow the directions. If you get stuck, we can work on it in class Thursday.

In class next Thursday, we will use the "evidence" you have collected from reading three creative non-fiction essays to put together some ideas about what creative nonfiction writers do. You will also do some discovery writing in your writing journals.

I think we have a great group and I am looking forward to reading your work.