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Tayari's Blog: Knock! Knock!

Posted by TayariJones on November 2, 2007 08:46 PM
Filed under D.C. Diaries

I am just getting back from Washington, DC where I gave a reading and workshop at American University. The picture you see above is from the combined creative writing workshop, a unique feature of their MFA reading series. Here's how it works: the visiting writer reads three student-manuscripts and leads a roundtable critique in front of the complete whole entire fiction program and thier teachers.

From the pic above you can see we had a lot of fun, but I was a bit worried going in. Leading a workshop is a bit like making macaroni and cheese... everyone does it differently.

Guest-teaching a workshop is particularly crazy-making for several reasons. For one, as a guest of the university, I tend to try and be low drama and low maintenance. Unlike J-Lo, I do not submit a rider in advance. I show up and do whatever work they need me to do with as little fuss as possible. But leading a workshop, well, you can't help but force your personality on the group. (This is not the way my mama taught me to be a good guest!) Secondly, I didn't want to step on the regular professors' toes with some of my, admittedly, idiosyncratic ideas about writing. I was able to restrain myself and not quite cut loose the way I do at my home workshop. And the third thing that threw me off was the knocking.

Apparently there is a whole trend in the MFA world that when someone says something you agree with, you knock on the table. For a person not used to it, it is like having an exchange with a flock of enthusiastic woodpeckers.

But can you believe that it works? It did! We had a great time. There were three really interesting a meaty stories on the table and the class of 45 gave valueable input and loving critique. Amazing. I wasn't traumatized and neither were they. As a matter of fact, we all sort of left the room sort of jazzed.

I must give credit where it is due. E.J. Levy, Denise Orenstien, and Andrew Holleran are the usual professors and I could see the evidence of all thier hard work.

Before I wrap up this entry, I have to say how nice it was to be in DC again. A few of my students from GA made the trek to American for my reading and also some of my good friends.

There are a few photos here.